As a convenience store owner, you don't have the time or money to spend on costly print ads, and definitely not enough of a profit margin to justify using ads in TV. But that doesn't mean you cannot advertise to increase sales. Email marketing solutions are a cost effective way to bring your clients to your store more often. Compared to other forms of advertising, email marketing solutions cost a fraction of the cost. Print ads can run you anywhere from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. Obviously, this isn't an option for your store. Email marketing solution platforms can cost as little as $10 for one thousand emails.
You don't have time for this! Your store is open early and late in order to accommodate your clients. Plus, you need your free time to spend with the family. You won't be able to get around to this also, right?
Wrong!
Email marketing solutions only takes a few moments to set up, and what you get are professionally crafted advertising campaigns sent directly to your clients.
So here's how you start. This first thing you have to do is collect a list of emails. There are a number of ways to do this. One effective method is to collect business cards: At the cash register, you can place a bowl (or some other form of bin). Add a sign telling clients that if they drop off their business cards, they can receive discounts on in-store purchases through your email marketing solutions campaigns. What clients will do is put their business cards in the bowl with an email to contact them. Just like that, you have the first few contacts for you email campaign.
Now, you need to sign up for an email marketing solutions account, create your first campaign and send it out to the people on your list. Signing up is simple, as email marketing solutions are user-friendly.
Creating your campaign is a simple process also. Email marketing solutions provide you with simple-to-use templates. All you have to do is input your written information (or copy and paste it), and add your own images from your computer.
Once your email marketing campaign is created and sent out, you will be able to track which of your clients were clicking on your promotions. Also, by adding a 'forward to friend' button, you can also expand your mailing list, and increase your potential to gain more clients.
Here are some things to keep in mind when filling in your email marketing solutions template: Do not use excessive bolding, italics, and capital lettering in the body or the subject line of your email. Plus, try not to put too many product images without adding content to support the images. Bolding, italics, capitalization, and a high image to text ratio are all criteria that the spam filters look for. If you overuse them, your email will not go into your subscribers' inbox, but rather into their spam/junk box.
By using email marketing solutions, your convenience store will have a greater customer return rate, which will drive up your sales. Email marketing solutions can provide you with this added business in a very reasonable and time-sensitive manner. It can maximize your store's potential, save your money, and provide you the opportunity to spend quality time with your family. Now that sounds like a sweet deal!
Business Review: Lighters Wholesale Distribution Business.
Lighters are one of the easiest things to wholesale and distribute. Stores buy them like crazy!
I started selling lighters when I had my route in San Diego with about 600 stores. Other distributors told me about how much money they were making with lighters so I decided to give them a try. They were right. Since the first day we introduced them to the stores they were best sellers and they have remained best sellers for years.
The first thing you should know is that I'm not talking about disposable lighters or even name brand lighters like Colibri or Zippo. I'm talking about Novelty or Collector lighters. The kind you see in convenience stores and liquor stores. They are butane refillable lighters.
For example, the top selling lighters were lighters in the form of a gun, torch lighters and chopper motorcycle style lighters.
The lighters cost about $1.25 to $1.50 plus shipping, depending on the style of the lighter. Some of them are regular flame lighters, some of them have a torch, and some are double or even triple wind resistant torch lighters.
Lighters come in a small cardboard counter display. You get all of the same kind in every display. You get from 12 to 30 lighters in each display, depending on the size of each lighter.
When you distribute the lighters you sell them for at least $2 all the way up to $3 or even $3.50. It all depends where you are in the USA or in the world, the size of your town, the size of the stores, etc. You learn how to price them quickly from the first time you go into the stores.
So how much can you make? Well, if you leave an average of 2 displays per store containing an average of 25 lighters each, you'll sell 50 lighters at an average of $3.00 or $150 sale. If you paid $1.50 per lighter including shipping you made $1.50 per lighter or $75 profit in one store. If you sell to 10 stores that day you are selling $1,500 and pocketing $750.00 minus your gas and other expenses. That's not bad for a few hours of work. In my business all of my salespeople have to visit at least 20 stores per day, not 10 stores!
Let's go over the numbers of our example again: -Your cost per lighter including shipping= $1.50 -You sell the lighter to the stores = $3.00 -Each display has an average of how many lighters = 25 -If you sell just 2 displays to the store how many lighters did you sell = 50 lighters -How much was the sale? = $150 -How much was your profit? = $75 -If you sell to 10 stores in a day how much do you sell? = $1,500 -How much do you profit minus gas and other expenses? = $750
Again, your business will vary depending on how many stores you have, how often you visit them the price you sell them for, and many other variables.
Let me tell you what I like and don't like about the business. What I like is that you go through a lot of lighters really fast. They are small and easy to store and carry. They come in their own display so you don't need to buy racks or displays (although you can if you want or if the stores like them). I also like the fact that lighters are small and you don't need a truck or extra storage to sell them.
The thing I like least about the lighter business is that the margins are not as high as with other products. I think it's a fair trade because of the volume you can sell. The other thing with lighters is that people like to choose them. Instead of you selling whatever you have in the car people like to play with them before they buy them, they like to test them, to look at every one. It's a novelty, so they want to buy what they like, not necessarily what sells.
All and all I think it's one of the best businesses to be in.
Both Robert Burko & Jorge Olson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Robert Burko has sinced written about articles on various topics from Email Advertising, Promotional Advertising and Email Advertising. Robert Burko is the President of Elite Email, the complete package used by small, medium and large organizations around the world. You can deplo. Robert Burko's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
Jorge Olson has sinced written about articles on various topics from How to Sell on Ebay, Trucks and The Internet. Jorge Olson is a consultant, speaker and entrepreneur and owns several Wholesale Distribution companies. Visit his consulting website at