How to Stock Your Spirit Box: When You Launch and After it's Running
Let’s talk about how products will work for your Spirit Box Enterprise...
Now is the time to begin finalizing the product mix for your Spirit Box Enterprise, so let’s lay out how this is going to work.
PLANNING FOR FIVE-SEVEN TRAYS OF PRODUCTS
Your Spirit Box is made up between 5-7 trays, each with 12 spirals (slots) for products. There are two options of Spirit Boxes (one being the traditional boxes with 5 trays and the snack box that has 7 trays). That's quite a bit of inventory to fully stock your Spirit Box! (download our plan-o-gram to start sketching your ideas)
Time to fill the spirals.
INITIAL INVENTORY STARTER-PACK
Your first year Spirit Box program investment of $13,750 includes an initial inventory starter-pack made up of many different blank convenience items to help fill about two trays of the 5-7 trays in your Spirit Box.
Starter Pack Products
Earbuds
Wireless Headphones
iPhone Cables
Droid Cables
Flash Drives
Wireless Mice
Deodorant
Water bottles
USB/AC Power Adapters
6-Port USB Desk Chargers
Bic Mechanical Pencils - 2pk
Bic Pens - 4pk assorted colors
The remaining and ongoing product mix is up to you to source. Popular Spirit Box inventory can include:
Consumables like chapstick, mints, gum and Kleenex pocket pouches that can be easily sourced from a Costco or Sam’s Club;
Custom spirit wear like t-shirts, lanyards and beanies. Our sister company, Spirit Factory, can help your school with a huge variety of custom branded merchandise. www.Spirit-Factory.com
Blank convenience items at wholesale (like what is found in your initial starter-pack) can be reorder from our strategic partner at www.SchoolStoreProducts.com
PRICING PRODUCTS
Pricing products as a new business always comes with a challenge of wondering how do other businesses land on the cost of their goods? Should you mirror what other businesses are doing or raise or lower your prices? The first step is to establish your baseline of your cost of goods.
Making good pricing decisions is critical to the success of the business. If a product is priced too high or too low, it can create a loss for the business. The term price is used interchangeably with the term cost—however, the two are very different. Price is what a customer pays a seller—usually a retailer. Cost is what the seller incurs (which may include cost of production) to obtain the product.
PRODUCTS FOR YOUR BEVERAGE BOX
Does your school have any health restrictions? If so, review the guidelines and stock with these restrictions in mind.
What kind of beverages does your customer want? Survey the students and faculty in your school to gage what kind of beverages they like.
Are there other beverage boxes in your school? Read their contract to make sure you are in compliance with their contract with your school. If their contract is almost up, compete for exclusivity with your school.
Healthy Approved Snacks
Every school is different on what they are allowed to sell but many schools have restrictions on what food they can and can’t sell. Be mindful of these restrictions.
Let’s keep the conversation going! Comment here with questions, concerns or recommendations regarding your Spirit Box product mix (or anything else for that matter)