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.
I think we need to rethink our whole card section, not just add a seperate stand of cards.
Card walls in newsagencies have always been boringly the same, squashed, with great cards not standing out in the mish mash of different sizes, dull colours and overcrowded pockets.
Yet card/gift shops have always had clean displays!
For too long we have allowed one chosen major supplier to control this area and I think this look has been outdated for years news. We need to take control ourselves and make some big changes so our cards appeal to all ages.
I saw a display of these cards on a purpose-built stand outside the front entry of a newsagency in a strip shopping centre in suburban Sydney last week. I stopped to look at the cards and ended up buying one. I had no specific intention of purchasing a card. The one I bought was a ‘just because’ card – not for a specific occasion. As I only bought a single card, I didn’t benefit from the 3 for $10 offer, but paid the single card price of $4.99. So, the position of the display (outside the newsagency) and the design/appeal of the cards generated a sale that would otherwise have not occurred.
I read this decision with a different slant. It is not JB that I am frustrated with it is Hallmark!
In the small business space do Hallmark want newsagents to be a destination for their product or do they want their product in every retail shop like Gibson and have their product be not of any significant value to us.
The dilution of sales for newsagents on products like magazines and newspapers has left newsagents with the decision to reduce space, is Hallmark going to try and be greedy and devalue their product?
Peter I disagree. There are fewer newsagencies and for too many newsagencies card sales are falling. Suppliers need to respond to this. It is the same as us diversifying our businesses.
Mark, I can see where you are coming from with Hallmark diversifying their business, but when we diversify we look around and see what is “not” nearby and what may be unique to us.
However in Hallmarks case they may need to look at their product/design choices over the last few years in Australia. Their cards need to be modernised to suit an Australian consumer. It has been evident for a couple of years to me that they have not been able to develop successful new card ranges, hence our addition of other card suppliers to maintain a consistent level of sales.
I don’t think expanding into every retail outlet that asks them is the answer to falling card sales here. Maybe look after what they have got and get better at it.
Peter this JB range looks fresh, mainly different to what newsagents have. Yet, newsagents have the cards – the difference is how they are merchandised. Range refresh is a large investment for the card companies and, overall, I think it is being done more than we actually see.
Hallmark cards down a lot of specialty card range. I thought hallmark Carl is specialty card company, but not anymore to me. Sometimes hallmark frustrates me for their lack of every day specialty range, they are downgrading themselves. No wonder cards sale is stagnant
Eric I have to agree there . Our Xmas sales where down for cards and it was very frustrating seeing a customer walking away from the card section with nothing in their hand .
Peter B we had the same issues being in a shopping centre. Take a look at Henderson’s.
We stock Hendersons because they suit our market, and I think the quality is just better. Our customer base is mostly caucasian from English and European background, and when we tell people they are printed here in Australia customers love it. They stay loyal to us.
The designs change more frequently than Hallmark or JS and our customers don’t see the same product in Coles, Woolworths BigW or Kmart, Reject Shop or JB HiFi.
Would never go back to either of the so-called big two.
Amanda, thanks for the suggestion, have seen Henderson cards and they do look good. To fill the gaps we have Simson, Taylorgraphic and have just added Tag which has begun very well for us, so probably can’t add another supplier for now.