Today is the last day of the current newsXpress Hot Ink promotion we are running. It’s also the last day of the TV campaign. This promotion and the print and TV advertising has been a tremendous success, driving new customers and bringing back regulars. It’s put individual stores as well as the group on the map.
I love the efficiency of ink customers, the majority purchase at least one more item. Also, once they buy, most come back. So the TV and print campaigns which bring new traffic will deliver benefits long into the future.
At our Forest Hill store we have two metres of slat wall dedicated to ink. No generic product here, only known original printer brands. We make around twelve times more out of the two metres of that a if the same space had regular stationery. While this could be because we don’t promote regular stationery with the same intensity outside the business, it could also be because of the pricing of the ink. It could also be because we are tightly focused on our ink range whereas in the general stationery space our offer is quite broad.
The numbers are what they are for whatever reason and when it comes to ink we’ll do more of the same and drive this category as far as we can.
On the TV campaign, it’s great to hear from people who say they saw the ad on TV. The flow on from this will be felt for months at the store level and nationally. I felt proud to see it on TV myself – that’s us up there on the screen! TV does things to people.
Newsagents, regardless of the banner under which they trade, have to actively promote their businesses outside their four walls. Whether it is print or electronic advertising, online or letterbox flyers – we have to compete for eyeballs to attract new traffic. This is what I like about ink, it’s proving easy to attract new eyeballs.