There was a time when address books and other social stationery items such as special-purpose and generic were popular in newsagencies. Today, thanks to poor ranging by many newsagents and some suppliers and greater competition from other retailers, we are not the go to place for social stationery we once were. We are certainly not making the sales we could.
This category is a good example of how the actions of some newsagents impact others. If enough poorly range and manage social stationery then those who do it well will not be considered by customers who have had a bad experience elsewhere. Sure, those who do it well will grow sales to their customers and those who do find them, but people looking for an interesting address book and walking past their store for the first time are not likely to consider checking the range.
Getting a bigger share of the social stationery marketplace would require concerted effort by newsagents not in the space and traditional newsagent suppliers. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we are not happy with the current situation.
I have picked on social stationery because it’s a category we should be doing better in and one which we could easily fix. All it takes is for us, collectively, to act as retailers.