Line Up for Extension Sales

People usually become as firmly attached to product brand names as to the name of your store. When your store features certain national supplier brands, then, you can extend the shopping basket totals by adding on brand extensions—products in new categories carrying a favored brand name.
     According to research at University of Pennsylvania and Duke University, this succeeds most spectacularly with consumers who have psychological boundaries in their lives. The explanation seems to be that such consumers are more willing to broaden the limitations on what is an acceptable brand extension.
     We’ve only limited influence on the psychological boundaries in a shopper’s personal life. For instance, other University of Pennsylvania studies found strong religious beliefs reduce a need for retailer-provided boundaries.
     This finding was part of a study which exposed study participants to loud sirens, bells, and alarms. Some of the participants were allowed control over the amount of the anxiety-producing noise, while the rest were not.
     Later, each of the participants was asked to express preferences between two sorts of items. Some of the items had borders; the others did not. For instance, the participant could choose a postcard to keep. The sole difference between the two cards was the thick border around one of the cards.
     The study participants who had been granted no control over the noise were more likely to select the postcard with the border around it. In subsequent experiments, people who felt little control preferred retail settings characterized as “highly bounded.”
     Brand extensions are a form of psychological noise. Here are research-based ways to establish comforting boundaries in store areas where you’d like shoppers to purchase those extensions:

• Keep shelves orderly and fully faced with items lined up neatly. That’s like avoiding gaps in a fence. 
• Regularly unclutter aisles. This doesn’t necessarily mean to have wider aisles, though. Narrow without crowding is best. 
• Establish time limits on sales promotions and return policies, and then remind customers of the time limits. “Please remember that this offer is good for the next three days.” 
• Wherever shoppers need to wait, make it abundantly clear who has what place in line. 
• Pose questions which remind shoppers of psychological boundaries they themselves have set. Ask, “How did you decide on the item with that brand name?,” and then after listening to the answer, “Have you seen these new items we’re introducing which carry that same brand name?” 

Click below for more: 
Fence In Consumer Anxiety 
Maintain Customer Faith 
Evaluate the Viability of Brand Extensions 
Let Go of Irritating Brand Extensions 
Counteract Problems from Similar Brand Labels 
Draw Out Advice & Opinions from Shoppers