Take a look at how one Coles supermarket presents greeting cards three days in a row

I visited my local Coles supermarket on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week to see how they presented cards, to see if the display was cared for through the week.

Here is how I found the cards by my local Coles supermarket on Tuesday this week at around 5:30pm. The display was messy and uninviting. I figured it was the end of the day and that the cards would be tidied overnight or in the morning. I was wrong.

Things had not changed when I visited at around the same time Wednesday. Some card placements had not altered at all indicating that there had been no tidy up or refresh of the card offer. Is this not a daily task? They refresh dairy, why not cards?

Last night, Thursday, this is what I saw when there at 5:45pm. Some cards out of place as they had been for three days at least. Is no one responsible for cards here? The display remains uninviting. This is the untidiest part of the supermarket.

We can compete with Coles, Woolworths and other supermarkets in the card space by managing our card displays, tidying them daily, ensuring the offer is neat and fresh and offering shop floor service to our customers. We can pull people from supermarket shopping for cards through loyalty offers and engaging with shoppers.

Our competition starts with professional displays as this is where many supermarkets fail. If I had a newsagency near my local Coles I am sure I could hurt their card sales given their treatment of the product.

Supermarkets have cards because of their extraordinary traffic and not because they respect the category. We have cards because we offer a superior experience. The more engaged with the card department in our shops the more money we will make.

I am writing about this today to encourage newsagents to compete through their card offer. The better you manage cards the more you will sell. It’s probably the most financially rewarding department you have in your newsagency in gross profit percentage terms.

There is only one reason for newsagents to engage more effectively with their card department – because it is financially worth it. There is no better motivator for engagement and compliance than profit.