10 Great Promotional Ideas: Small Electrics

When we queried retailers about promotional ideas for the small electrics category, many of them groaned. Though the groaners spoke of small margins with scant room to squeeze out a promotion, others talked of promotions and demonstrations that helped invigorate sales without an accompanying lowering of price points. That's this feature's goal -- to provide you with methods of inspiring sales of small electrics and charge your customers up about the category. Following are promotional ideas we obtained from your retail peers, along with a few of our own -- all are designed to help you plug into a sometimes-perplexing category.

Singles Night
Reality dating shows are more popular than ever. It seems that everyone is looking for love. Why not plan your own dating game with a Singles Night Cooking Class Series? During the series, you can preview some of the newest and not-so-new small electrics by showcasing recipes designed for two servings.
For example, one class could focus on food processors, demonstrating to students that smaller portions work just as well in these multifunctional machines. Start the class by demonstrating the food processor and the other equipment you'll be using in class. Then give students hands-on participation by assigning teams to create a portion of the menu. This will encourage mingling and enable students to test the products themselves. When everything is complete, invite everyone to sit down and enjoy his or her meal in a family-style service.
For example, one class could focus on food processors, demonstrating to students that smaller portions work just as well in these multifunctional machines. Start the class by demonstrating the food processor and the other equipment you'll be using in class. Then give students hands-on participation by assigning teams to create a portion of the menu. This will encourage mingling and enable students to test the products themselves. When everything is complete, invite everyone to sit down and enjoy his or her meal in a family-style service.
Create menus for two centering on a range of other small electrics from indoor grills to ice cream machines. Your Singles Night Cooking Classes will give single people who share a passion for food the chance to meet while you also show off the tools of the trade.

Never Say Never
While specialty independents may sometimes be left to ride the coattails of a national campaign for small electrics, creating a promotion and asking for support from your vendors is always a good idea.
For Seattle, Wash.-based Sur La Table, asking a major vendor for a bonus sales tool was the perfect solution for generating attention for a product that was experiencing stagnant sales.
"We were looking for ways to breathe new life into the Krups La Glacier Ice Cream Maker and we asked for