Anyone manufacturing tobacco products without first obtaining the necessary permit is subject to civil and/or criminal penalties. The federal Alcohol, Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) issued an announcement regarding the impact of the Aug. 20 ruling on RYO cigarette machines by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the National Association…
Merchandising! Merchandising!
By John Matthews, founder of Gray Cat Enterprises Inc. “Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs the T-shirt. Spaceballs the lunchbox. Spaceballs the coloring book. Spaceballs… the flamethrower! Kids love it. And my favorite, Spaceballs the Doll — me!” — Yogurt from the movie Spaceballs Merchandising is a critical aspect…
Inventory Assistance
Heartland Payment Systems, a payment processor, launched the next-generation of network services and inventory monitoring solutions for the petroleum and convenience store market. SmartLink ProDistributor, powered by FuelQuest, combines Heartland’s state-of-the-art network security and connectivity with the automated inventory control and planning of FuelQuest ForeSite, a fuel inventory and decision support technology. It offers features…
Study Shows Online Targeting Grows In-Store Sales
“Premium online advertising can drive brick-and-mortar sales by both increasing brand loyalty and gaining new customers from competitors,” says cofounder of Legolas Media. Demonstrating the power of highly-targeted, online advertising to drive brick-and-mortar sales, a massive multi-brand study has found consumers targeted via premium Websites resulted in an 18% in-store sales lift versus non-targeted shoppers.…
NCR, VendorNet Integrate In-Store Pick Up With POS Software
Integration of product inventory to point-of-sale software helps retailers drive sales across channels and preserve margin in an increasingly competitive market. NCR Corp. and VendorNet Inc., a provider of cross-channel fulfillment technology, have entered into a strategic agreement that will see NCR integrate VendorNet’s cross-channel StoreNet In-Store Pickup fulfillment technology into its NCR Advanced Store…
QSR White Castle Testing Beer and Wine Sales
Can alcohol sales and an expanded array of food choices provide the boost White Castle is seeking? QSR chain White Castle, a 90-year-old hamburger chain that sells square “slider” burgers, has begun serving beer and wine in an Indiana location as part of a test program, the Chicago Tribune reported. And White Castle is not…
Wholesale Gasoline Costs Mixed in Early November
Wholesale gasoline costs were mixed in major metropolitan markets across the U.S. during the first week of November, while the broader trend is moving higher despite poor demand for gasoline. Should current dynamics hold, we could see the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) U.S. retail gasoline average moving higher into the Thanksgiving holiday from a four-week…
The Night They Burned Tobacco Down
Increases on cigarettes have put the category’s long-term viability in jeopardy. By Jim Callahan, Convenience Store Solutions I recently saw a statistic that declared tobacco was no longer king in convenience stores. While that is not yet true for most of us, it’s about to become an indisputable fact. The entire country now gets to…
What’s Your Solution?
SKU SLEUTH … Rick Cosmer, vice president of retail sales and operations at Mansfield Oil Co. in Georgia, has found cutting-edge back-office systems can offer huge payoffs in terms of data analysis and sales tracking. Cosmer said the most powerful piece of his system allows him to drill down J.D. to individual products to determine…
Trimming the Red Ink
When the economy falls off a cliff like it did in September 2008, is your business going to survive or even thrive? Most companies reacted to the downturn by cutting the usual costs: training, travel, raises, bonuses, headcount and 401(k) matching contributions. The bad news is these kinds of cuts also put employees in a…