Driving Retail Sales with Indulgent Items
In a sign of the times, consumers are cutting back on staples in order to afford extravagances. What? Really? Consumers are foregoing Crest in favor of Coach?
Well, according to a recent article in The New York Times, yes!
And that makes sense. Consumers are tired of feeling constantly beaten down by the economy. They're sick of going for years without a raise. So they're tucking away bits of money each month in order to buy that little indulgence so they can feel better about themselves and their situation.
It’s amazing how a simple bottle of perfurme, a new high end skillet, or a throw blanket can make someone feel like a million bucks.
So what can you do to entice sales of extravagances in your store?
Pick the right items. Just because there’s a newspaper article about the fact that people are splurging a bit doesn’t mean you start stocking $1,000 items. Chances are you already have these kinds of items in store. It could be more expensive throw pillows, a higher priced jar of facial moisturizer, or a more expensive dress. They key is to select an item that a customer may not have originally considered because of the price.
Suggestively sell in store. Don’t push aside your floor-set calendar in favor of featuring extravagances throughout the store. That’s not smart retailing. But choosing to feature a bit of an indulgence as one of your feature areas is perfectly acceptable.
It’s all about suggesting that your customers buy something that they may have considered an indulgence. Paint the picture for them. Pick the right merchandise, then appropriately feature it. You may even want to create a theme for the area where you change out the merchandise every month, leaving the signing and visual merchandising the same. That way, each time your customers come back, there’s another little indulgence they won’t be able to pass up.
Market it. Just as you’re not changing your entire floorset to focus on extravagances, you should follow the same rule for your marketing. Stay consistent with your floor set theme in your outreach. But again, it’s okay to include those little extravagances in your marketing communications.
And believe it or not, if you let your customers in on the secret with a wink and an acknowledgment (“treat yourself”), you’re actually putting the idea in their mind that’s okay to splurge a bit. And that may result in them making a trip to your store and buying a little more than they normally would. Whatever you do, steer clear of words that connote expensive such as luxury, extravagant, rich, elegant, and the like.
How are you going to capitalize on the fact that consumers are willing to shell out a little more cash for indulgent comforts? Sound off below.
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