Another weird retail idea from who-knows-where in my brain:
Hide an item. But hide it so people can’t avoid noticing it.
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| Premium items in boxes and bags beg to be opened. |
In a retail store, cover an item with a cloth or box it. You can label it “open me to see the new ___.” Or keep it on the counter so you can open it for customers. Treat it like a jewel.
At our liquor store, we have Crown Royal XR — Extra Rare. It comes in a lovely red box, with a red bag inside that, and the bottle inside that. I can’t even guess how many times we’ve opened the XR box at the request of a customer.
On Halloween, use this for an item “too scary for the general public.” Play up the scary language. For example, we have Vampire wines at Halloween. We could keep them in a coffin-shaped box. Get creative!
At a trade show or high traffic event: build a carnival style “step behind the curtain” area in your booth. Make people step in to view something new. Put up carnival style, over-the-top signs. Make sure the new item is worth the build up, though. Because if it’s disappointing…. it won’t work.
Have you seen a store using some variation of this trick?
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
