| abstract | - Cupboard captives, also referred to as cabinet castaways, is a marketing term used to describe household products which are frequently owned but not frequently used.1 Cupboard captives are generally food or food related items that are typically found in a cupboard. The following is a list of items that could be considered cupboard captives in a given household:
* Hot Sauce
* Vitamins
* Baking Soda
* Canned Vegetables
* Spices Increasing sales is an objective that every company faces. Often, this objective is completed by obtaining new users or stealing customers away from competitors. Both of which can be very expensive and time consuming. Cupboard Captives, however, provide huge opportunities for brand managers. If a brand manager can inspire a new use for their brand, they could increase sales without converting a single new user. For example, a brand manager who increases the average number of units of hot sauce consumed per household from four bottles to five bottles per year just realized a 25 percent increase in sales without converting a single new user. A good way to realize this increase is to introduce new uses for the product. For example, a cream cheese manufacturer could suggest using light cream cheese instead of butter on toast. Many of these new uses act as substitutions for another product. These substitutions work well so long as the end-product isn’t too different. Some other examples might include:
* Have popcorn instead of potato chips on the side.
* Have an energy bar instead of a candy bar for a snack.
* Have an apple instead of a cookie for dessert. Brand managers should work hard to “liberate” these cupboard captives. Besides increasing usage frequency, there are many tools that can be used to do this. The following is a list of actions a company may take to do this:2
* New forms of distribution
* New Advertising Campaign
* Price Promotion
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