As consumers we are constantly exposed to advertisements, through every media channel, almost every day of our lives. While advertising is one method of communicating with target consumers another strategy often used is Sales Promotion.
Sales promotions are special incentives or programs that influences consumers to purchase a specific product or service. These promotions can be used to boost either short term sales, or are part of long term strategies such as loyalty programs.
Kin’s, like any other retailer, has their own promotion strategies. Most of which involve discounts. Kin’s participates in both long term and short term promotion strategies, the most interesting of which is their two-tier discount program.
In every Kin’s store we have a specials board, this board is usually located behind the tills and this board is huge. On this board we are required to post our specials for the week. With a two-tier discount special you have weekly discount items and daily discount items. Some weekly/daily specials are mandatory for every Kin’s location across British Columbia, this is the information you can find on our website.
“see in-store for more great prices”
In addition to these standardized specials, each Kin’s location also offers more weekly and
daily items. For example at the West 10th location our board, as of Nov. 14th, looked like this. The weekly specials are in white and the daily specials are in red. Weekly specials are usually popular grocery items or cooking staples, while daily specials are usually seasonal items, new local varieties, exotic items, or new arrivals. One of the most important elements of sales promotion is the excitement factor. By constantly changing our specials and by excluding specials specific to locations on our website we are able to keep some element of surprise. You never know when we might put your favorite items on sale, so when you arrive and they are discounted, it increases customer satisfaction while boosting our sales. This rotation also prevents flat sales.
There is one exception, however. There is a price limit on bananas, meaning that bananas are always priced at $0 .59/lb. Bananas are one of our most popular items, and on a busy weekend I can sell up to 40 or 50 pounds of them. By keeping bananas at this constant low price we are rewarding customers who continue to shop with us in the long run.
Finally our UBC discount, we started this discount a couple months after we opened in April. Because we are a new location and since we are located near the University we’re using this discount to attract new potential shoppers to our location. Most students living on campus are content to go to the stores both near and/or familiar to them, usually Save-On-Foods or Safeway. By offering them this discount we are rewarding them for deviating from their norm and shopping with us. Kin’s is a fantastic produce store, so our issue isn’t keeping customers it’s getting new customers to walk through our door.
And judging based on the amount of students that I see bringing their friends each weekend, it’s working.
KIN’S UBC DISCOUNT: Students, Staff, and Faculty of UBC who present their ID cards at the West 10th Kin’s location will receive a 10% discount on our regular items.
“Note: regular items do not include our specials, sorry no double discounts”