I was talking with a newsagent recently about their first purchase of home furnishing products, two tables for their shop, for displaying product. The tables cost $450.00 wholesale each. The day they unpacked the two tables and put them on the shop floor two separate customers asked how much. Without thinking, the newsagent said $1,195.00. each table was sold that day.
That was five years ago.
Today, that newsagency does $120,000 a year in gifts and $75,000 in home furnishing products. The average GP% for each category is 60%.
The story reminds me of several general truths the it comes to retail:
- In the shop, everything is for sale.
- Stock things you don’t expect to sell, because you are not your customer.
- Having products people want gives you a margin opportunity you should always embrace.
- A small step of success can lead to awesome things.
- The shingle does not define our business.
I was thinking about these things when I shot a video recently in which I talked about opportunities outside of traditional seasons. While Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day and similar are valuable, it is what we create for ourselves that is more valuable.
This is true in terms of what we sell. Today, there are more success opportunities outside of what we have traditionally seen in newsagency businesses, and, often, those success opportunities reveal themselves when we are not expecting it.
My point is, play outside what has been traditional for you and embrace where it takes you … don’t be constrained by the shingle and what you think it means.