Country star Dolly Parton released her latest DVD exclusively through the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain.
It debuted at #2 and is now certified Gold (500,000 copies sold). Pay close attention because this goes far beyond food or country music.
Cracker Barrel is a southern style dining place that sells bacon-laden “comfort food” in a cleverly engineered country store that encourages you to buy candy, games, plaques and rocking chairs while you wait for your table.
A Dolly Parton music fan and a Cracker Barrel customer are very nearly the same person.
What does this mean?
A LOT. This applies to you whether you realize it or not.
The music industry is in free fall. Labels can barely afford to pay artists to record albums. Every force you can imagine is eroding their margins. Music is merely a front-end for concert tickets. Bands make their dough by selling merchandise on tour.
So Cracker Barrel has become a music label. This means music fans will make a deliberate stop at Cracker Barrel to buy the $11.99 DVD.
—> What else will they buy?
A catfish dinner, plus meals for three other folks totaling $65; a box of candied walnuts, some audiobooks and a game of Chinese Checkers. Total bill, $96.19.
Who else can reliably score a $96 sale from an $11.99 DVD? Amazon can’t.
According to Perry math, what would normally be a six million dollar rollout by a record company becomes 50 million dollars of business for Cracker Barrel.
3 Signs of the times:
1) Front end profit margins are eroding everywhere, and you need to find ways to chain previously unrelated purchases together.
2) Everyone else is experiencing the same problem. Most people have no idea how to think this way. There’s a big consulting opportunity in finding synergy.
3) I’m teaching this kind of thinking to consultants, so not only can you capitalize on the need out there, you can also embody this principle yourself.
Pull this off, and in economic chaos, you’re the last man standing.
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
5 Comments on “Dolly Parton DVD @ Cracker Barrel: Sign O' The Times”
I was wondering if you ever considered changing the layout of your blog?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way
of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got
an awful lot of text for only having one or two images.
Maybe you could space it out better?
Perry,
Very interesting interpretation.
I would add however that this is bit similar to the “user access” concept that Apple started with the iPod.
One would surmise that the Dolly Parton sweet demographic sweet spot is the in the 60 year old and up category. That group is not a huge “music down load” group. As you astutely pointed out the synergy of retaling it Cracker Barrel is genius because that age group is experience driven.
As kids they’d wait at the record store to pick up an album and the whole place was a buzz. Locating at Cracker Barrel is brilliant because it plays off that nostalgia.
I’m glad I finally found you again.
Not sure if I agree 100% with this Perry. I think you have it in reverse. The music industry has come to the conclusion that people don’t go and buy the DVD or CD now, they download it or pirate it. By offering it at Cracker Barrel they hope to pick up sales of the DVD from people going to have a bite to eat.
So rather than people going to there to buy the DVD and staying for something to eat, they are going for something to eat and while they wait they buy the DVD.
Same marketing idea as the checkout displays at supermarkets- loaded with chocolates and the like that you did not go there to buy but end up buying because the display looked great or the kids screamed buy me that one! Impulse buying. 15 years ago a few $ was an impulse buy. I guess now $12 is considered an impulse buy.
Ooops.
You’re not overdue for creating value but my inbox sure is ;0)
Thanks for the fantastic email (and email). It’s so refreshing to be getting an email coming in that actually offers some real value!
It’s refreshing and long overdue.
Please keep up the good work and I’ll definitely be paying more attention from now on.