Father’s Day is usually one of the softest of the major seasons in newsagencies: Christmas, Back to School, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. This year our card sales are up 61% on last year. I’d say this is due to our moving of cards from the traditional card aisle approach you see in most newsagencies to the front of the store. Our sales data shows a flow on across other departments – all thanks to the card display.
What surprises me about Father’s Day is the lack of significant promotional activity through magazine titles. At Mother’s Day there are all manner of features. This helps sell gift packs and annual subscriptions. At Father’s Day – very little activity.