Are you leveraging every possible advantage to maximize profits in your smoke shop?
If you aren’t getting the most from your tobacco scan data, you might be leaving money on the table — in more ways than one!
This post dives into the nitty-gritty of tobacco scan data. We’ll cover what scan data reporting is, why it matters, and who needs to do it. Last but not least, we’ll discuss three different ways you can leverage your tobacco scan data to maximize your store’s revenue and minimize your costs.
What Is Tobacco Scan Data?
Before we lay out how you can leverage scan data to grow your business and improve store operations, let’s first answer the central question of this post: What is tobacco scan data?
Tobacco scan data is the information gathered from point of sale (POS) stations at tobacco retail locations. This data encompasses comprehensive details of tobacco product sales, including brand names, quantities sold, pricing, and customer demographics. It provides keen insights into the dynamics of the whole tobacco retail market.
Tobacco scan data is pivotal in understanding consumer trends, preferences, and behavior. Manufacturers, retailers, and policymakers use this data to understand tobacco products' performance, the effectiveness of their marketing strategies, and more.
Related Read: POS for Tobacco Store: What To Look for and 4 Best Options
Since manufacturers and policymakers want access to the scan data retailers provide, you can leverage that scan data for your benefit! Providing the requested sales data gives you access to substantial discounts and rebates from manufacturers. Embracing this opportunity positions smoke shop owners like you as valuable players within the tobacco retail landscape — and gives you a financial cushion for your store.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the ways you can leverage your scan data for maximum impact!
1. Take Advantage of Manufacturer Kickbacks
As briefly mentioned above, manufacturers have a strong interest in encouraging retailers like you to collect and provide them with tobacco scan data! You can provide them with valuable insights related to:
- Sales trends
- Customer preferences
- Product performance
These insights help manufacturers build their strategies and adjust their offerings to match an ever-shifting market.
Related Read: Smoke Shop Inventory: 5 Tobacco Products To Stock
Manufacturers offer enticing discounts and kickbacks in return for your cooperation with their scan data reporting requests. These incentives can translate into substantial savings for your business, giving your bottom line a welcome boost.
2. Make Better Stocking Decisions
If you ever feel like you’re stocking your shelves and ordering from suppliers blindly, tobacco scan data is here to save the day! The data you’ll get from these reporting efforts are helpful to you for the same reasons it’s helpful to manufacturers: It gives you insights into what your customers are buying.
Your tobacco scan data can help you identify top performers you need to stock more of and slow-moving products that are just eating up shelf space. It can also help you track customer purchases and set the groundwork for a customer loyalty program.
Armed with this knowledge, you can adjust your inventory levels strategically, ensuring you always have the right products in stock while minimizing excess or dead stock. You can also use your scan data to analyze seasonal sales patterns. This information helps you anticipate demand and adjust your inventory appropriately as the seasons change.
3. Choose Items To Promote
Scan data reporting can also help with marketing and promotion for your smoke shop. The data is a treasure trove of information on your bestselling and high-margin products.
Your tobacco scan data helps you handpick the products you want to promote with in-store displays, discounts, or other promotions. You can also use your scan data to identify complementary products. What products are frequently purchased together? Shelve these items together to boost sales with impulse purchases.
Finally, you can use the scan data to monitor your marketing and promotions’ effectiveness. Check sales before, during, and after promotions to evaluate their impact and fine-tune your strategies.
Special Considerations Regarding Scan Data
While the advantages of scan data reporting are undeniable, it's essential to handle this sensitive information with care. Scan data contains intimate details about customers' buying habits and preferences, making data security a concern.
Mishandling or improper sharing of this data can lead to privacy violations and destroy your customers’ trust. As a responsible smoke shop owner, you must implement robust data security measures.
Consider implementing a point of sale solution with built-in scan data reporting. You can then use your point of sale system’s robust security measures to safeguard your scan data, protect your customers’ privacy, and strengthen your reputation as a reliable local business!
How To Manage Tobacco Scan Data for Your Store
The benefits of leveraging tobacco scan data for your store can’t be overstated. You can use scan data reporting for manufacturer discounts and leverage the same data those manufacturers want to make better business decisions for your store.
However, without the right tools in place, managing that scan data can be a headache.
Introducing: Cigars POS.
Cigars POS is a point of sale solution designed specifically for tobacconists and smoke shop owners. Our solution comes with built-in scan data reporting features, meaning you can manage your tobacco scan data without a second thought.
Schedule a free demo of Cigars POS today to see if our point of sale solution is right for your store!
