I have developed sales ratio benchmarks newsagents can use to determine what they can achieve in their businesses. I use these in turnaround situations to show an old-school newsagent what they can achieve using data from their traditional business to pivot to a more relevant newsagency business.
These sales ratio benchmarks are different to stock turn and profit guide benchmarks. These sales ratio benchmarks are designed as a minimum achievement guide only. Many newsagencies are performing far better than these:
- Gifts to cards: 33%. If your card sales are, say, $100,000 a year. You should be able to achieve $33,000 in gift sales.
- Plush to cards: 25%.
- Pens to stationery: 33%.
- Ink to stationery: 50%.
These benchmarks do not mean that gift sales are recorded as cards or that ink is recorded as stationery or that plus is part of cards. No, they are all in separate departments: ink, gifts and plush. The percentage is a comparative guide. That said, pens, of course, are in stationery – that is the only exception.
On gifts to cards, I know of newsagencies where gift sales are greater than cards and gifts generate more traffic and through this actually drive card sales.
Plush is the ratio I am challenges most on. It’s important to approach plush as not soft toys you sell for young kids. Plush can be sold for anyone of any age. You are not your customer.
Hi Mark this maybe slightly off subject (and perhaps slightly blonde) but I track Games (including puzzles & sports) separate to Toys and what I concider traditional Gifts. My Toy department has plush separate to kids toys. I have been concidering my Gift Sales as inclusive of my Games and Toy departments. When you refer to Gifts just what are you referring to?
Michelle, I see gifts as gifts and homewares. If toys are doing more than $12,000 in a year I would have them in a separate department. This is why I have Plush in its own department.