Box Toppers

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

We are thinking of doing box toppers for specials after reading numerous posts about what you guys do in the US and Canada.

The only time we did it was when we were desperate for drivers and made up toppers on fluro self adhesive labels advertising that we required drivers.

I am wanting to do them now with coupons for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday along the same lines of what we did for the recent Family Day at the shopping centre where we are located.

“More on Monday” free small 10" with any Family 15"

“Tightwad Tuesday” with free upgrade to 15" Family size from large 13" - 2 pizza order.

“Wacky Wednesday” A small 10" pizza, Ribs or Wedges, Garlic Bread and 1.25lt soda for $19.90

My wife thinks we shouldn’t be sending these out to customers who are already buying from us but to look at attracting new customers. I agree to attracting new customers, but I also think that by sending them out on all boxes, be it delivery or shop pick up, we will get people to buy more often, especially on the quieter nights. These deals are for February only and are shop pick up only.

Maybe we will be giving something away to people who will normally buy on these nights but then again we maybe getting people to buy bigger sizes (Mondays with Family size) or more volume as with the 2 pizzas for upgrade from large to family size (Tuesdays).

To the best of my knowledge no one does box toppers (not even the chains) so we could generate someting new for our area and get extra sales. As I have stated on previous posts coupons are only done by the chains so as an indy doing it we may be opening up a great marketing and sales booster tool for us.

Questions:
Do we box top on delivery and shop pick ups?

                 Do you think we will be cannilbalising our current sales by doing this?

                Should we back up the box toppers with the same coupons in an advert in our free local newspaper?

We really want to give varied deals at selected times over and above our ongoing 2 or 3 pizza discounted buys, or pizza garlic bread and drink meal deals which are incorporated in our price list / menu. We want to keep the customers thinking they are getting something different to all the other pizza shop offers and by offering special buys for a limited time such as the ones listed I think we are doing this - Yes or No?

Any other ideas on box toppers would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

2

Dave
Although your wife has a point, in that you may be discounting orders you would have gotten anyway, this is a very shortsighted view. Boxtoppers used properly, increase business in two ways. They increase frequency of orders, and they increase ticket average. I wouldn’t limit your specials to just ones for for specific days. Put one or two that can be redeemed anytime. Just make sure these have price points that are higher than your average ticket, not offering a huge discount, and you will profit more with each redemption. It’s much better to sell $22.00 worth of food for $20 to a customer rather than have that customer purchase their normal $15 at full price. Your food cost % will go up slightly, but your labor as a % will decrease, and your wife will smile as she gets to spend more $.

3

In addition to the box toppers look at door hangers to attract those people who are not your regular customers.

I have started my Feb marketing with “Beat the Clock” Monday where you pay the time for your second 2 12’. “Movie Tuesday” free rental at the movie store next door. Canadian Tire Money at par on Wednesday.

I am doing both box toppers and door hangers.

4

Have you done “beat the clock” before?
Seems I would want to do REVERSE beat the clock or something! Meaning, I want to motivate more business at later hours…

How does it price out? $5 at 5 oclock, but the same pie is $10 at 10?

5

My normal price on the second 12" is $9.50 and I start the countdown at 4:00 for $4 and I close at 10:00 so the last 1/2 hour you pay regular price.

The Monday traffic is slow to start that is why Monday is beat the clock.

6

You’re crazy not to use box toppers. It is cheaper to advertise to your current customers than it is to attract new ones. You have already gotten them in the door, so half the battle is already done. They chose your pizza so you know they like it. While they’re eating YOUR pizza, they’re also reading the coupons on your box topper. Most likely they’re enjoying your pizza and have a good feeling going through them. As a result, in the future they will associate that good feeling with your box topper. In a way you’re subconsciously “training” your customer to order from you. Always make sure to put an expiration date on your box topper coupons. This acts as a call to action and will prevent the customer from putting it up some where and forgetting about it. Instead they will put it on their fridge and will plan to use it soon before it expires. Try to put an expiration date between 2-3 weeks. The idea behind this is to get your customers to order twice a month. This is a great strategy because the average customer orders about once a month. Your goal should be to try and get your customers to order from you at least twice a month. The box topper coupons remind them and encourage your customers to order twice a month from you. Take for example “customer A”. This customer orders $20 worth of food from you once a month. This customer is currently worth $240 a year to you. You are now box topping with coupons that have a 2 week expiration on them. As a result, “customer A” starts ordering twice a month from you because he doesn’t want to lose out on getting a deal with the coupons. Now “customer A” is worth $480 a year to you. Now just imagine if you can get 50 of your regular customers to start ordering twice a month instead of once, you will put around $12,000 more in your pocket a year!!! Also remember to accept the coupons even if the expiration date had already expired. The main idea behind the expiration date is to get the customer to use it and get their butts in the door to order.

7

Box toppers are a great idea! As far as what’s on ours, we put our Family meal special, “other stuff” such as wings, calzones and garlic strips. I also list our daily specials. Depending on the season (football, baseball, soccor) I have specials for those months as well. There are standard things on the topper, but I change it out depending on what’s going on. Don’t forget your address and phone #. Your regulars bring pizzas to events and friends houses. They do your advertising for you! Word of mouth - so to speak! Good luck!