Having a healthy amount of sales is important to any business that is looking to stay afloat. However, you need to make sure that you are tracking your sales properly so that you can make any adjustments that would make you more money. Take into consideration these factors and business plan tips and tricks when you are looking to start tracking your sales.
Packaging
Shipping products out means that you are going to have to look for the right packaging solution. Monitoring the packaging that you are using while shipping is important as you tend to get better deals if you purchase packaging in larger quantities that will save you money in the long run. To monitor the packaging your using, make sure that you build comprehensive spreadsheets that list all of the packaging types you are purchasing for each product. You should be able to sort through and make decisions on what large quantities of packaging you should be purchasing along with other types of packaging that you might be able to stop purchasing. Always consider packaging when you are looking to track your sales.
Marketing
Whether you are a company that sells directly to consumers or retail stores, you need to make sure that you track your sales through your marketing types. This entails going through and surveying customers to see what type of marketing made them purchase your product. Tracking your sales through marketing this way will make it so that you can adjust your funds and make sure that you are putting marketing money where it deserves to go.
Retail
As your company gets larger, chances are you might be approached on placing your products on the shelves of retail businesses. Before you go through with a sales proposal, look into how you can make sure that you have all of your sales tracked through these retail businesses. Contact the company that you are working with so that you can make sure that you are getting all of the data that you need in regards to how much products sell at each store so that you can make spreadsheets containing all of this data. Having your retail sales tracked thoroughly will ensure that you can make the right decisions when it comes to what products you should be releasing and what ones you should be focusing on making more of a move in spreading them out throughout retail stores.
Demographics
Depending on the product, you may have an idea in your head that you have a great product but you aren’t sure who is buying it. The best way to track sales for demographics is to conduct surveys for many of the customers that are purchasing your products online and in-stores. From there, you should be able to get a good idea of what markets you should be targeting directly more so that you aren’t wasting money going for customers that aren’t interested in picking up your products. Always ensure that you are getting the demographics of your customers.
Pricing
Retail stores typically have the means of placing your products at any price point they like. This means that you’re going to want to gather the data in terms of what pricing points your products are selling at the most. To do this, contact the retail stores that you are doing business with and make sure that you get comprehensive data in terms of weekly sales and how many products were sold during that period. Grabbing the pricing data means that you’ll be able to make the best decision for what price point sells the most and will grant you the most amount of money.
