We do not use a merchandiser from our card company to put our cards our. each team member has been trained in how to do this and it’s a task which is done in quieter hours of the day.
There is a structured process followed from the moment the boxes carrying inventory is opened to when the cards are put out.
We check what we have received against the invoices and then carefully place the cards in the correct pockets.
I’ve written here previously about the process of receiving, checking and putting out cards. From when we brought this work in house we learnt more about the stock we sold, found occasional errors and became more engaged in the high-value card department.
I’d encourage all newsagents to do this. The more we touch and engage with the stock we sell the more we will sell.
Mark I think I have way to many card pockets ,might be a silly question but what do you think the average small town newsagent would have these days
Shaun it all depends. You might have too many pockets for the card ranges you have today but change the range mix and you could have enough. I’d consider these points: are you in a card buying area; are most of your shoppers women; are you attracting shoppers for more than magazines, newspapers and lotteries (i.e. gifts); do you and your staff put the cards out yourselves; when did you last have a range review?
Hi shauns,
Not sure I’d qualify as small town, but my major catchment is only around 1000 people, with a smattering from other locations.
I have around 450 pockets for Henderson cards and around 300 for a discount range $1.00 & 3.95 cards. Current sales are around 55% Henderson/45% discount and we are achieving a good stock turn on both ranges.
As to Mark’s Q’s:
Yes, a good card buying area and people are responding to the discount voucher on our receipts.
We have a good spread between male and female shoppers, men buy about 30% of the cards, and mostly from the premium end. And today, all bar one of the Valentines cards we sold were to men.
Yes, we are well known for picture frames and are expanding the gift range. We are also stocking more educational books then the previous owner did. When I see 2 child cares, one state and one private primary school, within 800 metres of my front door I see a great market.
My partner and I work together to put out the cards and take quite an interest in the new stock.
HTH
Yes we have a good range of gifts ,sales could always be better , mainly women middle aged to older , most buy more than one card ,we have not tried discount vouchers at all something we should think about . We have always put our own cards out ,actually never had a rep offer .the reason for the question is we are thinking of changing card company’s but feel we have way to much space dedicated to cards and was thinking a bit of a refit is needed . Range review is something we have not done in a long time and something we will be getting onto in the next few days .
Do you do your own ordering or let the rep do it
Order with the rep but do it based on sales. Introduce new ranges regularly.
A good card department in a newsagency can be a traffic generating point of difference.