Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/33234
launched a campaign this past spring to encourage customers to donate money for a sidewalk sign that would drive neighborhood traffi c to the coff ee shop, which is housed in the lobby of an offi ce building for nonprofi ts, says Amanda Neely, co- owner with her husband, Brandon. As an incentive, it off ered a free Overfl ow tumbler for donations of $20 or more. In turn, customers using the tumbler at the shop receive 25 cents off their drink, with no expiration date. Th e campaign raised about $120, enough to purchase a sidewalk sign with a dry-erase board that allows for easy message changes, Neely says. Recently, the sign announced, “Try our Nutella mocha.” Window clings and signs also can lure customers off the street, Allen says. A shop’s exterior is one of several zones that coff ee retailers should consider when planning their in-store marketing programs, he says: “Take a blueprint of the coff ee operation and look at points of contact with customers.” Opportunities for communicating with customers abound. For example, staff buttons can include the logo, marketing slogan or a special off er. Ceiling danglers, lollipop signs near the register, bathroom signage, menu boards, condiment caddies, wall signs, free-standing displays, cups, cup sleeves and napkins display marketing messages, he says. “Th ink of yourself as a television executive, and you’ve got all these diff erent programming options,” Allen says. “Each one is like its own little channel.” Th e Coff ee Bean & Tea Leaf company, based in Los Angeles, uses closed-circuit televisions in its coff ee shops to communicate product information as well as weather and horoscope news, says spokeswoman Christina Gilmour. No matter what the media is, coff ee retailers need to determine what message to communicate. Oſt en the season helps dictate promotions. Starbucks off ered half-price Frappuccino drinks from 3 to 5 p.m. May 6 to 15. Th e promotion was communicated in window clings, free-standing signs in the center of the store, and through brochures near the register and at the condiment counter. While the promotion didn’t appeal to customer Shiva Maharaj, who says he stops twice daily for green tea at the Starbucks at Edens Plaza in Wilmette, Ill., he did appreciate the artful quality of the displays: “Wow, look at the colors. It looks pretty.” While the company changes its promotional displays monthly, other signs stay up longer. For example, the Wilmette location used signs to draw attention to snacks in wicker baskets Fill in 58 on Reader Service Form or visit www.OneRs.hotims.com/35093-58 June 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com | 17 near the register, as well as whole- bean coff ee and reusable tumblers. A small vertical display near the cash register off ered Howard Schultz’ book “Onward.” CUPS AND SLEEVES Merchants should look beyond the necessary role that coff ee cups and sleeves play and consider their marketing power, experts say. By printing a message on a paperboard cup or sleeve or clear plastic cup, “You’re expanding your store signage outside the physical boundaries of your store,” says Buzz Chandler, president of Portland, Ore.-based Asean Corp., which makes Stalk Market and Planet+ cups. Six consumers besides the customer typically see a disposable coff ee cup, which may be carried around an offi ce, says Don Scherer, vice president of sales at BriteVision, a San Francisco-based manufacturer of branded and promotional coff ee cup sleeves. Sleeves typically cost just a penny a cup, making them aff ordable for coff ee shops of all sizes, Scherer says. At a time when other advertising has been impacted by the sluggish economy, Scherer says his sleeve sales during the fi rst four months of 2011 increased 25 percent from the year-ago period, while full-year sales in 2010 were up 27 percent from 2009. Retailers can switch sleeves easily, promoting breakfast items in the morning and iced drinks in the aſt ernoon. Besides product-oriented messages, some retailers promote upcoming events, charitable causes or loyalty programs. Cups and sleeves also can be designed together. At Caribou Coff ee, white paperboard cups are busy with customers’