Rise to the Occasion of Profitability

Think of bread as money.
     I’m not talking here about the NPR story of how 1930’s jazz legend Lester Young would ask, when offered a gig, “How does the bread smell?,” leading to the cool cats calling cash by the names “bread” and “dough.” No, in this case, I’m talking about this week’s FastCasual.com posting which discussed how bakery cafés, such as Panera, continue to gain market share, rising above figures for restaurants in general. According to market research firm Technomic, 71% of U.S. consumers currently report having visited a bakery café, up from 43% three years ago.
     What has contributed to this growth, and how might all retailers cash in?

• Provide moderate-cost indulgences. People who want to eat out are finding it easier to justify going to casual sit-down restaurants than to white-tablecloth fine-dining locations. Toward the start of the economic downturn, Tiffany developed lower priced items to carry the luxury name, but for sale in mall stores that aren’t Tiffany’s. Determine what specialty items you can offer to draw shoppers into your store. Having a few items associated with luxury can influence the consumer’s perception of other items in your store. The fruit juice with the sandwich seems more like wine.
• Offer options. Technomic reports that bakery cafés have substantially increased their use of ciabatta, sourdough and pumpernickel breads over the past three years. Still, variety trumps exotic: Respondents to the survey who frequent bakery cafés said that for lunch and dinner sandwiches, tortillas are their top choice. For the small to midsize retailer with limited shelf space, achieving variety might mean rotating in new items while retiring—even if temporarily—other items.
• Recognize unfulfilled potential. The Technomic data point to the advantages of even more variety. About 34% of customers agreed with the statement that they’d visit bakery cafés more often if a broader range of breakfast items were made available. Ask your customers what you didn’t have. Often, cashiers are instructed to ask customers, “Do you find everything you needed?” But customers often want items they don't need. If you query only about needs, you're missing out on possible sales. A better question is, "Did you find everything you wanted?,” and better yet is, “What items would you like to see in our store that we don't have now?”
• Attend to fragrances. If you don’t have fresh baked bread and pastries, what do you have?

Click below for more:
Stay Ready to Sell Luxury
Feature Economical Justified Luxuries
Ask Customers What You Didn't Have
Use Fragrances to Pace Shoppers