We launched a new product in the Frogpants Store today—print grab bags. They are bundles of 5 randomly selected prints that customers can get at a major discount. They can pick the print size and which artist—we have them for both Scott and Carter Johnson—but the specific prints are a surprise. The grab bags are a follow up item to a clean up we did in the store at the end of 2019. A number of older prints were taken out of circulation to clear space for upcoming new products and those prints were used to build our grab bags.
When an artist sells prints, it is important to refresh the available products on a regular basis. Not everything needs to be swapped of course, it is great if you can develop a solid base of evergreen items that sell consistently over time. But regular refresh is key to ensure that customers have a reason to come back and buy more. Repeat business is fundamental to store success and if you don’t change out your offerings periodically, your most loyal fans will eventually run out of things to buy. Refreshing also allows you to grow the funnel—current prints may be selling well but not every fan who comes to the store will find a print they want but regular expansion of the offering gives you a second bite at the apple to capture them next time.
Of course, even if you print as close to on demand as possible and try to tie your refresh schedule to stock on hand, when you discontinue a product there is likely going to be some extra inventory. That extra product can give you a third or even fourth bite at that apple. First you can go with a simple clearance offer where a discount will let you appeal to price sensitive potential customers without dropping your overall price point. Chomp. And then a grab bag or some other bundling option with an even deeper unit price discount will let you chase both the price sensitive and super fans in the audience at the same time. Chomp chomp.
Tie each of these actions to the slower part of a month or quarter and next thing you know, the apple is gone, you’ve evened out the client’s revenue stream and you’ve cleared out some shelf space for the Next Big Thing!