Identifying Inside Sales Patterns

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Tip: Maximizing profitability using the Inventory: Line Item Site Totals Sales report.

More and more retailers are focusing on inside sales to generate revenue, but coming up with a product mix that maximizes profitability can be challenging. This is because item sales are dynamic; they ebb and flow based on internal and external factors. You need timely evidence, preferably with a historical context, that identifies these trends. For example, are you stocking a novelty item like retro-branded candy and gum that flies off the shelf at first, but needs to replaced when the novelty wears off? Is a supplier asking you to add a popular new beverage to your cooler, but you don't have the shelf space and need to identify a poor performing beverage that can be replaced? Is there an inverse relationship between declining coffee sales and the rise of energy shots? Do you need confirmation that geographic factors are affecting the sales of certain items at certain sites?

The Inventory: Line Item Site Totals Sales report can help you analyze sales patterns at a site, or compare several sites, so you can take the kind of quick but careful action that ensures the most profitable product mix is in your store. Using the report is easy:

On the Reports menu, click Items/Inventory > Line Items > Site Totals. The report's filter window appears:
This window contains many selections that can be used to filter down report contents. Those especially relevant to identifying inside sales patterns include:
- Report Type . Select Sales if you want to view sales dollars for the items within the selected date range. Select Gross Profit if you want to view gross profit dollars for items within the selected date range. This will give you an idea of what is and is not moving in your store.
- Department Range . A way to narrow down your sample to isolate items in a department, such as cigarettes or energy drinks, so you can more quickly identify sales patterns.
- Sites . To help identify patterns for a particular site or compare patterns between sites, type the site or sites here. Use a comma to separate sites when typing more than one. Leave the box blank to report on all sites.
- Beginning Date and Ending Date . Select the date range over which sales patterns are to be analyzed.
- Sort Order . Select the primary way you want the report sorted from this combo box. All sorts can be in ascending or descending order based on the Sort Direction you select.
  - PLU . Items listed, top to bottom, in order of PLU #.
  - Account . Items listed, top to bottom, in order of department/account number.
  - Total Qty . Items listed, top to bottom, in order of quantity sold.
  - Total Amount . Items listed, top to bottom, in order of dollar value.
  - Max Site Qty . When running this report for multiple sites, selecting this option provides a column headed .Site Max Sales.. The system reads the quantities on hand in each site, selects the largest (max) one and places it in the column. The values in this column are what is sorted by the report.
  - Max Site Amount . When running this report for multiple sites, selecting this option provides a column headed .Site Max Sales.. The system reads the dollar values of the purchases made in each site, selects the largest (max) one and places it in the column. The values in this column are what is sorted by the report.
- Sales Types . Since this example is focused on identifying sales patterns, for this example select the Non Inv Adjustments check box and clear the Inv Adjustments check box.
- Line Item Types . In this group box, select the check boxes of the types of sales you wish to include on the report.
After you have made the desired selections in the report filter, click View or Print.
Some examples of the Line Item Site Totals report are shown below:

Top Sellers Sorted by Quantity

Top Sellers Sorted by Total (Dollar) Amount

Top Sellers Sorted by Gross Profit by Quantity

Sales Qty for Two Sites Sorted by Quantity (Ascending)
Good for contrasting the performance of products in separate sites.

Note: The concept of focusing on inside sales to generate revenue is covered in the June 2009 issue of NACS magazine, in the article, "Running Out of Gas." Registered subscribers may access that issue from this starting point.