A 1 in 7 Cross-Sell

I found myself in the bedlam that is Hamleys Regent St toy store on a half-term Saturday.  Battling my way through to the tills, I plonked my fancy dress party accessories for that evening on the counter with a sense of relief.  The bill came to £32.98.  Only half concentrating on what was a typical card transaction, I barely registered that the young chap that served me grabbed something from behind him and started talking.

“I’m not sure you guys would be interested in this…”

He was pitching some electronic Hallowe’en gizmo called a Fright Light that produces ghoulish sounds and spooky lights.  We could have it for half-price, £7.50.  (I discovered later, qualification for this treat was through over thirty quid spent).

Chuckling, I turned down his kind offer.  To his credit, even when I’d said no, he kept his smile and gushed with a couple more of the features.  Intrigued though, I asked the lad how many he’d sold.  He proudly told me “loads”.  With further probing, I got him to calculate what the ratio of success was.  His considered reply was that once out of every seven times someone had added the toy to their shopping.

The place was packed.  I asked this near five o’clock.  And judging by how he described what was the huge pile at the start of the day, and now was much smaller, the promotion had proved a winner.

So a cracking promotion for a half-price product, time- and event-specific, with a qualifying spend.  What would bring your 1 in 7 success?