Tobacco scan data programs explained

On this page

1. What scan data is
2. Why manufacturers want it
3. What programs usually require
4. Before you sign
5. How a store takes part
6. Common problems and fixes
7. Give it an owner

If you sell tobacco, a manufacturer’s rep has probably asked whether your store does scan data. In short, it means sending the manufacturer a record of your tobacco sales every week, in the format they ask for, as part of their retail program.

Each manufacturer runs its own program. Altria, RJ Reynolds and others each have their own agreement, file layout, schedule and rules, and they change them from time to time. This article covers what programs generally ask for and how a store takes part. Your own agreement is the final word on the details.

What scan data is

Scan data is a line-by-line record of tobacco sales, pulled from your register. Each line usually carries:

• The store, the register, and the date and time
• The transaction it belongs to
• The product’s UPC and description
• The quantity and unit, such as pack, carton, can or each
• The price charged
• Any discount, and the promotion it came from
• A loyalty ID, when the customer gave one and the program uses it

Many programs ask for every sale in the tobacco categories they cover, including other manufacturers’ brands. Check your agreement to see which categories are in.

One sale, as the file sees it

Say a customer buys two packs of the same cigarette brand under a two-pack offer the manufacturer pays for, plus a soda. The tobacco part of that sale would reach the file something like this:

Field	What the file shows
Product	The pack’s UPC and description
Unit and quantity	Pack, 2
Price	The regular price of each pack
Discount	The two-pack discount, tied to the offer’s promotion
Transaction	The same transaction number and time as the receipt

The soda stays out, because it isn’t a tobacco item. If the cashier had keyed the packs on an open tobacco key, or typed a lower price instead of letting the offer apply, the manufacturer would see something different from what happened at the counter.

Why manufacturers want it

Manufacturers pay for promotions: multi-pack offers, buydowns, coupons and loyalty discounts. Scan data shows them the discount reached an adult customer at the register. It also shows how their products sell, store by store.

In return, stores in a program may qualify for payments, promotional funds or offers they can run for their customers. Each manufacturer sets its own terms and spells them out in the agreement.

What programs usually require

A clean pricebook

Every tobacco item should ring up by its own UPC, with the right description and unit. A carton rings as a carton, never as ten packs or as one pack. A sale rung on an open tobacco key, with no UPC, can’t be reported properly.

Promotions rung the program’s way

A program discount must show up at the register as a discount tied to that promotion. If a cashier types a lower price instead, the file shows a cheap sale with nothing behind it, and the manufacturer has no record that its offer ran.

Files on time

Each file covers a set week and is due by a set day. A late or missing file can cost you that week in the program.

Store rules

Many agreements also cover displays, signs, pricing on promoted products and age checks. These differ by manufacturer and by the level of the program you sign up for.

Before you sign

Read the agreement with these points in mind:

• Which tobacco categories and brands the file has to cover
• The file layout, the reporting week and the due day
• Who is allowed to submit files for you
• What happens when a week is late or missing
• Which store rules come with each level of the program
• How long the agreement runs and how either side can end it

Write the answers down where the whole team can find them. The person who signed the agreement is often not the person ringing the sales.

How a store takes part

1. Check your register. You need item-level sales with UPCs, and a way to get them out every week, either straight from the register or from back office software that reads it.
2. Clean up your tobacco items. Correct UPCs for packs and cartons, correct departments, and no tobacco rung on open keys.
3. Enroll. Your rep or the program’s website walks you through the agreement and gives you an account or store ID.
4. Decide who builds and sends the file. You, your back office software or a separate submitter. Whoever does it needs your register’s sales every week.
5. Set up the promotions at the register exactly as the program describes them.
6. Send test files and fix whatever errors come back.
7. Go live, and check every week that the file was accepted.

Common problems and fixes

• Rejected file. Often a format or ID problem. Read the rejection message; it usually names the field.
• Missing items. A tobacco item rang up without a UPC. Find it in the register’s sales by item and fix the item.
• Wrong units. Cartons reported as packs, or the reverse. Check the item’s unit and pack size in your pricebook.
• Discounts not showing. The promotion was never set up at the register, or cashiers are overriding prices. Fix the setup and retrain.
• Store ID mismatch. The ID in the file doesn’t match the one on your agreement. Ask the program what they have on file.
• A missed week. Some programs let you resend, some don’t. Find out which before it happens.

Give it an owner

Scan data is a weekly chore, and chores without an owner get skipped. Pick one person at the store to check, each week, that:

• The file went out and was accepted.
• New tobacco items were set up with their UPCs before they hit the shelf.
• Any new promotion was set up at the register before its start date.
• Price changes on promoted items follow the program’s rules.

When a manufacturer sends a program update, pass it straight to whoever builds your file. A new file layout or rule that nobody acted on can quietly put a store out of good standing.

Advantage builds the weekly Altria scan data file from the register’s own sales record and sends it automatically, and the Scan Data dashboard shows each week’s submission.