Remainder books in newsagencies are often placed flat on a trestle table or in a dump bin. That is what we did for ages. Then, we tried treating them with pride, by displaying them in a way similar to what you may see in a bookshop.
This simple change boosted good sales to excellent sales.
Better still, customers commented, complimenting the display.
The photo shows part of the display. It’s located mid-store and is working better than the dump bins we had at the front of the store.
This particular store is not a bookshop, not even close. We are limited by the lease as to the percentage of floorspace we have give over to books. This display is us at capacity.
The change is display from something that looked cheap and somewhat apologetic to this display that is classy and proud lifts the shop and sees the return on investment from books growing beyond already good sales. It took a few minutes to create. The initiate was by a new team member who thought they could do better … and they did, for which I am grateful.
Thank you for that suggestion, that looks great.
Can you tell me do you price/label them individually or are they a 3 for deal.
We price individually and 3 for.
Nicely presented Mark and great to hear that you are enjoying success from such a simple change. With a little effort on purchasing you will find that books can quickly overtake magazines re your GP contribution. In our case Barb we retail our books at recommended retail and do not discount. We find that our book buyers are shopping more for convenience rather than price. We too are very much a newsagency but books are our highest growth category.
Would love to Steve but the lease in this location does not permit it. The dreaded permitted use clause of the lease.
Remainder fiction works really well for us. We locate ours above newspapers and women’s weeklies and you’d be amazed how many people just grab 1 or 2 when they’re well priced.
Location is important! When we did a mini move, and shifted our fiction away from a high traffic area, sales tanked.
You don’t need many titles, 30-50 is all you need. Sprinkle in a few well known authors, and even make up a few ” if you liked …. You’ll love…” signs. These really help to push the lesser know titles.
We’ve tried non-fiction as well, but that’s not been as Successful. Kids story and picture books also work a treat too.
Rod,
The way you mention is the way to go. Associated selling by using like products crime – Adventure etc and comparing Authors (only if the authors are good enough)is great. It certainly increases sales. Our display in the newsagency was illustrated with the caption ” Is McLean as good as Bagley” you decide!
that was Alistair and Desmond. Work a treat and we did similar with other categories not necesssarily authors.
We built our book range to eventually open two Bookshops in different areas both with Lotteries stangley enough. It woerked.
Best of luck and you’re spot on with the other impulse sales in Childrens literature as well.