Average Weight of Purchase or AWOP is the average amount, volume, number or size of purchase your customers are making at checkout. Increasing AWOP/basket size, ultimately increases spend per customer, so it is certainly an area that deserves a second look.
In this snapshot post, we'll take a look at how to increase AWOP/basket size, increasing overall spend per customer. In a former incarnation I worked for a leading FMCG company in the category management department, where we used various different programmes to help drive incremental sales all backed by EPOS data.
The retail sector has long looked at basket size (and how to increase it), and were light years ahead in their approach (such as floor plans and in-store theatre) to drive that incremental sale. The best selling products were given the prime shelf position with the maximum amount of facings, keys products were positioned to encourage pester power. We looked at key adjacencies etc. We used Nielsen Data and EPOS data to validate our decision making with continuous monthly reviews with each of the retailers.
Of course, the arts and culture sector is not FMCG. But there are definitely some learnings which we can apply to increase the average weight of purchase.
Be Data Driven
Data is key here to help firstly establish a base line, and give us a starting point. Let's take one example and ask the question: What percent of customers have more than one item in their cart at check out? Let's say that aggregate data shows that only 10% of customers buy more than one item. This is where the opportunity lies. We can then look at ways to get 5% more customers to buy more than one item (adding X in added revenue). And once that goal is set, we need to be unwavering in our efforts to attain it. This is if course only one data point. You could also look at how many shows people are buying, rather than ticket numbers, or additional products bought alongside tickets. The crucial thing here is that you be data driven.
Try Different Techniques
So now we have a baseline of where our customers are at the moment, and we have a clear goal of what we want to do. Now on to some techniques we implement to help drive up basket sizes. Again if we look to the FMCG sector we can commandeer some ideas - and no doubt you are already implementing some of these techniques.
- Incremental discounts. For example, when you buy tickets for 2 shows you save 10%, when you buy 3 shows you save 15% etc.
- Exclusive offers. Exclusive offers are very attractive, for example, you might make offers only available online, if you buy certain products along with a show etc.
- Make useful recommendations. Automated recommendations most definitely increase basket sizes. Think of it like this: in a bricks and mortar shop, customers are encouraged to buy recommended products because the store can simply place said products together (pasta sitting next to sauce on the shelf, for example). In an online environment, you can create the same "shelf" using automated recommendations.
These are of course just a few ideas and ways to think about increasing basket sizes. Increasing spend per customer thinking is inbuilt into Ticketsolve, allowing you to take advantage of a variety of ways to increase basket sizes. If you want to know more, give us a shout! We're happy to share our ideas and help!
