We have noticed a run on travel diaries this month in each of our stores. A check of sales data shows this is not uncommon in June. This makes sense – school and uni holidays.
We were lucky to have a good range covering various price points.
An enterprising supplier in this space ought to make a note to remind newsagents of the travel diary opportunity and this time and to the end of the year.
Travel diaries are easy business for newsagents since few other retailers have them at all or if they do they only have one or two. Newsagents serve this marketplace well because we sell travel magazines, maps, travel books and we are the go-to place for photocopying passport, tickets and the like.
Our opportunity goes beyond the diary since these are often purchased as gifts. There are Bon Voyage cards as well as other travel gifts. Thinking about it, we could package several categories together into a small season and become known as the destination for these travel services and products.
Being a destination is better than a last resort stop.
I call this a curious season because the opportunity almost passes by. We can be asked for travel diaries and service the need and not realise the bigger opportunity or that this happens at this time each year. There must be other opportunities like which which we, individually and collectively, miss.
I’d say the same opportunity exists for religious gifts. We should ‘own’ all seasons, large and small, as there’s good margins available and it is such a logical step forward for us. As you said though, preparation and timing is everything.
Tim,
There are already many gift stores that service the “religious” gift market. We only have two competing gift stores in our local area and both carry religious gifts. So we stay away from religious gifts altogether and focus on bright, bold, modern and ‘different’ giftware.
We are expanding our religious gifts in our newsagencies based on the opportunities we see in card sales. Tim you are right about there being a season opportunity for these.
Responses in giftware have to be tailored to local trends. We sell very few religious cards, even at Christmas and Easter, so it wouldn’t be a smart move to go against that trend in our giftware.