I spent time at Officeworks in Richmond yesterday, looking their approach to Back To School 2016. I decided on the visit having been inundated with BTS advertising on TV, online and in print.
Newsagents tend to love to hate Officeworks – often ignoring strengths that make them a compelling competitor.
If you have an Officeworks nearby, they are the benchmark for Back To School and here is why:
From inside the front door they have excellent value deals that cannot be beaten – like the Cruzer Facet 8GB USB stick for $2.73. The best price I can find elsewhere is $6.00. I go through USB stick like candy so I purchased ten.
It is the six or each dump bin deals like this USB stick that tell you this is a good place to shop – and you are only a few steps inside the front door. They have just as good deals dotted through the business, especially where BTS shoppers are likely to shop.
There were more staff on the floor that I usually see at this Officeworks – customer service attention is heightened because of BTS. The quality of customer service is good too based on answers I got to a couple of questions.
The store is well laid out, well sign posted. There is a consistent BTS message throughout that connects with all their advertising.
At the counter they offer multiple options for donations to The Smith Family BTS campaign helping needy kids and families.
I suspect I could go into almost any Officeworks right now and have a similar experience. This would have to be the case for their national advertising to leverage maximum value for the national chain. From the product mix to pricing to their charity connection, there is a consistency that newsagents are challenged to match.
If you think poorly of Officeworks and if you are doing Back To School this year, I urge you to visit an Officeworks. Look carefully at what they are doing. Pick up ideas you could leverage for your own business. Even their use of dump bins for compelling offers is something newsagents could do through BTS to pitch a value proposition from inside the front door.
Last night I saw Officeworks advertising 48 page exercise books for 5 cents. Last year it was Target selling them for 10 cents.
They obviously don’t make profit on these items and some you have mentioned Mark, but make it up on other products.
Impossible for us to compete in these scenarios because we cannot advertise as they do to get large amounts of traffic.
Back to school is small for us and have been contemplating not participating in the reduced pricing.
I have just been doing some price checks and Officeworks is only marginally cheaper or even a bit dearer on most brand name items that I checked but they have other similar items so much cheaper that we can’t match. Who is “The Stationary Shop” that come up when I do a search. They are located in Victoria and sell Sovereign Brand products so I assume they are a Newsagency or does GNS supply other stores?
I don’t waste my energy on kids ‘ back to school anymore. I have better business with uni students back to university.
Carol, like too many websites, they hide their identity. It is like they do not want you to know who they are.
Carol, GNS have been supplying businesses other than newsagencies for a while now and this section of their business is only set to grow as they have to find new markets. Newsagent sales are falling and they need to make the difference somewhere else. GNS supply my local competitor Officechoice which is not a newsagent. But it does not worry me as I use other suppliers who have established contracts with my competitors before I started with them. As per usual, have a USP and stick to it, this is how we try to stand out in this busy marketplace. I would also not bother price checking against Officeworks as their marketing power far outweighs the truth!
Newsagents are able to compete with Officeworks. Just look at the ink category for one example. The perception that Officeworks are the cheapest is correct in most categories, but ink is one that newsagents can show a saving to the customer and still make a profit. Use their price as a benchmark and advertise your price against theirs. I have seen in some newsagents stores where on the price tag they actually show the Office works price above their own, highlighting to the consumer that by buying their ink from the newsagent they able to make a saving.
Went to officeworks Friday to buy the cheap USB sticks and was shocked at the amount of people buying BTS. The aisles were choc o block full of customers. We have had very little in the way of BTS sales so far and now I know why.
Not a good sign for city newsagents who don’t actively engage with schools.
Peter I am surprised Officeworks has not been in your centre. They have been in quite a few – promoting BTS in a big way.
Smiggle has a pop up shop that seems to be here to test the waters I assume.