Opening Day Gifts for Shoppers: Choosing, Budgeting and Tracking Distribution

Choose a small gift related to your store’s range. Before purchasing, set the budget, the quantity to distribute, a reserve and clear collection terms. Assign people to manage stock, handouts and stock checks.

Prepare a short working plan: what you are giving, to whom, when, how many units are available and who records the actual handouts. After opening day, count the gifts distributed, the costs and the remaining stock. This will let you check whether the plan was carried out.

Choose a gift with a specific use

Make a short list of items that introduce shoppers to your range or complement how they use it. For each option, write down what the person will be able to do with it. Prefer an item whose benefit you can explain in one sentence.

Inspect a sample before placing an order. Check its quality, completeness, size and packaging. If the item is meant to complement a main product, check that they are compatible. Do not order the full batch before this check.

Compare options by unit cost, preparation costs and ease of distribution. Decide in advance whether a staff member will hand over a ready-made gift or assemble a set. If you choose the second option, prepare the sets before opening day.

Calculate the purchase, including a reserve

Multiply the cost of one gift by the quantity you plan to buy. Add packaging, delivery, printing and any other costs in your plan separately. Approve the total before placing the order.

Divide the quantity purchased between the stock for the announced distribution and the reserve. Decide what the reserve is for, such as replacing damaged units. Leave approval for using it for additional handouts with the owner. Do not count the reserve twice in the budget.

Illustrative example: budget and remaining stock

Suppose a bookshop chooses a bookmark. In this example, it buys 120 bookmarks at UAH 20 each and packaging for each at UAH 5. It plans to distribute 100 gifts and keeps 20 in reserve. All figures are illustrative.

The reserve is already included in the 120 units purchased. Delivery, printing and other costs are not specified in this example. Check them separately for your own budget.

Suppose 70 packaged bookmarks were distributed and two more turned out to be damaged. Usable stock remaining: 120 − 70 − 2 = 48 units. If the damaged bookmarks are kept separately, there are physically 50 units in the store: 48 usable and two damaged.

The 70 sets distributed account for 70 × UAH 25 = UAH 1,750 in gift and packaging costs. The total purchase for these items remains UAH 3,000. Allocate the rest between usable stock and damaged sets according to their actual condition.

Write down the terms before publishing the announcement

Prepare one set of terms for shoppers and staff. Specify:

• who receives a gift and whether a purchase is required;
• which purchases qualify, if the handout is linked to a purchase;
• how many gifts each recipient may receive;
• the time period, address and collection point in the store;
• the available quantity and the start and end dates and times; plan to stop distribution when the announced limit is reached or usable stock runs out;
• what staff should do when distribution stops: notify the person responsible for stock and shoppers, and update availability notices;
• any exceptions and replacement options approved by the owner; staff may offer a replacement only under the published terms.

Before launching the announcement, make sure the advertised quantity does not exceed usable stock. Give staff the same terms. Check that they can explain them consistently and identify who is eligible for a gift.

For advertising promotional events, Part 3 of Article 8 of the Law of Ukraine “On Advertising” requires you to state the time period and location, along with where to find information about the event’s terms and location. The definition of such events in Article 1 includes the free distribution of samples of advertised goods. When advertising an event in Ukraine involving free samples of advertised goods, include these details, applying the special rule for audio media. In audio media, give the source of information about terms, dates and location. Announce changes in the same way as the original information.

Assign responsibility for storage, handouts and stock checks

The owner should approve the gift, budget, terms and procedure for using the reserve. Ask the person responsible for storage to receive and count the batch. The staff member handing out gifts should check eligibility and record the quantity distributed. The person responsible for accounting should reconcile the records with the remaining stock. In a small store, these roles can be combined.

1. Choose storage locations for the main stock, reserve and damaged units.
2. Count usable gifts before distribution starts. Transfer them to the staff member in set quantities.
3. Prepare a log with: date or shift, quantity transferred for distribution, quantity actually distributed, damaged, returned to stock, remaining stock and person responsible.
4. At the end of the shift, count the stock at the distribution point and return undistributed units to the person responsible for storage.
5. Reconcile total stock with handouts and damaged units. Resolve discrepancies before the next transfer of gifts.

You can keep this log as a separate table. Record transfers to staff and returns to stock as internal movements. Count gifts received by shoppers based on actual handouts.

Writing off goods in Torgsoft: quantity and cost

Torgsoft has an operation for writing goods off warehouse inventory. It works without processing a sale. Write-offs are made at cost. After entering the actual quantity, click “Розрахунок собівартості” (Calculate cost) to recalculate the cost of the goods in the document. Use it for actual operations that your store has designated for processing by write-off.

Goods are considered written off from the accounting location as soon as they are added to the document. So enter the actual quantity in line with the agreed accounting procedure. Do not enter planned gifts or the reserve in the document in advance.

The write-off form shows the quantity written off and the quantity remaining in the warehouse. Reconcile these figures with the log and physical stock, accounting separately for damaged units. The process is described in the goods write-off guide. Use this data to track warehouse movements; it does not show the effect of gifts on sales.

After opening day, check how the plan went

Summarize actual handouts, usable stock remaining, damage and costs. Compare them with the approved budget. Keep shoppers’ voluntary comments and note questions that staff found difficult to answer.

Use the results to refine the next working plan: purchase quantity, reserve size, packaging or terms. Do not conclude that sales increased based only on the number of gifts distributed.

Source of legal requirements

Law of Ukraine “On Advertising”: Article 1 and Part 3 of Article 8.