The Toyworld a couple of doors away from our newsagency has has had cheap $1 and $2 Easter cards on the lease line for several days. I can’t recall them pitching the Easter season two months out before, but here we are.
Thankfully, we had our stock so we could adjust plans and go out early, which we have done, and, yes, people are shopping the season early.
Right now, the focus is on cards. we will add gifts as they arrive, to tell a more complete seasonal story.
The card pitch today for us is all about friends connecting, using Easter as an opportunity to send a greeting or I’m thinking of you message to a friend, using an Easter card.
While Easter is a smaller card season, it is valuable, and growing. We don’t engaged with the $1 and $2 cards as we see that as a mugs game. Price based shoppers are not loyal.
What we are seeing this year, as with every year for Easter quite frankly, is that religious cards sell best early in the season.
We encourage this through gentle social media posts and tactical placement of these cards within the broader Easter card offer. It is not uncommon for this shopper to purchase several religious Easter cards at once. Since we have a good range of general religious cards in-store, we are able to cater to this shopper beyond the Easter season. It’s important that we try and make that connection.
My tip for newsagents: if you have Easter cards and they are not already out, get them out if you have the space. There are other retailers, like Toyworld, in this space and possibly taking sales you might have otherwise got.