Sands and Hallmark benefit from newsagent software innovation

Techonlogy is helping newsagents and greeting card companies to save time, achieve more accurate supply and drive card sales.

For years now newsagents have been able to send sales data through their newsagency software to greeting card company John Sands through XchangeIT. This data provides John Sands with timely accurate sales data by store, helping them to more effectively and accurately manage product supply.

John Sands Newsagents with newsagency software with this facility benefit from a more efficient supply chain.

Hallmark newsagents using the Tower software since last year have had access to the Greeting Card Performance Report providing newsagents with more timely data than the Hallmark account managers themselves have. A feature of this reporting is the MAT or Moving Annual Total metric. This is used in several suppliers and big businesses – we have found it tremendously useful in tracing year on year to date business performance.

Retailers using the new reporting are loving the immediate and easy access to category level sales reporting.  For example, being able to report on Father’s Day sales the day after the big day is terrific.  Being able to break down overall Father’s Day card sales into categories within the season is even more valuable.  that retailers can do this faster than any card company is where our software really shines.

These are just two innovations helping newsagents to achieve more from their greeting card department.

Gone are the days of being passive about greeting cards, letting the card suppliers manage orders, put stock out and run the department for us.

Newsagents who genuinely control their greeting card department are more likely to see sales growth in my experience. This is what we must do, manage the department … for growth.

Here are steps I suggest newsagents take to achieve more from their greeting card departments:

1. Put new greeting card stock out yourselves. Stop relying on card company merchandisers to do this. This process sees you checking orders to ensure you received what you should have received. It educates your team about the cards you sell.
2. Scan all returns before giving them to your card supplier.
3. Assess card performance by category – make sure you have the right stock weight for the popular categories.
4. Step back and look at your card department – is it accessible, can shoppers see the range, is there anything in the way.
5. Train your staff to help shoppers without intruding. Sometimes, a little help can get people purchasing more cards.
6. Promote cards outside the card department. This is rarely done but should be tried.
7. If you’re a Sands customer, make sure you are sending your sales data back.
8. If you’re a Hallmark customer, make sure you use the card performance report when meeting with your account manager.