Add On to Giveaways

Once again, the calendar has rolled around to 7/11, declared by 7-Eleven to be the retailer’s eponymous birthday, this year celebrated with free twelve-ounce Slurpee drinks from 11 AM to 7 PM at participating stores.
     When you feature freebies as part of a celebration in your store, check that there will be add-on sales.

• Spread the word. 7-Eleven has posted a video of The Slurpee Dance and invited the public to post their own versions via YouTube, Vine, Twitter, or the 7-Eleven Facebook page. If you’re giving away items, you don’t want your regular customers to feel they missed out on it or prospective customers to overlook the opportunity to come by your store to visit. 
• Sell to the celebration. Many of the 7-Eleven stores will be selling Slurpee-themed hats, sunglasses, shirts, and sandals. What can you sell to serve as mementos of the fun time when the dream of something for nothing did come true? 
• Emphasize sampling. 7-Eleven is using today to feature a different flavor—Strawberry Lemonshade—and a sugar-free version—Lite Mango Lemonade. Research results from University of California-Berkeley, University of Southern California, Stony Book University, and Indiana University indicate that prominently labeling a free item as a sample of a new product avoids devaluing the product. Otherwise, people may become less likely to purchase the full-priced item afterwards. 
• Stimulate the thirst for more. In past years, the free drink size was not twelve ounces, but rather seven. That size was chosen in order to arouse a shopper’s appetite without satisfying the craving. The senior brand director for Slurpee had said, “You get a taste of it, and you choose to have more.” If the product and amount are at that sweet spot, you giving it for free can increase profitability from the add-on paid sales. Let’s watch this year to see if the twelve-ounce giveaway builds paid sales of Slurpees. 
• Drink in the complete serving. Looking at a climb of 38% for July 11 isn’t sufficient. If you experience that sort of boost when giving away a product, assess if it was a move of sales from surrounding days, such that the net gain is not substantial. Watch that your giveaways pay off. Offers of free products surely can draw in crowds for a day. However, don’t find yourself wanting to believe, “We lost money on every sale, but we made it up in volume.” 

Click below for more: 
Hesitate Giving Away the Store 
Label Freebies as Samples