You’ve likely heard the adage, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” The same can be said for products that you consider downright dull and unremarkable. What you call everyday items are often things that customers might not think about as immediate needs, but in the bigger picture, can’t live without.
So how do you make your customers take notice of items they might otherwise ignore? Here are three tips that we think are anything but ordinary.
Make Them Want It, Need It
Need only happens when you can create a sense of it in customers’ minds. That’s why candy and rolling papers are two things you’ll often see on the checkout counter. When you display products that customers desire, like candy, that craving does a lot of the heavy lifting that sparks shoppers to buy now. But when you use the checkout line to display promotional items or everyday essentials, like Hemp Wraps from Lit Culture and Doob Tube containers, it’s your job to build that sense of Gotta have it now!
The right language — including phrases like “Buy now” and “Get it before they’re gone” — is one of the tools that can help you create more desire for ordinary items.
Something Extra: Around 69% of millennials have a Fear of Missing Out, and according to Strategy Online, 60% of millennials make reactive purchases because of FOMO.
Keep it Moving
It’s easy to just set up prepackaged displays of disposable lighters, air fresheners and inexpensive grinders and forget about them. The problem is that after they’ve seen them once, customers are likely to forget about them too. The average person’s attention span is 8 seconds or less — which, remarkably, is shorter than the attention span of a goldfish. Combine that with the fact that 65% of individuals say they’re visual learners, and you’ll understand how important it to keep your visual merchandising fresh and eye-catching.
Something Extra: The checkout counter is a traditional place to put impulse items and simple product displays. According to Wrigley, makers of gum, candy and breath mints, impulse items should occupy no more than 10 percent of the total space on your counter.
Suggest Appeal
Your checkout area isn’t the only place to everyday items. Another high-impact place to display those often overlooked products is alongside your high-demand items. In this space, choose lower-priced, less flashy products that complement in-demand, anchor products. For example, you might set glass cleaner like Orange Chronic in front of a display of water pipes from Famous Brandz featuring the latest collaberation with icons such as Snoop Dogg and Jay & Silent Bob. You’ll capitalize on the attention and foot traffic that high demand products draw to bring added attention to complimentary products.
Something Extra: Shop for a product on Amazon.com and you’ll find pages plugging items “Frequently Bought Together”. Watch a show on Netflix and the next time you tune in you’ll see a list of preselected programs that fit with your viewing habits. It’s not just these companies being friendly; it’s smart marketing — 35 percent of what consumers purchase on Amazon and 75 percent of what they watch on Netflix come from product recommendations.
