Newsagents contemplating the value of carrying cigarettes need to carefully analyse what they sell to cigarette shoppers.
Take a look at our newsagency software for a basket analysis report and detail the items selling with each of the top cigarette products. In the Tower Systems newsagency software the report is called the 10×10 report.
Look at how many times cigarettes are sold alone. Looking at the data for one newsagency this week I saw an efficiency for cigarettes that is unusual. Whereas in most newsagencies cigarettes are sold alone 60% and more of the time, in this business the single sale percentage is considerably lower. In fact, for the department, the percentage is 26%. This indicates greater efficiency, above average efficiency, and thereby challenges thoughts of getting out of cigarettes for the value of the shopper goes beyond the cigarette sales.
Basket analysis is vital for informed management decisions in a newsagency. There is nothing like accurate data to inform good management decisions.
In the business I have been looking at, the feeling was cigarettes could go. However, given the efficiency in terms of product sales outside that category, the indication is that such a decision right now would be premature.
Looking deeper into the data for this business, it is fascinating what people are purchasing. For example, there is one brand of cigarettes with which the most common additional purchase, 13% of the time, is coffee. The thing you can learn about your business from data…