Clean Money, Cleaner Sale

Start bragging your store’s engaged in money laundering and the law could come by. So think of a different description if you choose washing machines to keep the cash in your registers squeaky clean. Or give customers their cash change only in crisp, new bills.
     However, before doing any of this, recognize the offsetting advantages of dirty money.
     Researchers at Canada’s University of Guelph and University of Winnipeg found that when people are given their change in bills looking worn out, the people want to get rid of the bills quickly. This is the perfect time for you, the retailer, to promptly offer the person another item to buy from you, before the worn-out bills get hidden in the wallet, purse, or pocket.
     When should you give clean money? If you want to impress the shopper with how you keep your merchandise current and how popular your store is. The Canadian researchers found that people take pride in having crisp, new bills in their possession they can spend in front of others.
     The researchers point out that the lower the denomination of the bill, the more often it’s exchanged. A $1 bill goes through more hands each week than a $100 bill and therefore gets dirty more quickly. Past research had found that consumers are reluctant to spend large-denomination bills. University of Iowa researchers showed that when one person has a single $100 bill and another person has five $20 bills, the person with the five bills is more likely to make a purchase. This latest research suggests the contaminated aura of the bills rather than the face value may account for the difference.
     The anti-contamination bias also applies to merchandise. Researchers at University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, and Arizona State University verify what most of us would have predicted: Customers have less interest in an item on a rack or shelf when they're thinking about who else has touched it. They feel disgusted at the idea the product could have been contaminated by other shoppers.
     In this case, there’s no dirty-money-parallel upside to the contamination. In a spring 2010 investigative report, NBC staff purchased intimate items at eight major retailers in a New Jersey shopping mall, soiled the items with baby oil, and then went back to each store to ask to return the items. The reporters later found those identical returned items again for sale.
     Dirty move!

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

Click below for more: 
Give Change in Varied Denominations 
Head Off Concerns About Touching Products
Decontaminate the Shopping Environment
Protect Against Contamination Feelings