Capitalise on the cold by selling prepaid electricity

With summer behind us, we bid farewell to the refreshing rainstorms and sunny skies we know all too well, trading them in for bare trees and the cold embrace of winter. While small businesses need to ensure that they are able to face all the challenges a South African winter poses, such as load shedding and decreased foot traffic, small business owners should not only focus on operating through winter but should also look at ways to capitalise on the cold.

You can make your business profit from the unique demands of each new season by meeting the season-specific needs of your customers. To keep foot traffic up in winter, below are four profitable simple business ideas you can implement in your store:

• Adjust your operating hours – If you have difficulty dragging yourself out of your cosy bed at 6am on a cold winter morning, odds are your customers are having a similar experience. Don’t punish yourself by opening up shop early in the morning when customers are few. Rather identify the patterns of how customers visit your store and adjust your business hours accordingly.
• Provide hot drinks – A small element of hospitality such as free hot chocolate will go a long way towards not only literally warming your customers up, but also figuratively warming them up to the idea of purchasing something in your store. This will increase foot traffic and create a favourable impression with clients, as well as exposing them to the myriad purchasing opportunities in your store.
• Offer essential services – Consider that visitors to your store might need to purchase things other than your in-store products. You can increase foot traffic by making your store the ‘one stop shop’ during the winter months. With Kazang you are able to offer customers a variety of vital prepaid services such as airtime, prepaid electricity and mobile data. They’ll also be able to buy Lotto tickets and pay their DSTV bills. This will add an extra element of convenience to your store, and customers are more likely to visit one place where they can get everything as opposed to visiting several different stores.
• Engage on social media – Your loyal customers will still be checking their social media feeds during winter. Leverage this to your advantage by letting them know that you are still open and having an active social media presence. You should also spread the word about any in-store promotions you may have as well as services you offer such as prepaid electricity.

Using prepaid electricity to power up your store

Perhaps the most prominent of the above mentioned ideas is that of offering essential services. With the Eskom tariff hike of 9.4% and increased electricity usage over winter, it is very likely that many South African citizens may run out of electricity as they adjust to the new fees and figure out how many units of prepaid electricity to buy. When this happens, your store can be the place they turn to in order to light up their homes again. Kazang offers you flexible ways of selling prepaid services and accepting micro-payments, and you can offer multiple services from just one terminal.

By using the vending machine option, you earn commission from every transaction. In addition, you can also purchase airtime at a discount and then make a profit by reselling it. We understand that every store has different requirements, which is why we enable you to sell prepaid electricity not only by using Kazang, but from an in-store ATM or POS terminal as well.

The same as you would prepare your business for holidays, you also need to prepare for winter. Don’t get left out in the cold this winter and rather keep things powered with prepaid electricity. For more information about the Kazang vending machine, download the Kazang brochure.