The Horror in the Ancient Inventory Museum

The customer just wanted a cold beverage on a hot day, but he got more than he bargained for when he entered the C-store.

It looked normal at first, although the clerk grinned a bit too earnestly, as if he were . . . trying to hide something.

The customer quickly dismissed the thought. On the way to the cooler he passed neatly arranged snack racks with an array of chips, shelf after shelf of delicious candy, and inviting tubs of iced energy drinks.

Then he looked closer. Down in the low shelves. In the dimly lit corners of the store. In the dank recesses of a fogged cooler. He saw it. Ancient inventory.

A cobwebbed box of crackers. A green nutri-drink turned brown. A bottle of stomach relief liquid hardened into pink chalk. Thirty-seven year old Twinkies!

The customer recoiled in amazement. “This is more like a museum of ancient inventory than a modern C-store!” he thought. The sacred bond of trust between retailer and consumer forever broken, he ran outside never to be seen again.

Alas, for the operator, the nightmare was far from over, and not just from a lost business perspective. Dead stock sits in his store, taking up shelf space when it could be replaced by something that actually sells.

He should have called a leading C-store back office software company. The best systems track and report on item movement so you can determine non-selling items for a specific time period and, if desired, by department. Once identified, slow-movers and their margins can be reviewed and new items can be considered a more profitable inventory mix.

Don’t let your C-store become a museum for ancient inventory. Get on top of inventory management with a first-class solution and a knowledgable team that stands behind it.