Aren’t Paper Goods Too Expensive To Carry?

There is really no easy way around the reality faced by those who own a dollar store.  The reality is that costs are high and getting higher all the time.  You might think this is true for other businesses - and most of us as well.  Yet for a dollar stores there are special challenges to address.  The one primary problem you must face up to is the self-imposed ceiling placed on the retail price charged for the dollar store merchandise being sold.  With rising costs and a ceiling on sales price, an inevitable crash is going to occur at the time costs equal sales price.

If something is not done, you will be the victim of business failure – no profits.  While some store owners will decide to lift this retail price ceiling by changing the format of their store, others will do everything possible to maintain that one-dollar price point ceiling as long as possible. One of the strategies these sales-price ceiling advocates will follow is to start eliminating high-wholesale-cost dollar store merchandise from the mix. One such group of items to come under scrutiny will be paper products.

Paper products include items such as paper towels and napkins, facial tissue, bathroom tissue, and other similar items.  With careful shopping there are still some opportunities to purchase paper products at a discount from your wholesale dollar suppliers.  Take advantage and stock-up when these opportunities arise.  Saving even a few extra cents on these products can mean a lot at the end of the year. 

Whether you save a penny or two because of a special sale or closeout from a wholesale vendor or not, you must develop a strategy which enables you to carry paper products in your store at all times.  Paper goods will draw shoppers back to your store time after time. While they are in your store they will examine other dollar store merchandise as well.  If you are carrying the dollar store merchandise shoppers seek, these customers will add to their paper goods purchase. 

So in the end with good merchandising, you can make a very tight margin on paper goods. At the same time you can also make an acceptable margin on the other products your shoppers purchase while in your dollar store.  Shoppers will soon be coming back whenever they are in need of paper goods, or any other core basic items.  This makes it a win-win for both you and the consumer.   Shoppers purchase needed items at great prices, and you will see sales grow.