Fall 2020 - 88

RETAIL OPERATIONS
Put a bow
on it
How bundling products can
increase sales
BY JESS SCHMIDT
Staff Writer
F
or better or worse, 2020 has dramatically
changed the retail landscape. After stores
reopened, many reported shoppers spending
less time browsing. This means that retailers need to
figure out how to encourage consumers to shop faster,
and bundled products might be the solution stores need
in order to keep sales up.
Bundled products are perennial favorites around the
holidays because they're easy to grab, they often contain
items everyone loves and they help speed up the shopping
process. They're also important right now, in this
landscape of speed shopping and lower shopper volume
than is typical this time of year.
Several retailers are
successfully
selling
products in their shops.
Waterlemon Kids is a party venue and boutique gift
88 FALL 2020
shop for children in La Grange, Illinois. At the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic, they could no longer host parties,
but knew parents would still want to have a celebration.
They created the Bash Box as a solution to " bring the style
and energy of a Waterlemon party " to the families who
would otherwise celebrate at Waterlemon, according to
Nina Makovski, owner of the shop and venue.
Within the clean, white boxes chosen not to compete
with the brightly colored contents, Makovski and her team
added a garland or banner, plates, cups and napkins, a
birthday crown, candle and balloons. They also add a cello
bag of candy with a matching ribbon and a personalized
birthday card from the Waterlemon team.
Waterlemon opted to discount the Bash Boxes to
incentivize the sales, which they chose to provide the
feel of a good deal while maintaining profitability. The
themes of these boxes encompass a wide range, including
mermaids, unicorns, rainbows, dinosaurs, space and safari
animals. Those with bigger groups can add additional
place settings that match from the collection in-store.
" We've been really pleased with how they've done, "
Makovski said.
At Zinnia's Gift Boutique in Scotts Valley, California,
owner Dedra Bennett and her team created special care
packages to thank medical workers as well as for Mother's
Day and Easter during the start of the pandemic. The kits
often contained hand sanitizer, a face mask and some Easter
candy. A mug or a book made an appearance in others.
After the kits started flying off the shelves in the spring,
Bennett began to get phone calls asking how others could
share the " packages of joy, " and they would order them
for Easter, Mother's Day or new babies. New baby kits got
a cute outfit, stuffed animal, soft blanket and a book.
These kits are special in that they are often customized
by the shopper with the help of the Zinnia's team. To
inspire shoppers, the Zinnia staff created storyboards to give
suggestions of items that could go into bundles together -
mixing together products from different sections of the
store and suggesting different scents to use. They discount
it if they can, based on the margins on the included items.
Bennett even picks up snacks at Costco to add to the kits in
order to save her customers an extra trip.
Recently, Zinnia's was able to open up these kits for
corporate gifting. Bennett attributes the success of the
program to " Being open and nimble to hearing needs and
responding, whether for grandma or mom or corporate;
being open minded to the needs and listening to the
community, not just saying this is what I did, " Bennett
said. The Zinnia's team is excited about the prospect of
how these will perform in Q4 and how they can continue
to inspire different customers to continue to bring light
into others' lives.
bundled
P. Graham Dunn is a retail inspirational home décor
store, with two locations
in Ohio, which also sells
wholesale to 8000 other locations. At the start of the
Fall 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fall 2020
