An Australian toilet gel has seen a massive increase in sales revenue since taking part in Coles’ monstrously successful Little Shop campaign.
According to The Australian Financial Review, the decision for Pental – an Australian manufacturer of household chemicals – to add their White King Power Clean toilet gel into the mini-collectables range saw them achieve a 50 per cent spike in sales.
Pental CEO Charlie McLeish spoke to AFR, stating that he was glad the company had taken the punt on the promotion.
Pental’s White King toilet gel has seen a massive 50% increase in sales over the last two months- bringing it all down to the massive Coles Little Shop campaign
Mr McLeish said the company had to pay to be involved and although he didn’t divulge the number, he said it was similar to a normal step-up in promotional drive.
Interestingly, McLeish also revealed that it wasn’t the only cost.
‘We had to pay for the manufacture of the collectables,’ he explained.
Mr McLeish said the brand would use the increased sales to help the company’s move into the Chinese market.
‘It’s been a ripper. I’m just glad that we took up the opportunity and not one of our competitors,’ he said.
Meanwhile, an expert has labelled the Little Shop promotion as ‘one of the greatest retail marketing campaigns ever’.
Julie Wrobel, managing director of branding and communications studio, Algo Mas, made the bold claim in a first-person piece written for Mumbrella.
‘Last week I purchased two Snickers bars at the Coles check-out to increase my $57.80 shop to over $60 so I’d be eligible for two Little Shop packets instead of one. I don’t even like Snickers,’ Mrs Wrobel wrote.
Not just for kids: An expert labelled the Coles Little Shop as ‘one of the greatest retail marketing campaigns ever’ as it appealed to everyone
She said the ingenious idea of making the branding on the plastic toys visible created instant brand loyalty. She also praised the extended reach of the campaign.
‘The Coles Little Shop campaign has created, organically, a secondary market of swap meets and recess time trade-offs,’ she said.
During the campaign, and as Coles acknowledged the growing hype – they held in-store ‘swap days’ for customers to trade their collectables.
Thousands turned out to the events in over 45 stores around the country in hopes of completing their collections.
According to News.com.au, the supermarket’s main rival Woolworths also admitted defeat, acknowledging that Coles Little Shop was one of the main reasons for its poor 2019 Q1 sales.
Collect them all: Customers had to spend $30 to receive one mini-collectable which were packaged in blind bags so they had no idea what item they were getting
Coles launched Little Shop in July this year, featuring 30 iconic household brands including Vegemite, Nutella and Weet-Bix all shrunk to a mini-collectable.
Shoppers recieved one collectable for every $30 spent in store which they then picked from blind bags at the checkout.
The campaign was a nationwide craze with families pleading with people to swap minis with them on social media, complete sets were reaching up to $1000 on Gumtree and appreciation groups on Facebook boasting hundreds of thousands of members.
The campaign wrapped up on Tuesday.
A roaring success: Coles Little Shop saw thousands bombard their stores on ‘swap days’- hoping to swap their collectables with other shoppers to round out their collections