7 Ways to Increase Sales in a Grocery Store Chain

Method 1. Assortment of goods

A winning product range will help you increase your sales. Are you sure you have the right products at the right time? This is exactly the case when you need to know exactly your store indicators, inventory data, turnover, lost sales, etc. The main task is to have a clear idea of products that bring in money. Then you will be able to organize products properly, run promotions. and predict demand.

Method 2. Effective layout

By placing products in the store correctly, you get an efficient and controlled layout of goods. For this purpose, planograms are used. Using special planogram software, you can place products virtually on the shelves, taking into account product groups, merchandising principles, and various SKU parameters. So in the future, you will be able to collect valuable sales data and analyze the placement of each product on the shelves in the store. Working with planograms allows you to track how the placement of specific products affects purchasing behavior and vice versa. You will be able to create a layout taking into account the needs of buyers and local features.

How to find out which shelves and products bring the most profit? Analyze the historical sales of the products and their placement. Identify the top-selling products on the planogram. Next, find out the placement of slow-moving goods. From now on, you can create a layout by placing slow-moving products next to more profitable ones, thereby increasing sales. Analysis and timely adjustment of the layout on the planogram will help to respond to demand in real time and lead to an increase in sales.

 Method 3. Avoid the shortage of goods

Lack of products leads not only to lost sales opportunities but also reduces customer satisfaction and brand perception. In addition, product shortages also send people straight to your competitors.

There is one way to avoid a shortage of goods in a chain of stores. We have already talked about special software for retail. This is PlanoHero solution for planogramming. Here, all the functionality of the service is designed to make life easier for merchandisers. In addition to creating planograms and monitoring their implementation, a merchandiser can track and analyze various sales indicators, including lost sales. In the PlanoHero service, you will be able to receive notifications of possible product holes. This will come when the system detects products with a zero balance on your planograms.

The analytical system of the service will help prevent a shortage of goods in the store. With the help of PlanoHero, the merchandiser will be able to conduct an audit at any time - an analysis of the shortage and surplus of goods. In addition, the system will send an “OOS Forecast” notification if there are goods on the current planograms that are enough for only one day.

It's important to, build strong relationships with your suppliers and keep in touch in order to prevent out-of-stock and shortage of goods.

Method 4. Sell more

Give people a sense of urgency with time-limited promotions. For example, a “Today Only” sign will make an impulsive purchase more convincing. Discounts can bring more people to your store, so take advantage of increased traffic by upselling or cross-selling. Offer customers more, such as buying 2 items instead of one. Offer bonuses, and additional discounts when buying multiple items. Make a sale on slow-moving items.

Cross-merchandising or selling additional goods. In order to do this, you need to ensure the availability of related products. They should always be in the store, and not on a case-by-case basis. Don't upset your loyal customers. After all, if the buyers don't find the right products in your store, they will find them from competitors.

In addition, offer expensive and high-quality goods along with goods from the middle and cheap segment. Buyers should have a choice. This method allows you to increase your income by 25%. About 35-55% of customers will choose a quality product from a well-known manufacturer.

Method 5. Impulse shopping

Optimize the checkout area in stores. Think about what products at the checkout can stimulate impulse purchases in your stores. Ideally, impulse products should be small and inexpensive. These are items that people can take and easily add to their carts or hand over to the cashier. Such products do not need an explanation, they sell themselves.

If at least 20% of all your customers purchase goods from the checkout area, this will already increase your profit.

Method 6. Price Management

Check the pricing policy of your chain store and analyze the prices of competitors. Compare prices for similar products and services. Assess your real strengths and weaknesses over your competitors. Using this information, consider raising or lowering prices. For example, a price reduction can increase sales. This will attract buyers as people can save money. Meanwhile, higher prices can increase revenue. However, this does not necessarily increase sales.

Find out what products your target market needs. Consider production costs. Then think about the costs and determine the break-even point. This will determine how prices are set.

Method 7. “Click-and-collect”

Many retailers use such a system in their store chains. The buyer orders online, and picks up on his own from the store closest to one’s house.

Offering this service will help increase in-store traffic and sales. Many shoppers opt for pickup from the store and purchase additional items during their visit to the store.

There are still a large number of different methods that have worked well for retailers and help stimulate sales. We will talk about them in the following articles. If you are interested in how to boost sales with planogram software read the article "5 tips for visual merchandising".

It should be noted that all these ways to increase sales will work with the right approach to the assortment and display of goods, analysis, and forecasting. This will require automation of business processes: planning, sales analytics, loyalty programs, and promotions.