Calendars

We have sold 106 of the 2013 One Direction calendars over the last few weeks. At $24.99 each.  It helped that we were the only retailer in our region with the calendar for the first few weeks.

We are confident of selling between 200 and 300 of these calendars this calendar season.

The 1D calendar and related products make our newsagency appealing to a young and valuable demographic – and those who buy for them.

Tapping into the 1D fan base is part of our own strategy for building our own newsagency of the future.  It’s a strategy focused on several age groups and built around a commitment to brands.

While the $2,648 we have banked so far from the 1D calendar is not enough to retire off, it is welcome revenue too many others have not pursued.

We have already sold more than $1,000 worth of 2013 One Direction calendars.  We are confident we will sell three times this of the title before 2013 kicks in and before we have to pay for the stock.  Our sales are helped by live in-store radio service promoting this and other product we sell. A regional newsagency in a town of 20,000 has already sold $500 worth of the title.  Nice.

We are thrilled to be offering the official 2013 One Direction calendar – especially given that we have tickets for their 2013 concert going on sale this Saturday. We are not taking and chances by requiring payment in full with the placement of the order. We will have the calendars in-store in eight weeks so it’s not too much to ask. Directioners have a capacity for pre-paying – they are pre-paring for the 2012 concert by 13 months!

The calendar offer, pre-sale strategy and accompanying collateral is all part of a newsXpress initiative.

I don’t know how long the interest in 1D will last but as I noted a week ago, One Direction has been responsible for more than $4,o00 in additional revenue for one of my newsagencies this month – not including concert ticket sales.

I was surprised to see a newsagency selling calendars at 75% off earlier this week.  We have the majority of our range at 50% off (in my stores where we still have calendar stock) and they are selling very well. The only exception is a range of calendars we purchased at $2 and we are selling these at $4 – their RRP is $24.95.

We plan to keep our main calendar range at 50% off through January.  For us, the decision to go beyond a 50% discount is more to do with quitting the category.  Once we get below 25 calendars we will want to be out of calendars so we can use the space for something else.

Our diaries remain at full price.

I love this calendar display created at one of my newsagencies by the creative team.  It’s facing into the mall and attracting shoppers to the Kimmi Doll calendars we have in stock.

With something like the Kimmi Doll range there is an excellent opportunity to attract shoppers who were not in the market to purchase a calendar but will do so on the basis of the connection to the popular brand.  The success we are having is a reminder of the importance of brands, especially at Christmas time when people are buying brands they know the gift recipient likes.

We are continuing to enjoy an excellent diary and calendar season with sales up more than 40% year on year for both.  We are still at full price and will be for calendars until January 1, 2012 and for diaries forever – we don’t discount these.

I am disappointed by the retailers, including newsagents, who are discounting calendars right now.  There is no need.  Okay, maybe the cheap calendars of poor quality could be discounted.  But not the quality product, especially that catering to special interests including dog breeds.

I see discounting diaries and calendars right now as a message of weakness from the retailer.

We are doing nothing out of the ordinary:

• Great positioning of a regularly refreshed display.
• A focus on quality product, brand names preferably.
• Clear pricing.
• Great customer service.

While there are other outlets selling calendars and even discounting near us, we are having, as I noted, a terrific year.

We are promoting our selection of cat, dog, cupcake and retro desk calendars with this display display facing out into the mall.  It will work.  Anything with a cute cat or dog works a treat, as does anything featuring a tasty looking cupcake.  We are giving the retro desk calendar a shot in this location too because retro products have done so well in 2011.

Our calendar sales are up more than 100% on the same period last year.  This is despite some tough competition in our shopping centre.  Range and location in-store are the keys to our sales success with calendars.

The counter is the best location for read ezy 2012 calendar. Shoppers often ask for this. Having it at the counter makes offering the upsell easy too.

With an excellent margin, more than double magazine margin, it’s a product worth pitching to anyone 65 and over and those with family and friends who are 65 or more.

This is the kind of product that some people will not think abut until late in the season – offering it to shoppers now is doing them a good service and driving sales basket efficiency.

Pre sales of the 2012 William and Cate Royal Wedding calendar have been strong.  Customers have been happy to pre pay $24.95 to secure their calendar.

Being the only retail outlet in the shopping centre with the offer helps promote a point of difference.  It also helps us get in ahead of the Calendar Club outposts which open up at the end of the year.

It’s terrific seeing a newspaper, greeting card or magazine customer add to their basket by pre paying for their calendar.

Being the only calendar outlet left in the shopping centre is great for sales.  The photo is of most of our range as at yesterday. We will sell out without dropping our price below 50%.  Even at this discount we are in excellent shape thanks to great buying.  What a terrific calendars season it’s been!

Calendar Club pricing is not consistent across the outlets.  There are outlets currently selling calendars at 40% off RRP and others offering more than 50% off.  Some were discounting well before Christmas while others were full price up to Christmas.

Maybe it’s just me but they don’t appear to have been as tough a competitor on price this season as they have been in the past.

Calendar Club outposts have dominated calendar sales in major shopping centres for many years, offering a broad range. Their presence has been a major factor in newsagents reducing their commitment to calendars.  In recent years, I have seen stores compete successfully with Calendar Club while maintaining a healthy margin.

Australians are savage when national teams fail.  One only has to look at how the nation has turned on the Australian cricket team this week to see this in action.  The comments across the counter are blunt, everyone has an opinion it seems. Fair enough given that many of us define ourselves as a nation by the success of those representing us on the field.

I was looking forward to the Boxing Day test to move our stock of Australian cricket calendars.  Sadly, we look set to  be left with this stock.  If I had the room, I’d set the calendar up as a dart board and run an in store competition to take out those who have let their country down … and at least have some fun with the calendars I have left.

It’s pathetic really, talking like this about a national team. I ought to be ashamed.

Magazine publishers and distributors could learn a valuable lesson from Australian calendar publishers and distributors.

For years now we (and a couple of hundred newsagents) have carefully selected the wide calendar range we carry.  Each year we achieve double digit growth.  We carry the risk with a firm sale commitment and work the commitment hard by ordering carefully, managing floorstock, refreshing the displays and ensuring excellent customer service around out point of difference.

Calendar publishers are happy.  Customers are happy.  We are happy.

We and plenty of other newsagents are showing that a commercial and respectful relationship between publisher and retailer works.

We are achieving what magazine publishers and distributors say is not achievable with magazines in the newsagency channel. We are demonstrating that we have the capacity to manage our title range and product volume to the benefit of all stakeholders.

Any magazine publisher keen to break out of the out of date magazine distribution model and form a commercial and direct relationship with newsagents should look carefully at the calendar model.  It works.

A few years ago we discovered an interest in volcano calendars among our customers and sought to satisfy this with our buying.  Now, we have a couple of regular customers and others snapping up the 2011 stock.  While dog breeds is the biggest calendar category, we are pleased to see some of the fringe categories, like volcanoes, increasing their share of sales.

All of the 2011 calendar range is selling well.  It is common for customers to buy at least two at a time.

We refresh the display daily and move categories around every couple of weeks.  We plan to start our outpost next week.

We are having fun with calendars like LIFE IS CRAP by placing them where they will be noticed – to drive impulse purchases of calendars.  While people with a special interest will seek out calendars for dog breeds, trains, volcanos and other interests covered by our calendar range it is the fun quirky calendars which we can sell on impulse just by placing the calendar tactically.  This is why we seek out these quirky calendars and give them a couple of days in a high profile location.  Already this season we have achieved some excellent impulse business.

We had a customer visit one of my newsagencies yesterday looking for a calendar for Cairn Terriers.  $67.00 later she walked out with three calendars – two regular size and one slimline.  This is what calendar sales are like at this point in the season, people feeding their passion or getting in early to serve the passion of a friend or loved one.  Dog breeds are especially popular … and lucrative with two or more calendars in many sales.

We are having a great calendar season and it is only just getting under way.  The keys to the success are our range and the layout of this in-store.  In terms of range, we have focused on interests our customers are passionate about.  As for layout, we have the calendars in a high traffic but browser friendly location.

We are seeing a healthy start to the calendar season.  Around two thirds of our range has been out (the photo shows only part of this) for a week and sales each day have been strong.  Calendar shoppers at this time of the year and those who want to get calendars as gifts for themselves on specific subjects.  Early calendar shoppers are wonderful, they happily pay full price.

My experience is that close to 35% of shoppers buying 2011 calendars at the moment are buying more than one calendar in a sale.

There is a direct correlation between calendar titles and the magazines sold in a newsagency.  Using magazine data to order calendars is the best approach to achieve the best possible calendar sales.

Newsagents who have not ordered in calendars for this year have left it too late.