The days of locating the newspaper stand in the best position in-store in the newsagency on a purpose built stand are over. Newspapers do not deliver the return to warrant this prime space allocation nor do they deliver the return to warrant the space of the purpose built newspaper stand. While they are a destination purchase, shoppers are prepared to go to the destination in-store to pick up the paper.
Newspaper publishers cannot expect newsagents to allocate prime position in-store given their placement into other retail businesses, promotion of other businesses over newsagencies, promotion of home delivery and promotion of digital. Just as newspaper publishers have made decisions to serve their need, so must we.
The photo shows the placement of newspapers now in one of my stores – at the back of the magazine unit, facing the back wall. If there is a major promotion, we pitch that toward the front of the store as we support these, like the Marvel promotion about to commence.. However, for everyday trading, we place the newspaper stand in the location shown as this is where it works for us. Customers are happy to walk to her, even our older customers who you may think could be cranky about th extra steps.
The location you can see for the paper stand is not permanent. We move this like we move other items in the business. Constant movement of items around is vital to retail today so having a newspaper stand we can easily move is important to us and the mission for the business.
Click on the image for a larger version.
I had a real dead spot in my store so I located the product that I make the least amount of GP on, and as the paper companys are one of my competitors it was an easy task, it has not affected sales, and now i’m making profit of a dead spot in my store.