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On a related note, my grandfather used to give away a tub of ice cream to his customers on their way out of his furniture store so they’d be forced to go home a
by bitsoda 8y ago
On a related note, my grandfather used to give away a tub of ice cream to his customers on their way out of his furniture store so they’d be forced to go home and freeze it —- preventing them from shopping the competition in the same day.
- pingou 8y agoAre you sure it was so they didn't go to the competitor? What was the point? They already left his store, surely not being able to go to the competitor the same day won't change anything? They probably appreciated the gesture though.
- konschubert 8y agoI guess that furniture isn't always bought on the first visit?
- tempestn 8y agoIt's fairly common with furniture shopping to visit a bunch of stores on the same day. Even if his isn't the first store visited, if he prevents customers from visiting other stores, he probably boosts sales by at least some amount. More than the cost of the ice cream I would guess. Plus, good will!
- dawnerd 8y agoSimilar to why car dealerships put up bounce castles and do free bqq. Kids will ask parents to go, parents see free food. Even if they don't make a sale it leaves a good impression.
- toomanybeersies 8y agoIn Australia and New Zealand, hardware stores let schools and other groups do bbqs for fundraisers outside their stores. It works exactly the same way. There have been several times that I have gone to Bunnings for a hangover snag, and ended up buying something.
- Nursie 8y agoConversely there were a whole bunch of times I went to Bunnings a bit hungover but needing some home supplies, and found the sausage-sizzle a blessed addition :)
- welly 8y agoA visit to Bunnings isn't a visit to Bunnings without a snag in white bread (with onions). Sadly, Bunnings effort to open up in the UK has fallen flat on its face and so I won't get to enjoy the Saturday morning Bunnings snag unless I go back to Australia.
- Nursie 8y ago> Sadly, Bunnings effort to open up in the UK has fallen flat on its face and so I won't get to enjoy the Saturday morning Bunnings snag unless I go back to Australia. I was just about to say the same! I only lived in Aus for a few years and came back to the UK; the news that we were getting Bunnings made me happy but it's all gone South now. I was really looking forward to those charity snags!
- bluedino 8y agoIt's amazing how free hotdogs and snacks will 'guilt' people into buying a $40,000 car
- Zhenya 8y agoThe other stores should have given out coolers...
- tener 8y agoAnd nobody gamed it by visiting the competitors first...?
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoFirst-time customers probably don't know about it, and even repeat customers may not remember. It's not really a "checkmate" move, just a little bit of strategy.
- Freak_NL 8y agoThe percentage of people who actively try to game these situations is probably negligible.
- hyperpallium 8y ago> Wrigley started out as a soap salesman in his native Philadelphia. After moving to Chicago in 1891, he began offering store owners incentives to stock his products, such as free cans of baking powder with every order. When the baking powder proved a bigger hit than the soap, Wrigley sold that instead, and added in free packs of chewing gum as a promotion.
- winslow 8y agoThis reminds me of 37Signal's [1] & ZachHolmans [2] talk about Your Product is your Byproduct. Real eye opener on how to think about what you're building and/or identify cross promotion etc. [1] - https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1620-sell-your-by-products https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1620-sell-your-by-products [2] - https://zachholman.com/talk/product-is-the-byproduct/ https://zachholman.com/talk/product-is-the-byproduct/
- nickjj 8y agoReminds me of how McDonalds is really a real estate business.
- mywittyname 8y agoThis realization is how Ray Kroc came to own McDonalds instead of the original founders, Richard and Maurice McDonald.
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoAnd then, I guess, he switched up to selling the gum...
- gitgud 8y agoA genius idea, did it work for him?
- bitsoda 8y agoI’d say so! Our family just celebrated 50 years in business. https://www.eldoradofurniture.com https://www.eldoradofurniture.com
- CalRobert 8y agoMaybe your grandfather had a bigger effect on cultural memory than realized. I still can't seem to leave Ikea without getting an ice cream...
- netsharc 8y agoMr. IKEA (can't be bothered to google his name) realized that some of his store visitors left without buying anything because they were hungry, so he opened restaurants in the stores. (Imprecise anecdote, it could've been their customer research team and not the owner...)
- jules 8y agoI imagine it also helps with family shoppers. If the kids or one spouse is tired or bored they can go to the restaurant. Ikea's restaurant is so cheap that some people go there just for that. I think they buy their furniture and household products at ikea.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoI never leave IKEA without stopping for their hot dogs. Were I living close to it, I'd go for those hot dogs frequently.
- teh_klev 8y agoFor me it's their bags of meatballs but I'd also have a hotdog just for the road home :)
- cjrp 8y agoOur local IKEA actually has a free crèche too, so the kids don't get bored either.
- colde 8y agoHis name was Ingvar Kamprad (the letters IK in IKEA is from his name). The E and A comes from Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, respectively the farm where he grow up, and his home town. And it was indeed Ingvar that was the brains behind it back in 1956, i am not really sure they had "customer research teams" back then.
- creaghpatr 8y agoWow that is absolutely genius, call that an analog growth hack.