Stores achieving £1,579 in extra profit following PayPoint visits

PayPoint’s newly expanded team of store growth specialists (SGS) are unlocking £1,579 in extra annual profit for the average store they work with, based on Better Retailing supervised store visits.

The team, launched earlier this year and has now grown from three to five specialists covering the UK. Using 11million data-points including store transactions and shopper demographics, they arrange meetings in store to explain changes that will increase sales.

 On 24 July, PayPoint SGS Paul Maxwell (pictured: right) attended two stores in Kent and Sussex, accompanied by Better Retailing.

Bradley’s in Brighton

The first visit was Gihan Salih’s (pictured: left) student-focused 500sq ft store in Brighton – Bradley’s. Maxwell had visited previously and listened to Salih’s challenges with her high utility bills. PayPoint sent Salih’s water and energy bills to its affiliated broker – Assured Energy, resulting in a combined £1,040 annual saving.

The retailer also received Love2Shop giftcards and a new stand which also promotes her existing gift vouchers. Based on PayPoint’s forecasted sales at a 10% margin, the Love2Shop sales are likely to be worth £128 additional annual profit per year.

The SGS also offered to add Royal Mail parcels to compliment Salih’s existing services, worth £650 in annual profit based on 50 parcels per week at 25p commission each.

The changes amount to £1,818 forecasted profit – £1,040 through bill savings and £778 through profit on new services. “This is the highlight of my job” Maxwell.

There were plenty of benefits from the meeting that were harder to put a number on. The store’s daily credit limit was upped to £1,000 after Maxwell discovered Bradley’s was often hitting its £300 cap. Following a request from Salih, Maxwell said the store’s supply of SIM cards is to be topped up ahead of the busy Pride celebration in the city. An issue with PayPoint ATM not appearing on Link’s ‘ATM Finder’ map was also resolved and Maxwell answered complex queries around her card machine’s end-of-day summary reports.

PayPoint claims ‘double digit’ rise in commission paid to average independent shop

Dunorlan Park Stores in Tunbridge Wells 

This was the first time Maxwell had visited Mahendrarajah Mahinthan’s store, which thrives on supporting an elderly population. The owner was more dubious about Maxwell’s claims of increasing his store’s profits, joking: “I can make profit with PayPoint?”

Maxwell used PayPoint’s AI tool which scans a shop owner’s card payments bill and instantly compares the charges paid to PayPoint’s card merchant offer. The results showed a £1,010 annual saving, which Mahinthan negotiated up to £1,050 per year. “Let’s do it,” he then said.

Next, Maxwell offered to add both DHL and Ebay parcels to the store, which is already part of PayPoint’s CollectPlus parcel network. The retailer rejected DHL over fears the packages could be ‘too big’, but accepted Ebay – worth an estimated £162.50 extra annual profit based on 12.5 parcels per week at 25p each. Like Bradley’s in Brighton, Dunorlan Park Stores also accepted the Love2Shop cards and stand for a forecast £290.50 extra annual profit. Finally, the store has also now started handling International Driving Permits applications, earning £1.80 each time, with a forecast of 50 per month, the store is set to make £162 per year.

In total, the savings and commissions are worth an estimated £1,340.5 per year for this Tunbridge Wells store.

Like in the earlier visit, the retailer also raised issues, such as losing access to Amazon parcel services, which was reversed swiftly after the meeting. The retailer also expressed frustration over long wait times when phoning PayPoint, which Maxwell attributed to other shops calling to address things that can be resolved in other ways, such as the ‘Help’ button on the terminal.

Describing what sets the SGS team apart from other visits stores might receive, Maxwell told Better Retailing: “We look for stores that have a high variance from the average store’s performance. We’re not here to sell anything, The new services offered are without cost and it’s all completely up to the retailer. It’s all about making sure stores aren’t leaving money on the table.”

PayPoint confirmed that stores can also request an SGS visit through their PayPoint rep.

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