As a result of the theft of a newspaper insert discovered a couple of weeks ago we realigned our newspaper stand to create a better view for our counter team. The stand was pivoted 45 degrees from that shown in the photo – more front on as people enter the shop. The result is a measurable increase in sales of the Trading Post.
This sales kick for the Trading Post from such a small move reminded me of the challenges of retail and newsagencies in particular. We have so many items and only limited space to get in front of people. Newsagencies are bright thanks to the colour of magazines, greeting cards and lottery posters. There is a ton of ‘noise’ in store. We cannot move everything we want to promote in the way we have the newspaper stand.
I wonder whether newsagencies are too ‘noisy’. For example, would a visually calmer shop sell more compared to the traditional ‘noisy’ shop? Are we, newsagents, hurting ourselves by bold lottery, newspaper and magazine displays at the front of the shop? Is this the reason stationery sales in newsagencies are down? Are our shops too full of promotional displays, posters, dump bins, signs, magazine posters etc. for them to be effective?
Suppliers want to get into newsagencies to tap into our traffic. Tapping into our traffic means making major noise. Customers can only give so much attention so each new display takes a slice of a finite pie.
Maybe it is time to start with a fresh canvas. Some already have in the magazine space, mag nation, for one, is a model many are watching and talking about.
My recent experience with the Trading Post suggests it is time to redraw the layout and display strategy for my shop.
Being a bit of a newsagent connosieur, I can atest to the most successful style of newsagent is one that looks clean, bright, neat, but most of all ‘organised’ so that each individual item has it’s own individual space. Items that look bunched together/too busy on the eye cheapen stock through bad shelf packaging. The ‘franchised look’ needs to be transferred to regular newsagents for a more modern and slick image upgrade. Hardly any newsagents are pleasing to the eye, no coherent store layout makes most look bitsy.
I meant to add above that: I remember writing to a Westfield shopping centre about a newsagent whose magazine stand being crowded beyond belief, with damaged magazines being pulled from the rack and purchased without any recourse. Centre management made them clean up and redecorate the store, but the magazine racks are still the same, brand new mag’s are purchased that look second hand. Magazines are getting way too expensive to just slap together on racks because it’s easy for the staff to rearrange layout on the fly.
John, I think one of the problems with damaged magazines is that it seems every second magazine these days have some special ‘gift’ strapped to the front. This makes it very difficult to take out the magazine from the rack to have a look at and put back without damaging the cover.
What I want in a newsagent’s shop would be one where I could read the mags in some comfort. Some lounge chairs and a sofa or two would be good and allow me to take the weight off my feet over lunchtime. Perhaps the assistants could be trained to offer complimentary beverages and a few nibblies instead of incessantly reminding me that I am not in a reading room. Fiar dinkum they are getting worse that the shielas in the pharmacy.
That’s where the supermarkets have it over newsagents I reckon. You can read the mags in the checkout queue and then discreetly abandon them just before paying for your packet of chewy.
Just in responce about visual noise in newsagecies. You can try putting magaines into blocks of colour for example the black magazines together the white together etc. This can also be done with gretting cards. Just recently I saw McWhirters Newagents do this with their cards. The result is a more defined space. I have a picture to upload but I don’t know how.