Berries.com finds innovative gift boxes spark Fourth of July sales
With its revenue and number of orders this year running 20% over last, Shari`s Berries International Inc.`s Berries.com is helping to perk up sales with new merchandising designed for its traditionally slower holidays. While online sales are typically strong for Mother`s Day, Valentine`s Day and Christmas, partly because its chocolate-dipped strawberries are commonly made to look like flowers, Berries.com is seeing success from new merchandising techniques designed to focus on other special days like the Fourth of July and Father`s Day, Chris Schipper, web designer and business applications specialist, tells InternetRetailer.com.
"Our sales on our regular gift box were down 30% this spring, but orders for our new specialty berries gift box for the Fourth of July covered that loss and increased sales another 10%," he says. After designing a special arrangement of strawberries dipped in white chocolate with red stripes and a blue star on each berry, Berries.com captured the product in a high-resolution digital photograph for a top-center home page gift-box display. "That helped a lot," Schipper says. "We converted a normal gift box into a high-margin specialty box."
Berries also reports additional sales through new merchandising displays for Father`s Day, not a typically strong day for sales of dipped strawberries, Schipper says. By displaying its berries as part of packages with gifts like a business card holder or a pocket knife, Berries has been able to make its products more appealing and suitable as gifts for all members of the family, he says. He adds that Berries is exploring ways to create other specialty gift boxes for holidays and seasons, and may also implement a complementary gift card service.
Industry analysts note that gift merchandising is becoming more common among online retailers, who want to expand the success they experience during holiday sales. "We`re seeing more gift merchandising year-round," says Lauren Freedman, president of retail consultants The e-Tailing Group. "Retailers see the success of gift promotions in the fourth quarter and they see opportunity to do more gifting online."
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