I grew up with the advertising slogan “Four out of Five Dentists Recommend Sugarless Gum to their Patients Who Chew Gum.”  Consumers were theoretically swayed to switch to Trident based on this strong endorsement, without questioning what the fifth dentist was thinking — that sugared gum was a good idea?

You too can use statistics to present your store, or your merchandise, in a favorable light. All you need to do is find a problem you can solve for your customers that it is possible to measure.  Let’s give it a try.

Google helps us find out that according to the popular wedding web site The Knot, gift expenditures should break down to 20% of the total on an engagement present, 20% on the shower gift and 60% on the wedding gift.  You might present this equation in an e-mail newsletter to your customers, mentioning that your store’s wedding registry includes a wide range of gifts appropriate for the engagement, shower and the wedding.

If you sell toys and books, you might mention the statistic that __% of preschoolers are not ready for kindergarten, in part because they haven’t had enough hours of being read to. This would be a good selling point for books as a baby gift, and for educational gifts for toddler birthdays.

Top ten lists are fun for customers to read, and you can have fun creating these if you don’t want to make use of those you find online.  The top 10 gifts for Father’s Day from AskMen.com, for example, could inspire you to create a list that only features items from your shop. I may try this in our store e-mail newsletter this week.

Don’t forget the advantage of using statistics when you are promoting the importance of shopping local. You can find lots of useful numbers to flaunt on the sites for BALLE and AMIBA, or look to your local organization for more regional percentages.  If none are available, you might suggest conducting a survey so that you have credible data for your area. Statistics can make a compelling statement to potential customers.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder