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retail

Terrific looking Zoodle store from WH Smith in Manchester

zoodleThe Zoodle store at Manchester Airport looks terrific. It stands out from the crowd. Looking at the model in detail, I am impressed with their leveraging of brands such as Disney, Peppa Pig, Where’s Wally and Thomas the Tank Engine. Look at the bullhead – stunning.

Zoodle encourages kids to read books and play with toys.

Central to the business in this transit locate is a strong value proposition. For example, a 3 for 2 offer on all children’s books.

We have a Zoodle at Melbourne airport but it does not look as good as the manchester store.

I am surprised we are not seeing more of these WH Smith created Zoodle stores.

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retail

Standing out in the crowded macaron space

macaronsMacarons are everywhere these days. These once hard to find tasty treats are being sold in many different businesses. This is why I liked the retailer I saw in London yesterday – they created a retail space that made the product the hero, that made their macarons have a sense of difference over the macarons you could find elsewhere. The gold cave fit out sets high expectations.

If our business is average in its layout and look shoppers will expect an average experience. If, on the other hand it is different and we own the difference, shoppers will expect a different experience, one they are more likely to remember.

This is crucial in retail today.

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retail

Think before you place product in retail

adjacenciesProduct adjacencies are vital in retail. Get it right and you can drive excellent incremental business. In addition to ensuring that products placed next to each other speak to the same shopper, you need to ensure that the products are safe or at least feel safe together. That’s not the case with this placement of peanut butter next to fly and mosquito killer. While not actually harmful given the packaging, it feels as if it could be harmful and that’s enough for me. I’d not buy the peanut butter from here.

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retail

The mixed message of fees and rewards

In a retail business earlier this week I was offered a discount of $5.00 off my next purchase and subject to a charge of 3% for using a credit card for payment. My purchase was $165.00 as it happens. the credit card surcharge was $4.95.

The discount off my next purchase was funded by the store – it was not a brand related offer.

As a shopper, the message I received was confused. It certainly did not encourage me to consider returning to the store.

If you have a surcharge applied based on method of payment, think abut this carefully in the context of any loyalty offer you make at the counter as you could be knocking the good out with the bad. Your messaging needs to be carefully considered.

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Newsagency management

I like to see kids on the floor admiring our range of Beanie Kids

kfloorSome collectors of Beanie Kids like to take their time looking at what we have and we encourage it. Even though space is limited in the shop, we are happy to see someone so devoted that they are kneeling or sitting in front of the stand looking at each Beanie Kid in the extensive range.

The interest of an intense Beanie Kid collector can attract others and drive sales as I saw happen for myself Friday last week.

This girl in the photo was fascinated and another girl noticed and started looking. Soon the two were talking and the first girl was selling her new friend on collecting these Beanie Kids. It was a thrill to see.

Collectible products come in all shapes and sized=s and price points. Each is valuable in its own right if you have a good range and merchandise it how collectors like.

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Gifts

How new owners trashed a retail business in two months and look set to lose money

There is a cafe near my office that grew in popularity from opening several years ago. The food range was excellent, the quality high, the service friendly and the coffee good.

Three months ago, the business changed hands. The new owners replaced the staff, changed the food range dropped the food quality and demonstrated little care for customer service.

Now, in apparent desperation, they have signs at the front of the café offering discounted deals. I suspect they will be out of business soon. The signs are sometimes shrill in approach, acting as a turnoff.

The best way to build traffic and success for any business, especially any retail business, is from within – through offering products nearby people want and that these are offered with friendly service.

The best way to take over a successful business you have paid a good price for is to ensure you understand how the business operated to achieve the numbers you paid for it and to ensure that at the very least you do what was being done before.

While a poor business you take over will demand change, a successful business you take over will benefit more from considered nurturing. That’s where the people who took over my local coffee shop have failed. They made a successful business bad, they are driving it to failure.

Taking on a retail business is not rocket science, not even if you have no retail experience whatsoever. Take your time, understand successes in the business and support them. Discover weaknesses and work on them. Back your judgement as it’s your own money on the line every day.

In the case of the café near my office, they took the business down market and in doing so misread what locals wanted – that they would pay more for quality product. These new owners offer cheaper product as a strategy, I suspect, to grow volume. The reality is they’d make more by selling less but for a higher margin.

I see newsagents make this mistake. They chase cheap products and happily sell them at a low margin. While sales may be okay, how many customers who buy on price come back? I’d say that number is less than those who find products they cherish and for which they pay a higher price.

The only way for the new owners of my local café to turn around their situation is for them to start selling quality products backed by friendly service.

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buying a newsagency

Presentation is everything in retail

presentationI love this display of fresh fruit in front of the sandwich bar at a cafe I was in earlier this week. It’s different to a usual sandwich display. Take the fruit away and you have a sandwich display. Add the fruit and your attention is grabbed by colour and freshness.

This terrific example of retail theatre underscores how presentation is everything in retail. Instead of an everyday sandwich display this retailer is telling a more compelling story.

Inspiring.

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retail

The front of the newsagency this weekend

fos-aug09This photo shows half of the front of the newsagents as it is set for this weekend. On the left we have part of our Father’s day card range for early shoppers, next is sand that attracts kids and parents, next is the new line of scarves that started selling when we put them out Friday, next is beanie Boos that attract young girls and finally is a display of Pacific Magazines titles promoting the $5000 shopping spree competition.

It’s a little cramped but it is working, delivering good sales off each of the units yesterday and attracting terrific traffic from the mall into the newsagency during the course of the day.

Setting the front of the newsagency shop needs to be seen as a management responsibility and a key marketing activity.

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Newsagency management

Information can be more valuable than a discount

snakeInformation is key to being able to sell products. Indeed, information can help us generate more money in the bank than a discount off invoice when purchasing a product.

By that I mean: a discount is only valuable when you sell an item and information is what can help you sell an item.

Take this snake. I have found out from the supplier – Wild Republic – that it sells well in garden centres for people wanting to put in their garden. I’d only ever thought of it as a toy. Now I see it as more than that. I have new customers I can pitch it to. Plus I have new visual merchandising ideas.

While I can buy the snake at a terrific discount off invoice, it is the information about the other customers for the snake that is of more use for me as this is what will see a greater financial contribution to the business from sales of the snakes.

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Gifts

Terrific use of the ceiling in a retail store

ceilingCheck out how one retailer I visited recently is embracing the ceiling with the wallpaper going up the walls and onto the ceiling. The book theme is perfect for as they also sell books. The books on the ceiling help give you an impression that you are shoe where special, somewhere different to out there.

Success in retail depends on giving shoppers are unique experience. This shop certainly does that. The fixtures and merchandising sweep you away.

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Newsagency management

Embracing the shop door

backdoorI love the way one retailer has embraced the door at the back of the shop I saw in Auckland on Sunday.

Take a look at the photo. The staircase is a photo on the door. What makes it work is the placement of greenery around the door.

Brilliant.

I didn’t notice the door until someone used it.

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retail

Newsagents: beware any who claim they can get you a better lease deal

I heard this week about a newsagent who relied on someone who claimed they could get a better lease deal and ended up paying more per square metre than a nearby competitor. The lease negotiator they used negotiated the lease for a couple of newsagencies that went broke on the back of what I’d saw were poorly negotiated leases. I say they were poorly negotiated because I saw the leases and would not have agreed to them myself.

It is easy to claim to help newsagents get a better lease. Achieving a good lease requires a good business or business plan from the newsagent, diligent professional work, a co-operative landlord and a lease professional who has no vested interest other than getting the best lease deal for you.

If a newsagent asks me for lease advice, especially one in a shopping centre, my advice is to pay for the services of an independent lease professional.

Too many newsagencies have gone broke in recent years on the back of leases negotiated by parties with a vested interest. This is why I say buyer beware of people who claim they can negotiate a better lease for you.

Be inquisitive about any marketing pitch by someone or a business claiming they offer lease negotiation services or that they are favoured by landlords. Seek evidence. Seek clarification. Get it in writing and do your research.

See if the claims about lease negotiation stack up to the test of history.

Anyone can make a claim in their advertising and marketing. The truth is what matters and I know of former newsagents who would say that they wish they had done their research before believing they would get a better lease through a specific party.

Ask for before and after evidence in writing. Ask for their most recent references. Don’t accept their word, accept only proof of good they have done.

Even ask for advice from a friend or someone in whom you have trust. Don’t be afraid. The alternative is you trust them and maybe find that the lease they negotiate for you is the worst business decision you even made.

A bad lease can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, your home, your health and even your family. There are former newsagents with stories they could share.

This post is about no one person or business. The advice is advice anyone with your best interests at heart would give.

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Ethics

Nice low format fixtures

lowformatIf you’re at Adelaide airport check out the new look newsagency at the Qantas end of the terminal. I like the low-profile magazine units – they provide good sight lines into and out of the store. It makes it feel quite open and welcoming. The fixtures present the magazines well.

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magazines

Five fundamentals of retailing where some newsagents let our channel down: relevance

This week I am calling out five basic areas of retailing where some newsagents make the rest of us look bad. I am writing about these five areas because in the minds of plenty of Australian shoppers all newsagencies are as bad as the worst one they have visited.

RELEVANCE

Okay so this topic could sound like a snooze. I’d say – ignore it at your peril.

Your business needs to be relevant to your existing customers to the customers you can attract. Your business does not b=need to be relevant to you other than providing a return on your investment.

When I talk about being relevant I mean offering products your customers will buy and in a way that speaks to them and offering products relevant to the shingle under which your business trades. This goes to range, price points and product layout.

What you sell speaks to all others who call their business what you call yours.

It’s hard to get into the minds of your shoppers.  For some newsagents it takes many years. I am reminded almost weekly that I am not my customer.

Beyond what you sell, relevance is pitched in your advertising, social media posts, across the counter conversation and local community engagement.  Your relevance is reflected in your voice in these engagements – by voice I mean how you communicate and that it is understand and embraced by those you are targeting.

The more relevant your business is to those in the area in which you serve the more business you will win.

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retail

Opportunity in Crazy Clark’s receivership

crclarkNewsagents have an opportunity in the closure of Crazy Clark’s stores – not so much in the deep discount space as that’s a war zone but more in the art supplies space and some stationery products. I’d suggest to nay newsagent near a Crazy Clark’s to consider responding to the closure with a new product offer to tap into that shopper.

With local papers carrying stories about the Crazy Clark’s closure there is an opportunity to remind shoppers to support your local business.

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retail

The attention grabbing sign

signWhile I suspect the spelling on the sign is a mistake I found myself wondering if it was deliberate. It got me looking at the product. While I should not draw attention to spelling to typo errors – as I make plenty here – this one is pretty special or is that specila?

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retail

Magazines at the new Emporium centre in Melbourne

masnation-emporiumI checked out the new Magnation location in Melbourne’s just opened Emporium centre. They are presenting their range of special interest titles in a different way. magazines have less floorspace in a Magnation store today than when the group first started out years ago. I suspect this is a reflection of occupancy cost pressure.

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magazines

American shopping malls a dying breed

BqkQoj6IYAAKHuyMore and more reports are coming out of the US about shopping malls that are closing and being abandoned. What’s interesting is that it’s mall based shopping that is challenged and not shopping itself. The New Yorker has an interesting report quoting Rick Caruso, CEO of the company with malls delivering best-practice per square metre sales. Caruso malls are outdoors and more about the LA lifestyle experience.

This trend is one we need to watch and assess whether it is unique to the US or something we are likely to see in Australia because right now, we’re seeing more malls being built than close – leading some to say we are over served with retail space.

There was a time when being in a newsagency in a shopping mall was the preferred outlet. Today, that preferred location is more likely to be a high street situation in an area with a strong sense of community.

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retail

Excellent visual merchandising example

vmdisplayI saw this coffee-themed display is a supermarket a few days ago and stopped to take in everything they had done to make such a stunning display.  I call it stunning because it stopped me in my tracks – it had everything: clear signage, a pyramid structure, an excellent range of products – from individual items to hampers – that combined told a story and additional information – see the blackboard. I’d say this is one of the best visual merchandising displays I’ve seen in a supermarket.

Go into a capital city shopping mall with major retailers and this is the type of display you see greeting shoppers at the entrance: pyramid in shape and telling a story, enticing shoppers to step into the business.

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retail

Queens Birthday weekend is one of those weekends

There is a slower pace with shoppers today, the first day of a three-day weekend (everywhere in Australia except for Western Australia). And fewer shoppers too. But they are spending, because there is not the usual Saturday rush that we see. I expect we will end the day ahead in dollars but down in traffic. I’m okay with that.

When I say it’s one of those weekends, I mean it is a holiday weekend without a purpose that retailers can easily tap into … commercialise.

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Newsagency challenges

UK consumer survey votes WH Smith as the worst high street retailer in the UK

The Telegraph has reported that a 11,000 consumers in a recent survey voted WH Smith as the worst high street retailer in the UK. Apple was rated #2 and Lush soap #2. The report is pretty damning.

Dissatisfaction with WH Smith is not new, and it has been one of the lowest-rated shops for the last four years.

Retail expert Mary Portas has described it as a “dump” which she “truly hates” shopping in.

This story would not usually rate a mention in Australia but the growing presence of WH Smith here with their own stores, their growing hospital retail network and their ownership of Wild cards and gifts it’s worth knowing about.

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retail

Day one of five simple moves for increasing sales in your newsagency: leveraging high traffic locations

exitingmagazinesThis week I am running a series of simple moves you can make in your newsagency to increase sales. None requires you to spend any money, only time.

Here is simple move to make more money from magazine customers.

Walk down your main magazine aisle and then walk from there to your counter – what do you pass along the way? What is promoted to shoppers walking this path? Do you disrupt shoppers as they walk this and other high-traffic routes in your newsagency?

Click on the photo and notice the card fixture we have placed facing shoppers as they exit the main magazine aisle. I have seen customers notice it when exiting the magazine aisle.

We have had this card unit in this location for couple of weeks. This is about as long as we like to have something here. Change is important – especially at the exit fro the magazine aisle as this is a path many regulars take and they become store blind.

Success with a product is often as much about placement as it is about the product itself. This is why an approach of continuous movement is important on the newsagency shop floor. Identifying key shopper traffic routs and leveraging these with tactical placement should help you increase your sales.

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Greeting Cards

Cool Coles trolly impulse line

colestrolleyAt the entrance to a Coles supermarket yesterday I noticed a line of dump bins with $15 shopping trolleys. This is smart buying and placement by Coles. I’m sure they will sell out in no time – they would have done their homework.

Any retail business with excellent traffic like supermarkets and newsagencies – needs to actively pursue impulse purchase lines that leverage traffic opportunities beyond destination purchases.

I’m positing this photo of what I saw at Coles as inspiration.

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retail

Telling a story

giftscardsRetail is all about telling a story, guiding the customer to browse and purchase based on the story.

This photo shows an excellent example of telling a story – the blending of cards and gifts from two suppliers but leveraging one licence – to create a cohesive display that stand s out.

This display is in a newsagency. I mention that as it’s not something you would have seen in a  newsagency a few years ago.

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retail
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