Consumers like buying cards in newsagencies. Since cards are a fixed price wherever you buy them, except Big W who discount by 10% but have a lousy display, there is no price barrier attached to the newsagent shingle as there is with stationery.
The card companies and others good research indicating that 50% of card sales in newsagencies are destination sales – consumers have sought out the shop for the purchase. The research also shows that men are comfortable purchasing cards in a newsagency. At Christmas the numbers for cards in newsagencies are even better. Card sales are through the roof this time of the year.
The lost opportunity, in my mind, is that we (newsagents) lack an offering which leverages the additional card traffic this time of year into other sales. I realised this yesterday when putting in some time behind the counter in my shop. I’d like something which either encourages an add-on sale of another core product – magazines, newspapers, stationery, lotteries – or draws the customer back very soon. While we will have something running in my shop from the weekend, it seems to me that suppliers from outside the greeting card category could have been working with card companies on an offering for a channel wide promotion. It would have been a good win win.
The more cross category promotions we run the better for all involved.