USA Today reports that some big retailers are augmenting Black Friday sales with free gifts to shoppers. J.C. Penny has almost two million Disney snow globes ready for distribution. A customer who is among the first 1,100 to spend at least $40 at an Old Navy store gets a Kodak EasyShare Sport digital camera—said to retail for about $100—tossed into the bag at no extra cost. Sears is handing out a collectible Christmas ornament to each of the first 200 Black Friday shoppers who buys clothing, intimate apparel, or accessories.
Notice that these are not surprise bonuses in the style of a Louisiana or Mississippi lagniappe. The retailers are spreading the word about the gifts in advance in hopes of drawing shoppers toward them during the limited hours of Black Friday specials.
This added twist might seem to make it even harder for you to keep your loyal customers coming to you to buy items they could purchase from the larger retailers. In fact, though, the publicity around these free gifts can shift the chances back toward you. If you’re willing to distribute holiday presents as well.
Researchers at University of Chicago and Columbia University find that a gift can break ties. Here is your customer who enjoys shopping with you and, if truth be told, hates going out in the middle of the cold night, even to save money. But then your customer starts thinking about the free camera or the snow globe. Wait! Now your customer discovers they can get a gift from you as well. They can easily justify staying home and warm and spending their money with you during daylight.
Your gift must have apparent value. The fact that it’s being given for free can itself give the impression of cheapness. Still, the gift need not be extravagant. The Chicago/Columbia researchers call the phenomenon the “mere token effect.” A little something can work as well as an expensive item in tilting the odds.
You don’t have to give away the shirt off your back. No, Abercrombie & Fitch already has that one covered—or actually, uncovered. As the calendar turns to Black Friday at midnight, rolling across America’s time zones from east coast to the west, emerging from each store will be the famous shirtless male greeters. Presumably, those fellows are able to handle going out in the middle of the cold night.
Click below for more:
Break Ties When There’s Limited Selection
Give Free Samples of New Products
Maintain Purchase Momentum in Customers
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