Australian newsagencies used always have a toy department decades ago. Over the years we lost the market to the majors. We forgot how to compete. Some of us are taking back the farm and enjoying good success with toys. At Christmas especially.
In one of my stores we have brought in a pallet load of toys to fill space from sold out Christmas stock and to make the most of the high shopper shopper traffic for the Boxing day (and beyond) sales.
While we did not anticipate putting the display up before Christmas, this became necessary because of excellent Christmas sales. No sooner was the toy display being put up and the registers were ringing with sales.
Newsagents can take back the farm, not just with toys but with other categories. There are many excellent traffic growing margin building opportunities, if we are smart and commercial in our approach. This is what 2011 should be about, re-energising your business with a focus on traffic, margin and efficiency.
I am not alone in having success with toys and other new categories. If your business is experiencing tough trading, there are plenty of good stores out there which could unlock good stories for you too.
Check out the stunning display – it shows what can be achieved when you bring in a pro.
Did Robbo create this masterpiece? Looks great.
Yes he did. Looks terrific!
Ho Ho Ho to all,
We also sold all our toys, and the newsxpress preferred supplier for toys had an enormous range which allowed us to compete with the majors.
The GNS catalogue toys were also a sell out.
Our new Slushee ice machine has been a hit with the KIDS.
Cheers
Chris
Reservoir
Sold out of every toy line that I’d dabbled in. (Plus the doggy banks and Ipad magnets that I was put onto by this blog 🙂 ) Will definately go out stronger next Xmas and have plans to add a couple of toy/games/hobby lines in place of part of my magazine display early next year.
One elderly regular female customer actually commented that she hoped I would have even more next year so that she didn’t have to battle to the big shopping centres to buy for the grandkids ! (I’m in a strip on a busy road opposite one of the major grocery chains)
Being in a country town I put a lot of effort into ordering on line from suppliers and contacts I have m ade at the gift fair. GNS toys were better than they have been for years. It amazes me how many customer go to Cairns then come back and tell me all the things we have that they could not find in cairns. How do I get them to come here as first choice. Our sales were helped on Thursday and Friday by flooding and rain because customers defered travel. Dead quier here today with no papers expected until Tuesday