Halloween is much bigger this year in major retailers like Coles and Big W compared to previous years. Indeed, one Big W I was in earlier this week had more than eighteen square metres of Halloween product at their main entrance. The products placed here included costumes, wigs, brooms, make-up and toys. Further in they had almost as much space again setup with candy packs.
Then, outside the shop and in the mall, is this Halloween m&m thing promoting the candy and a competition built around the Halloween theme.
Comparing our Halloween products to that available from the majors, our product quality is far superior and our prices are very competitive.
Sure it is frustrating that two biggest retailers in the country are chasing more revenue for what has been a very lucrative season for smart newsagents for the last eight or nine years, what I have seen makes me more determined to make a better consumer offer than theirs. For Halloween this means more fun and more scary. For example, Big W does not have a coffin on display nor do they try and connect with the zombie phenomenon.
Same here Mark. Galling when our product is superior and still competitively priced. The Woolies stuff is under their Select brand, so hey import it themselves, and make massive gp on it I am sure. Some of it looks quite cheap n nasty. Good on ya for having a coffin in your shop. I agree not many retailers have a coffin in their shop!
Bruce, my wife has promised to get me one………..
and we don’t have a shop anymore…………….:-(
The coffin is proving to be a traffic generator! One of my shops is surrounded by retirement villages after all.