Late in 2015 JB HiFi retail outlets started selling greeting cards. They put in a carefully selected range sourced from Hallmark. Their hip looking purpose built card units have seen are usually placed in a high traffic location, near to the counter.
The THREE FOR $10 offer is compelling. The range carefully targeted at the typical JB shopper.
My understanding is that JB management made the decision to offer a selection of cards and then looked for a supplier. They designed the display unit internally and set their own pricing.
When I first saw the display in-store two months ago I was impressed with the range. It looked different, fresh. Then I realised we have access to all these cards – yet we display them in a more traditional (boring?) way that does not allow them to be realised as being as hip or on-trend as they appear in this purpose designed fixture from JB.
Here is an electronics and entertainment retailer stepping into our space and doing it well. It will be interesting to see how cards perform for them. My guess is they will do well as the stand appeals to their shopper demo. If they are successful, it will be a combination of range curation, fixture design and shop floor placement.
We can do this folks. We can create a secondary display of cards that reaches a shopper not entering our businesses to purchase cards. We can full the stand with a selection as carefully chosen as the range from JB. And, we can fund the price point – there is enough margin in cards to do this, especially if we achieve genuine incremental revenue.
While some will be angry about the JB move, the smarter response would be to engage with cards in a fresh way, like JB has, to make a pitch that reaches those shopping with us who do not purchase cards already. We can do this.
We are in a highly disrupted marketplace where the boundaries of speciality retail channels are more blurred than ever, where retailers are chasing revenue to achieve the deepest basket possible from the traffic they achieve in-store.
So, instead of being angry or frustrated about this move, think about what you can do to create similar opportunities in your newsagency.
It’s on you. This is not a supplier challenge to resolve. No, it is your challenge because it is your newsagency.
For too long we have approached greeting cards in the same boring way. Too many newsagents have stood by watching sales remain flat or decline. Our mediocrity has allowed others to enter the space. We should have been so on top of our game, so innovative, that competitors did not risk investing in cards.
That is irrelevant now. JB is here and others are coming. We need to be more focussed than ever on our card offer. We need to be innovative beyond our own imagination.
Newsagents were given three days notice about a promotion by APN’s. The email promoting promotion of a complex Scratch and Win competition was sent at the close of business Wednesday.
