Need More Retail Traffic? Try Adding a Pressure Point to Your Sale

Pressure points are aggressive, appealing short-term deals added
to a retail event . We encourage our furniture retailers to include them as
frequently as once a month, and always over the natural holidays.  They are highly effective driving shoppers in
the doors with their wallets open. In fact, they are probably one of the best strategies to increase sales. 

What kinds of offers are typical of our pressure points? One-day-only
doorbusters like a 7-piece dinette set for $249 or four bar stools for
$100.  A Saturday-only offer of an
additional 20% on any one item.  No sales
tax for the Monday holiday only.  You get
the idea.

You can always drive traffic if you give merchandise away,
and that is not the point here. Retailers have to carefully manage margins,
quantities, distribution and sales training. 

It’s best to plan pressure points into your buys, and
continue to work with your vendors to sniff out opportunities.  Give a flat “no” to a merchandise opportunity
that erodes your brand position. You don’t want to offer something inconsistent
with your merchandise mix. The offer can be at the lower end of your price and
quality spectrum, but it should never be out of it.

If it doesn’t pencil in the long term, don’t do it. Be
extremely careful if you decide to take much of a loss on a pressure point
item. It’s a slippery slope.  However, if
it brings shoppers to your store that might have gone elsewhere – and their
total buy is in your normal purchase average, it’s a win-win. Also, for
percentage off and no sales tax offers, you can manage your hit by creating the
right minimum purchase amount.

Make sure your sales staff knows how to handle the pressure
point buyer. Yes, you will have the folks who come in for your offer alone. But
a well-trained staff can move most of the customers up the sales ladder.  If nothing else, it’s a chance to create a
positive relationship with a new customer. 
But the floor should experience a surge in traffic from a market that
has been waiting to buy, and has succumbed with this event’s particular set of
attractions.  And that’s where the
opportunity lies.

Put all the pieces of a great retail event together, lay a well-planned,
one-day pressure point on top – advertise it aggressively, and watch what
happens. It succeeds, time after time.  Have you had success with pressure points?
What offers have worked for you?

Michael Morin, Master of the Deal