Here is a typical loyalty program today in a small shop that I snapped a picture of a few days ago. If you notice, they offer their loyal customers a 2% discount on sales. 2% is not arbitrary, as this is what most experts think a loyalty program can return without supplier help.

It will not be 2% as most points will not be redeemed and, if redeemed, are in shop goods, so the shop has a margin.

Here a customer would need to spend $500 to get a voucher for $10 on their next buy, and there are variations on the scheme, which I will discuss in a future post.

Enough to say now that here are some advantages.

- It is free, quick and easy to set up as it is in your software now.
- This scheme has a proven track record.
- The rewards to the customer are tangible, concrete, visible, and measurable
- It works over time, so a customer is incentivised to return.
- The reward directly supports the shop
- Give a person a $10 voucher, and they will probably spend more. Few will hit $10 exactly, $12.50, $20, and I have seen $50, etc., being spent with the voucher.
- The value to the customer is more than the shop as the goods purchased with the discount voucher have a margin.
- The customer sees the reward as valuable and practical rewards as it's what they already buy.
- You get a loyalty program mailing list to market to your clients. Using something like Mailchimp, which is free, you can drive more business to your shop.

Have a chew, and as always, let me know your thoughts.

The slogan "Buy One Get One FREE" is one of the most effective promotional invented. Studies show that it beats "50% off" even though both offer the same. This is because, marketing-wise, FREE is very powerful.

Here are some tips for using it:

1) It is better for cheap items where customers are prepared to stock up.

2) You need to pick items with good margins; after all, you are giving away half the money. Some people would use something like this

Buy two and get another free.

Here at least, is only a third off.

3) Works better for flash sales. Try running it during a festive season, for example, as a Father's Day special.

4) Many products customers cannot use two of the same product. For example, two jackets for the price of one might be a problem, but two pairs of socks for the price of one should be okay. In which case, for jackets, consider something like

Buy a jacket and get One from Category B for Free.

This Category B has proven to be a great way of selling stock you no longer want.

Setting it up is easy. All you need to do is follow the red arrows in the image below.

Black Friday will be on 25 November, by which about a third of shoppers will have done their Christmas shopping. Then over the Black Friday week, it is expected that about a quarter of the Christmas shopping will be done. Black Friday sales today are the biggest pre-Christmas event on the Australian retail calendar. So we are looking at over 50%; details are here.

Do you want to see how your shop performs in these periods in 30 seconds? It is easy to find out.

Go to Register reports.

Now pick "Top N Stock Sales for a Given Period."

I would suggest doing it twice, firstly in 2019, because we had COVID issues. So pick three weeks, so 18 November 2019 to Black Friday, 29 November 2019, to see what happened in 2019 and use unit sales. Now redo this report for three weeks, so 15 November 2021 to Black Friday 26 November 2021, to see what happened in 2021 and again use unit sales.

These reports must be checked to see what looks interesting and, more importantly, if you have enough stock.

Do it and see how you go.

You only have a little time.

​

 A few days ago, I pointed out that this year the expected Christmas season shopping will be up by 3%; I should have added that the shopping season is expected to start earlier.

The public got burnt last year with shortages, and there are enough shortages and delivery problems now to remind people that the issues have not gone away.

Here is a study done in the US expected sales in 2021

source: Jungle Scout consumer data

The results in Australia were close by the end of November 2021. 57% of all Christmas retail sales were completed.

If you have not yet done so, you have to act immediately to start your stock ordering, which is something our point-of-sale software can help you do. We recommend shadow and focus analysis which our system can do, and I will discuss soon. 

Remember that November sales in 2021 were almost identical to December 2021. Why not this year too? 

It would be best if you also started looking at roistering again, which our point of sale can help too. 

Here is a quick checklist for your computer system

Is your POS system ready for Christmas?  

Start checking

If you plan to use some old POS computers “out of the closet” to accommodate the rush period, test it to ensure it works. If it has been in the closet for a year, who knows what state they are in now?

Check the following

-Have you checked all the cables connected to this equipment?
-Do you have a connection to your network where you need it?
-Can this equipment be linked to your system? Its been a year since it has been used?

Please do it now; the closer it gets to Christmas, the harder it will be to organise in time.

​At the Fine Food Show, I noticed that many suppliers offered extensive ranges of snack food bar products under the healthy banner. Some actually tasted quite nice. The reason is that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in snacking. Today millennials are likelier to snack four times daily, which is more than any other generation.

The Australian snack bar market is expected to register a CAGR of 4.38% during the forecast period (2022 - 2027). Of that, the health food segment now accounts for more than half.

So have you considered adding health food bars to your product lists?

Margins for these products are high, there is little work, and there is a growing demand. There is increased public acceptance of these goods. Parents are happy to give their kids these bars with antioxidants, fibre and a natural fruit source.

Your POS Systems are now used in health shops, so there are no computer issues.

With agency work, you are handling someone else's products/services. Typical examples would be lotto, dry cleaning, Australia Post, etc.

Typically the commissions for handling these products/services are sometimes tiny. Yet the claim made by the agency is that these are good commissions, plus they give the shop customers that they would never get. 

Observations I will make here.

1) The commissions, over time, have a habit of dropping.
2) The commissions stated by the agency do rarely add up to the quoted figure. When I added up one client's figures, we found after fees; the 10% commission was more like 8%.
3) Good agencies demand the shop often do and spend to get these agencies.
4) Agencies often put barriers to the shop to sell other products. Yes, the customer comes in, but the store is limited in how it can offer additional products.
5) They interfere in the shop's management which is sometimes a positive as agencies know their business.

Is it worth getting these agencies? Many say YES.

Yesterday with the superdraw for $100 million, we saw long lines of people in shops. People who never came to a shop were coming into the shop. Loto was bringing in lots of customers to shops. 

The challenge for the retailer is to use that added foot traffic to make more sales of other items because that is where the profit is found. The trouble with lotto is that their product rarely leads to additional sales. Still, a small percentage can add up, say 300 people buy the lotto. 10% purchase something else well that 30 new customers for the shop.

As yesterday's long queues show, it promoted the shop, and people got used to dealing with the shop. 

Also, many shops are unmarketable without a good agency and cannot be sold. People will pay for a lotto agency, and they will pay for an Australian Post outlet. 

What I suggest is that you look at your profitability 

If you want a quick and instant way of finding out what did sell in your shop yesterday in the superdraw

Go to Register reports.

Now pick "Top N Stock Sales for a Given Period."

In the form put in yesterday, 20/10/2022 now compare the same with the report with figures from 13/10/2022, you will be able to see immediately what lotto brought into the shop.

Christmas - 75 days and counting.

Retailers need to plan for the coming season more than any other Christmas because this one will be tough. With retail sales currently up and after more than two years of Covid, Australians want a Christmas to reconnect with friends and family, so one expects that the public will be looking to buy but....

Three big problems need to address now:

) We have a mess of current supply available. You need to review whether you will have an adequate supply for Christmas better, check with your suppliers and get your orders in now. A survey stated that 30% of shoppers say they now planning to start shopping.
) The delivery crisis is improving in Australia, but overseas, if you import, there are real problems, particularly from China. 
) Then there is the other problem of getting enough staff. Plenty are now looking to try and find it. One can expect that getting enough Christmas casuals will be difficult.
I think we can expect that as a result of the pandemic, the public, having gotten used to planning early, will start buying soon for the festivities like last year, and it will happen this year. 

Here is a quick way for you to start the process of planning.

Go to register reports and select the top stock report, marked with the red arrow.

You get this screen

Now I suggest you work by the department as it makes it easier to think about similar products.

Look at the red arrows, as these items need to change for the coming Christmas. Out dates for 2019 pre-covid and 100 items as after 100, it is rarely worth worrying about.

Then you will get a report like this.

Now you need to examine this list to see what did sell. You may find many items that did not sell; you may want to explore these too.

I suggest doing the same analysis for last year as it will give you an extra comparison.

You now have a list of items that did sell over this period in your shop.

Halloween is possibly the fastest-growing marketing season in Australia today. If you look at this graph, I put a comparison of interest over the years of father's day to Halloween. This gives you an idea of how important the holiday has become with double the interest.

As such, sales have been growing over the years. Today has become a major retail event, and it is time to start preparing to get your part. As this holiday is one where the stock is often difficult to move after Halloween, you must ensure your ordering is spot on. If you are looking for ideas, I would suggest looking at costumes, witch hats, Halloween makeup, and masks.  Of course, if possible, try buying stock items that can sell after Halloween.

If you want a quick and instant way of finding out what did sell in your shop in previous years on Halloween.

Go to Register reports.

Now pick "Top N Stock Sales for a Given Period."

In the form, put in the following dates 01/10/21 to 31/10/21. A report will come out with what sold over that month. As last year is unusual, I recommend rerunning the report. So put in now the dates 01/10/19 to 31/10/19. Now compare these two reports.

Move, the clock is clicking.

It's always a problem as the Grand Finals are coming up, most people's teams are out, and although the football sales should be good, it is only for a short time. If it does not move, you may be stuck with the stock, which is often unsellable. Who in 2023 will want a stock with a 2022 label?

What is a good idea is to ring your supplier and see what can be done. If the problem worries you, it is much more for them.

Stick a sign-up, make a Grand Final Sale and try to move it.

Interestingly, I have noticed that most of the items offered in their Grand Final Sales have nothing to do with football. As long as you have a few products for football, there is no reason why many other products can be added to your Grand Final Sale.

As always, I recommend marking the sale on your computer to see how it does.

The recent Fine Food Show brought up the subject of coffee, which is a massive industry in Australia, about 9 billion dollars yearly. There is no dominant player with plenty of room for small to medium players to break in. Have a read of this report by IBISWorld here. 75% of all Australians drink at least one daily. Most of us consume much more. Why more of my clients do not get involved in it is a puzzle to me. It costs cents to make and sells for dollars. It also often has high add-on sales.

Now before I begin, I claim some expertise in coffee, being a certified barista.

​Now let's go through a few factors. Firstly like everything you have to work at it, a coffee seller is a restaurant and retailer. Its no pot of gold just waiting to be picked up.

Can you put coffee in some places like shopping?

In some places, you will not be allowed.

I do not recommend going in with a franchise.

Why share your profits? Do it yourself.

Do you have the space?

The excellent point of coffee is it can live in the dead areas of the shop. They do need access to electricity. Plus, these machines are often messy, so I recommend you be careful with the nearby goods.

The machine

I recommend walking outside your shop and researching the competition around you. Only once you have an idea of the pricing can you decide on the machine. 

The minimum manual machine you could get away with commercially would be $1,500 for a second-hand machine and a decent grinder (if you are going to do it commercially, I recommend a separate grinder). That could get you about $4.5 a cup in a good area. If you look new, you are probably about $10,000, which can often get you more per cup.

An automatic machine costs about $2,000/year, but these only give you cheap coffees. Still, it said much that people make money on $1 a cup.

I recommend you get a machine from a place that fixes them. These machines frequently break down. Check their support. These machines often break down. If you cannot get it fixed, you will soon have a piece of unusable junk.

Beans

Do not buy the caterers' special beans. You can get good beans at reasonable prices for a little more. Australians are extremely serious about their coffee. They have a high standard for their coffee.

Training

I do recommend that you do a course. It does not take long, a couple of mornings. It takes a while to get the skill.

The software

This is important because a good coffee shop POS technology will make your accounting and management easier and more efficient.

Everyone in coffee is cost-conscious. You have to be. You need to know your cost margin exactly. These change with every delivery from your suppliers, so prices must be suitable for each recipe. This is not easy as each recipe has many options, e.g. cow milk or dairy-free alternatives. Then there is decaffeinated or not. Plus, stock control is vital; not having one ingredient can bring your coffee business to a stop. The shop has to be shut while the owner is running to a supermarket is a common story.

So most of you readers are lucky as your software is now being used in cafes where it is highly regarded.

It has clear navigation and a user-friendly screen

Tracking of customer data and honour loyalty schemes

Good cash management functions like dual cash drawer tills

Look into it, please.

Father's day is coming. According to figures released by Finder's research, the average expected spend this year is up.

"those from New South Wales and Queensland are the most generous, planning to spend $113 on average on their fathers. South Australians are the tightest, forking out just $85."

What they are planning is below.

So based on previous years, the retail industry is looking at an increase in sales this year.

Based on previous years, convenience is crucial for the public when picking out a Father's Day gift. They want to do it quickly. So make it easy for your shoppers to find their gifts. Consider creating a display that features your Father's Day merchandise with signage to lead shoppers to this exhibit. You want to make it super easy for your customers to grab and go.

Here are some gifts that Nextra is offering its members.

Do this if you are unsure what will work in your shop on Father's Day or to get some ideas.

Go to Register reports.

Now pick "Top N Stock Sales for a Given Period."

In the form, put in the week before September 5, 2021, and check it out. That will give you what worked last year.

Now put in the year before COVID-19 hit on September 1, 2019, and see that report.

This year will be a mix of these two dates.

Now, these are the items that worked for you then. They will probably work for you again this year.

Father's Day is an excellent shopping day in retail. Although it is a limited-time shopping festival with a short season, it can considerably impact your shop if correctly done.

We do not have a lot of time to prepare.

Payments by a debit or credit card incur a cost. Many businesses absorb these costs, but a significant percentage do pass the costs on as a payment surcharge.

Off the top of my head, I would say, based on what I have seen and heard, about 80% of our clients are in the beauty industry, e.g. hairdressers, a slightly smaller percentage in hospitality and general retail, 30% charge a surcharge. As a general rule, the smaller they are, the more likely they will charge it.

Does it cost them, customers? I think it does, but some will disagree with me. Many will accept that it costs them customers but claim that it produces more revenue than it loses. Here I agree they often have a good argument here.

Say you have a small coffee shop doing about $300,000 turnover in EFTPOS with a 40% margin and an average sale of $20. You introduce a surcharge of 50 cents, which makes about $7,500 profit, but as a result, you lose 1% of sales. This costs you a $1,200 loss in profit. The net gain in profit is about $6,200.

This is why our free EFTPOS system is very popular with these people.

Now accepting that you want to charge a surcharge, the rules are very confusing. Different banks had given me different views on the details here, as did the ACCC when I enquired.

So I suggest in point form the following if you want to charge a surcharge:

1) Get something in writing from your bank, see their website for details, study it, now cut and paste it and save it, and then follow it.

2) You need a sign showing your customers that you may set a surcharge to charge if EFTPOS/Credit cards are used.

3) Those who charge it have told me that when they calculate the costs, it is more than the bank's figures. I would query this with the bank, but if it is legit, yes, you can charge your figure. It's something you need to keep in mind that the bank's figure often seems too low. What is fascinating is that the banks' figures do not agree with each other. You may be able to use this to your advantage.

4) Now you have two choices

a) You can charge this through your POS System. Here you have the advantage of giving you more flexibility, but it has a problem that the POS Software does not know the card used. Many premium cards, which are the big problem here, are unknown, so they can only charge an average fee.

B) My favourite is using the bank system to charge it. Most banks' systems allow you to change the surcharge as you like. Plus, it somewhat leaves you out of the charge in the public perception.

5) Keep careful note of what happens after introducing the surcharge. If it is causing problems, you may consider rethinking the idea. What works well is only charging for payments under a certain amount. It has proven to be an excellent encouragement to get people to spend more. In our example above, people in the coffee shop often buy another coffee to get above this limit.

As always, let me know how it goes.

Readers here will know I support using events to connect with their customers. It is tricky, but it works, and it is cheap. Find some event, and link your stock to it to sell your products. This piggyback works as you connect to the major's extensive advertising program to get a slice. Often for free.

One such event I did like was Afterpay Day. Critics said that would not be much as Afterpay was on a decline and BNPL is down. Well neither I think is true. Yes its share price dropped, but its business is doing fine. The public overall does not care about the share price. What they care about are the business offers. Millions of them would have gotten emails pushing them to buy.

Well, here is the interest in Afterpay Day this August 2022.

In red, you will see the interest in 2021 and in blue, the interest in 2022. It started earlier and finished later than last year, but if you look at the bar on the left, you can see it is identical to last year. Majors must have been happy with it, as they extended the sale dates. It is a standard pattern today that the retailers will extend the holiday to get more sales if it works.

If you want more info, Australia Post puts it on the same level as Father's Day. Click here.

I am sure those retailers who listened to us made a few sales. I hope you did.

Using Marketing Lifestyle.

A lifestyle in this context means a segment of the population, for example, a particular profession, interest or age group. Common examples used are:
Seniors
Teachers

but it can also deal with almost anything

Bike riders
Gardening enthusiasts
Golfers

On its most superficial level, you offer a special discount in some departments to people in this group on a particular day. 

You put a sign on the window as" As a thank you to - ....." on date __/__/__ we are offering ................

Now try to pick a large group and, if possible, one that you only do minimum business. You do not want to give up too much discount. Try and pick an affluent segment. What is the point of marketing to people without money? You are trying to make your business known to a segment that you want to reach, creating an opportunity for them to become new customers. 

It is easy to pick an appropriate date as most of these segments have a particular date in the year for them.

Golfer's day 10th April 
Teacher's day 28th October

They work as 

1) Everyone wants a good deal.
2) Everyone wants to feel special.

Keep an eye on your calendar for these marketing dates so that you can plan your promotions well in advance and maximize their results!
If you need some ideas, use these sites; click here. Be careful as sometimes Australian dates can vary from overseas ones. 

All it costs is a sign on the window.

Make sure you use your POS System to record the sales due to this promotion to assess how well it worked.

Here is a marketing idea that you may want to consider.

Afterpay day is twice a year, and interest in it has rapidly grown, as you can see below.

Today it is a massive shopping event. The last one was in March; it went well. On indications, the next one will be bigger.  After all, Afterpay has a rapidly growing user base. Currently, they have over 3 million Australians in their system who are considered good customers. So Afterpay will be actively promoting to a lot of potentially good customers. There are also 63,000 shops in the Afterpay system, including most majors, e.g. David Jones, the good guys, Kmart, etc., and most will be pushing it too.

There is no reason why you cannot join in. The next Afterpay Day sale will occur between Thursday, 18 August and Sunday, 21 August, as long as you have Afterpay, which is easy to do in our POS system and does not take long to set up. If you have not got Afterpay yet, I recommend getting it. Consider it a virtual lay-by where you don't have to wait until the customer pays in full, with fewer hassles. 

Now all you need to do to take part is make a stand of specials and stick an Afterpay day sign on top. Before you ask, no, you are not obligated to ensure they use Afterpay to buy this stock.

Want some ideas on what to put on the stand?

As a minimum, you can do this, go to the register reports > stock titled "Old Stock on hand by Date last received"

Put in a date of a year ago; now, this will give you a listing of your old stock. 

Why not use Afterpay Day to get rid of this stock now?

Start your search here if you want to make it official and do much more.

A modern business needs an online presence. The best and fastest way to make such a presence is a Facebook Business Page, and it is free.

Despite what many of you hear from news outlets using overseas information, Facebook in Australia figures are slightly up.

- 6 in 10 Australians use Facebook

-1 in 2 Australians uses Facebook daily

It makes sense for businesses to establish a presence on Facebook to get more customers.

On Facebook, David can compete with Goliath as the page is the same no matter what size you are.

Need help in setting up a Facebook Business Page? It is easy. To start, all you need is a few photos and supply them with a few details. If you are still unsure well for our customers, we provide such a service for free.

In all your communication, e.g. email, you should include your Facebook page address. Every one of your customers should know of it. Push it. As you name spread Facebook will push the word out to relevant people, that is how their systems are designed.

Here are some ideas on what to write about

1) Most industries have a trade cycle, a trade show for the public, etc.

2) Look on Facebook at what other retail stores like you do, take notes of what they do and change it to your needs.

3) Google can be used to generate ideas. Put in a few words applicable to your business and see what comes up. What comes up is what people are looking for now.

4) Almost all businesses have stocktaking sales, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Xmas, etc.

5) Suppliers often notify you of their seasons and promotions. Often they provide free marketing aids, too, like photos and information.

6) If one of your suppliers suddenly grows in the market, write about how good it is and that you have these products.

7) Suppliers often have new products. Write about them. Tell them how it can help bring value to their lives.

8) School holidays often supply marketing opportunities.

9) You can check your sales reports to see when your business is busiest. Try and find out why and let people know what you have at that time.

10) New products in the shop work well too. Take a photo. Most of us have a smartphone that takes excellent photos. Please take a quick snap, add a few words, and you have done it.

11) Best sellers are also good. Go to your top-selling report, check out what is selling now well and let your customers know that you have it.

12) Your community and local area can generate ideas too. This makes you relevant to the local people.

13) Temporary Service Changes, for example, if your business is temporarily closed or you are now offering new or changing services.

14) Testimonials from happy customers are a proven way to grow revenue. Today something like 92% of people checks testimonials before buying something. I look at reviews before often buying nowadays.

15) A customer tells you are interesting story to do with your shop or products, if it is interesting to you, it probably would also be to your customers too.

16) A simple SWOT analysis can generate many ideas.

17) Tips and extra uses for using the products you market can be used.

Nothing here costs you anything.

Final notes:

a) Try to engage your audience.

b) Avoid the knockers. You will make mistakes; we all do. There is always some knocker who thinks they know it all. This is life. You are in business; you need a hard head to pick yourself up and improve.

c) The important aspect is keeping the content fresh.

d) Use Facebook's statistics to see how you are going. If something does not work, try something else.

e) Avoid politics; 50% of people will not like whatever you say.

f) Put someone in charge that likes Facebook. It will not be a job for them but a pleasure.

Try it and grow your revenue and meet customers in a new way.

Make your own mind up.

My previous article generated a lot of discussion with its conclusion that modern retailers needed a BNPL option and that layby today is, at best, minor. Not everyone liked my conclusion, but they are wrong. In modern retailing, BNPL is not going to be replaced by layby. There is no layby renaissance coming soon.

Here is a google trend of interest in layby vs the major BNPL providers over the past year.

In blue, you will see layby and compare it to Afterpay in red. If you want the exact figures, layby has 2% interest, Afterpay 74%, Zip 9%, etc.

Here is the latest report by Roy Morgan on BNPL.

Summary : The latest Roy Morgan Digital Payments Report shows 17.5 million Australians aged 14+ (82.8%) are now aware of buy-now-pay-later services such as Afterpay, Zip, Latitude Pay, Humm and Klarna.

...

The takeover hasn’t impacted upon growing awareness of Afterpay, now at 81.1%, up 7.7% points from a year ago in June 2021, and up a massive 47.3% points since September 2018.

 

Here is how it is breaking down today by usage.

Make your mind up. Read  the report, available from Roy Morgan 9027-digital-payment-solutions-june-2022

We do not see that a modern retailer can ignore these figures, so our advice is unchanged: you must investigate BNPL. Whatever you think of the Afterpay business model, most of the BNPL business now is there. 

The most popular loyalty program used by retailers today is probably stamped rewards cards. See some samples above

What it is, that a person comes into the shop and buys something. Every time they buy, they get a stamp, and after several purchases, they get something. It is an excellent method if you’re looking for a way to increase repeat customers and sales.

We suggest ten (10) stamps to the goal.

Here is a step-by-step approach that works.

1) Look for items with a decent margin and high demand, e.g. greeting cards, pet accessories, perfume, etc.

However, you can use it for anything. If you are stuck for ideas, consider using all purchases over $10. One problem here is if you try to knockout departments because they are low margin, you are advertising that the other departments are high priced. 

2) You need a design for your cards. Most printers can show you samples. Make sure you keep your brand image in mind, as each card is a simple and effective marketing tool that your customers carry. Select a design that is unique to your shop.

We suggest that it has twelve (12) spots to stamp.

3) Make a use-by date line. Unused points can be a real legal problem for a business. This line will be handwritten on the card.

We suggest a year

4) Select a simple, unique self-inking stamp that fits onto the squares of your loyalty card. This also has been shown to reduce fraud.

- Now, it is up to you if you integrate it into your POS system. There are some significant advantages to making it integrated.

-- It reduces fraud

--- It allows you to track your customers’ spending habits and collect valuable insight into improving your business.

--- Knowing their details, you can market your business to them.

5) When someone buys something on offer in the shop, offer them a card. If yes, they get one stamp for joining the item and one for buying. So everyone starts with two stamps. This gives them the feeling that they are closer to their reward as now they are 17% there (2 stamps out of 12).

We suggest you read it here.if you want to know the scientific reasons why we suggest this:

6) Once the reward is redeemed, they get a new card with one stamp credited for rejoining the program. Then they get another stamp for the free offer they redeemed. This overcomes this problem of them starting with zero as now they are at 17% again.

Give it a try and see how you go. Then let me know.

Ideas people consider:
a) Consider offering a smaller reward on the sixth (6) stamp. In practice, we have not found this to work well. 
b) People that buy on their birthday get an extra stamp. Never seen this idea used, but I think it will work.
c) Big purchases get two stamps. Since the purpose is to get people to buy, this idea seems self-defeating.  
d) Slow days get a bonus stamp. I can see it working well in many retail environments but not in others. Maybe have a chew on this one.

Now you have reviewed your stock in your stocktake, why not put some aside to make a stocktaking sale. Other retailers now are doing that; why not you? If it works for them, why not you?

Now you can supplement these items with this fantastic report.

In the register reports > stock titled "Old Stock on hand by Date last received"

This will give you a listing of your old stock. 

The old stock did not do you much good. If it is old it is probably depreciating at about 30% a year, so after three years, it has just been written off. Of course the insurance, rental on the property, staff costs, etc. to keep it are not written off.

Was it better to count these old stock, than move it?

There is no excuse not to have a stocktaking sale to get rid of old stock now it's the annual season to do so.

Arbitrary coherence is a marketing technique used by some retailers. What happens is when people are faced with a product line they don't know will often select an arbitrary price to determine its value. A typical example is in gifts who knows what the price is of a gift item?

Now imagine in the shop there are two similar items:

1) $15 item

2) $20 item

Now you add a third item

3) $50 item

Studies show that by having the $50 item on display, sales go up as people buy more $15 and $20 items because the cost seems reasonable compared to the $50. This is true even if no $50 item is sold.

Works well even if the product is not in the shop for example when doing special orders. Start with the $50, then quickly mention the cheaper ones. 

Check out the video below if you want to think more about it and its business use.