Strip Out the Benefits of Customer Costumes

ABC News was among the many media outlets reporting on the ultimate “come as you are” shopping event: To draw interest to the grand opening of Priss, a grocery store close to the German-Danish border, the first 100 consumers received a €270 shopping spree—if they shopped nude. To the surprise of the store manager, there were about 250 takers, some of whom had camped out overnight. To curb the bedlam, which seemed to include even more photographers than naked consumers, police monitors were recruited.
     I’m thinking that the presence of those photographers and police grew the hype for Priss exponentially. I’m also suspecting some of those bare-bottomed buyers were enjoying the exposure as much as getting the free groceries.
     Maybe you’ll not want to include strip-downs in your special events. Instead, you could have people wear a costume. Consider the benefits:

• The silly look. If your wardrobe requirements are outlandish, you’ll draw the sort of media attention we call free publicity. 
• The naughtiness. Some retailers give incentives to shoppers for dressing in pajamas. People associate wearing pajamas with relaxing their inhibitions. Actually, almost any costume can work. Think about adult Halloween parties! And when consumers relax their inhibitions in your store, they buy more. 
• The celebration. E-commerce retailers could have fans post photos or videos of themselves in costume in order to earn a price discount. Those are fine techniques. However, it’s certainly more fun to wear your crazy costume to a store where you can bask in the reactions of others to you and express your reactions to the others there. 
• Compliance. This one gets deeper into consumer psychology. When the customer agrees to dress up, they are changing their behavior to follow the directions of the retailer. This is a type of foot-in-the-door technique, in which the customer becomes more willing to follow subsequent directions the retailer will give. 

     A skilled practitioner of the costume approach is Chick-fil-A with their annual “Cow Appreciation Day,”  Come fully dressed as a cow and you get a fully dressed combo meal for free.
     Still, your shoppers might not be willing to go all the way, whether it’s coming in nude or dressing up like a cow. Make provision for that, as Chick-fil-A has: “People dressed in partial attire will be awarded an entrée vs. a full combo meal.”

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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Beef Up Promotions with Wardrobe Incentives