Webinar to Tackle Category Management for Small Stores

NATIONAL REPORT — How do you survive as an independent convenience store owner in today’s competitive marketplace?

The retail landscape — and in particular, the convenience channel — has changed and continues to change. Consolidation, new players in the c-store/small store arena, and the changing shopper have all had an impact on single-store owners and small chains. And these changes in the industry require operators to change their approach to retailing.

An upcoming webinar is designed to help small retailers address these changes. Category Management Knowledge Group and b2b Solutions LLC are conducting a complimentary, educational webinar entitled "Category Management in Your C-Store/Small Store.” The webinar is designed to help small retailers take a more strategic approach to their business.

Sue Nicholls, president of the Category Management Knowledge Group, will help attendees to:

• Stop relying so much on intuition and develop a more fact-based approach for your store. No one cares more about your business or your shoppers than you do. Build knowledge about your business so that you’re confident in the choices you make for your store. Learn what to ask of your suppliers and distributors based on what’s most important for your unique store and your shoppers.
• Give your categories meaning and purpose. Why do you carry the categories that you do? How important are they for the shoppers who come in your store? By defining your categories, understanding their relative importance and assigning category roles and strategies, you will then be able to strategically determine how these categories tie in with the tactics (including the products you carry and how they are shelved, priced and promoted) for your store.
• Learn how the choices you make affect your bottom-line sales and profit. When you’re making choices about what items to carry, how much product to buy and what price points to sell it at, are you thinking about how these decisions impact your financial income statements, including sales, cost of goods and the profit you’re bringing to the bank? You should have a strong understanding of how these choices not only impact your bottom line, but also how to improve it.  
• Have a strategic plan for your store for 2016. How strategic was the plan you built for 2015 (or did you have one)? What areas were you successful in? Not so successful? Your strategic plan should tie in with the biggest areas of opportunity based on shopper needs and what they are looking for when they come to your store.

This webinar is being offered on two dates: Thursday, Oct. 8 and Thursday, Nov. 19. Seats are limited, so those interested are encouraged to register soon. Click here for registration.

For more information, contact Nicholls at [email protected] or Steve Montgomery, president of b2b Solutions, at [email protected].