FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tom Ellis
Sept.
25, 2000
Ellis Communications, L.L.C.
Phone (623) 780-4558
E-Mail dellis@syspac.com
With the
holidays just around the corner, nutritional retailers would be wise to learn
a simple yet profitable lesson from McDonald’s and Microsoft.
Both
companies have learned that packaging meets their customers’ needs and
increases sales.
“Researchers
have found that customers want the availability of a complete solution,”
says Martin R. Baird, president of Nutritionalmarketing, a Phoenix,
Ariz.-based full-service marketing management firm that serves the nutritional
industry. “They also have found
that a complete solution makes a purchase easy.
“McDonald’s
and Bill Gates do a very good job of making it easy for customers to buy their
products by conveniently assembling a variety of them into one package, such
as a Happy Meal or Microsoft Office.”
As
nutritional retailers enter the holiday season, they should think about what
they could package to increase sales, Baird says.
This is a time when people are busy and on the lookout for easy
solutions to their holiday hassles, he adds.
“I like the
idea of a gift to take to people when you visit their home,” Baird says. “Develop a package and give it a fun name so people would
like to give this as a gift when they visit friends and family.
The gift could have a variety of scented candles and treats.
Or it could be a basket of the freshest organic fruits.
By putting it together as a package, it’s easy for people to walk
into your store and get what they need.”
Baird also
suggests a basket with natural health and beauty products for women or girls.
Athletes could benefit from a gift that has a variety of nutritional
items and nutritional books, he notes.
Develop a
“Spa Day” package. It could
include all the items a person needs to have an at-home spa day, such as
candles, soaps, bath wash, bubble bath, a book on meditation and even a
soothing music CD, Baird says.
“The key to doing it successfully is identifying your market for each
package before you develop it,” Baird says.
“The packages should range in price so you can offer gifts for a
variety of people. And always
offer a gift that’s priced higher than you think will sell.
You’ll be surprised at how many people buy the biggest just for the
sake of buying the biggest.”
Baird also
suggests offering a workshop on custom gifts.
Make it a two-hour session, and let people select the items they want
to put in their custom gift, he notes.
“You
provide the baskets and bows, and they do the arranging,” Baird says.
“You could have a personal shopper go around the store with them
looking for the perfect gifts to make a complete solution.” When
retailers think ahead for their customers, they make it easier for customers
to buy from them, Baird says.
Nutritionalmarketing provides a variety of services to nutritional retailers
to help them improve their marketing methods and increase revenues, including
seminars and conference speaking engagements on such topics as referrals,
marketing, goal setting and customer service.
Nutritionalmarketing.com is the premiere Internet-based source for free
marketing advice, information and tools for self-driven, success-oriented
nutritional retailers who are demanding information that helps them market
their business, meet the needs of their customers and increase sales.
It offers such services as a free weekly electronic newsletter, free
reports on how to conduct different kinds of marketing and evaluation of
retailers’ marketing materials that is provided at no charge when the
critique is posted online for all nutritional professionals to read. Nutritionalmarketing.com also offers an electronic forum
where retailers can learn from each other by discussing common problems,
sharing ideas and gaining new insights from their peers.
