Nine newspapers ran an opinion piece, The joy of jigsaws, and why you should start them in your 20s, Tuesday. It was a terrific read.
Regulars here would know that I think jigsaws are a good fit for evolving newsagency businesses. Some may recall that newsxpress has been running a successful January is jigsaw month promotion for five years now. It continues to run because it is commercially successful.
The Nine opinion piece reinforces the health value of jigsaws.
Jigsaws can be effective stress relievers (assuming there are no pieces missing) but the range of health benefits to be gleaned from tackling the tiles can be far wider. The simple genius of the jigsaw is that it works both sides of the brain, analytical and creative, and also stimulates the production of both acetylcholine, crucial when you need to pay attention, and dopamine, the chemical that plays a key part not just in memory but the sense of feeling rewarded, too.
As you move into your 40s, the number of neurotransmitters in the brain begins to decline and while that doesn’t really alter the brain’s storage capacity, it does affect our ability to retrieve and process information.
This makes them a good gift a good purchase for oneself and a good product to have open for in-store engagement and use.
What I like about jigsaws is their efficiency as a product. What I mean by efficiency is…
- Jigsaws can be purchased by shoppers for multiple reasons.
- Jigsaws appeal across multiple age groups.
- Jigsaws appeal across cultures.
- Jigsaws are easily pitched on social media.
- Jigsaws work as an in-store engagement opportunity.
- Jigsaws offer good margin.
There are few product categories that are as diverse in their appeal as jigsaws. It’s why I have a permanent department of jigsaws in my shops and why they are regularly promoted front of store as well as on social media. They are an all year round gift opportunity, delivering a good return on space, labour and inventory investment.
From a newsXpress perspective, members are provided detailed strategic information they can use to successfully engage with the category. One insight from this that I will share here is – crossword shoppers are more likely to buy jigsaws and the crossword magazine segment is a key piece of good news in magazine sales based on the latest benchmark data.