Inflationary pressures are coming

by Cindy Jones, Editor

Retail sales powered through COVID-19, inflation and other challenges to post strong increases in January, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said. “January’s numbers show that 2022 is starting very strong for consumers and retailers, especially on the heels of a record holiday season and record sales in 2021,” Matthew Shay, president and CEO for NRF said.

Despite inflationary pressures stemming from labor shortages, COVID-19 impacts and uncertainty related to international tensions in Russia and China, consumers are spending, and the economy remains in good shape. Shay is “confident that retail sales growth and overall consumer financial health can continue” unless there are “political policy decisions that compound the challenges our economy is already facing.”

Trends are showing customers are returning to stores. This is good news for hospital gift shops. Unfortunately, shops still need to pass on price increases to offset inflationary pressures in the months ahead. This will be the challenge for 2022!

Here are some pricing strategies to consider using during inflation: 

• Implement more sophisticated pricing strategies that present consumers with a more balanced cart. Prices will have to go up on some key items, but there will be room for prices to go down on other items. Leverage smart pricing to improve your shop’s price perception during inflation.
• Households will cut back on volumes and spending, being very selective where they spend their money. Have the most compelling products that people want to buy.
• Disguise price increases with different formulations, package deals or added-value elements. Instead of simply bumping up prices to cover inflation, embellish the products with package deals or low-cost add-ons, say $1.50 and then raise the price by $5. “Buy one and get a free greeting card.”
• Partner with vendors on ways to decrease costs. Don’t “squeeze” the vendor, but instead find ways that won’t impact either side’s bottom line. For example, one vendor worked with their overnight shipping company to save money on shipping. That savings – at least part of it – was used to offset price increases.
• Be transparent about price increases and communicate this to consumers. customers half-expect retailers to boost their pricing whenever there is inflationary pressure. Keep customers informed about changes in pricing and give reasons for these actions.
• Shift price points with small increments over time.
• Offer programs with reward coupons on a monthly basis, to generate consistent traffic. Promotions will be the key when trying to create loyalty.

The best retailers are using a balanced approach which offers better prices on the items their customers care about the most while surgically finding margin elsewhere – a win-win for consumers and retailers alike.

New gift shop construction at Trinity Health

Trinity Health’s medical campus in southwest Minot, North Dakota is at about 75% completion and is on track to open in the spring of 2023, according to hospital officials. The new hospital will be roughly three times the size of the current downtown hospital. The gift shop is managed by Sheril Maragos, Director of Volunteer Services & Gift Shop.

Coming into the hospital atrium, a visitor will encounter the chapel, gift shop, coffee shop and cafeteria. We’re excited to see the shop in its completion and learn all about it from Sheril!

National Healthcare Volunteer Week: Apr 17-23, 2022

National Volunteer Week was established in 1974 to recognize and celebrate the efforts of volunteers across the country. AHVRP (acquired by The Beryl Institute in July 2020) expands upon National Volunteer Week with National Health Care Volunteer Week. It was designed to recognize the support that volunteers and auxilians provide to hospital staff, their patients, their family members and the community. 

Below is a list of ideas, both big and small, to celebrate and show appreciation to your volunteers (SOURCE: Celebrate Volunteer Week: Beryl Institute).

Ideas to Celebrate Volunteers

• Luncheon or breakfast
• Create and recognize volunteers for awards or hours of service
• Zoom social
• Social media posts and shout outs to recognize volunteers on a broad platform
• Newsletter at the end of the volunteer week summarizing the awards, pictures and highlights from the volunteers
• Emails to keep volunteers up to date on what is happening at the hospital, including challenges to be active and engage
• Create a collage of HOPE: a big picture of the word of HOPE filled in with pictures of people 
• Virtual opportunities
• Mail gift cards to encourage attendance or participation in volunteer week activities
• E-card
• Outdoor picnics
• Pen pal program where patients write about themselves and a volunteer writes back to them
• Department managers or executive leaders send notes to volunteers
• Offer opportunity for the community to adopt a unit and show their support for staff by bringing in snacks, lunch, thank you cards, etc.
• Appreciation cards: Teens write cards of encouragement for the hospital staff and place the cards on windshields of employee cars in the garage
• Volunteer week: Trivia Tuesday with questions about the hospital; Wellness Wednesday focusing on how to stay safe during the pandemic; Thankful Thursday celebrates them on social media; Flashback Friday shares memories and stories from over the years.
• Offer services to help volunteers: errands, childcare, tutoring
• Hospital board directors call volunteers to personally thank them for their service.

Gift Ideas

Volunteer Week Themes

Create and use a motto, image, theme throughout the week to make your volunteer week memorable. Some ideas include:

• Volunteering a Work of Heart
• We Can’t Mask Our Gratitude
• Making a World of Difference

Q. Does your shop offer loyalty program keytags?

Does your shop offer scannable keytags with a customer loyalty program to hospital employees? Customers earn a point for every dollar spent in the gift shop and receive coupons that spend like cash once a certain point tier is reached. Loyalty program members can also receive other special offers. These programs are managed online and integrate with your POS. Some POS systems have built-in loyalty programs, such as Square, Vend, Lightspeed.

With your shop’s loyalty key tag on your customer’s key chain, they’ll have a daily visual reminder of your store!

Studies show that your previous customers are nine times more likely to buy from you compared to a new customer. What’s more, your existing customers spend 31% more on average than new ones. A customer rewards system is a must-have to guarantee customer loyalty and increase revenue through repeat purchases.

A well-thought-out loyalty program can:

• Attract new customers;
• Retain existing customers;
• Reactivate dormant customers; and
• Nudge them to spend more.

Payroll Deduction is also an important convenience for hospital employees and increases total gift shop revenue. Employee payroll deduction works through your POS or utilizes a program the hospital may already be using elsewhere on campus.

Does your shop offer a loyalty key tag program to hospital employees?

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Does your shop offer a loyalty key tag program to hospital employees?x

CLICK TO COMMENT

What company do you use for your customer loyalty program? What do you like, or dislike, about the service? Is it expensive? Is it working?!

Be a loyal reader and leave your input. Do your part and leave a comment here or enter it at the bottom of the newsletter.

Thank you!

Connect. Share. Grow. ♡

💮 CALENDAR 💮

GIFT MARKETS

FEBRUARY 2022 NEWSLETTER: ISSUE #627
Did you miss last month’s articles, surveys, and discussions?

DISCUSSION

2021 BEST SELLERS

Wow! We asked, you answered! Thanks to everyone who shared their best sellers from 2021. Here are all the responses. A great variety of products. Some surprising ones too!

Apparel, especially plaid jackets and gnomes were very popular. – Ann Bergmann, Cumberland Healthcare, Cumberland, WI. 25 beds. 1/21/22

Covenant Rings. We have a display of 60 rings and every 6-9 months, new rings are added and slow sellers are removed. I’ve had lots of luck and consistently sold them for over 7 years.  – Jennifer Stuber. 1/21/22

Yes, Covenant Rings have been good, consistent sellers for many years! – Cindy

Clothing is my best category and loungewear from DM was my best seller during the holiday season and beyond. They have great price points and a huge margin builder. I received the floor display and I had to rearrange the entire shop to fit it in my space, but worth it. Strongly recommend the fixture as it keeps the product well organized and easy to shop. – Carol Colpitts. 2/20/22

One product line that we dropped was a CBD line. Just did not sell. Melissa & Doug eductional/toy items have done very well for us as well as hospital logo wear. Snack and personal care baskets that we create have worked out well for call-in orders. – Greg Holtgrewe. 2/19/22 

Q. What all do you put in your personal care baskets? I am new to this position so extra help is awesome!! Thanks in advance – Jaci, Hays Medical Center Gift Shop, Hays, KS. 1/20/22

Usually hand and body lotions, lip balms, decorative nail files, shower gels, fancy soaps, body sprays and bath bombs. Some of the vendors are Naked Bee, Inis, Duke Cannon, Ganz, San Francisco Soap and Bomb Cosmetics. We get our celophane bags, ribbon and packaging supplies from Nashville Wraps. Most of the time we do not use a basket but a clear desert plate for a base so that all of the items are easily seen. Sometimes you have to get creative during construction to get everything to stand up maybe using a ribbon to group things. We suggestive sell snack bags that we put together and balloons to go along. – Greg Holtgrew

The Ganz Crystal Expressions colored birds of any kind are a huge seller for us. I always think the popularity will fizzle out but it hasn’t and we have customers buy multiple at a time. Light up snow globes/lanterns this past Christmas were the best thing I have brought into the Gift Shop. I sold 11 in one day (we are only open to staff & patients 6 hours a day Mon-Fri) and my total stock of 63 were sold within 3 weeks. – Sarah Ryan. 1/18/21

Sarah, where do you source the light up lanterns from? – Cindy

I order the snow globes/lanterns from a couple of companies, but the best place I found was Razimports.com. They have a wide selection of both globes and lanterns and a great price range of everything. They have small options with a lower price point all the way to large options and high price points. A lot play music, which is always a big hit. The variety of options was the best in my option as well. Search their website for Water Globe or Water Lantern and it will bring up all the options in both categories. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with! I love getting your newsletter, it is always full of great information! — Sarah Ryan. 1/18/21

We too sold out of the light up water lanterns in less than a week. Retail prices were from $50 up. We will certainly buy again from either Roman or Raz. – Kathy Kramer, Carousel Gift Shop Driscoll Children’s Hospital, Corpus Christi. 1/21/22

Brief Insanity brand lounge pants – it was insane how well they sell! – Jill Dugaw. 1/18/22

Who was your vendor? Thanks in advance!! – Jaci, Hays Medical Center Gift Shop, Hays, KS. 1/20/22

SE Marketplace – Jill Dugaw. 1/26/22

Worlds Softest Sock Company (Crescent Socks) were huge for us fourth quarter. You have to order now for inventory for fourth quarter this year. If you don’t, you will miss out as they sell out every year. – Sabra Shields. 1/18/22

Anything with a cardinal on it. – Margaret Legut 1/17/22

Warmies! The slippers, neck wraps, and all of their animals. We also sell them over the phone like crazy. Customers love the thought of something warm and comforting going to their loved one. – Linda Armstrong. 1/17/22

See’s Candy! We brought them in late, but they moved really quickly. It was great to have options for holiday candy for our staff. – Justin. 1/17/21

Wicked Minis crackers are a popular snack and they come in several flavors. Our top seller is the Dill flavor. Itzy Ritzy is a great baby line! They have a wonderful selection of trendy designs and moms love the variety of teethers, toys, pactifiers and lovies! Last June we picked up a new line of sun glasses and readers from DM Merchandising. The brand name is Optimum Optical. They have awesome displays where the extra boxes of sunglasses are stored next to the sunglasses which keep our volunteers from going to the back so much. The displays have a modern, sleek design. Our employees love the designs! We have restocked twice so far! You can’t go wrong with Funky Freshies car scents made by Funky Fleur De Lis. We have used them for about 2 years and always sell out. Cute designs and great scents! – Betty Beck. 1/17/22

Our winners for 2021 was an increase in clothing sales. Staff who were not willing to hit the malls during COVID were shopping in our Gift Shop! – Lynn, Misericordia Health Centre Gift Shop, Winnipeg. Manitoba, Canada. 1/17/22

Santoki Lego Keychain Lights.  Roman light up holiday lanterns.  Cardigans from Davi & Dani and Rose N Mary. – Stephanie, San Juan Regional Medical Center, Farmington, NM. 1/17/22.

We’ve done great with Paint by Sticker books for adults and Kids from Workman Publishing. They were a great find for us during the pandemic! – Keri Schwartz. 1/17/22 

Loungewear particularly sleep/blanket hoodies did great! Careful for 2022, the cost on the blanket hoodies have increased tremendously with certain vendors!! Giftcraft, Simply Southern, LazyOnes. – Connie Slingluff. 1/17/22

Umgee USA clothing and Myra handbags – Ginger Taylor. 1/17/22 

Our Jen & Co purses were great sellers this past year. We also do really well with Coronet and Accessorize Me jewelry. Our Evergreen’s Sassafras Mats and garden flags are also top sellers. Crazy as it sounds, our Ganz mini glass animals are an item we can hardly keep in stock. They sell so well for us at $1.95. For books, we are very pleased with Choice Book Distributors. Other surprising best sellers are the satin pillowcases and microfiber hair towels from Morning Glamour. We sold out of these over the holidays and just got more back in, due to the continuing requests. – Tamara Szarszewski, Gift Shop Manager, Logansport Memorial Hospital Gift Shop, 83 beds. 1/17/22

TY Squish-A-Boos are great sellers for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Gift Shops. -Traci G. 1/16/22

PROMOTIONS