Kole Imports Blog

What do customers want when they are shopping at a dollar store?  And what would they buy in a dollar store, even though they didn’t know they wanted it when they walked in the door?

These are relatively simple questions, the answers to which are fairly complex, and vary depending on the location of the store.  How do you answer them?

Obviously, if you’ve been running a dollar store for a while, you know what your best-selling items are, as well as your best-selling types of items.  This is the first place to think about adding items to your inventory.  If  wrenches are selling really well, do you carry nuts and bolts?  If not, you should put some on the shelf and see how they do.   This is called adding a complementary item, and it’s a basic retail strategy which works great.

 If a 16-ounce travel coffee mug is a great seller, you should add some other styles of travel mug to your inventory.  The dollar store customer will have more choices, and if you sell out of one item, people will likely buy the style you have left, which means you didn’t miss out on the sale.  Offering a few different types of a popular item is a great way to generate consistent sales, and to compensate for sold-out items. 

Look around your dollar store for impulse items.  Do you have enough items people will want when they see them?  Are these items placed in obvious locations near the front of the store, or near related items on your shelves.  If someone doesn’t know they’re going to buy something, they need to easily find it.  It’s a simple concept.  Look around your store and see if it’s true in your situation.  A few examples of great dollar store impulse items are toys, lip balm, sunglasses, candy, iPod cases, and small tools.  I’m sure you can think of many more.  When you’re placing an order with a dollar store merchandise wholesaler, think about this when considering what new items to buy.  Do it right, and you’ll increase the average order size, and you’ll make your customers even happier. 

Get into the habit of asking yourself simple questions about how you can improve your store, and over time your sales will improve, and your customers will be happier.  You can also ask your customers what sort of things they’d like to see in your store, and pay attention when they tell you what they’d like to buy that you don’t carry.

Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! 

We just got a great deal on Reusable Water Bottles and Shopping Bags, which are great for people looking to reduce consumption of paper and plastic.  These are popular items, and they will sell well in your store.

Our reusable watter bottle (item # HB124) holds 34 ounces, has an easy to open spout at the top, and has an easy-grip handle on it.  These are very popular now, as people are buying fewer bottles of water and are switching to refillable bottles.  Here’s a picture.

Reusable Water Bottle # HB124

Green Reusable Shopping Bag # GM006

Kole Imports’ success is due largely to our huge selection of dollar store merchandise, and we continue to offer great deals on dollar store items.  We just want to mention that we also carry  items which retail for more than a dollar.   If you’re looking for wholesale general merchandise to sell at different price points, come to koleimports.com and see what we have.

We’ve spent a lot more time and energy seeking out and buying closeouts lately, which means we’ve expanded our range of products significantly, with lots of great new dollar store items and also many new over $1 retail items.  Browsing through our items, you will even find items we’re wholesaling for well under a dollar, which you’ll be able to sell for more than a dollar in a retail store.  If we got a great deal on an item as a closeout, you’ll get a great deal on it when you buy it wholesale from us.  Here are a few pictures of our over $1 items.

Laser Level As Seen On TV # OA584

Portable 250 PSI Air Compressor # OA322

Cable knit purse with snowball ties # OA944

3-Pc Tealight Candle Holder # OA759

We just received a shipment of very nice health and beauty closeouts, including bath brushes, scrubbers, foot files, massagers and little bottles.  These are high-quality items in nice packaging, and they have the look of expensive boutique products.  We got a great deal on them, and we’re passing the savings on to you.  These are great impulse items, especially if they’re priced low.  Women love to shop for health and beauty items, and they’ll buy these even if they already have similar items at home, especially if these items are nicer than the ones they already own. 

Even if you believe you have a complete health and beauty section in your store, you should carry these items.  They are attractively packaged and well-constructed, and your customers will buy them when they see them.  Put them into your health and beauty section, and you will see how quickly they sell out.  Our wholesale prices for these items are low, so you’re sure to make money on them.  Click here to see all of our health and beauty wholesale closeouts.  Pictures are below.

4-Way Wooden Foot Brush # BE646

Massager # BE637

Boucle Scrubbing Pad # BE647

Put me in, Coach.  I’m ready to play.  Today.  Baseball season has started!  The Los Angeles Dodgers are looking good this  year.  Be ready for Dodger fans by carrying Officially Licensed MLB Baseball 2-Pack Dodgers Notepads in your store. (item # FB206)  It’s a great item at a great price, fans love the team, and now is the perfect time to be selling it. 

We have new licensed NFL Football items as well.  I’m saying this long before the NFL Football season even starts:  The Raiders are going to win the next Super Bowl.  I’m sure you agree with me, and the best way to show your love of the Raiders is to buy some Officially Licensed NFL Oakland Raiders Notepads and keep one with you at all times, spending your days filling the pages with “I ♥ The Raiders.”  We’re selling a 2-pack with one silver notebook and one black one, so no matter what crazy costume you’re wearing, you’ll have a notepad that matches your attire.

What’s that?  You’re not a Raider fan?  Why not?  You should take a few moments right now to ponder this question and think about who you really are and what you were born to do.  Football isn’t just about scoring touchdowns, playing defense and winning games.  There’s a lot more to it than that.  I just sent an email to the NFL asking them to abolish the scoring system and just have the teams play for fun.  Everyone will get a participation ribbon.  The Raiders motto will have to change from “Just Win, Baby!” to “Just Participate, Baby!”

OK, fine.  You’re not going to buy our Raiders notepads, and you’re thinking about our Dodgers notepads.  We also have new items from a lot of other teams, including NBA Basketball, NFL Football and MLB Baseball teams, many of which don’t suck, and in many cities people will buy team merchandise even if the team does suck (Case in point:  The Raiders).  We have new items from these teams:  Pistons, Heat, Bears, Bulls, Mavericks, Chiefs, Heat, Rams, Dolphins and White Sox.  The new items are wallets, notepads, and stationery sets.  See pictures below.  We also have magnets and air fresheners with the logos of a lot of other teams.  Click here to see all of our licensed sports products.

Los Angeles Dodgers MLB Notepad # FB206

Raiders NFL Football Notepad 2-Pack # FB202

Dallas Mavericks NBA Pad, Pencil Stationery Set # FB212

Miami Heat NBA Wallet # FB209

If you’re looking for a quick and easy turnkey display for your store, check out our promopallets.com website.  You’ll find promotional displays in all sizes, from PDQ countertop displays and dump displays all the way up to promotional pallets of merchandise at low wholesale prices.  We even have free shipping for orders over $2,500 in the continental U.S.  See the promopallets.com website for complete details on shiping and prices for all of they displays and pallets.

Most of the pallets contain a variety of items, but they all have the same UPC code, so they are easy to set up in your system.  Buy a 1536-piece pallet promotional display, and you only have to enter one UPC code into your POS system even though there are 48 different items in the display.  This is a true turnkey system.  Roll it into your store, unwrap it, enter one UPC into your system, and the merchandise is ready to sell.

If a pallet-sized promotional display is too big to fit in your store,  take a look at the 768-piece starter pallet displays.  If you want something even smaller, we have free-standing dump displays, floor displays and PDQ countertop displays to fit into smaller spaces in your store.

You should seriously consider putting some of these promtional displays in your store.  Look around your store and you will see several places you could put free-standing turnkey promotional displays.  And the great thing about our Promo Pallet Displays  is that you don’t have to clear out any shelf space to get them into the store.  Your store will still be full of all of your current merchandise, and you will have new things to sell, so you will increase your profits.  Go to promopallets.com now and see all of the details on our wholesale turnkey store promotional displays.  You’ll be glad you did. 

1,440 Piece Automotive Half Pallet # DA100

768- Pc General Merchandise Starter Pallet Display # DA105

72-pc Shammy Cloth Promotional Floor Display # DB104

44-pc Flash Card Countertop Promotional Display # DC105