The Frontline
Human interaction moves
products off grocery store shelves.
The other day I was checking
out at Albertson’s. After running my Preferred card, the clerk asked me
if I’d like to buy a box of Kellogg’s Fruit Snacks for $1.00. I was
taken aback. I’m used to seeing impulse items merchandised at a retail
checkout counters. But I’d never been “pitched to” at a
supermarket checkout. It took me about 10 seconds to gather myself, at which
point I thought:
brilliant!
Suggestive
selling is an age-old tool to induce consumers to buy new products. Think about
your last trip to Costco. It’s hard to resist a pleasantly proffered
product sample in the midst of a cold, cavernous warehouse. It’s
certainly more appealing than a self-serve sample that’s been sitting out
for god-knows-how-long.
It is the rare food
marketer, chef, or farmer that gets an opportunity to look their customer in the
eye. It is usually the barrista, server, stock clerk, bartender, or cashier
that interacts with the end user of the foods we create. I love the way
Albertson’s used this opportunity to introduce their customers to a new
product.
For years,
restaurants have trained their servers to be better salespeople. This practice
occurs at the high end of the restaurant spectrum, with servers trained in the
art of selling expensive bottles of wine that translate into higher tips. It
happens at the casual dining level, when a server tells you how delicious their
Quadruple Chocolate Brownie Explosion is, and suggests that you order one
“for the table”. It even happens at the QSR level. Ever heard
these
words?:
“Would
you like to supersize
that?”
So, it
makes total sense for a grocery store cashier—perhaps the only human that
a consumer interacts with during the entire shopping experience—to be
trained to “sell”. Human interaction moves product.
Posted: Tue - March 22, 2005 at 05:41 PM