You think you’ve done it: found the perfect mix of products for a location and now it’s smooth sailing to restock the market every week, right? Not quite. It may take a bit of time and imagination, but consistently rotating will help you keep customers interested and sales flowing. Even McDonald’s introduces new sandwiches regularly, and they recently added new drinks to their McCafé line—and they invented the Big Mac! Of course you should keep your staples. We have it on very good authority that Mountain Dew and Snickers will never go out of style, but sometimes tossing in a new flavor could have some surprising benefits. Take a look!
1. Keep your market new and exciting
Although people are creatures of habit, we also have short attention spans that are getting shorter with every passing year. Keep your customers engaged with new products to try. Not only will you boost customer engagement, but you’ll also boost sales.
2. Engaged customers buy more
Back to McDonald’s. The Golden Arches releases it’s famous McRib sandwich every year during the holiday season. And every year, they see a sizeable 4th quarter boost in sales because consumers love the McRib. Consumers want to eat as much of it as they can before, like Christmas snow, it vanishes into thin air. The same the phenomenon can work in your market. Limited edition holiday (Halloween, Christmas, Valentines Day, etc.) snacks or seasonal flavors that everyone loves will draw people in. They’ll buy the snacks and a drink to wash it down with.
3. Free product
Reach out to your “partners in snacks” and find out if they have anything new that they’d like to test. You can score free or discounted products, they’ll get free exposure and your customers get an exclusive opportunity to try something new. Wins all around! Introducing new products is a good way to build and cement partnerships with local suppliers.
A plan to steadily rotate new products into your market can help breathe new life into a stagnant environment. It shows your customers that you are paying attention their needs by not only stocking their favorites, but getting rid of the items they don't like and giving them something new to try. Remember, a new product does not have to be new but rather new to the market. Switching or adding a different chip flavor could work just as well.
