How to increase the average check. How to increase the average check in a store

The sales process is a kind of key indicator with the help of which a businessman receives veiled information about success or failure in business by determining the average purchase amount.

And the larger the amount, the greater the profit in the end. At the moment when a potential buyer becomes real, the seller at this time needs to take the maximum possible measures to ensure that the client purchases more than planned. Here are some basic ways to implement them.

1. Help the customer buy more.

The main method, which is present in almost all retail stores, is when purchasing a product, try to tactfully offer a related product. There is a very fine line here; you need to offer, and not impose. Buyers feel the second option very well, and persistence can only scare them away.

At first glance it looks quite simple. But don’t think that by placing, for example, powder, bleach or a laundry basket near washing machines, the buyer will definitely buy it. In most cases, when customers come to a store, they pursue a specific goal, make the purchase of the plan and may simply not pay attention to the related products laid out.

All people like to feel attention to themselves, and clients especially. After all, there is nothing complicated about this. This requires the seller’s ability to select true words offering an additional product, but so that it can be used specifically with the type being purchased.

This method is as easy as possible to use, the main thing is to train your staff to professionally offer and only offer, without using the slightest pressure.

2. Learn to sell and not force a particular product on your client..

After reading the first method, you may get the feeling that our sellers are only able to impose goods, and the buyer himself strongly dislikes this point. Therefore, it is not for nothing that in the first method the phrase about the fine line between imposition and proposal was highlighted several times.

Agree, you would also not like it if, when purchasing, for example, fresh-frozen fish, the seller offered you a new washing powder, which is now sold at a discount. No one will like such an obvious imposition; it will only leave you with unpleasant feelings about the store and not the fact that this client will appear with you again.

But if the seller had offered a sauce or seasoning suitable for cooking fish, the buyer would not have been bewildered or aggressive, but, on the contrary, would have felt that he was an important guest of this establishment.

3. Learn to determine what to offer.

Let's consider several possible approaches between the seller and the buyer.

* This is a regular offer of a certain type of product or service. This method, more than ever, is very suitable for small owners who have several products in their assortment. For example, in a cafe, coffee or tea are popular, so it is important to constantly remind them of them. For a larger business, you need to determine the most popular product, which is purchased by almost everyone.

* Here everything depends on the professionalism and observation of the seller. If he is attentive enough, he may already know what additional items are usually purchased for this or that product. Typically, they use phrases like “With this product you will purchase...” or “You may need to use this product...” and so on.

* Here you will need a healthy imagination of sellers. The ability to guess for what purpose a product is purchased is one of the facts that proves experience. Seeing how, for example, a young man buys women's eau de toilette, one can assume that it is for a gift for a girl. Based on this, you can offer him additionally various creams and lotions from the same series.

* What is important here is the psychological ability of the consultant to independently “as if, by the way” find out about the purpose of the visit from the buyer. Here you will also need the ability to predict the desires of clients. For example, the same young man who buys perfume.

You can ask him the question “Do you want to give a gift to your beloved woman?” By telling a girl, you may not guess the actual situation. After all, this woman could be a mother. The main thing when asking a question is to try to get the client to make contact. And after receiving the answer, if possible, provide the product that will interest him.

4. Use scripts.

- These are pre-thought-out questions or answers. This instruction will help a salesperson starting his career well in his work. Such phrases can keep the buyer in your territory and thereby increase the purchase amount.

For example, in the same cafe. Seeing that customers are about to leave the establishment, a resourceful waiter will definitely ask: “How?” Are you leaving us already? Without even trying our signature dessert?” Nine out of ten people in such cases will stay to try it and thereby increase your revenue.

5. At arm's length.

This method involves the correct placement of related products near the main one, in sufficient proximity. If it is a tape recorder, then place the cassettes at a short distance, and a variety of desserts near the tea.

The use of this method is greatly simplified in self-service stores. It’s not for nothing that in train cars there are fruits, cookies, and nuts everywhere on the tables. After all, a desire arises instantly and it is not a fact that until a person reaches the buffet, this desire will remain with him.

6. Bring, not offer.

When a client sees the product offered with his own eyes, his desire to buy it increases much more. In the same cafe, when a client asks to bring a cake, put several types on a plate. And rest assured, he will forget that he only wanted one thing.

7. Tell the customer where to buy more.

This means installed stands indicating the location of each type of product, a kind of map, so to speak. This application is very suitable for people who are quite shy or not decisive. The client purchased the product, but is simply embarrassed to ask about the location of the related product, and this is where information signs like this come to the rescue.

8. Squeeze out every last drop.

The task here is to purchase additional goods with the remaining change. In a cafe, a cup of tea may be offered with chocolate or dessert. Many stores are now actively offering to top up your account on your phone. It is also important to offer a man buying a suit something from a woman’s wardrobe, arguing that his wife would be satisfied. There are many options, the main thing here is the resourcefulness of the seller.

9. Pack the goods in badleys.

Translated, “Bundle” means “packaging”. The essence of this method is to place two similar products in one package. This method greatly influences the buyer at the level of his subconscious. After all, everyone has long known that when buying in bulk, the price is much cheaper. And at the same time, you will increase your revenue, get rid of stockpiles of goods on the shelves, as well as unclaimed balances.

This method does not require large expenses; if this promotion is not successful, you can disassemble the goods individually at any time.

And this is not the entire list of ways to attract buyers. Even by applying the above options, you can significantly increase your revenue.

Retail business these days is akin to a struggle for survival: every day we need to think about how to increase the efficiency of our stores in order to achieve planned indicators, ensure compliance with service standards, operational processes, to win the trust and affection of the client and, ultimately, get a well-deserved profit. One of the key points of this “struggle” is working to achieve the KPI goal, as the main indicators that our actions are correct and the stores are being managed in the right way.

As a rule, most retail managers, among other KPIs, pay special attention to the average number of units per check or check fill rate, as one of the main indicators of the store team’s ability to correctly use sales techniques when working with visitors, namely to sell additional products. This publication will discuss one of the successful methods for stimulating the growth of check filling, the effectiveness of which has been proven by two years of practice in Puma retail stores.

What might influence the average number of units sold per customer? There are several answers to this question: this is the product range, the company’s pricing policy, the solvency and mood of the client, as well as the availability of promotions and special offers in the store. But what is more important is the effective use of sales techniques by sales personnel when working with visitors. This factor also depends on a number of conditions:

· knowledge of theoretical techniques for offering additional products;

· ability to use them correctly in practical work with clients;

· impeccable knowledge by sellers of their store’s assortment and the ability to competently combine different products to create a complete image;

· motivation of staff to work with additional products;

· Ability to deal with client objections

It would seem that on all these points it is easy to organize work in traditional ways, such as conducting trainings and meetings, monitoring the work of sellers on the sales floor, quickly and timely training of new employees, working as a manager in the store’s sales area as a mentor for his team, personal example showing correct work with customers. And there is no point in disputing the need for these actions - this is, of course, the basis for meeting visitor service standards. But in practice, we very often encounter the fact that despite the significant time spent on training our staff, the above methods do not help achieve the planned value of check fill, both for the store as a whole and for individual employees. Failure to fulfill at least one of the conditions for the effective use of sales techniques can negate other attempts to increase the amount of the check by making a complex purchase.

So, knowledgeable theoretical basis A newcomer to offering related products may encounter a psychological barrier in working with a client in practice. On the other hand, an experienced employee may, for a number of reasons, not want to work 100% with a client due to lack of desire or mood, thereby reducing his personal UPT below the target. The wrong approach to creating a harmonious image from several products can also become an obstacle to a successful transaction.

As practice shows, the lack of a systematic approach to controlling all of these factors is the reason for their occurrence. To fill this gap, you can implement a tool for comprehensive control of check filling - a certain form for recording sales of receipts with one item. It may look like this:

The bottom line is that the seller, who has completed a transaction with one unit in the receipt, records the name of the product sold in this printed form in the first column of the table. Next, he must list the related and non-related products offered to the client by him. In the third column, the employee indicates the client’s objections that caused the refusal to purchase additional goods. Finally, in the last column, the seller writes what actions he took to overcome these objections. Immediately after filling out, this form is reviewed with the administrative staff of the store or your mentor, so that the seller is given timely feedback on the past sale.

This scheme of work allows you to simultaneously identify and work on several problems.

Firstly, by looking at the second column of the form, the mentor can make a conclusion about the employee’s ability to correctly select an additional product. As a rule, novice sellers limit themselves to offering one unit of related product, for example, socks for shoes, instead of trying to match the client full image from the available range of products. In addition, when examining this sale, the conditions and circumstances under which the seller offered additional units will be considered, which will allow us to discuss possible errors in the work.

Secondly, the mentor, based on the form, evaluates the seller’s ability to work with objections when trying to expand the check. Working on mistakes in this context will allow the employee to develop the skill of correct argumentation when dealing with doubts.

The problem of lack of motivation to offer additional goods, as it turned out, is effectively solved by the emerging need to fill out a form for recording receipts by sellers and conduct a “debriefing” with a mentor. Many employees will be very willing to make every effort when working with a client, just so as not to enter data on a single sale into the form.

The most important thing in using this tool is to ensure control over its completion and timely verification with appropriate feedback. The form can be used in several situations. So, if we need to improve the UPT value of individual lagging employees, we can implement receipt accounting only for these sellers. The duration of filling out the form is limited by the moment they reach the planned check fill values.

Another way to apply this method is to implement full form completion for all salespeople. The need for this may be due to a sharp decrease in the UPT indicator, including for external reasons. Continuous accounting in this case helps to maximally mobilize the entire sales team to obtain the best results from working with customers. But it is worth considering that long-term use of the form will not bring permanent results, and may have the opposite effect of reducing employee motivation. Therefore, in crisis conditions, the longest recommended period for using the form of recording single checks can be limited to one month.

As practice shows, the use of a check accounting form with one item allows you to increase the average number of units in a check by 15-20% within just one or two weeks of its use. In addition to traditional methods of training and control, its use will improve the efficiency of any retail store and use internal resources to maximize check fill rates most effectively.

Yaskov Artem

Head of a group of stores

Control and monitoring of indicators is necessary not only for large enterprises. If a small store or HoReCa establishment plans to gain a foothold in the market and have a constant planned income, it is necessary to keep records of such a parameter as average bill. This indicator will provide information about the depth and width of the assortment, and the efficiency of the sales staff.

How to calculate

The average bill, the formula of which is simple and understandable even to an amateur, is easily calculated even by a non-specialist. Revenue for a certain period, divided by the number of checks for the same period, will give the desired result. It is important to take into account changes in the purchase price and markup on goods. If the dynamics are positive, the store is operating efficiently, but if it is negative or zero, we need to look for the reasons for the decline. The cash receipt may decrease in amount, for example, during sales periods. Particular attention should be paid to the products that generate the most income, track the behavior of competitors regarding these products and analyze their dynamics in your store.

Identifying problems with the average check in a store and ways to solve them

The average receipt contains no more than 4-5 items. The share of receipts with purchases from 1 to 3 is gradually approaching 50% of total sales. The increase in turnover was less than the inflation rate or in the case when an increase in turnover is observed when new stores are opened. Buyers stay on the sales floor for a short time, and some departments do not visit at all.

It is necessary to analyze the location of both the store itself and the departments, the display of goods, and the dynamics of sales during the day. Conduct an analysis of the assortment structure, prices, and turnover. An ABC - sales analysis is carried out, during which the assortment is examined, the most popular positions, products that are stale, and those that are the most profitable are identified. Assess the need for changes and, if necessary, create routes around the sales floor by installing shelf talkers and hanging signs with signs for ease of orientation in the store. Create or change a planogram and, of course, prepare special offers for your customers.

How to increase the average check

1. Increase in trade margins. If you have a unique offer and no direct competitors, this will be the easiest and most quick solution. However, a very small number of companies can boast of such an advantage. For most products there are analogues. Therefore, if the retail price increases, it will be necessary to increase the level of service and improve the service. And these are additional costs.

2. Optimization of the assortment. The category manager, together with merchandisers, can review the assortment structure, principles of purchasing policy and merchandising. The task is complex, painstaking and time-consuming.

Tactical ways to increase the average check

1. Using the principle of complementarity. Many items require complementary products. This principle can be taken as a basis when displaying goods. Thus, when purchasing one product, the buyer will pay attention to the second one, which complements the first one, and there is a high probability that he will purchase it too, which, in turn, will increase the average bill in the store.

2. Harmonization. Use ready-made solutions, demonstrate to customers which products and how they can be combined with each other. For example, in the case of clothes on a mannequin, the buyer has a desire to buy the entire image, and not individual items. In this case, the average cash receipt will increase.

3. Offer for “change” goods of impulse demand located in the checkout area. Assess whether your store has a small, inexpensive item in the payment center that the buyer takes automatically when approaching the checkout. You can also duplicate the display of small but popular goods in the center of the hall, in addition to its location at the checkout.

4. Availability of gift certificates or discount cards. Close contact with corporate clients allows you to increase sales during the holidays, as well as attract new clients.

5. Installation of a terminal for non-cash payment. Buyers paying by bank card, spend more than when paying in cash, therefore, the average check will increase.

6. Focus buyers' attention on more expensive goods. Sellers should shift the attention of buyers from a cheap product to a more expensive one gradually. Workers trading floor must be interested in selling a more expensive product. Perhaps it is necessary to introduce financial incentives for employees who sell a certain amount of expensive goods per month.

7. Inclusion of inexpensive goods with high margins into the assortment. It is not difficult to offer a cheap product, it will not be difficult for sellers to sell it, and there is no need for additional incentives. Inexpensive goods will attract customers to the store, who will buy more cheap goods than they originally planned.

Incentive promotions as a means of increasing cash receipts

Special offers are another way to increase the average bill. Carrying out promotions “Gift with purchase”, “When you buy 2 items, the 3rd is free”, discounts at certain times of the day, sales. Such promotions help establish trust between the store and the client and leave a pleasant impression on the buyer. Also, when promotions are carried out, conversion increases, that is, the number of people leaving the store with a purchase increases. Additional feature obtain customer contact information, which in the future can be used to disseminate information about promotions carried out by the store.

Result

As a result, the trade enterprise will increase its turnover due to an increase in the number of purchases in the cash register receipt. There will be a decrease in the share of small checks and an increase in the share of medium ones, which indicates the effectiveness of both merchandising and staff work. In addition, the number of impulse purchases will increase if the assortment and display of goods is optimized. And the basis of the positive dynamics is the average bill!

There are a number of business metrics that every entrepreneur should regularly track. Of course, a grocery store and an engineering and construction company will have a different set of such KPIs. But they all lead to an analysis of revenue and profit.

For example, user of the PlanFact service Vladimir Goretsky said in an interview that for his network of pizzerias under the Dodo Pizza franchise he tracks: unit costs, labor costs, EBITDA, network expenses, capital expenses, net profit before and after dividends, labor productivity , products per person per hour, orders per courier per hour, number of new customers per week, number of new orders, average daily revenue on a weekly basis, percentage of orders via mobile app And average check.

Today we will talk about how to increase the average bill. This universal baseline correct work with which it increases profits.

What does the average check show?

Calculating the size of the average check gives the entrepreneur valuable information about the state of affairs. Alone or in combination with other figures, the average bill answers many business questions.

Here are a few of them:

• Who is your client and how solvent is he?
• Is there a good range of products and services?
• Is merchandising organized correctly?
• Are consultants good?
• Is the buyer ready for an expensive purchase?
• When does the influx of clients occur?
• Is the promotion effective?
• From what amount can customers be issued discount cards and discounts?
• When high and low seasons sales?

Average check formula: elementary, but you need to look at the dynamics

The average bill is calculated using a very simple formula:

However, a one-time analysis of checks will not bring results. To get answers to all of the above questions, you need to do a dynamic analysis. Consistency and frequency are important. For small businesses, monthly analysis is suitable. But if the intensity of purchases increases or high seasonal demand for your goods or services is expected, then it is recommended to conduct a weekly analysis.

Let's say you analyzed the average ticket and want to increase store revenue by 20% using this indicator. Let's take a period of 30 days as a basis. Let's calculate how many customers make purchases in the store per day (on average 380). The average bill is 620 rubles.

First, let's calculate the monthly revenue at this moment: Average check*Number of clients per month = 620*380*30 = 7,068,000 rub. Then we calculate an increase in revenue by 20%: 7,068,000 * 1.2 = 8,481,600 rubles. Let's find the store's new average bill. Average bill = monthly revenue / number of clients per month. During this period, the store is visited by 380*30 = 11,400 people. Then the average check = 8,481,600/11,400 = 744 (rub.) Thus, you need to increase the average check from 620 to 744 rubles.

The average check is not the average temperature in the hospital

This indicator helps evaluate the sales effectiveness of an entire group of goods or services. This analysis is good when it seems that one product is not profitable, but as a whole the group of products is selling well. Or vice versa: it seems that the product is very profitable, but sales of the segment are declining. Thus, it is very important to track the average bill for individual categories of goods or services. This will help to better form an assortment, add a new product category or product to it, and in case of poor performance, quickly eliminate unprofitable elements.

For example, the owner of a coffee shop believed that the main marginal product was brewed coffee to go, but after analyzing the average bill, it turned out that the greater profit comes from selling home-roasted bean coffee. As a result, the volume of its sales was increased, and budgets were also invested in the original packaging of grains and a stand at the cash register.

How to increase the average check. 6 ways

Marketers identify 2 main principles for increasing the average check – upselling and cross-selling.

Upselling- offering the client a more expensive or premium analogue. In the process of choosing a specific model or service, the buyer is asked to abandon the initial decision in favor of purchasing a more expensive product. There may be several reasons for this: a more modern model is already available, there is a product with best characteristics or a more well-known and respected brand has gone on sale.

An interesting example of upselling in the sale of services. Thus, in 2018, Russian car sharing services have already increased the average bill by 23-33%. The BelkaCar company explains such positive changes by the appearance of business class cars in their fleet.

Cross-selling This is a cross-selling method. Its essence lies in the fact that at the time of purchase the client is offered to purchase, in addition to the main product, related products. Thus, they always offer accessories for gadgets - cases, screen protectors, extended warranty, etc. A good waiter in a cafe is simply obliged to offer additional toppings for pizza or topping for ice cream.

The up-cell and cross-cell principles require high-quality work by sales consultants or waiters (if we are talking about cafes and restaurants), which is only possible through thorough training in sales methods and perfect knowledge of the assortment. For online sales, it is very important to add the following blocks to the site: “Buy with this product” or “Similar products”, “Buy together”, recommendations from experts or other users, etc. There is a wide selection of widgets for this. By the way, we recently wrote about ways to increase online sales using widgets.

There are many ways to increase the average check. Let's look at the 6 most effective ones.

1. Loyalty program

The scheme is based on a system of rewarding regular customers and is well suited for retail. According to experts, a well-designed loyalty program helps increase the average check by 30%.

Surprisingly, the first loyalty program appeared back in the 1970s: American Airlines introduced bonus miles that could be exchanged for tickets. Today, loyalty cards carry out promotions, closed sales and tastings, and give bonuses and gifts. In addition, cardholders are also a source of sales statistics. In this way, the company can save on marketing research.

2. Product-locomotive

Such a product is the “icing” on your “sales cake.” The locomotive product attracts the attention of buyers with its benefits. Low cost or even giving away a product for free can bring more customers to the point of sale. Then well-organized merchandising, competent work of consultants, and related promotions come into play. Thus, the buyer will purchase more than one item, increasing the average bill several times. By the way, many people leave without purchasing the locomotive product.

Here is an example of such a proposal from a small printing house. Business cards will be printed completely free of charge. True, the circulation is very small and on the back there will be a link to the printing house’s website. However, in this way the first purchase will be made, and if the result is good, the client will most likely return or make a related order when printing business cards.

3. Sets

Buyers really like ready-made solutions. You save them time and help them make a balanced purchase with your expert opinion. And for the company this is a great opportunity to increase the average bill. Convenient and mutually beneficial! In cafes and restaurants these are ready-made business lunches or sets. For cosmetics, perfumes or clothing, these are themed sets for the New Year, March 8, a trip to the sea, etc.

Sets are also convenient because you can add unpopular or poorly selling products to them. An excellent solution would be a special discounted price when purchasing a set.

4. Competent merchandising

Properly arranged products are half the success of a store. There are many merchandising techniques. But to increase the average check great importance has placement of related products nearby. So, in a well-organized store space, there will always be ketchup next to the refrigerators with dumplings, and next to the bakery products there will always be a shelf with chocolate spread.

Proper zoning is equally important. Thus, it is recommended to place the most expensive and popular product at eye level. It is worth planning the customer's path through the store from the departments of products that increase appetite, for example, fresh fruit or hot cross buns.

5. Counters at the cash registers

The areas at the cash registers are the sweetest morsel. Usually there is an inexpensive and hot commodity. This is where the client makes a choice in favor of impulse purchases. Due to the implementation of such little things, the average check and sales volumes of the store as a whole increase significantly.

This method works well not only for grocery stores, but also for clothing and even building materials. At the checkout counters of famous clothing brands you can always find hair clips, socks, scarves, etc. Retailers of construction and finishing materials always place batteries and tape at checkout counters.

6. Employee training and motivation

However, the most big role Well-motivated and competent employees - store consultants or waiters in a cafe - play a role in the growth of the average check. Employees must be able to offer the client a more expensive product, related products and additional services, etc. For this purpose, a salary + bonus system is being introduced. Moreover, in many companies, employees receive bonuses not for large sales of the main product, but for the sale of “add-ons”.

The consultant must know his assortment perfectly and quickly navigate through it. To do this, it is worth conducting training sessions regularly. Many manufacturing companies organize such trainings or online webinars, which can be attended by pre-registration.

Late autumn is a great time to increase the average check in almost any business. Shoppers are happy to take shelter from bad weather in shops and cafes. Those who prefer not to go out shopping are happy to do online shopping, because off-season discounts have already begun and very soon Black Friday, followed by the New Year.

Don't miss a great chance to increase your sales!