kdub3821 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Ok so we all know buying chips from Sams equals uneven product. How do you deal with an item in the box that sells quickly but you only get 3 in a box? How do you deal with a slow seller that you get 9 of in a box? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I still have this problem with Cheetos as I don't sell a lot of them. Because I use my hatchback car in addition to my small stepvan (to save fuel), I regularly buy variety packs. It seems pretty obvious (unless you have different product than I do) that you are dealing with LSS variety packs. I am taking a guess that you sell a lot of Cool Ranch Doritos but not Lays potato chips. Regardless, there are only a few solutions to this. The first thing we need to know is... how much product do you actually go through? I COULD buy entire cases of LSS products in addition to entire cases of small bags. If you can ONLY buy variety packs because you don't go through enough product to use an entire case, then your options are very limited. If you DO go through a lot of variety packs (Say.. 5+ variety packs of the same kind every week) then you could get cases. Full cases from places such as Vistar cost more than the variety packs at Sam's Club but the dates are generally better (in my area at least) and you get exactly what you need so there is less waste (which ultimately saves money). If you simply don't go through many chips, then the only thing I can advise you to do is to get different variety packs, switch to smaller bags if that allows you for a better variety, or ask a local vendor if they can work with you. If you go through a lot of chips, simply order them from somewhere. A local vendor may also be able to help with this. Sometimes local vendors don't mind helping. There is nothing you can really do to change the variety packs though. I used to have a major problem with this when I first went into business. I sold plenty Doritos, Lays, and whatever else was in there but I didn't sell enough Fritos or Cheetos. I ended up always throwing Cheetos away because I couldn't get rid of them. To this day, I will buy variety packs JUST so that I have a few Cheetos and Fritos as I cannot go through an entire box of either, and the packs are convenient as I can take care of small accounts that are far out of the way and take two variety packs with me to take care of the entire snack machine (2 variety packs mean I have all the chips I need and makes pre-kitting easy). I buy 50-ct cases of Lays, Doritos, Pretzels, TGI Friday's Chips, and a few other things and then I get a few variety packs of the CC Frito, Cheetos, Cool Ranch Dorito, Cheddar Sunchips and BBQ Lays. Between all of those, I usually have all of the chips I need without taking up too much space. I also make my own variety packs when I have to take my car as it makes things much easier. It is too difficult to store 10+ boxes of chips in my car without taking up ALL of the space... so I make about 4 mixed boxes of chips using the big strong cardboard 7-up crates. Hopefully this helps, but you're going to have issues with variety packs if your sales are too low. That's just how vending is when you start out small. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedk Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 If you have coffee trucks in your area, you may be able to work something out with the operator. They don't have much room on their trucks and lots of them around here buy a few bags of each flavor from some of our local distributors ( at 20% more the the full box price). You can probably work something out with a few of them to minimize you losses. I have also had some success talking to local c store owners. Some are receptive some are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdub3821 Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 Thanks Chris. Did you do better switching to the smaller bags. I use the tgi Fridays chips but it dose t seem like you get much out of the bag. What price do you sell small bags for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris in bc Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 you from Bradford? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I started off with the smaller bag so I can't really answer your question. I still had the same problem though. I sell my products based off of how much I pay for them (or what the normal price would be). TGI Friday's Bacon and Cheddar (or whatever they are) usually cost less than 25 cents per unit so I sell them for 50-60 cents per unit depending on the account. Probably should be 60 cents. LSS that I buy for 39-44 cents per unit resell for 75-85 cents per unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosvending Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 One way we have dealt with it is to put all 3 flavors in the same row, alternating. It may not be the best way, but sales still seem to do well. Sometimes I think that the psychological effect on selling this way, is that a kid might see the flavor he wants behind the first selection, and convince his friend that he needs to buy the first bag so that he can get the second bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedk Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 you from Bradford? Yes I am if that was directed at me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 One way we have dealt with it is to put all 3 flavors in the same row, alternating. It may not be the best way, but sales still seem to do well. Sometimes I think that the psychological effect on selling this way, is that a kid might see the flavor he wants behind the first selection, and convince his friend that he needs to buy the first bag so that he can get the second bag. It works great at some accounts until you find accounts with customers who fuss non-stop about not being able to get what they want because something else was in the way lol. I alternate things too and MOST of my customers seem to like the variety of things.. but I would say 50-75% of my products are the same almost every cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcron Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I used to buy some of the multi-boxes but got too tired of the wasted items that don't sell. I now only buy the single item cases. I have had very little throw-away since. I try to match as closely as possible as I can how much I stock to the demand for the individual items. Sam's is getting to be a pain in my rump though as they have been cutting back on how many single item cases they are carrying. Making lift difficult to stock a 40-select machine with a good variety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I used to buy some of the multi-boxes but got too tired of the wasted items that don't sell. I now only buy the single item cases. I have had very little throw-away since. I try to match as closely as possible as I can how much I stock to the demand for the individual items. Sam's is getting to be a pain in my rump though as they have been cutting back on how many single item cases they are carrying. Making lift difficult to stock a 40-select machine with a good variety. Yeah, I know what you mean. I saw the snack machine you're getting while I was in waynesville today ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcron Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Unfortunately a last minute change by an account cancelled that sale. Felt bad backing out on Doug like that but hopefully I'll be back in the market for one soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Unfortunately a last minute change by an account cancelled that sale. Felt bad backing out on Doug like that but hopefully I'll be back in the market for one soon. I'm sure they'll get over it quick with all they've got going on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.