Diary sales have been such that we will need to order more stock. We had ordered for growth over last year but sales over the last six weeks have surpassed our growth expectation.
It’s not just us. Many newsagents I have spoken with over the last couple of weeks have advised that their diary sales are up on previous years as well.
Could it be that diary sales are our indicator of consumer optimism? It’s hard to know. What I do know is that 2012 diary sales look set to be the best in several years and that’s good news for newsagents with a strong diary offer.
We have our diaries at the front of the newsagency, facing into the shopping mall. They have been there for a month, easily paying their way.
What’s interesting and unexpected for this time of the year is that even the magazine diaries are selling well.
We too had been noticing a decline over the past few years and yet there has been surprising early success with our diaries this year. It is hard for anyone to miss our diaries though, with 24 Collins bins and 12 foot of wall space plus Dayplanner and Filofax stands. I also hope it is a harbinger of things to come.
one thing i find interesting is with all the technology out there eg ipads etc you would think that diarys would be one of the frist paper products to drop off , but yet they seem to be increasing in sales .
For October our diaries were up 18% but calendars down 37%. Is this the case with others? I’ll have to move my calendars to try to correct this.
Shauns… is it a sign that people dont fully trust their e-devices with important dates?
or that diaries are easier to use every day?
good observation
Mark you keep a busy schedule how do you keep track do you use the old form of the diary or do you keep all your info on an e-device .
I managed to sell every single 2011 diary at full price, very satisfying. Over-ordered financial yr diaries and went off last yrs sales, no increase, so customers down. 2012 diaries going very well however. Personally my wee foray into online diary type stuff has been useless, I’m a pen and paper girl. We still use a daily diary for newspaper stops and starts alongside Tower ! Invaluable as a record – I can tell who wrote the message and ask them about it when things go pear-shaped. Remember E-cards were supposed to kill card sales too. I think it has to do with physicality of the object. And it’s far more time-consuming on a computer – who’d a thunk it !!!!
Shaun I’ve not used a hardcopy diary since 2004. It’s all on my phone and my PC.
What do you do when the power goes out Mark? Or if you can’t get mobile phone reception? Maybe that why us country bumpkins use paper…
The phone or iPad does not need network coverage to have the schedule available.