The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007 - (Page 6)

GENERAL PREPAID November 15 · 2007 - 6 PREPAID IOI by Professor Retske Merchandising When your old professor was a boy, I worked in my father’s drug store. It was a fairly small store by today’s standards, just a pharmacy counter, cosmetics, tobacco, and photo counters and a few feet of shelves for non-prescription goods. It was long and narrow, with an outside door on one end, and a door to a sizable ofﬁce building on the other end. It was a busy location, and many people used the store to walk in and out of the ofﬁce building. Noticing that many of them didn’t buy anything, but used the store for a short cut, I felt my dad’s store was being used. One day, I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I decided to educate him on how so many people were taking advantage of him. “Shouldn’t you do something to stop all these people who just cut through?,” I asked him. “We could put some signs, telling them they can’t cut through without buying something.” My dad smiled and said, “Genie, although not everybody buys something from me every day, everybody buys something from me some time. Every time they walk through, I get to try and sell them something.” I had never seen my dad, who stood behind the pharmacy counter, do anything other than smile at them, and say hello, or greet them by name. “But, Dad,” I protested, “I have never seen you ask them to buy anything.” I wondered if I was missing something. He just couldn’t see the obvious. “Sure, I do,” he said, as he smiled at a lady who strolled through, without a purchase. Another freeloader, but Dad still didn’t understand. Taking a deep breath, I said, “What about her? All you did was smile. Why didn’t you tell her about the sale on ﬁlm we have this week?” “But, I did tell her about it,” he smiled. Seeing the look of skepticism on my face, he added, “just now.” Seeing my skepticism change to abject confusion, he started for the front of the store and beckoned me to follow. My curiosity was overwhelming. We walked out the front door of the store onto the sidewalk where the short cutters turned to go into the store, and Dad turned around to face the store, and pointed at the front of the store. “What do you see?” He asked. “A window, the front door,” I said. “What else?” Inside the front window was a huge stack of yellow ﬁlm boxes of all sizes and types. “Well, there is a stack of film boxes,” I said. “And, a sign that says, ‘sale.’” “Now, look at the front door. What do you see?” There was a sign, about eye level on the door, saying that there was a sale on ﬁlm this week, Buy 3, get one free, a pretty decent sale. We walked back into the store, following a man, who glanced at the huge stack of ﬁlm, then read the sign as he opened the door. Following him through the store, when he approached the back door, there was another sign, next to a rack of different styles and sizes of the ﬁlm that was on sale. The man paused briefly at the rack and looked over the sign and the ﬁlm. He turned the rack, smiled at Dad and I, and walked out the door. “He will be back at lunch time to buy his ﬁlm,” my father said. “He just doesn’t have time right now.” I had no doubt he was right. What he did was to merchandise effectively. Take a look at the elements. First, a visually interesting display of ﬁlm boxes, probably the biggest pile anyone had ever seen. Very eye catching. Then, a sign with the essential message, ‘buy 3, get 4.’ Finally, the close. A rack of the product on sale. Couldn’t be easier. Later that afternoon, I had to go to the storeroom to get more ﬁlm for the rack. This was my ﬁrst lesson in merchandising. A retail store is a sales machine, just waiting to be cranked up. There are two important elements for success. First, you have to get trafﬁc, people walking by. There are many ways you can do this. Drug stores today put the pharmacy counter in the far back corner, directly opposite the front door. This generates trafﬁc as customers traverse the store to drop off and pick up prescriptions. In between, you can display messages, and attract attention as customers pass through. There is a “hot spot” around the check out area. All customers will have to use the check out at some point. And, if they have to, stand in line. You see this at any retail store, where racks, stacks and displays are created to sell customers as they congregate around the check outs. This is prime space for racks of gift cards, and other prepaid merchandise. The element of in-store merchandising that is sometimes overlooked is the repetition of the message. The more times you can give the message to customers, the higher the likelihood that they will buy. It is also more effective if you can build the message, much like the film boxes, sign and rack of actual product that my dad used. These techniques are effective. One suggestion before we go. To test your merchandising, walk through the store as a typical customer would and see what attracts your attention. Better yet, observe how your customers react, and how well promotions sell. See you next class. Have a Happy Turkey Day! http://www.uts175.com http://www.uts175.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007

The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007 Online Wireless Recharge It's a Wrap for Gift Cards Contents GENERAL PREPAID Prepaid 101: Merchandising Regulatory Rundown: Wireless Broadband, LNP, Internet Taxes, and Stored Value Legislation Guest Editorial: Honest Minutes: "The Times They Are A-Changing" 5 Minutes With Daniel Neal, CEO of kajeet The Legal Line Prepaid Wireless Roundup WIRELESS Wireless in Brief 011 Mobile Launches Mobile International Dialing Hop-on Adds GSM Phone to Product Line Virgin Mobile USA Launches New Services kajeet Adds to Handset Line MarketStar Publishes Mobile Phone Usage Study Nokia and Cellfire Team Up Verizon Selects Firethorn iVisionMobile Launches Messaging Platform Sprint Expands "Unlimited by Boost" INTERNATIONAL Spot Rates NOMAD Brings MasterCard EMS to Europe R&M Finds Potential in Africa International in Brief TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY Caveat Emptor When Negotiating IP Licensing T&T in Brief MySpace and Skype Ink Deal Octastic Announces New Media Gateway DSP Pactolus Selected by Global Crossing Tadiran Announces New Loyalty Incentive Program Oblio Telecom Launches New Prepaid Products Total Call Enhances Prepaid Calling Cards PAYMENTS A Gift Card Technology Guide Pinnacle and PaySpot Roll Out POS/Prepaid Solution TIO Networks Announces Membership Program TransFund$ Partners with TruckersB2B AMR Finds Retailers Returning to Main Street Payments in Brief Diebold to Offer Prepaid Gift Card Technology InComm to Sell nFinanSe Discover Cards iVisionMobile Offers Retailers Mobile Payments i2c to Offer Stored Value Webinars Mobilians Starts U.S. Mobile Payments Operation NetSpend Increases Savings Program Interest EXTRAS Classifieds Contact Us Our Advertisers

The Prepaid Press - November 15, 2007

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