Gifts

I love this box made from recycled colouring pencils. I saw it in a funky gift shop along with other equally interesting recycled items.

What we see as a used pencil someone else sees as a brick in the wall of a box.

I love this re-purposing of stationery items once we discard them.

Check out the placement of iconic Australian gifts by WH Smith at one of their outlets at Melbourne airport last week. This is ideal placement of ideal gift lines for this specific store. Look at the photo, at the fixture that looks like it has been created specifically for this. It’s attention to detail coupled with supplier support that makes a difference.

We sold plenty of fart pens this Christmas. Today, Christmas Eve, shoppers bought them in a steady stream. I was embarrassed by some of the hilarious stories. I feel for the dads who will open these tomorrow.

A cherished gift of small business retail is the stories customers share, even the stories about fart pens.

We have had a soap called Bethlehem as part of our gift soap offer for Christmas. We have sold double what we expected to sell and could have sold plenty more. Customers love the name but the scent, the look of the soap and the presentation as a gift.

The Bethlehem soap has worked in many situations where people are not sure what to give to a friend, neighbour, teacher, doctor, priest – it’s been a go to item for us in gift selection help.

The experience reinforces the value of trying again. We have offered soap previously without this level of result. This time, we have found a product that works perfectly for us in terms of customer love, return on floor space and return on inventory investment.

Based on our first experience I thought we could not sell soap. Of course – not all soaps are the same. This range works a treat and I am glad we have it to ourselves in our centre. It is generating good traffic for us as word of mouth spreads.

Sales of socks have been excellent for us since we put the stand in a few weeks ago. Initial stock sold, we reordered and it is selling too.

I’m sure most people purchasing the socks did not come into the newsagency with this in mind. The success is an example of the value of a diversified yet thoughtfully selected mix of products placed tactically on the shop floor.

Just having the socks is not enough. They need to be in the best location – and that is not necessarily the busiest location.

We sold most of the hats off our hat stand in a few weeks and replenished from another store. Once they sell we’ll quit hats – because of space challenges more than anything else. That said, we’re thrilled with the results … especially that we did not expect them to sell as ell as they have.

The experience with the hats is a reminder to not allow our prejudices or blinkered view get in the way of good margin revenue for the newsagency.

this Christmas we are playing with many different product categories, exploring how far we could go into allied and completely different areas. It’s fun and rewarding.

We have a good selection of Paddington Bear merchandise in store to leverage the new movie. While it will not be a Frozen, we are hopeful that the small selection of Paddington product we have sourced will be worthwhile.

With many families and grandparents shopping in the centre we’re confident we made a good call with this product mix.

Licenced product is important for newsagents expanding their appeal.

This counter placement of Frozen product is a small part of our overall Frozen pitch. We chose these products as they are easily purchased on impulse – including the $15.00 vinyl collectible characters. While there is Frozen overload in retail, having different products is important as is ease of purchase – hence the counter offer.

Stocking stuffers are especially popular as impulse purchases at the counter. We think very carefully about what we place here and we change it regularly through the week.

The end of calendar year graduation season is the most successful for us. We sell more gifts and cards now than for the university season early in the new year. In the last week we’ve sold plenty of plush, cards and other gifts – up on last year. The key is having everything together to ‘own’ the space.

I cringed when I say this Christmas decorated platypus as part of our Christmas pitch. Yes, I am not my customer buy seriously? Talk about mocking an iconic native Australian mammal. My initial cringe intensified when I realised the indigenous style artwork – it clashes with the Santa hat. If they sell I’ll be shocked, I will have to rethink plenty.

I saw a good example of the power of the Disney Frozen brand Thursday when visiting a newsagency. The two stands of Frozen product in the photo were a magnet for kids and those buying for kids.

Placing the two stands together is a smart move as together they are more visual powerful than if apart.

Some newsagency marketing groups are offering their members access to Frozen product from plenty of suppliers – five at least. This allows those stores to sell a strong story that competes with the majors.

Price is not an issue as the bottom feeding deep discount stores are not heavily into this brand yet.

If you are do not have Frozen products on your shop floor you are certain to be missing out.

I am grateful for the time given by gift suppliers in Adelaide and Perth yesterday where I got to see some exciting new products and existing products presented in a new way.

There is no better way to buy gifts than as when they are presented in a best-practice way when you can see a full range story as you would want it in your own shop.

While it’s terrific to meet with reps in-store, being face to face with products in a showroom is more useful. It works better for the supplier with more orders too.

The last two days are a reminder of the value of being outside the business working on it.

MenKind is a network of more than forty gift shops catering to male shoppers and those who buy for males. Their range is a mixture of funks, tech and sports. Close to half the stock I saw is available from suppliers in Australia. While many Aussie newsagents say it’s hard to source gifts for males MenKind is a business that is doing it well and packaging it in a smart way.

The Sydney Reed Gift Fair starts this morning at 10am and runs for four days. While nowhere near as popular as the fair earlier in the year, this fair is expected to attract around 10,000 visitors. Plenty of those will be newsagents.

If you are based in Sydney and not already into gifts, make time to get to the fair to start looking at what you could carry. Time is running out for you to make that transition. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Here’s a tip – guitars are hot. Guitar puzzles, guitar nano blocks and these cute guitar clocks. Plus guitar magazines.

Talking with the wholesaler of Nanoblocks, they say one of the guitar blocks is the absolute top seller of their range. It’s sold to guys and to people buying for guys.

Information like this is gold when it comes to ranging gifts and allied products in our newsagencies.

Ask suppliers what guitar themed products they have. Consider being a destination for all things guitar – except for the real thing.