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Tactical display

The Christmas space shortage helps drives sales

mugsLike every retail newsagency business this time f year we have no spare space. Indeed, our gift area is so full that we have to put this beautiful range of boxed mugs at one counter. The thrill is that they have been selling. Better than expected. Yes, people are purchasing these premium mugs on impulse having come to the counter with other items.

Who said the counter is only for lower cost items people will purchase on impulse.

Sometimes changes are forced to make show us things about what sells where that we had not anticipated.

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Gifts

Lighting up products at the counter to drive sales

hmksnowShowing people a product in use is far more valuable than showing it not in use. Take this terrific light-up snow globe from hallmark that is part of their exclusive North Pole range. Placing it at the counter and lit up works a treat. People notice. They comment. They buy. This is a perfect example of showing. With the lights off these snow globes look okay. With the lights on they looks stunning.

Us having the lights on is a point of difference for us. I guess, that is, until our competitors read this blog.

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Gifts

Relay gives a lesson in retail product placement and promotion

bookfrontRelay stores at airports in Australia are always worth a visit. They are in traffic rich locations and need their displays work at drawing people into the store. This display at their Canberra outlet is on the corner of the lease line.

I stood across from the store for five minutes and saw four people walk across to look at the promoted book. One purchased.

The relay approach is simple to follow: make the product the hero and tell people who the product is the hero.

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Book retailing

BHG puzzle title at 55% sell through already

puz50pcPlacement above Better Homes and Gardens magazine has helped us achieve a 55% sell through already for this BHG branded puzzle title. While it is selling from our crossword section, the pocket above BHG is performing the best for us. We found the extra pocket because of the BHG floor display unit promoting the Christmas tin.

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crosswords

Calendars with magazines

crosscalHere’s another simple placement that drives calendar sales – this time puzzle themed calendars with crossword and puzzle magazines. I’ve seen shoppers come in to spend Under $10 and walk out spending $30. Tactical placement drives a deeper basket.

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crosswords

Layering product placement to drive sales

steppedvmWe have a three step approach to pitching our 2015 diary range – in part because we don’t have space for one big display and in part because we know that pitching to shoppers several times in a visit helps drive sales.

If you look carefully at the photo you can see our layering approach in action for 2014 diaries. The diaries are placed in three locations: two floor display units, on a column and on the wall.

If we had the diaries in one location we have one shot for them to discover. Also, that approach requires a larger single location space commitment. Our approach makes better use of smaller space spots. Plus it situates the diaries such that more shoppers will see them.

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Calendars

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

Dog and cat display update

dogcatcounterFurther to my post from September 5 about refreshing the dog and cat display at the counter, I can share that the jumbled and more orderly display work almost the same in terms of sales – the orderly display is slightly ahead. The big news is that in two weeks we have sold hundreds of dollars of dogs and cats from the counter. So much so that we’re short of stock until our order comes in so we have dogs and cats in together.

Here’s my message: plush sells at the counter if you display it in a way that is noticeable and that makes sense. We have people purchasing $19.99 items on impulse – with cards, newspapers and or magazines. yes, there have been newspaper customers who have added a $19.99 item to their paper purchase.

Our counter story is not only these dogs and cats – they are of a bigger picture story that is all about overall gross profit and margin dollars per sale.

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Newsagency management

Thoughtful product adjacencies drive newsagency sales

hammeradjThe moment we placed the fish and hammer BBQ lighters on either side of the Poo Pourri people started looking at the toilet spray as a Father’s Day gift. Indeed, we sold a bottle of Poo Pourri within minutes of making the change yesterday.

the hammer and fish BBQ lighters act as indicators for the target of the items in this display. The result is a reminder of the need to think carefully about product placement – sometimes it is what you place next to a product that gets that product selling.

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Newsagency management

Bringing back the dogs and cats to the newsagency counter

plushcounterWe have plush dogs and cats back at the counter as part of a front of store refresh.

This move was an easy choice as the last two times we had plush dogs and cats at the counter they did very well.

We find shoppers prepared to spend between $15 and $25 extra on impulse lines like these having made their purchase selection and brought it to the counter. I’ve seen newspaper customers spend $25 extra!

We talk about the counter being the most valuable retail space in the shop yet too often newsagents do not stock it as the most valuable location.

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Newsagency management

Promote Time magazine with your weeklies

magstimewilliamsWe have placed this week’s Time magazine with the weeklies because of the Robin Williams cover story. Those most likely to purchase this issue on impulse would not go looking for it elsewhere in the magazine department – hence our tactical placement.

Tactical placement of a magazine title based on the cover story is the single most effective way to achieve incremental sales – more so than the billboards type display publishers prefer.

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magazines

Smart connection with the shopper

smartretailI love this sign I saw in a newsagency earlier this week with umbrellas and gumboots as it is smarter and smoother than a traditional retail sign that says buy me. This is not the type of sign I’d usually see in a newsagency for umbrellas. The products themselves are different too – more higher end, like fashion. Inspirational!

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Tactical display

Promoting magazines and newspapers

nexusmagspromoHere’s how we are promoting the Pacific Magazines Win a $5,000 Shopping Spree with newspapers in another newsagency this week. The two stands are on our dance floor in front of the counter – further forward than newspapers are usually.

From replenishment we know for sure that the magazine floor display unit is working. I am sure some purchases of magazines are on impulse by people coming in for a newspaper.

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magazines

Smiles with newspapers

happynewsWe have been testing these cute small yellow happy plush items with newspapers. Customers smile and occasionally they purchase from here. The main stock of the range is on then other side of the aisle so newspaper shoppers with their eyes open will see them twice.

We are constantly trying different items with newspapers – always something with a higher GP to chase a better return from the newspaper sale.

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Newspapers

Excellent example of attracting shoppers with a ‘deal’

cleverimpulseI passed a WH Smith store in Melbourne last week and they were using this 2 for $8 promotion to attract shoppers in-store.

While the deal was not good value in my view, the actual promotion was done in such a way so as to make it feel like a good deal.

The stand itself is excellent, ideal for this type or promotion. The supplier collateral, tailored to the stand, helps give shoppers confidence in the offer promoted.

There is nothing stopping newsagents who want to play in the c-store type space running deals like this on a stand like this.

With WH Smith expanding in Australia, expect to see more of this type of unit and promotion.

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Impulse lines

A good free-standing magazine fixture

magsfixtureHere’s another magazine fixture I saw recently in a transit newsagency. This is a sturdy free standing unit with pockets that hold a good amount of stock.

I like that this stand is a space-efficient way of displaying magazines away from the magazine department.  This is often a better way of driving sales than a billboard-like display that publishers tend to prefer.

Click on the image for a larger version.

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magazines

Another magazine cover story on sugar

masghealthyfoodFurther to my post on the weekend about the terrific cover story in The Monthly about sugar, the latest healthy Food also has a cover story on sugar. This is a rare and good opportunity to put these two magazines next to each other. Sugar is the in the news and we can increase sales because of this.

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magazines

Day five of five simple moves for increasing sales in your newsagency: move it & move it again

slumbiesThis 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 by moving spinners.

Do you move your spinners? When was the last time you placed spinners in different locations? If you don’t place your spinners in different locations, are your spinners working as well as you need and or expect? If the answer to this question is no then move them.

Moving a spinner can open the products it holds to shoppers who may not have seen the products in your shop previously.

As a rule, no spinner should be in the same location more than two weeks – except in exceptional circumstances where you know that moving the spinner will love sales.

We need to run our newsagencies with a gift shop approach to the shop floor – major changes every two weeks, following a process of continuous movement.

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Management tip

Day three of five simple moves for increasing sales in your newsagency: dance!

This 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 by creating a dance floor.

In front of your counter, a in a space walked past by more customers that almost any other part of your shop, set aside space that is your swing space, your dance floor.

This is space is your key promo space – where you pitch with your best creativity items you want all your shoppers to see.

On the dance floor you display to sell – with flair, excitement and engagement.

The key is creating the space. I have never been in a newsagency where a dance floor cannot be created.

An approach of continuous movement is important on the newsagency shop floor. A dance floor is key to this continuous movement.

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Newsagency management

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

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: who buys this?

plushplushEvery time you place a product on your shop floor or on your shelves you have to step back, look at the placement and ask who WHO BUYS THIS? Once you have your answer, look at what else is placed with the product and ask the same question.

If you place items next to each other that attract different shoppers you may be holding back from what you could achieve with better placement. Okay, there is an opportunity to argue that this type of competitive placement gets products seen by people who would not usually see them. I can agree with that. However, I prefer to place products that appeal to the same shopper together – to create a more compelling display targeting that shopper. I prefer to zone the shop for destination shopping.

In every department I do this: magazines, stationery, gifts, plush – much the same way as the card companies do it when they plan your card department. They do it for a reason, they deliberately place products next to each other. Why do it in the rest of your newsagency?

Deliberately and thoughtfully place products on the floor or on shelves taking care to place them with other products that appeal to the same shopper and I expect you will help drive an increase in sales.

Your newsagency software can help by reporting what sells with what. I often look here for ideas on ideal product adjacencies.

The photo shows a deliberate placement move at the front of the newsagency this weekend – the new Itty Bitty plush stand from Hallmark next to another plush stand and behind that another plush stand – all in a line. They all attract the same shopper. $500 in sales yesterday from the three stands tells me the placement is right.

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marketing

Leveraging newspapers

papersmagsWe have had a good run since Anzac Day promoting the latest Better Homes and Gardens and the My Kitchen Rules Cookbook between our two top selling daily newspapers. Our tiny time and space investment has paid off. We can sell more magazines.

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magazines
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