Shoe Store Supplies

Stores find success by focusing on the hunt

Trader Joe's, the specialty grocery chain, might not have the cheapest toilet paper or the most varieties of ketchup, but it hooks customers with mango butter, chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds and cilantro-and-jalapeno hummus.

These goodies aren't on most grocery lists, but they're eye-catching enough to tempt shoppers into an impulse buy. At a time when families are watching dollars and the Web makes discount-hunting easy, unexpected treasures are an increasingly important strategy for stores.

"It's the wow factor that's getting people to buy," says Wall Street Strategies analyst Brian Sozzi . "You walk into Costco for tuna and end up getting a Marc Jacobs coat."

So shoppers may go into T.J. Maxx or a DSW shoe store looking for a bargain on something they need but end up splurging on irresistible finds, from dirt-cheap Ray-Bans to half-priced Puma sneakers.

Dollar Tree lures customers with rock-bottom prices on cleaning supplies, then tempts them with extras like leather iPod cases. And at Costco, tucked inside the hulking pallets of mayonnaise and paper towels is a section where shoppers never know what they'll find.

Costco has been using the term "treasure hunt" for years to explain why up to a fifth of its stock is limited-quantity items that are in the store for as little as a week. Sometimes it's seasonal merchandise, such as margarita machines in summer. Often it's surprisingly trendy — such as bargain-priced Hunter rain boots, sold almost exclusively in the U.S. by Nordstrom.

The wholesale chain shows that the treasure hunt strategy can pay. Revenue at U.S. Costco stores open at least a year was up 10 percent last quarter from last year, with strong growth in non-essentials like jewelry and home and garden.

Stores find success by focusing on the hunt | The Delaware Gazette

Trader Joe’s, the spe­cialty gro­cery chain, might not have the cheap­est toi­let paper or the most vari­eties of ketchup, but it hooks cus­tomers with mango but­ter, chocolate-covered pome­gran­ate seeds and cilantro-and-jalapeno hummus.

These good­ies aren’t on most gro­cery lists, but they’re eye-catching enough to tempt shop­pers into an impulse buy. At a time when fam­i­lies are watch­ing dol­lars and the Web makes discount-hunting easy, unex­pected trea­sures are an increas­ingly impor­tant strat­egy for stores.

“It’s the wow fac­tor that’s get­ting peo­ple to buy,” says Wall Street Strate­gies ana­lyst Brian Sozzi. “You walk into Costco for tuna and end up get­ting a Marc Jacobs coat.”

So shop­pers may go into T.J. Maxx or a shoe store look­ing for a bar­gain on some­thing they need but end up splurg­ing on irre­sistible finds, from dirt-cheap Ray-Bans to half-priced Puma sneakers.

Dol­lar Tree lures cus­tomers with rock-bottom prices on clean­ing sup­plies, then tempts them with extras like leather iPod cases. And at Costco, tucked inside the hulk­ing pal­lets of may­on­naise and paper tow­els is a sec­tion where shop­pers never know what they’ll find.

Costco has been using the term “trea­sure hunt” for years to explain why up to a fifth of its stock is limited-quantity items that are in the store for as lit­tle as a week. Some­times it’s sea­sonal mer­chan­dise, such as mar­garita machines in sum­mer. Often it’s sur­pris­ingly trendy — such as bargain-priced Hunter rain boots, sold almost exclu­sively in the U.S. by Nordstrom.

The whole­sale chain shows that the trea­sure hunt strat­egy can pay. Rev­enue at U.S. Costco stores open at least a year was up 10 per­cent last quar­ter from last year, with strong growth in non-essentials like jew­elry and home and garden.

Wal­mart, on the other hand, is still try­ing to cor­rect itself after a move to pare down to the basics — the oppo­site of the trea­sure hunt approach — proved unsuccessful.

Con­stantly cycling in fresh mer­chan­dise is crit­i­cal as the Web makes it harder for stores to com­pete on price. After all, why drive to a store that offers “every­day low prices” when you can find the same prod­ucts cheaper online? Sur­prises also cre­ate sus­pense and encour­age repeat visits.

Cos., the par­ent com­pany of T.J. Maxx and other chains that sell designer goods at a dis­count, gained momen­tum dur­ing the reces­sion, when fru­gal­ity came into style. That growth is con­tin­u­ing after the reces­sion, at a time of high gas prices and stag­nant incomes. First-quarter rev­enue at Mar­shalls and T.J. Maxx stores open at least a year was up 4 per­cent over the same period last year.

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