3 Reasons Your Store Should Already Have a Tobacco Scan Data Incentive Program
Convenience stores rely heavily on their sales of tobacco products, yet many miss out on opportunities to grow their sales and offer special discounts to customers. This can be done by integrating scan data into existing POS systems and enrolling in a proper scan data program. Scan data is collected when customers check out; the software tracks information regarding tobacco sales and shares that information with big tobacco companies, who in return offer rebates and discounts for stores to use. If you have yet to leverage the benefits of a scan data incentive program, here are three reasons that your convenience store should start now:
Get Better Consumer Analytics
Analytics and insights gleaned from scan data can significantly benefit your business. However, McKinsey & Company notes that one of the most underused assets of consumer-packaged-goods companies is the opportunity to use data to optimize their supply chain and improve their understanding of their consumers. If you’re not using scan data to make informed decisions within your convenience store, you’re falling behind the competition and losing out on a lot of money.
When an item is scanned at the POS system in your store, the POS collects what is called scan data that can be measured and compiled into reports. You can use these reports to review customer purchases and behavior within a specific month or around a particular holiday to predict how they will act in the future. This allows you to make better inventory decisions, avoiding stock-outs or over-ordering.
In addition to inventory, scan data allows you to initiate other changes within your business, such as financial decisions through improved purchasing and distribution, merchandising, store branding, and customized promotions. Scan data helps you understand customer preferences and turn knowledge into action; if you know what products your customers prefer, you can make sure that the proper discounts and sales are on display to encourage purchases and drive sales.
Enjoy Tobacco Kickbacks
According to the latest NACS/Nielsen Convenience Industry Store Count, there are 150,274 U.S. convenience stores as of December 31, 2020. Simultaneously the most lucrative and heavily regulated product, tobacco is extremely important in driving sales and profitability in convenience stores across the country. In fact, the government continues to establish legislative efforts to continue to increase taxes on tobacco products.
As a result, the top tobacco companies in the industry are working with retailers to incentivize sales and leverage consumer loyalty to maintain tobacco sales. Tobacco vendors specifically desire scan data information to gain a deeper understanding of their customers. This has resulted in the creation of tobacco scan data incentive programs; by helping these vendors by providing your scanned data, you can earn rebates by monetizing this data from your store.
Tobacco retailers who submit transaction-level scan data from their POS on a daily or weekly basis receive brand-funded promotions, rebates, multi-pack discounts, and loyalty incentives. This creates new revenue for convenience stores with no additional work as they get paid for items they’re already scanning.
Easy Integration and Training
Another benefit of scan data is that integration and training are easy; The General Store uses Altria to make the process painless. Your scanning data system can be set up in three easy steps: set up, report generation, and report sharing.
Set-up
After getting your store ID, username, and password from Altria, you can set up The General Store to report only those departments, categories, and subcategories you select. Because of this, it’s important that your departments and categories are meaningful.
Report Generation
You can now run the General Store’s Scan Data reporting utility to generate the report files on a weekly basis. Participation in the program also entitles you to the insightsc3m.com website, where you can access “My Reporting Center.” Here you can view an array of reports and pricing opportunities.
Report Sharing
Once the report files are generated, you can simply upload them to Altria using an FTP client like FileZilla with your Scan Data-supplied credentials.
With these three simple steps, your store managers will quickly learn and master how to use this integration. Without the need for excessive training, your store managers can focus on utilizing their data, promoting their high selling tobacco items, and running the storefront.
Scan data provides seamless integration to promote tobacco and bring in additional revenue without a second thought. It allows convenience store owners to enjoy more established analytics and tobacco kickbacks with minimal time spent on integration and training. The General Store has the capability to create the necessary reporting files that need to be transmitted to Altria and can be installed into your POS system upon request. If you’re ready to leverage your convenience store POS system, contact our team of experts today.