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Merchandising
Merit
Make an
offer
they can't refuse
Boost post-holiday sales with simple
displays featuring high-quality products priced to sell.
If your floral department is a ghost town after Valentine’s Day,
improve sales with an exceptionally priced, high-quality product
not always found in your store.
Two weeks after Valentine’s Day, the Hy-Vee, Inc. floral
department in Fremont, Neb., followed up its holiday rush with a
simple but effective African violet promotion that produced
unexpected sales. The display was set up on a Thursday and was
sold out by Monday. The display was entered in the 2005
“Merchandising Award of Excellence” contest, sponsored by Super
Floral Retailing and Börgen Systems.
OFFER A GOOD PRICE
When planning a display that follows a big floral holiday
like Valentine’s Day, you must offer an item priced so well that
customers can’t pass it up. The Fremont Hy-Vee’s floral manager
at the time found a great deal on high-quality African violets
and passed the savings on to customers.
TARGET YOUR AUDIENCE
Although a great price will entice shoppers, it’s important
to choose a product that will appeal to your particular audience
to complete the sale. Marlene French, an associate in the floral
department, says her store’s customers are older, so they
enjoyed a timeless favorite like African violets and appreciated
their high quality. During the African violet promotion, Ms.
French says many customers purchased one in each color.
CHOOSE A HIGH-TRAFFIC AREA
After Valentine’s Day, you can’t expect customers to come
looking for you. You have to bring the goods to them. For the
African violet promotion, the floral staff set up a metal
merchandiser near the deli, salad bar and hot food section.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
The staff attracted attention by wrapping the metal
merchandiser in bright purple Mylar to complement the colors of
the violet blossoms but left the plants in their original
plastic pots. Signage also was straightforward. Hy-Vee’s sign
shop provided a colorful banner to hang over the
 display
that told the type of plant and the price. Smaller signage
within the display gave the price, too, but also pointed out
that the plants were a “hot buy.”
OFFER AN UPGRADE
Although the floral department left the African violets in
their original pots, it offered customers the option of
upgrading them for a small charge. The staff turned the plants
into gifts by putting them into baskets, adding moss and
attaching bows.
PROVIDE SOMETHING EXTRA
Additional add-on sales came from complementary items. Along
with some African violet-themed ceramic gifts, customers found
all the care products they needed for the plants right in the
display, such as African violet plant soil, plant food and
containers. For those unfamiliar with caring for the plants, the
staff included care instruction fliers that shoppers could take
home or include with their gifts.
You can reach Merchandising Merit writer Monica Humbard at
mhumbard@superfloralretailing.com or (800) 355-8086.
To enjoy the rest of this
issue, please go to the
Subscriptions page and get your
copy of Super Floral Retailing today!!!
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Super Floral Retailing • Copyright 2006
Florists' Review Enterprises, Inc.
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