>Potentially it's items that move very very low volume but provide significant value by being available?
That doesn't matter, and exactly why corporate brought it up. Again, opportunity cost.
I asked my nearest 7-Eleven manager (I never go to convenience stores, so I just went in to the closest one) about how many customers he gets a month, and he said about 8,000. How many SKUs? About 2500. So for 40% of his SKUs, of the 8000 customers that walk in, 1 of 8000 is willing to buy a specific one of those 1000 items (at that elevated price) from that store. That's 1000 SKUs that could be at least partially replaced with something with far better sell-through. Shelf space isn't free. Backroom space isn't free. That's dedicated square footage, he's paying a lease on every single month, forever, for stuff that doesn't move.
The guy isn't running a convenience store out of the goodness of his heart. There's a supermarket 3 blocks away selling the same items for far less money, so it's not like he's selling something you can't get just a 3-minute further walk (or 1-minute drive) away.
I asked him about slow selling items. "Oh, you saw the video too?!" He was fully onboard with corporate support to not just get much better sell-through (and ergo, revenue), but having a reason for more people to come into the store, especially on a regular basis, and not simply getting things because, "they happen to already be here."
This location in particular WASN'T with a service station out front (inner city location). So for the manager, a way to get more regular customers, that are coming in to buy things they want -- possibly if they can't get it as easily (or at all) nearby -- is a HUGE potential win for him. That might help him get hundreds more customers every month, which might buy other things as well.
That doesn't matter, and exactly why corporate brought it up. Again, opportunity cost.
I asked my nearest 7-Eleven manager (I never go to convenience stores, so I just went in to the closest one) about how many customers he gets a month, and he said about 8,000. How many SKUs? About 2500. So for 40% of his SKUs, of the 8000 customers that walk in, 1 of 8000 is willing to buy a specific one of those 1000 items (at that elevated price) from that store. That's 1000 SKUs that could be at least partially replaced with something with far better sell-through. Shelf space isn't free. Backroom space isn't free. That's dedicated square footage, he's paying a lease on every single month, forever, for stuff that doesn't move.
The guy isn't running a convenience store out of the goodness of his heart. There's a supermarket 3 blocks away selling the same items for far less money, so it's not like he's selling something you can't get just a 3-minute further walk (or 1-minute drive) away.
I asked him about slow selling items. "Oh, you saw the video too?!" He was fully onboard with corporate support to not just get much better sell-through (and ergo, revenue), but having a reason for more people to come into the store, especially on a regular basis, and not simply getting things because, "they happen to already be here."
This location in particular WASN'T with a service station out front (inner city location). So for the manager, a way to get more regular customers, that are coming in to buy things they want -- possibly if they can't get it as easily (or at all) nearby -- is a HUGE potential win for him. That might help him get hundreds more customers every month, which might buy other things as well.