The top selling item in your newsagency may be among your least efficient.
In a recent study of newsagency shopper basket data where a daily newspaper was the top selling item, it was the item most often purchased alone.
In a typical Australian newsagency, the main daily newspaper is purchased alone 79% of the time. This makes the newspaper inefficient for the business. Efficiency is gauged by the number of items in a basket.
Knowing product efficiency empowers newsagents to act as it’s a retailer problem, not a publisher problem.
- What do you have placed with newspapers?
- What do shoppers see on the way to newspapers?
- What do shoppers see from the newspaper stand to the counter?
- Is a counter offer made to newspaper customers?
These questions reflect some opportunities for driving efficiency. Smart newsagents will think of others.
Some years ago in one of my newsagencies newspapers were purchased alone 80% of the time. Over several months we pulled that back to around 65% through engagement at the newspaper stand.
Low margin traffic generating products are only useful if we leverage the purchase of other items with them. This is retail 101. It’s essential for today’s newsagent.