It is easy to say we small business newsagents cannot compete with major retailers like K-Mart, Target, Big W and others. While we do not have the buying power or the capacity to fund deep discounts, we have one advantage we can leverage to be competitive with the majors.
Our advantage is that we can be nimble. By this I mean we can choose when we do things – and timing can be everything.
Take this Star Wars R2D2 interactive robotic droid. K-Mart went out early with a low low price. Now that they are out of stock, we can offer the product for a good margin and achieve excellent sales.
The movie is a week away from launch and the publicity machine is in full flight. Right now is the best time to sell this R2D2 at the suggested retail price. So that is what we are doing, as part of a large in-store commitment to the Star Wars licence. We have products from five suppliers, three of whom do not usually deal with newsagents.
Our strategy of holding off our main promotion until just before the movie launches is working in-store and online. K-Mart going out early and at a low price for the hero droid product is not harmful.
All we need to be successful with an opportunity like this is between one and two weeks, the right one or two weeks in the context of the calendar followed by the majors. It’s a blue ocean opportunity – offering the products after the majors have sold out and enjoying a relatively competition-free marketplace.
This is one way we can leverage being nimble to compete with the majors. It is the type of activity the newsagency marketing groups can drive for their members – leveraging buying deals, sharing marketing plans of the majors and helping their members make the most of the opportunities that appear in cracks in the plans of the majors. Indeed, it is a valuable benefit of being in a group as especially shown through the Star Wars engagement.
Thank goodness for last minute shoppers as they are the ones who make these timing opportunities work for us.