We have moved a range of gift packaging to the front of the shop, sitting on the lease line, as a draw-card offer for the terrific foot traffic out the front. It’s been in place for five days and has worked well at attracting attention.
We have been pitching the range on social media with several videos, including this one, which we released Friday.
We are pitching gift packaging off-location. That is, away from the usual fixed location for the category.
This display brings the product to life more than usual and puts it in front of more shoppers. Both actions grow sales sales.
This photo is one side of the display.
This photo shows the other side of the display. You can see we have different approaches for each side.
The display is (easily) changed weekly to offer a fresh view to regular shoppers and as part of the process of incremental change / refresh for the business. Sales growth is the core focus of all this.
The gift packaging category does not do as well for newsagents as it should. I say this based on newsagency sales benchmark data and comparison of this to overall gift packaging data.
Bottom line: we should be selling more bags, wrap and related gift packaging items. I think our sales should be at least a third higher than they are.
While some might say this is a function of product, I think it has more to do with lack of creative engagement with the category in-store.
We can fix this with minimal capital, inventory and time investment. Hopefully the photos act as inspiration.
We are experiencing terrific year on year growth in card sales. The May numbers on a same-store year-on-year comparison basis are terrific.
Looking across this you have May 2017 in the numbers to the left. next, you have May 2016. Then, you have the variance.
Unit sales and revenue are tracking very well.
Unit sales are up 24% and revenue is up 30%. These results are more than four times the industry average right now.
Looking at the business, which is in a highly competitive space, I see the results as being driven by:
Cards are an easy sell in newsagencies if they are done right and maintained daily to be best-practice. My view is the list above reflects what I see as being done right.
Too often newsagents rely on card company reps to manage cards. They are not retailers. They rarely have the skills necessary to drive the success you can have with cards.
The more you engage yourselves in-store the more success you can have.
There is growth here for the taking by engaged newsagents. This is an opportunity for a self made good new story for all of us, in every situation, regardless of location or population.
While in one of my newsagencies we have moved away from flat wrap altogether, in another we have a bit of flat wrap but are mainly focused on rolls as this photo shows.
This is not quite how we want it but it is close. This placement is opposite our women’s magazines. Our goal with the location choice is to encourage shoppers to move between wrap and magazines. Observing shopper movements – we see this working.
The focus more on roll wrap is another example of embracing, chasing, change.
The longer we take the same approach to wrap, or anything in our business, the longer the result will be the same and today, the same result is not good enough.
It is essential we experiment in our own businesses, seeking out changes that drive sales. That is 100% the goal of these changes with wrap.
I am thrilled to share something as simple as this with you. Any newsagent could play like we are for almost no capital investment. The plastic units cost a few dollars, they are flexible, allow easy adjustment and they provide a fresh look for roll wrap.
hiPP is a stand out supplier for on-trend stationery and gift packaging. If you want a point of difference I urge you to consider them.
The photo shows part of the range on show at the Reed Gift Fair in Sydney.
I particularly like the notecard packs and that they have two designs each pack – look at the left side of the photo. I also like the marble design bags, wrap, invitations, thank you notes and napkins.
Everything I saw on the hiPP stand is worth considering if you want a point of difference in these product categories in your newsagency.
Sure, your existing card and wrap suppliers will probably not want you to consider hiPP. I’d suggest you ignore them as hiPP products have a broader appeal than products from everyday card and gift suppliers. You won’t see hiPP in supermarkets or mass variety, for example.
Suppliers need to understand that having a point of difference is important to small business newsagents, to major retailers especially. This is where specialty design-led suppliers like hiPP can work well for us. Through their products we can frame our narrative of specialty retail. This narrative will help drive sales of the everyday mass range as well.
My advice for newsagents taking on hiPP is that you introduce one or two themes with aisle-end displays, capping your main magazine aisle. Showcase the designs to shoppers not shopping for these products today. They are so unique and so well made that people will purchase on impulse for future use. That is how they have worked for me. This approach also enables you to offer the range without taking product away from existing suppliers.
In terms of product display, I’d encourage you to display hiPP or similar design-led products in a way that respects their design. i.e. not on hang sell. Consider using a piece of furniture to feature the products Pitch the products as differently as they look compared to other wrap and card products you have. Your display ought to reflect the difference.
I have loaded a high res image so you can see the detail. Click on the photo.
Weeks ago we started trialling a second location of roll wrap – at the counter. It is working. People are purchasing rolls of wrap on impulse. Convenience is a factor in the success of this as is having a good selection of designs available to attract attention.
It costs nothing to try an idea like this in the newsagency. If you don’t have the slatwall backing like we have to take the hook, place boxes of roll wrap at the counter – it should work just as well as long as shoppers can see the designs.
Investing five minutes or so in this move without spending anything extra on stock you could have a change that drives incremental purchases today.
These are the types of moves we need to obsess in our newsagencies about if we are to achieve the best basket depth possible from each shopper visit.
Sadly, wrap is something too many newsagents leave to their wrap or card supplier to manage. I think this is a mistake. The success or otherwise of wrap in your business is yours to own. Stop leaving this to others to control as it is your business.
I like the Mother’s Day window display in the Dymocks flagship store on George Street in Sydney. The display incorporates gifts, cards and wrapped boxes. It promotes a diverse range of gifts too from the traditional to the non traditional. What is most appealing, however, is the inclusion of greeting cards in the display. Too often we neglect to include cards in our window and other displays in our newsagencies, forgetting a valuable piece of the gift purchase.
Customers love cheeky product – they react well in-store and this gives a good vibe to the shop. We are hearing this a bit with the cheekier bags from Hallmark. I heard a customer say I could use a bit of that with a nod of her head to kids in tow. Interactions like this can open to conversations and conversations can lead to sales. It’s why I like having products people talk about. Chatter around and about products drives sales.
We are making the most of these bags and similar cheeky products with them on show so the full message is seen.
We are promoting Scotch Wrapping Tape to early Christmas shoppers with this display on one of our pillars. It faces shoppers as they get about a third of the way into the newsagency. Just in front of the display is our wrapping paper and our table of boxed cards.
Right now, shoppers are taking their time with Christmas. There is some activity, but mainly around boxed cards at this point. By the time we hit December it is more about convenience. We will move the tape from here to the counter as we get closer to Christmas.
On the side of the display is the Scotch wrapping paper cutter. We have been selling this for years … it sells very well, just as our Christmas pitch for gift wrapping tape does.
I got to see a broad range of Hallmark products in my retail tour of Manila. From trinkets to bags, the range of Hallmark products was excellent and interesting. They did not have sheeted wrapping paper like we do. Instead, there was a large range hung as shown in the photo. The photo captures only a fraction of the Hallmark wrap range. Can you see the range of gift cards above the wrap – very nice.
Walking the aisles of this stationery and bookshop I could see an excellent range of wrap, gift bags, gift cards, gift tags, bookmarks, gift items and greeting cards – all Hallmark branded. It was kind of like a Hallmark store within a store. Fascinating.
I saw this in another newsagency this week and share it here for others – placing roll wrap and giftwrap tape just below the lottery serving counter. Click on the image to see a larger version of the photo. While doing this is probably against lottery company rules, I’d expect many of their representatives to turn a blind eye for Christmas – especially if you are promoting their lottery products outside the usual area in a reciprocal move.
We are promoting Christmas bags on the side of one of the columns in one of my shops with success.
This is the best way to display gift bags in my view. The display shows off the bags without customers having to go looking for them or lean down as some displays I have seen recently require.
Kids are drawn to the range from this display and kids attract parents.
Near the bags we have tissue paper which can be used to better package gifts placed in the bag.
We switch the side of the column use to promote bags every few weeks.
The photo shows the bag wall at one of my newsagencies. The range has recently been refreshed and there has been a good sales kick as a result. We know from industry sales data that newsagents underperform in terms of bag and wrap sales. This is usually because newsagents hide the product behind cards.
Newsagencies where bags are close to the front of the store and highly visible are achieving better results. That was the goal of the recent refresh in our newsagency.
In addition to refreshing the range, we take opportunities to create feature displays to show how bags can be dressed to great effect. We do this, not our merchandiser – the benefits are ours after all.
Our team at Forest Hill relayed our wrap wall to refresh the offer. This is on the wall bordering our card department. While is is too early to say if it will result in a sales kick, there is anecdotal evidence suggesting it is attracting more shopper attention.
The work on the walls reflects a mission at Forest Hill to regularly refresh departments which are usually set-and-forget in newsagencies.
We know from US and UK retail study that refreshing the wrap offer in terms of location and range regularly – at least yearly -drives good growth.
Year on year, newsagents account for 35% to 40% of total card sales in Australia. Our channell’s proportion of wrap and packaging is considerably smaller. I think this is because we tend to treat wrap as the poor cousin.
By moving wrap and packaging around our goal is to find customers and help it achieve the potential we know is there.
We are introducing the new Hallmark baby card, gift and packaging range with a display at our counter rather than across in our card and gift department. This front-of-shop corner location has more foot traffic so it makes sense to show the new range off to more shoppers.
I like the decision our team made to place this display here as it reminds newspaper, magazine, lottery and stationery customers that we also play in the greetings and gifts space.
Click on the photo to see a larger version of an experimental wall of Hallmark packaging options. While still a work in progress, the customer reaction we have seen is positive, especially with purchases of wrap or a bag and other wrap related items.
Gift packaging, like everything in retail, needs to keep changing if we are to break through store blindness. Newsagents have a much lower share of gift packaging sales than we have of greeting card sales. This is, in part, due to poor location and poor display. This wall, at the front of the shop and as a lead in to the card department is boosting sales.
Like all good fixturing today, the wall can be easily reconfigured both for current use and to handle other product categories.
The Christmas edition of Better Homes and Gardens which has been out for over a month and is still selling has free wrapping paper. It was only when a customer pointed it out to me that I realised this was part of a Christina Re promotion. We and many other newsagents sell Christina Re papers. Had we knnown about the promotion, we would have been smarter in our counter display and linked the two offers.
There may have been advice and we missed it. If so, the fault is ours. If there was no such advice from Christina Re and the folks at Better Homes and Gardens then this is an opportunity lost.
Thankfully, the customer who educated me yesterday at Forest Hill bought three of the Christina Re paper packs as a result of Better Homes and Gardens. I let our team know because this is the kind of opportunity about which retail staff need to know.
The paper cutter we have placed next to roll wrap is selling well. Supermarkets and other retailers place a product from one department in another department regularly. It is smart retail. The paper cutter is a perfect fit with wrap. As is tape and wrist band tape dispensers – which we also have nearby. Making the most of every opportunity is crucial in an economy like we have today.
Market research shows that while newsagents have around 37% of greeting card sales in Australia, we account for only 21% of packaging (wrap, bags and boxes). The newsagents doing well in packaging are those who actively promote the wrap category. Current best practice is to locate the cards and wrap department at the front of the shop. Unfortunately older shopfits being what they are, relocating a department is a challenge. At our Frankston newsagency, where we our shopfit will not be done until next year, we have created a display of some of our Christmas themed bags on an aisle end near our counter usually reserved for magazines.
While magazine publishers may be disappointed that we are taking prime space for another category of product, the time of the year dictates we make every inch of expensive retail space work for us.
We are launching a TV commercial on channels Seven and Ten in
We are supporting the ad with the delivery of high quality flyers to homes around three of our locations in the last week of this month.
This is the first advertising we have undertaken for Sophie since we opened at Forest Hill in February last year. With our Toorak store opening two months ago we felt the time was right to step out with our unique and personal offer.
We hope to release details of the Sophie franchise model in then first quarter of next year.
Further to my post yesterday about strong greeting card sales, newsagents underperform in the gift packaging area. Newsagents have around 20% market share. Compare this to our close to 40% market share on cards and you can see that something is wrong.
Card company people I have spoken with suggest that our poor performance with gift packaging – wrap and boxes – is due to poor location in-store, poor range and poor interaction between the business and the category.
Newsagencies with good growth in the packaging area tend to have it at the front of the shop, well displayed and offering a good range. They also train staff to invite shoppers to consider the wrap.
Overseas, packaging displays tend to be built more strongly around the occasion than we see here.
This is another area of our businesses where we can be more engaged and achieve a better return as a result.
The movie Kung Fu Panda is getting plenty of press here even though it does not open until June 26. Hallmark cards has the licence so there is an excellent promotional tie-in for many newsagents. The gift bag featuring the panda character is fantastic – when you open the flap at the front the panda just about jumps out at you. It is around card and gift licences like Kung Fu Panda that we can drive sales outside of the traditional card and gift space. Connecting with hot licences adds credibility to newsagencies with the target generation of the licence.
