How to use plush and known brands to drive newsagency traffic

Following my recent post about Hubbed, newsagency software company POS Solutions responded on their blog in a welcome addition to the discussion. In their post they said they did not believe plush was a destination product.  As a retailer, I say their claim is not supported by the facts. Plush can be a destination product. I have one store achieving $80,000 in sales a year, much of this from people deliberately coming to our shop for their purchase.

Click on this recent photo of the front of my newsagency for a high res version and look right to left.  This is what you see – it’s how we attract shoppers to my newsagency and how we pitch our business as a destination business:

1. Beanie Kids are often purchased by collectors. Many of our Beanie Kids shoppers come to our centre and to our shop to purchases these from us.
2. Beanie Boos. More than half our sales are to collectors who come to us as their destination. Wh know from our own data.
3. Disney Princess. An international brand attracting traffic and once in-store and with a first purchase made they come back and these subsequent visits are destination purchases.
4. AFL (on the far left). Well, we’re in Melbourne and it’s AFL season. We are known for our Beanie Kids, Hallmark cards and other AFL products.

But there is one more important point to this discussion about plush and destination business: You have to work at making products destination purchases. You do this with an excellent range of known-brand product, well-located and regularly refreshed with new lines.

You also give your customers a reason to come back for a destination purchase. This is where our discount vouchers work wonderfully for us. Every time you bring a shopper back to purchase another item in their collection is a mother link in the chain connecting them with your business.

I accept plush isn’t for everyone. All I am recounting here are stories from my own newsagency business.

Oh, two other things I love about plush: people buying plush items are happy and the products themselves are great to hug!