How often do you rotate your stock?

[dperry]

What is your guideline for rotating your stock.  I'm really speaking of toy vending here, not candy.

How often do you swap out one product for another at your locations?  I notice that some people will continue to sell the same product month after month, while I feel that changing out a certain percentage of the items each service cycle is required in order to keep the rack filled with fresh stuff.

For instance my biggest rack is a 9-way.  On the last service cycle, I swapped out 5 of the 9 items.  I swapped out 2 of the 4 flats, the 1 2" product and 2 of the 4 1" products.  I don't plan to swap that much each cycle, but this seemed warranted this time.

One of the reasons I swapped so much is that it's a pain to stock that many products.  A 9-way requires that i carry at least 9 different products.  Now, I could just keep buying the same product and not rotate any slow sellers out of it, but then the rack becomes stale and I'm sure my sales will fall.  Plus, I'll be stuck with slow selling product filling up my garage.

So to keep it fresh, I have to buy new product.  But with my capital being the way it is, I can't keep buying the same old stock and new stock as well.  I am slowly working my way up to that, but I can't do it just yet.

Logic would dictate that if a product sells out, then I should restock with that same product since it was a hot seller. However, I did not replenish that product because I opted to buy something new and different.  Buying new and different product becomes costly too, because you have to buy x number of displays to go with that new product.

My only real hope is to buy various new products and the swap them around between my various locations.  One location might have the Mini-Malz while another will have Sticky Hands, etc.

[lurtsman]

I find my best sellers and lead with them. When something stinks, I swap it out and leave it as is until it gets bad, or I sense I can make a large improvement. My stretchy pests did poorly at the library, but appear to move twice as fast at the pizza ranch. Still, I don't plan to restock them when they sell out. I will replace them with another hot product. That 7 way rack is up to 140$/month, and it looks like it will be passing 150$/month with my newest hot product. I service it once every 2 months, and so far nothing seems to be dropping off. I don't see a point to changing out products if the sales have not declined. When most of the customers are ignoring the product, then a change is required. (IE, my RP does 4$ over 2 months, while the blockheadz do 52$, it's time for more toys)

[dperry]

Lurts,

What are your current hot products?

[lurtsman]

zoo mania, blockheadz, splatterz (2inch, 75 cent), bling teeth 75 cent mix

[antoniocinisi]

i ALWAYS TRY TO CHANGE 1 OR 2 OF THE TOYS depending on the size of the rack.my sticker machines ar 2 or 3 column and I replace 1 of those about every other service cycle,depending on how well it sells.I can`t wait for some of the experts to reply to this,good question btw.

[vipergts]

I typically put in new products every 4-6 months depending on location.  But if the product is still selling like hot cakes, I won't touch it. 

[dperry]

So basically what I'm hearing is... if it sells well, don't touch it.  If it starts to lag, replace it with something new. 

But if it's my first service on a new rack, I won't know what's selling well and what is not.  So I have to be prepared to restock with all the same stuff, AND ALSO replace one of each type of product?

[lurtsman]

If it's near your house, just go look at the rack (the clear heads, not the stickers) to estimate how well it's doing. That makes it easier to guess how many things will want to be replaced.

[Jax Snacks]

There are two schools of thought on this.  Each has pros and cons.

1. Always buy the latest and greatest and ride it for as long as you can.  Good revenue spike in the beginning but could get stuck with a high volume of bad inventory to unload.

2. Only stock a select numer of products that sells consistently and keep it out indefinitely or until it stops selling.  When it stops selling, put it in a mystery mix or sell it off on eBay.

I like option 2 myself and having a core group of products to vend at many locations. Consistency and simplicity is what I want (along with profits of course).  I hate "exception" vending!  Also consider cutting back on the number of selections - 9 is a very high number of products.  Having too many products is time consuming and a hassle.

Jax