Would you be surprised if we told you the customer has changed dramatically over the last 15 years? Of course not. Fifteen years ago a piece of free birthday cake or a special appearance by a celebrity was enough to attract customers in droves. And after they ate their cake and collected their autograph, they usually bought something! This is definitely not the case today. Today’s consumers are more sophisticated than ever before. They comparison shop on the Internet, they want to indulge themselves with value-priced luxury products, and they want to shop in an environment that offers them an experience, not just a product or service.

Before you make plans to abandon retail for a career as a bartender in Barbados, there are some simple and inexpensive strategies that can help you connect with today’s consumers and increase your average sale.

Gift With Purchase Offers

They’ve been around forever, but these days smart marketers are looking at their GWP offerings much more strategically. When selecting an item, consider the following:

• How much do you want your customers to spend to get the GWP? If it’s too little, you’ll lose an opportunity to increase sales. If it’s too much, you could have hundreds of leftover GWP items on your hands. There’s no magic formula. You have to know your audience and consider how desirable the GWP item will be to them. If you do miscalculate and have GWP items left after your promotion is over, keep a record of what you’ve got and store them carefully. They’ll be useful sometime in the future as a thank you for your customers, a “free gift” to reward loyalty, or to enhance another promotion.
• Choose something that works within the theme of your overall advertising campaign or promotion. This will help leverage the campaign in-store. For example, if promoting active wear, a free branded energy drink and protein bar would be a good GWP choice.
• Select items that have high appeal to your customers. What’s new and hot right now? Don’t overlook highly desirable “tried and true” items like movie passes either. They’re a great incentive for the younger end of your target audience.

• GWP items that support a charity can be very powerful. 95% of customers who view a business as supportive of the community say they will continue to do business with that company[1]. Eight in ten Canadians agree with the statement, “I always try to buy from companies that are good corporate citizens.”[2] 68% of respondents said they would pay more for a product that is linked to a good cause[3]. All of these are good reasons for considering a charitable connection. For example, you could purchase a fundraising item from a charity and then offer it to your customers as a GWP. Or create your own item to help promote a specific cause. An example of this is a specially designed Roots t-shirt with a discreet promotional message supporting Breast Cancer research.

Purchase With Purchase Offers

Purchase with purchase offers can be very effective if careful thought is given to item selection. Choose items that complement each other in conventional or unusual ways. For example, a conventional PWP offer would be a selection of nail polishes at a discounted price with the purchase of a manicure set. An unconventional offer would be a discount on a round of golf with the purchase of a “Chick Flick” DVD (the round of golf is to get the husband or boyfriend out of the house while the wife or girlfriend watches the DVD they purchased!). A really unique PWP offer can also provide you with an opportunity to generate some publicity.

Bundled Offers

The phone and cable companies are masters at bundled offers, so put the concept to work for you. For example, “bundle” some camera film and a photo album together and sell it as a “Graduation Memories” package. Combine products and services like haircuts and styling products, cosmetics and beauty services. This concept can also work well for food retailers. For example, lunchtime “Fast Fuel” or “Low Carb Combo” meal and beverage offers.

1. Source: Walker Research: Reputation and Social Performance Assessment, 1994
2. Source: Angus Reid Group, 1997
3. Source: Cone/Roper Worldwide, 1999