Increase Ticket Average with Variable Offers

I've worked a lot of retail. Every place I have ever worked we've always played the same game: who can get the highest sale today/this shift/this week. We'd create friendly competition between ourselves to see who could get folks to add more to their purchase.

Here are some of the ways we'd outdo each other:
- Cross-sell, upsell. Kind of an obvious one, but we were pretty damn good at it. Belt to go with pants (and then the shoes). Not THAT belt, this belt. I found I get better at these things when there was a reason to be good (ie: bragging rights or lunch from the manager).

- Variable offers. Back in the days before scanners we put stickers on everything. Stickers fall off or they're taken off or they don't get marked-down in a timely manner. It was a crappy system, but it offered the ice-breaking question: "How much is this?"

The answer to that often depended on how much was in their basket. I might be willing to give 10% off the item just to get it out of my store, but we could get more out of each customer if we got creative:

*It's $25, and I'll throw in [fill in something you've been trying to clear out] for free.
*I'll give you 10% off if you get the blank that goes with it. (Smart shoppers would ask for 10% off both the item AND the blanket. The answer is YES.)
*If your total is more than $50 I'll give you $5 off of that; if it's more than $65 I'll give you $10 off.
*For you? 25% off, but don't tell anyone.

The trick was to get more from someone. We knew we were making money off of the customer, so percentage after their initial purchase wasn't as important. Now it's about contribution to the bottom line.

In a retail environment this is not just good for the sale, it's great for building a relationship. "For you it's 15% off", "it's free if you'll buy one of these", "I throw in another one at half price just for you".

In a restaurant, the tactics change a bit but the concept is the same. Sample desserts at dinner, other food in line. Comp the coffee if they'll get the dessert. Whatever. There are as many ways to do it as their are consumer tastes. That's what makes it so easy to do.

This is where the art of retail / restaurant comes in. Awaken the PT Barnum in you.