When we moved to our temporary location a few months ago, we had no choice but to shoe-horn magazines into fixtures which were designed for greeting cards.
One side of the new magazine aisle was made up of sections, such as the one shown in the photo. This made us look differently at title adjacencies and while we were left with some challenges due to space, the result was tighter sections targeting common interests.
While I like the idea of the segmented areas, I know that tenancy and other costs make this less efficient allocation of space unrealistic for newsagencies of the future.
That said, the smaller sections have made it easier to watch shopper interaction and title performance with a narrower focus.
The segmented experience, the tighter space and going from 1,250 titles to 750 titles has reinforced for me the importance of ensuring that newsagency shop fits are flexible so that configurations can change with need and that floor space allocation can change to reflect margin dollars return.
Installing a purpose built magazine fixture which cannot be easily changed without construction of any sort is nuts.
The other reminder is that of change in the magazine department. Even over the last five months, we have moved sections in pursuit of better sales. This must be an on-going process in any newsagency. It is certainly a way of demonstrating a point of difference over our planogram-centric competitors,.
An issue that we have stumbled on that may help others. When you get a shop fit done, insist that it is done using main fixtures that can be unscrewed and relocated/reused. We have inherited a shop where we have discovered that the shop fittings were all extensively glued together (cabinet to cabinet) as they were put in, meaning that the ONLY way to get them out is to destroy them!! They cannot be relocated!
Mark,
What would be a ballpark figure to re-fit 130 sqm of reatil space?
I went with kleerex for magazine fixtures two years ago based on mark’s recommendation. It’s bee great, easy to change. Expensive though.
Al, I’d budget for $2K per square metre. It could be less but $2K should be tops from a shell to done with a new front etc.
So i should sell my children in pieces rather than as a whole kid?????
Allan,
Body parts are seeling good resale value when traded in the black market. Much like selling a used car the parts can be more valuable when sold individually. Unlike a used car, there may not be a Red Book equivalent to determine market value.