Looking at comprehensive Father’s Day card sales data for a number of newsagencies reveals some terrific results. I am not sharing this as channel-wide results. Rather, the results are the results for the five businesses.
Here is data for the 5 retailers up to the weekend just gone:
These results are excellent.
The factors for success include going out early with product and offering range from more than one supplier.
Now, looking at the results more deeply, this next table shows sales by segment. Included is the number of stores that participated in that segment because it shows some segments that are punching about their weight. Eg Husband, Pa.
Not shown above, for privacy reasons, but in the data provided is evidence of opportunity for at least two retailers where they have bought some captions from a supplier but not others. Looking at their performance compared to retailers with a broader range of captions and we can see missed opportunity.
As part of the performance analysis, we looked at the difference it makes having the niche cards in the mix. In every store that carried niche diversity shows they add about 35% to 40% of Father’s Day card sales.
But we are not sharing this to drive Father’s Day for you as that season is all but over for 2021. Rather, we are sharing this because achieving growth in card sales is possible. We can help. Our data analysis / data insights approach is key to excellent card sales growth in participating newsXpress businesses.
Too often, newsagents put out a seasonal range, keep the display tidy, and take it down at the end of the season with the next time of engagement being either agreeing to the order for next year or receiving the stock for next year. I think this is a mistake, a missed commercial opportunity.
Diving deep into your own business performance data, even for a modest season like Father’s Day, can reveal opportunities that you can leverage for sales success. That is what some of the retailers in the small dataset above have done. And to be clear, the success noted above only documents card performance. Once you add in related gift performance you can see terrific financial value from this deeper data engagement.
The work I am outlining here, the data collection and analysis work, is part of the newsXpress intellectual property around greeting card sales performance and management for success. What I have shared here is a peak into a much bigger offering from newsXpress that is helping retailers significantly grow card sales.
Greeting cards are the best margin product in a newsagency. They respond to engagement. That is, it is easy to grow their sales. Card customers are sticky, they return if they like the range and experience. You can bank on the results from engagement with cards.