A weird retail idea to get curious customers buying

Another weird retail idea from who-knows-where in my brain:

Hide an item. But hide it so people can’t avoid noticing it.

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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About Becky McCray

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.