Retail column: Hold a class, gain customers
| Saturday, Aug 29 2009 02:19 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Aug 29 2009 02:19 PM
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Courtenay Edelhart
With double digit unemployment and customers watching every penny, it’s hard to get shoppers in the door and opening up their wallets.
But there’s one marketing strategy that doesn’t cost much and is guaranteed to at the very least build good will, and possibly generate direct sales.
It’s a simple thing, really. Hold a class in your store, for free or for a nominal fee. Students anxious to use their newfound skills will want to buy the products they’re learning about or using in class.
Lots of local and national retailers who are doing this swear by it, despite the time and effort that goes into developing a class, publicizing it and enrolling participants.
“It’s absolutely worth it,” said Susi Klassen, owner of The Bead Hut, 610 18th St..
The store offers a jewelry making class for up to six people once a month, and one-on-one instruction by appointment. Classes cost $25 to $40, depending on the level. Some are more advanced than others.
Klassen teaches basic courses, herself, and brings in outside teachers for higher level instruction.
The outside teachers keep enrollment fees for their classes, but Klassen makes money either way on the sale of beads, semi-precious stones, tools and other merchandise used in the jewelry making process.
“I sell all kinds of supplies,” she said. “Not just to the classes, but to the friends they tell about us.”
Hardware store Lowe’s offers a library of do-it-yourself and how-to videos on its Web site, and sponsors free, seasonal Build and Grow Clinics for children at its stores.
“The clinics are usually tied to a holiday or something, like they’ll make a little flower box for their moms around Mother’s Day, or a little school bus for back to school,” said Lowe’s spokeswoman Abby Buford.
“It’s a fun thing for the kids to do, and they get to have some quality interaction with their parents,” Buford said.
If those parents pick up something while they’re in the store, that can’t hurt, either. And, of course, those handy ’lil tykes could grow up to be Lowe’s shoppers. For information on upcoming classes, log onto www.lowesbuildandgrow.com.
Henley’s Photo, 2000 H St.,, offers a three-session photography class five or six times a year that costs $45. You can also get one-on-one training on how to use a new camera purchased at Henley’s or elsewhere.
The classes are hugely popular, said owner Tom Burch.
“We tried to do a summer class a few years ago that bombed because people were off on vacation, but this year we filled two summer classes and have another one coming up in September,” he said.
Burch figures people aren’t traveling as much in the recession, which leaves more time to pursue hobbies and learn new skills. Students almost always buy a new camera or some related piece of equipment, Burch said, and they keep returning long after the class is over.
The key, though, is to keep the classes affordable.
Henley’s photography class is “pretty cheap,” he said, which helps enrollment and leaves students enough wiggle room to shop for merchandise.
