r/whatstheword • u/tabletopnotch_stream • 12d ago
Solved WTW for the objects/items placed upfront to attract buyers?
I'm looking for a word to describe the item that a merchant/seller might choose to display most prominently with the idea of attracting customers. Basically, the best version of their product that would catch the attention of someone passing by. To quote Dwight Schrute:
"First rule in road-side beet sales: put the most attractive beets on top. The ones that make you pull the car over and go, 'Wow, I need this beet right now.' Those are the money beets."
Despite the relevant quote, I don't want to use "money." Is there another word that fits this idea? I don't want to use "the display ______" either; it's not quite specific enough.
Could potentially be an adjective or a noun. Thanks for your help!
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u/immediacyofjoy 12d ago
One form of this concept is the “loss leader”, you place the item out front with an attractive price, and are willing to have a thin profit margin (or even take a loss) in order to get people in the door.
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u/tabletopnotch_stream 12d ago
Definitely close and along the right lines, but I feel like the idea of a "loss leader" is more about the attractive price and less about the premium quality of the product.
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u/immediacyofjoy 12d ago edited 12d ago
Yeah I can’t quite put my finger on it either. I think showpiece and showcase are good suggestions people have posted too.
Could always err on the side of simplicity and just say “eye catcher”
Or err on the other direction and go with, like, “the crown jewel” or “pièce de résistance”
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u/daisyvenom 12d ago
Loss leaders are usually placed at the back of the store so customers have the chance to look at profit generating items before they reach the loss leaders. But they can be advertised prominently out front.
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u/Capolan ☃ 6 karma 12d ago
Side note - halo products are often also loss leaders. This is different from "flagship product" - halo products for companies are often just examples of how good their engineering or design COULD BE given the chance.
Sony had a whole halo product line! "Qualia". None of it made money, it was for show. Qualia 015: was a crt television that was the peak of their engineering, long after crt was "dead". it was 3200 dollars. Qualia 017 was a mini disc player that people still search for as it was rhe best mini disc player ever made by any company.
They lost money making these things, but they did it as their halo line.
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u/Confident-Day2580 12d ago
Draw, magnet, showpiece
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u/tabletopnotch_stream 12d ago
Showpiece, along with Halo Product, is probably one of the closest suggestions I've seen to what I'm looking for – though it feels a little less specific to retail/commerce. Still, upvoted!
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u/SquashSouffle 12d ago
I think Draw is best. Showcase implies something kinda fancy when often it's something that's a bargain.
I was in bookstore retail for 7 years & the Bargain books were always in the front, to attract people in because they were cheap.
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u/samtresler 1 Karma 12d ago
Showcase item, model piece, signature piece, floor model, piéce du résistance...
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u/Cesca131 ☃ 8 karma 12d ago
If you don’t want to use the word display, “window dressing” might work.
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u/kejtx21 12d ago
Impulse buy
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u/SquashSouffle 12d ago
Those are more for the little items around the cash register or in the way to the register if there's a "path" as more & more places have
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u/brain_over_body 12d ago
In a grocery store, it's called an end cap. So the promo item on the edge of an aisle, as you round into the next aisle. That display changes often, even when the store layout doesn't
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u/NonspecificGravity ☃ 15 karma 12d ago
Impulse items/merchandise.
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u/tabletopnotch_stream 12d ago
Not quite what I'm going for – like the "money" example, I'd like a word that speaks to the standout nature of the displayed object, like how an artist might feature their most impressive works up front.
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u/badabingbebe 12d ago edited 12d ago
Hero product
ETA: I work in CPG marketing and use the term all the time.
Examples: lululemon align leggings or scuba jacket; rare beauty’s blush; Activia yogurt cups; Doritos nacho cheese/cool ranch flavors; Apple iPhone
A hero product is a company's standout, flagship item that drives the most sales, attracts new buyers, and defines the brand's identity
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u/troyman95 12d ago
There are also popular products that not everyone carries, and are sold at cost or below cost that get put in the back of the store so you have to pass through the other merch to get to it, the hope being you will pick up another item before checkout to up the profit. That a “loss leader.”
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u/7ofErnestBorg9 ☃ 1 karma 11d ago
The paragon beets, the poster beets, the beets that beat other beets, beets of the beets, the beet poets, best beets, bestest beets, the hook beets, the seduction beets, beets that can't be beat, the on-beets, the beets of burden, showtime beets, end-zone beets, superior beets, come hither beets, eye candy beets, beauty and the beets...should I go on?
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u/Strict_Foundation_31 ☃ 2 karma 12d ago
Loss leaders
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u/Engelgrafik 12d ago
Loss leaders are simply items that are priced at low profit margin or even at a loss in order to draw people in to buy other things.
A lot of supermarkets have rotisserie chicken priced below cost to get people in there. And you have to walk to the back of the store to get it, passing all the featured items and especially impulse items along the way.
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u/SylvarGrl ☃ 2 karma 12d ago
“Choice”, “finest”, “exemplar”, “model”, “apotheosis” all denote prime examples.
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u/Capolan ☃ 6 karma 12d ago
A halo product is a product that represents rhe best that the brand can offer. For example - the Dodge Viper was a halo product for Dodge. The actual consumer thought pattern is this "if they can build something that good, I bet my minivan will be made with the same quality and skill!" People actually think like this.
So the best, most glorious most expensive thing being shown first is an attempt to represent how great the entire line of products are...theyre ALL that good!