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Gifts

Peak teacher gift giving season

We are in the middle of the peak end of school year opportunity. This is an interesting season in that there are traditional for teacher gifts parents choose and there are gifts teachers would like. They are quite different.

We have teacher cards pitched at the counter, where they are selling well. Due to space, were have gifts located elsewhere in the business, with appropriate call to action signage. We have also been pitching on social media.

Allied to this is the teacher to student gift giving opportunity. We have had some success offering teachers a bulk deal for a class-size purchase.

All in all the end of school year season is a good opportunity that engaged retailers can leverage. The keys are serving the broad range of opportunities and promoting your position in this space outside the business.

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Gifts

Pet Barn leads on pet Christmas gifts

Visit your local Pet Barn right now and you see a consistent pet Christmas offer. I have been in four stores this week and the pitch is consistent, and good. Pet gifts are massive. I have had success in the dog and cat gift space through the year and at year end.

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Gifts

Newsagency marketing tip: pitch Kris Kringle gifts

Right now is the time to pitch Kris Kringle gifts. These are gifts that usually focus on fun and sell for anywhere between $10 and $50.

We are enjoying terrific success with a range of fun gifts right now, for workplace gifts. Starting in a week or so we will focus more on heartfelt gifts, for family Kris Kringle gift opportunities.

FYI, this beer popping candy has been a hit!

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Gifts

Shoppers loving personalised Christmas baubles

The personalised Christmas ornaments released by newsXpress through its stores have been selling very well.

What is most interesting is that 90% of all the many names ordered are unusual names, names you would not see on any named product stands released by traditional name product suppliers.

Shoppers have been happy to pay up front and return to collect their personalised baubles once made.

This is incremental sticky business. I label it sticky because it causes a return visit and because it gets the shopper thinking about what other personalised items the store can source. This is a big question for people with family and friends with unusual names.

These baubles are an example of one way we can make our own success, literally. They are something the majors do not and will not do.  The margin is excellent. The simple counter pitch is effective.

At the back end, the whole process is tech driven with no paperwork involved. A purpose built website is used by the engaged retailers. This also facilitates useful data analysis, to better inform other developments in this personalised space.

This personalised bauble initiative is part of a larger piece of work in this space being driven by newsXpress for its members, as part of an overall new traffic campaign.

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Gifts

Small Sydney gift fair works well

The Retail Quarter, the gift fair in Sydney right now, has been a good fair. I have been there over the weekend. While it was not crazy busy and does not have a large number of suppliers, it is proving to be a good event.

I like that the aisles are not as packed with people. This allows more quality time networking and with exhibitors. That alone improves the business experience of attendees and exhibitors.

The greater homewares focus was something I appreciated.

Looking at the fair as a retailer, I found plenty to buy, and I enjoyed that.

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Gifts

Being responsive on Facebook matters for online sales

Facebook notes on your business page your responsiveness to messages. People notice this. Being more responsive can win your more business.

Last week we posted about a new  item on Facebook, with a link to a web page with more details and images of the item including a video. At 9pm that night, hours after the store had closed for the day, someone messaged us with a query. Our quick response won us a $200 sale and brought someone to the shop the next day, the first time they had shopped with us.

While we appreciate downtime to be with loved-ones and recharge, in retail today, more than ever before, downtime is less of an option if you want to win business when people want to shop.

It is not so long ago when we were debating retail trading in Australia. Without regulatory consideration, without political involvement, we now have 24/7 trading.

If you business is not accessible 24/7 you are 100% missing out on revenue. I say that with certainty based on the data I see for my businesses and for newsXpress businesses. You may be okay with that, and that is cool.

There are several types of 24/7 online purchases.

  1. Pure online with delivery to the customer or the person they are buying for.
  2. Online purchase and in-store pickup – this is click and collect.
  3. Online research, direct message to the store and arrangement to purchase but not through the website.
  4. Online research, making a decision to purchaase and then in-store visit to purchase over the counter.

Each of these is valuable. Each requires a website that is easily found and a social media presence connected to the website. In fact, multiple websites work even better but that is a topic for another day.

The thing is, online sales are growing at a rapid rate. In some newsagency related categories they are growing at a rate faster that any I speak with think. There are ways to use technology to engage with the online shopper 24/7.

Too many small business retailers think of a website serving their local area or the shoppers they see already. The reality is the real value of a website (or websites) is the people you sell to who would otherwise have no contact with your business. This is where retail businesses in small population locations can overachieve for their area. It is ow you can achieve a better return on inventory investment that merely by opening the doors of your shop.

Yes, this means being accessible during what would often be down-time. This is vital if you want to win business when people want to shop, if you want to maximise the profitability of your retail business.

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Gifts

Newsagency marketing tip: make gift buying easier

Display pre-wrapped gifts with suggested cards and make gift buying from your shop easier than anywhere else. Guys especially like this service.

This is a terrific way to differentiate your business. Wrap each gift differently, make it personal as that is what shoppers are looking for.

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Gifts

More on the value of licences to retailers

Further to my post yesterday about licences, here is another example of the Wonder Woman licence working a treat at extending the appeal of the business. We have a wonder Woman costume for a dog, in our dog costume section. Customers love it. It’s a traffic generator, so I love it too. Products like this can help us appeal way beyond what people expect from our businesses.

The more we do this, the more we appeal outside what people expect of our businesses, the more we strengthen the appeal and value of ur businesses. This activity is vital in trading away from the newsagency shingle.

Kind of related to this, years ago we jumped deep into plush. Another person in the newsagency channel mocked this move. Now I notice they have quietly hopped into this. This financial year, the low price point everyday plush will be worth more than $80,000 in one of my businesses and high end plush, well a terrific value too.

My point is that what may look unusual or not a good fit can be if you work it and position it well with shoppers.

We are retailers after all. Retailers sell what their customers want.

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Gifts

A gift for retailer friends

I saw this mug in a shop last week. They also had a badge, shot glass and several other items with the same message. This would be a gift for anyone you know who works in retail. It made me laugh as I thought I knew what it said, and then I read that last word.

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Gifts

How Easter has grown into a commercially valuable season

Easter is weeks away and we have sold out of Easter plush a week ago. That is hundreds of pieces. Thankfully, additional stock arrived last week.

Plush sales are already past last year’s numbers, which were terrific in themselves.

Easter is a financially rewarding season for us. We love it.

For many years we played in then chocolate space. First with Darrell Lea, then with Chocolatier – with some Cadbury in the mix too. Three years ago we quit chocolate for an expanded plush offer.

What is interesting is the price range. Our Easter plush is priced from $4.95 through to $150.00. The most common item is $20.00.

Everything has sold well, including at the $150.00 price point. This is great news. It is also what makes Easter a commercially valuable season for us.

To drive new traffic we pitch the season on the lease line as well as in our out of store marketing. We use the Hallmark greeting cards for this too, especially the new on-trend releases for this year.

My advice to newsagents who are experiencing a flat Easter is take a look at your product mix and your marketing. If it is traditional, expect a traditional result. Our approach is anything but traditional and the result speaks to this.

We love Easter for then happy retail displays and experiences of the season.

Footnote: Easter is an excellent season through which to re-cast perception about your business and in particular, the type of business you run. This is what I mean when I talk about being traditional.

If your posters are traditional and your products then the result will be the same old. It can be nothing else.

If you find yourself sighing at flat or declining sales, that is your wake-up call to play outside what you have been doing. Easter would have been a perfect season through which to do this.

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Gifts

Leveraging the Roald Dahl interest

We have been leveraging the TV campaign by News Corp. promoting the Road Dahl books sold with newspapers by promoting other Roald Dahl product.

This image is a Facebook post we used. We have done more in-store with these terrific jigsaw products.

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Gifts

A perfect gift for those who can’t have a dog

It is not often you get a Christmas product hero product from a previous year be a hero again the next year. These life-like dogs that breathe are exactly that – a hero two years running.

We have this one on the counter. People love it. And, no, damage has been negligible. We chose the counter location as it is an unexpected sight in a business that also sells papers and magazines.

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Gifts

Winning the price comparison with Wild by WH Smith

IMG_2297At $49.99 our Cards Against Humanity packs are priced $20.00 less than the product is available for at the nearby Wild store. Wild is owned by UK giant WH Smith. Our strategy with this product this year has been all about driving traffic.

We have had plenty of product available at this price. It has worked a treat. These customers are valuable too as they purchase other items to complete the gift.

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Gifts

Brilliant teachers gifts

IMG_1852These teachers gifts that I saw at newsXpress Emerald in Queensland Tuesday show what a bit of thought can create – perfect gifts that will not break the bank and that give a laugh.

Retailers often seek out exclusive products from suppliers. Smart retailers make them for themselves.

I love this product idea.

Kudos to newsXpress Emerald.

 

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Gifts

Is Father’s Day the same-old in your newsagency this year?

What have you offered for Father’s Day 2016 in your newsagency?  Is your gift offer the usual mix of mugs, stubby holders, fishing rod BBQ lighters, frames, drink coasters, coffee table books, pens, man cave signs, retro signs for the garage, lottery ticket packs, golf related gifts and / or dad joke books?

It is through these annual seasons that attract extra shoppers to our businesses that we should seize the opportunity to reposition our businesses.

By reposition I mean we should not carry the traditional items for these seasons.

Our major season offer should be completely fresh and focus on new stock, items we did not carry for this season last year. We should change the range, change the message and change our focus. Our businesses need to look different.

You want people saying aren’t you a newsagency any more? I quietly cheer when I hear this.

So, today, the last major retail day for Father’s Day 2016, take a photo of your display, take note of what you have offered and commit to not doing the same thing next year …unless, of course, your sales are up this year on last year and you did offer the traditional Father’s Day gifts mentioned above.

We have to break the pattern for these major seasons for the sake of our future for if we keep doing the same thing year in year out we will lose shoppers who have moved on.

You don’t want to be known as the old school newsagent, there is no future in that.

Independent gift shops face the same challenge, the need to chase change, to redefine the appeal of their business during major seasons by pitching items they do not usually offer at that time.

It is hard work, redefining the approach of a season from scratch when you may have done the same thing with the same suppliers for many years.

The thing is – if you don’t do the hard work your seasonal sales will fall and your year round sales will fall and this is not good for the business or you.

So, I urge you to look at your Father’s Day 2016 and be prepared to put that approach behind you in pursuit of a completely fresh offer for next year.

Gifts are not what they used to be.

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Gifts

Because geeks can be dads and dads can be geeks

IMG_2136We have resisted the temptation for a traditional Father’s Day gift range in the newsagency this year. Instead, we have shone a light on existing products and categories in-store that reflect the diversity of father’s we can serve.

Take dads who are gamers, geeks, nerds or similar in terms of cliched labelling. They could get more pleasure out of a Warcraft blind box – such as you can see in the photo – as a gift than a book, a voucher, socks, underwear or a coffee mug.

The kid buying dad a Warcraft blind box is making a thoughtful purchase, demonstrating they know their dad and his passion. Any dad into Warcraft, and there are plenty, would be happy with the blind box as the figurine in the box could sit in their car or on the desk at work as a reminder of the cool kid they have raised for them to know this is a perfect gift.

In this era of fascination with pop culture, it is items like these warcraft blind boxes that are ideal as a pitch for Father’s Day rather than the traditional you find many gift wholesalers pitching.

I think we need less in our newsagencies of the traditional for major seasons like Father’s Day and more of the quirky collectible that respects the passions of the recipient. That is why the kid giving their dad a Warcraft blind box is likely to have done better than a sibling giving the same dad a coffee mug – unless it is a Warcraft coffee mug … all this depends on the dad being a warcraft fan.

We don’t have to understand these things for us to engage as retailers. But we do need to be guided by people who understand them.

Gifts are changing, rapidly. Yu can see this through the rapid change in gift shops around the country. They are closing and opening at a fast rate, as are wholesalers as the supply side goes through consolidation. I think those changes are occurring because businesses have failed to keep up with the most sought after trends, licences that appeal to deep and long term collector interest.

I am following a similar approach with cards too, promoting quirky cards and licenced cards. While I still have cards with yachts and golf images, I’m not featuring these in out of store promotions as they give off a traditional image I don;t ant to be connected with when promoting the business to people who do not currently shop with us.

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Gifts

The blurring borders of retail channels

At the AFTA trade show for fishing and outdoors retailers on the Gold Coast on Sunday, my software company’s stand was next to the stand for Gibson, a gift supplier to newsagencies. The adjacency was a reminder of the blurring borders between retail channels.

Gibson has ranges of eyewear that are ideal for fishing and outdoor businesses. They work equally well in newsagencies in some location.

The experience was a reminder of why we are seeing products previously only in one channel appearing in other channels. The same is true for newsagencies as we carry products today that even last year had never been sold in a newsagency business.

I think the blurring of lines between retail businesses is good. It diversifies those businesses engaged and that strengthens them.

I certainly picked up some newsagency-relevant ideas from the AFTA show on the weekend.

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Gifts

Cards with gifts in the newsagency

IMG_0765 (1)Here is another smart move I saw in a newsagency this week showing placement of a greeting card with gifts in a display in a newsagency.

It is vital we pitch cards outside the card department in our newsagencies as this gets cards in front of people who have not entered the newsagency with cards as a destination.

Placements like this are simple to do and keep fresh. All it takes is a couple of minutes to change several. I’d love to see more newsagents do do this – place cards in with gift and other displays as appropriate.

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Gifts

Leveraging Finding Dory in the newsagency

IMG_9935We have Finding Dory licenced products ranging across several departments in-store and are using these online and on the lease line in-store to attract traffic.

My experience with licences is that range is essential to success. A display unit of cards works okay but place it with activity books and other products and you gain more attention. It also helps you promote a range that is different to what other retailers may do.

The other move I have found helps drive success with licences is having more than one location in-store. There is good research supporting the importance of several touchpoints to guide sales success.

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Gifts

Next time you buy gifts for your newsagency

A newsagent called yesterday angry a gift supplier they had purchased from for years has started supplying a pharmacy nearby. The apparent promise of exclusivity has been ignored with a there is nothing in writing comment.

If a rep or agent makes such a claim to you, get it in writing and make it clear this commitment is essential to you doing business with them.

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