According to retailers in the US, suggestive selling by store employees remained the most effective technique of promoting a new item – perhaps indicative of the importance of creating store level awareness of new products.  More than eight out of 10 US c-store retailers rated “suggestive selling by store employees” as the most effective promotion method for new items last year, this even came above ‘running price promotions’.*
Image source: impact learning
The power of upselling*
‘Suggestive selling’ by staff can increase promotional penetration by as much as 3 times, & drive impulse purchasing by 100%.
Yet, according to new research from him! research & consulting, currently just 2% of convenience shoppers said staff informed them of a promotion and only 4% said staff suggested a product for them to purchase. The ‘best-in-class’ retailer is currently David Sands where an amazing 35% of shoppers said staff had suggested a product to them. David Sands have recently really bought into the idea of ‘suggestive selling,’ specifically pushing trial of their new own label products with very positive results.
Many retailers worry it will annoy shoppers yet, according to him!, 90% don’t mind suggestive selling, including 17% who positively like it.
Spar UK is a key supporter of ‘suggestive selling’, they have a ‘SKU’ of the week, where staff are told to up sell one product. When it was pineapple week sales went from 183 – 5,000!! They aren’t necessarily always reduced; they may be new or seasonal products. Staff are incentivised to upsell. Hear Richard Bennett from Spar explain how…
Suggestive Selling Tips*
1. Staff should feel free to suggest additional things.  Although it sounds annoying, it works.  If just one out of 10 customers try something new, that’s a 10% increase in items sold just for asking.
2. However, suggest something just once and wait until the customer has already indicated what he or she is purchasing. Don’t interrupt them. This could anger them, or cause them to substitute the product you are suggesting rather than add it to the order.
3. Staff must be sensitive to queues and key times of day where speed of service is more important.
4. The product needs to be within easy reach, especially if there is a queue.
5. Don’t just suggest anything that comes to mind. Try to suggest something relevant to what the customer is purchasing or to the customer’s purchase occasion.
6. Try having a specific SKU or promotion of the week, but again, only if relevant to the customer.
*Source: him! Research & consulting
