Fly swats the perfect Australia Day impulse purchase
We’re maintaining our attention on impulse purchase lines beyond Christmas and the school holidays. Our buying focus is on items that connect either with a season or some other opportunity that is relevant to us and our customers. These Extendable Fly Swats are part of a range of items we sourced for selling around Australia Day. They’re a bit of fun and useful – perfect for this time of the year.
Broaden the appeal of Valentine’s Day with a broader gift range
The range of gifts we sell at Valentine’s Day is only limited by the range of gifts we carry. There was a time when Valentine’s Day was about plush and chocolates. Now, with the season being embraced by more, we can sell all sorts of gifts. We’re having a crack with a range of retro-themed mugs. I love the retro music theme and so do our customers.
Customers love an inspiring message
While we need sales revenue to pay the bills, some days the memorable reward is a customer who enjoys being in your space.
These magnetic signs have sold well. Better than that, they have made people browsing feel good.
I saw a customer reading the signs reach out and gently touch one, as if to touch the goodness in the words. It made me feel good when I saw this because I knew that visiting our space touched the customer.
Getting your Blackhawk gift card mix right can drive sales
I was talking with a newsagent last week about the larger format gift card stands at Australia Post and other retailers. While I think we need to be in the space, each of us needs to do so in a way that is appropriate to our own business. For example, this small footprint stand from Blackhawk works for me – I can move it around and it holds enough top-selling cards to cover several demographic needs.
Click on the image to see a larger version – in particular the cards on this side of the stand as we selected them for a younger demographic.
Note: As I noted last year, Blackhawk is not open until feb. 3 for reorders. Newsagency can get pretty much anything they want from Blackhawk through Touch Networks.
Promoting magic range of school holiday shoppers
We’re enjoying terrific success by featuring our range of magic products at the front of the shop on the lease line – facing into the mall. The success is in the form of shoppers the display attracts as much as product sales. Being in a shopping mall what we display at the front of the business is vital to attracting people who are in the centre and had not planned to visit a newsagency this visit. Our goal is to present products that challenge their perception of a newsagency.
Retro raunchy magnets sell out and show a newsagency growth opportunity
I was in a newsagency the other day and noticed that the range of retro / raunchy magnets they had in November when I took the photo had sold out. Indeed, they had sold out in a matter of weeks, delivering an excellent return on small inventory and space investments.
They were placed perfectly next to cards, enabling easy leveraging of card purchases into a magnet as a small gift to go with a card.
Retail success in independent retail businesses like newsagencies is all about attention to small steps detail – the many small things you can and should do to attract that extra purchase with a core item like a greeting card.
The key is that each small step, each additional item we carry, must connect with something else we sell of do in our business. This is where the magnets fit. They start to work leveraging card purchases but have the range long enough and they can generate their own traffic if you become known for the niche product.
All of this matters in 2014 as the nature of the traditional Australian newsagencies continues to evolve – but at a faster pace than in 2013.
This post is about the small steps detail we need to focus on as retailers. Selling sixty magnets in a few weeks at more than 50% gross profit is a good story. Many of these small stories combine make the newsagency business considerably more valuable.
Sunday newsagency marketing tip: offer a gift registry
If you are serious about toys or gifts or plush in your retail newsagency then consider offering a gift registry – especially if you are in a regional or rural situation.
I was reminded of the gift registry idea when in Manila early last month and I saw a gift registry promoted out the front of Toy Kingdom at the Mall of Asia. Their pull-up banner not only promoted the registries for individuals, it also promoted the service itself. Very smart.
For a gift registry idea to work, you would need to offer a reasonable range of gift / toys / plush for the target gift recipient. Plus you would need to establish a process as well as a marketing plan to promote the opportunity.
Offering a gift registry service could provide a valuable point of difference for your business over others covering the same categories. It could also be a way to pre-sell items from catalogues from your suppliers.
Magical back to school items
While back to school is not big for us – due to out situation, space restrictions, that we make more money from plush and gifts than back to school could ever deliver and due to not being able to or wanting to match the massive investment of the majors in the season – we are having fun with a range of magic items including some that connect with the back to school / school holiday theme like The Magical Pencil Case.
We put these out as stocking stuffers in the final lead up to Christmas and they sold well. The pencil case and other items in the range have continued to sell well after Christmas – the work as school holiday and back to school purchases.
We have the pencil cases at the counter. It’s a pleasure to see customers add them to a purchase on impulse.
We’re selling plenty of fans this summer
These fans are a perfect product to have at the counter. In the lead up to Christmas and since we have had customers purchasing two and three at a time. What really makes the fans a business hit is that they are bought on impulse. They drive margin dollars per sale and push the business overall to an above average gross profit performance given the GP we have on them.
The display unit is excellent – it explains the product well and makes merchandising easy.
We have been on a mission to drive impulse purchases for some time as part of our business plan to deliver a better than average overall gross profit performance for the newsagency. It’s a thrill to see it working.
I write here about only a few of the impulse items we have success with. In many cases the items that work best do so for some local reason. This is where we need to be the best retailers possible – to create our own success.
This perfect impulse line brings out disgusting behaviour at the counter
These small plastic rings that light up sell easily at the counter. Kids eyes light up when they see them. They are a perfect counter line.
Two days ago a male customer in his late seventies was belittling his female companion, aged in her late thirties. I heard him snap get over here – that’s when I noticed them. At the counter while the he bought a card, she noticed the rings.
It’s what happened next that shocked me. After completing the card transaction he asked how much the plastic rings were, I told him and he bought one. The lady put a ring on her finger and beamed a wide smile. The guy turned to me over his shoulder as he walked behind his partner and said: that’ll keep her quiet as he rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows.
You see some awful things in retail some days.
Lucky Elephants lucky for us
We put a display unit of Lucky Elephants with Christmas gifts late last week. In 24 hours we had sold almost all of them. We expected them to sell but not so quickly. It’s a good ‘problem’ to encounter and a reminder that retail is about constantly trying new products, especially products you would not buy yourself.
Selling balloons with a great display
I was fortunate to see a balloon outpost yesterday where there have some excellent crestings on display as Christmas items and also promoting their creativity in terms of what they can create using balloons.
This amazing free-standing tall Santa is just one of many products they had on display for people to purchase and take away from the outpost. If I was doing balloon displays in a shop this Santa would make for an excellent window feature. He’s what drew me to the outpost in the first place.
This Christmas tree is another terrific Christmas-themed balloon product that I am sure would sell easily almost anywhere. It’s something I’d like to have the space and time to try next year. What I saw from the outpost has shown me that maybe this is the way to go since the margin is good.
Another zombie product success
Zombie-themed products are selling out for us this Christmas. These zombie-themed keychains are another success in this theme of products. It’s no wonder given the slew of TV shows and movies with zombie and related themes.
The success here is a reminder about offering gifts that are socially relevant. I couple of grandparents on the weekend bought zombie gifts for their grandkids because they remembered they liked The Walking Dead. They were excited that they would appear to be with it.
Gadgets for Christmas drive basket depth
Gadgets are selling out for us this Christmas. One customer purchased six of these pocket screwdrivers at once for all the guys she buys for. Another customer bought four of the USB chargers as stocking-stuffers for her sons. In each case the customers told me they came in to buy Christmas cards and ended up spending considerably more.
Getting sales like this starts with buying months ago, thinking of the people customers could be purchasing gifts for. While some buying is luck, much of it requires careful consideration – and for success for the next year it requires thorough tracking so you know what worked and how quickly it worked.
Australiana Christmas ornaments sell out
We have sold out of our Australiana Christmas ornaments and other Australiana-themed Christmas items faster this year and we had more stock. My could have ordered double … maybe next year. Price was not an issue because not many other retailers in our centre had Australiana themed ornaments. If only we knew we would have a point of difference.
Impulse lines off the charts this Christmas
One newsagent was putting out boxes of impulse lines a week ago and one customer purchases four full boxes spending close to $300. While we have not experienced that, our impulse lines of funky gifts and toys are going exceptionally well. These Sp;at Balls are a good example – selling out in a week. These types of products are terrific financially and enjoyable for the delight they bring our shoppers.
While Christmas decorations and gifts are performing well, it’s impulse lines we are spending the most time keeping up with. Thankfully suppliers are topping up quickly.
Zombie shooting set a sell-out Christmas gift
This desktop Zombie Shooting Set sold out for in a week. We have more stock on the way. The success of the zombie themed movies and the mega success of TV shows like The Walking Dead make products like this more appealing.
While not banded to a TV or movie franchise, this pencil and eraser set has sold because of the popularity of the genre. Customers have bought them as stocking stuffers and as Kris Kringle gifts.
We displayed this item as part of a funky gift range. This range attracted traffic for us. We are becoming known in the shopping mall as a destination store for these types of gifts.
On a side note, I like that we’re selling what is essentially a stationery item here.
Paper plane sells out in a week
This terrific paper aeroplane kit sold out in a week. We bought it on a nostalgia whim and a week later it’s all gone. You know from the nature of the product that all stock has been purchased on impulse, making the it an even more valuable product. A good impulse item can be empowering for your buying just as a failure of a product can result in you second-guessing purchases.
We report on seasonal items separately from gifts. This item, since it is not Christmas-themed, sits in our gift department. There we have it in a relevant category. This is important since buying is not only about sometimes buying more stock of a successful item. It is also about buying new items that appeal to the same shopper as those buying a very popular item.
Another product that makes people smile
This Super Putty is another interactive product we love watching customers engage with. We have a tub open and actively encourage them to try it. Many who do buy because they enjoy the experience. How good they feel when playing with the putty or watching someone play with the putty is a key factor in their purchase decision – you can see it in their faces, especially parents and grandparents when they see their kids and grand kids having fun.
It’s a pleasure selling happy
I love the terrific range of feel-good fun products we have in store at the moment. I love them because our customers love them. Their smiles are a delight to see.
These happy hoppers are a good example. You can launch them off your hand or any surface. They make kids laugh. We sell them to kids through to grandparents. We’re finding them to be a good stocking stuffer gift.
We have plenty of items like these that are interactive out on the shop floor. They add to the theatre of retail.
Good counter pen offer
We jumped on the Pilot pen opportunity pitched to us through GNS. I like for small format counter unit. These pens are an easy add-on item where people are purchasing boxed and single Christmas cards. We’ve kept the price below $5.00 to drive volume. Adding s $4.95 stationery item to a basked with the average card purchase of over $20.00 is nice icing on the cake. Counter placement is key.
Leading shoppers with a retail trail
Space is a challenge this time of the year. You want to put just about everything out the front of the business to attract shoppers and sell but there is a shortage of room. Here’s something that I find works. We make a seasonal statement at each entry point and change this regularly. Then, a few steps away, we build on the statement. Then we build some more on it and so on. This invites customers to walk the path of the season without making the front of the business too top heavy. The last thing I want is my newsagency to look like a discount variety store as people who shop those are not loyal.