Shoppers want a balance of convenience and value. The constant price wars of the large multiples and the recent rise of the discounters versus the continuing resilience of c-stores are all signs that shoppers want a mix of convenience and value and are willing to shop around, and pay a premium to get it.

• Be clear on pricing – if you include lots of lines in the promotion, it’s important to ensure that your pricing is consistent and presented clearly with Point of Sale to avoid customer confusion.
• Merchandise Appropriately – customers want a convenient shopping experience. You can give this to them by keeping your meal-deal products close together so shoppers don’t have to search the store to get their lunch.
• Control your range – it’s important to offer variety, but going overboard can leave shoppers overwhelmed. The discounters offer no more than two lines of each type of product to give their customers a simpler shopping experience and it works! So why not do it yourself?

Did you know? Any good EPoS system, including ShopMate provides reports on category sales and financials. Use these to give you ideas on the most successful products in your store that can drive sales of their meal-deal counterparts. You could even merchandise in a few different ways and use reports throughout the day to see how well your changes are working.