I just read an interesting summary on shopper marketing and how while it offers lots of potential for profit in the grocery store, the advertisers haven't figured that out yet.

If you spend any time in the grocery store you know the shoppers have a different shopping mindset when they run in for a gallon of milk than when then do the "big" shop for groceries. Shopper Marketing is when you display cookies by the milk or crackers by the cheese. Makes sense -by displaying the items side by side you influence additional sales.

So how do we apply Shopper Marketing in the scrapbook store? It's a matter of displaying items in more than one area of the selling floor.

• The most immediate opportunity is with adhesives- displaying purpose-specific adhesive by the items they belong to. You can put them on a shelf or a clip strip so that when a customer buys an embellishment, they are encouraged to buy the adhesive as well.
• Put a few ribbon organizers by your ribbon selection in addition to your storage product area.
• Place the eyelet setters with the eyelets as well as in your tools section.
• Display journaling stickers and punch outs in your pen display.

The people coming in for the "the big shop" will come in with a list and move around your store to pick up the items they need. But the customer who is coming in for a specific product will be more focused.

So, if your customer comes in to grab a few rub-ons, she may be planning to grab the rub-ons and go without checking out any other aisles. However, if the tool is displayed nearby you could get an add on sale.

Can you think of any other good pairings? Respond to this blog entry and post them here!--Beth