I don’t read Playboy, but I found myself standing in front of this display in the airport wondering if I should try a copy.  Why? Because it would only have cost me 60¢.  Someone at Playboy (perhaps Hugh Hefner himself) had decided that 60¢ was my threshold for buying something I really didn’t want or need in order to see if I liked it.

Our store sells kitchenware, and several of our cookware vendors have decided that $49.99 is the magic price point for a “try me” version of their pans.  Their thinking is that if they can only get a customer to take one of their quality pans home and actually use it, they’ll be hooked.  (I realize that between last week and this week, I have now used up my quota of fishing puns.  I promise I’m done.)

Of course the most potent word in retail advertising is “free,” but there is a price for most items that works almost as well.  If you want to get a product into customers’ hands so that they will try it and fall in love with the line — coming back for more copies of Playboy, or for additional pieces of cookware — the challenge is to find that price.

It is also essential that you promote it with signage and other advertising.  There was no chance that I would pick up a copy of Playboy on my own to discover that it was only 60¢.  And if the 8” skillets from Swiss Diamond didn’t say Try Me in big print, they would just look like rather small fry pans.

Vendors would do well to consider offering an introductory product at a low price, but at full markup, to encourage retailers to promote their lines to new customers.  Providing in-store signage would be an important part of this effort.

Even if your suppliers don’t have a “try me” version of their products, you could create one by offering a small size on sale.  Experiment with how low the price needs to go to be truly tempting for the product you’re promoting.  I’m sure that 60¢ was just the right price for Playboy — although I have to say, Hugh, that I still took a pass.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder