I counted more than thirty card pockets in a newsagency with ten cards or more in each. Some pockets were so full that the product looked stuffed in rather than well-presented. Newsagents need to actively engage with their card suppliers to ensure commercially appropriate supply. Pockets like the one shown in the photo do the business and the product a disservice.
I had spent 3 hours doing some silly things today.
Our age section, 96 pockets, from age 11 to age 100, I want to see how these cards are performed.
Firstly, I printed out the planning planogram of the age section.
Secondly, I manully added pocket ID number into every greeting card’s description into our POS system for these 96 pockets.
Lastly, I printed out the detail report for last 2 months sales on the age range, and wrote the sale figure into the planogram based on the pocket ID number.
The planogram with sales figure for each pocket clearly show me that which age group is best performance, and which age group is overstock.
Here is my questions,
1. Is DIY age card a good seller? we intend to fill the special request but we sell none.
2. Should we provide more choices (pockets) to a better performance age group, or just keep minimum pockets so that the designs can be changed quickly.
3. For underformance age sections, how to exit these stocks. I don’t want to wait for 6 months for card company to replan and credit these cards. But discount them seem to be a bad idea.
Cheers,
Sunny
Sunny you could have run your card performance report and got the same data at the caption level in very little time. Your card supplier will work with you on exiting what’s not working.
Hi Sunny; Mark is absolutely right regarding the role we can play in supporting you making decisions to improve the productivity of your card range. Forgive me but I don’t believe we’ve met and therefore I am unsure where you are located, but if you could please let me know your details I will arrange for one of our team to visit you urgently to begin the conversation on how we drive improved performance.
Kind regards,
Shane Bonello – Hallmark Cards
0419 497 456
shane.bonello@hallmark.com
Sunny if your current card company is not working for you make the switch. We switched from Hallmark because they constantly overloaded pockets and filled the draws with stock. We moved to John Sands and they did the same. We then decided enough was enough and put strict rules in and spoke to a few companies. The move to Henderson Greetings happened ten years ago. It was the best move we could have made for our card category. Draws are empty, and stock is kept to the level WE want.
The only way to run your card department is to take control of ordering and stocking yourself. If you give your card rep free reign their going to do whats in their best interest which is jam as much stock in your shop as they can get away with. I’m with Hallmark and have no complaints but I doubt it matter what company your with. If its a problem look at how you operate before you look to change companies.
I am 100% Hallmark and my card sales are up 17% year on year with no overloading and I am in a centre with other Hallmark outlets. The card company relationship is a two-way relationship. Newsagents need to invest time to understand and manage the category.