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Sip while you shop
A Central Florida retailer is offering customers to 'sip while you shop,' hoping an adult beverage will help you to spend more!
LONGWOOD, Fla. - Big name retailers looking to get you "in store" to buy more are hoping you'll sip while you shop.
'Crate and Barrel,' 'Whole Foods,' and 'Nordstrom's' now offering shoppers an adult beverage in select stores. They're banking on a little liquid courage to get you in the door and spend more at checkout.
"It creates a very positive environment for people to make additional purchases," says Mark Johnston, a Professor at the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College.
Johnston says brick and mortar retailers are looking at ways to create a unique experience, something you can only get in a store versus online.
Strolling the aisles at 'Petty's Market' with a small beer in hand is something owner Allyson Hidalgo says the Longwood, FL market has been doing for decades.
"We've done the beer for the last 40 years, reveals Allyson. We have a lot of men shoppers because we do the beer, but then we started added all the wine tastings and we've done more and more wine tastings."
The "Hi-Neighbor" Narragansett tap in store offers customers a chance to pour their own. There's a two glass limit offered to shoppers while they peruse the specialty meats, cheeses, beer, wine and fine foods.
Experts say this in-store perk is translating into big sales at the register. Researchers say shoppers are spending more while they sip and stroll in stores, to the tune of $39.4 billion dollars. And get this, a shopper with "drink in hand" will spend an average of $450 more each year.
While most can buy many of these products online, the real payback could be investing in the consumer experience.
"Offering this kind of unique experience is something that will bring people back again and again, reveals Johnston. What 'Petty's' can do in terms of beer and wine tastings is not only giving people a great experience, but educating consumers about their products."
When it comes to online shopping, researchers say 80 percent abandon their cart at checkout.
This could be the competitive advantage retailers are looking for in an effort to keep up with their online counterparts.