Entries Tagged as 'Greeting Cards'

Chasing a bigger sales basket

June 19th, 2008 · 1 Comment

When I saw the items a customer was purchasing on Friday last week I had to take a photo as it was a perfect example of the newsagency working across multiple categories to build a better basket.
The customer was buying Country Style magazine, a birthday card and a small inspirational booklet from Compendium. […]

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Tags: Gifts · Greeting Cards · magazines · retail

Cashing in on Kung Fu Panda

June 12th, 2008 · No Comments

The movie Kung Fu Panda is getting plenty of press here even though it does not open until June 26.  Hallmark cards has the licence so there is an excellent promotional tie-in for many newsagents.  The gift bag featuring the panda character is fantastic - when you open the flap at the front the panda […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards · giftwrap

International Father’s Day

June 4th, 2008 · No Comments

We are promoting International Father’s Day. It is one of the many ‘minor’ seasons to which we are committed to as a greeting card specialist. Wikipedia has an excellent list of when Father’s Day occurs around the world - the list of countries noted to celebrate on the third Sunday in June is […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Mills & Boon cards

May 29th, 2008 · No Comments

We don’t sell Mills & Boon books in our newsagency but if we did I’d want to have the Mills & Boon range of greeting cards.
They are a nice fun take on the covers of the popular Mills and Boon books. I can see the cards and books being displayed next to […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Correlation between gifts and cards

May 28th, 2008 · 2 Comments

Digging deeper into the benchmark study we undertook based on sales data from 89 newsagencies, it is clear that there is a correlation between gift sales and card sales.  In each store with strong gift sales, the card sales were considerably above average for the benchmark.  Based on this, why would a newsagent not have […]

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Tags: Gifts · Greeting Cards

More music cards from Hallmark

May 19th, 2008 · No Comments

It’s great to have access to these new large music cards from Hallmark. Music cards represent a rapidly expanding segment of the greeting card market and these large cards will help develop that expansion. I wish we had them sooner.
While we are getting offered plenty of music cards from suppliers outside the mainstream, I’d […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Mother’s Day card innovation

May 4th, 2008 · No Comments

It’s is good to see card companies innovating with Mother’s Day. Not only are we seeing greater variety in captions (and therefore more card giving opportunities) but also in design. The card in the photo is from Simson and is certainly not your traditional Mother’s Day card - this on is all about […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Finding the sleeper product

May 2nd, 2008 · 2 Comments

In every sale or catalogue there is the sleeper product which comes out of nowhere and performs exceptionally well.
The card organisers in the photo are the sleeper products from our recent book sale. For a couple of weeks they sat on display and did not sell. Then, in no time at […]

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Tags: Gifts · Greeting Cards

Why discount cards right now?

April 29th, 2008 · 6 Comments

I checked the John Sands card offer at an Angus & Robertson more closely yesterday - it’s a three for two deal. Buy three Mother’s Day cards and you pay for two. Discounting Mother’s Day doesn’t make sense - it is one of the best card selling seasons of the year. A&R must be […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Mothers Day 2.0, recordable cards

April 22nd, 2008 · No Comments

Hallmark in the US has launched a range of Mother’s Day cards which allow you to record an audio message for your mother. Pretty cool.

You get to do as many takes at the recording as you like. The range is only available through their Gold Crown stores - I like that it’s limited.

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Mothers Day 2008

April 19th, 2008 · No Comments

We are trying some new products for Mother’s Day this year.  In addition to Darrel Lea (the Mum’s Bag is a good seller!) and social stationery we have a range of small gift packs, some mugs and other items.
We have also changed our approach to display - located it closer to our greeting […]

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Tags: Gifts · Greeting Cards

Wall of cards

April 17th, 2008 · 2 Comments

A key part of each of the Sophie Randall stores we create is our wall of feature cards. Each card is displayed full face - we have at least 350 designs on display in this feature space. This is in addition to our more traditional fixturing for every day and other cards from […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Greeting cards in petrol outlets

March 26th, 2008 · No Comments

Maybe I missed this but it seems to me that more petrol outlets sell greeting cards now.
I have been in three petrol outlets this week and each had a corporate image stand with the range on display near the counter, next to the newspaper stand. The range was focused on top selling captions people […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Selling blank cards

March 25th, 2008 · No Comments

We are having extraordinary success with packs of blank cards with images of Australian flora and fauna.
They are well priced and provide a good margin. The only downside is that they could hold back sales of premium blank cards. I’m not about to test this - we were out of stock of recently […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Burger King greeting cards

March 24th, 2008 · No Comments

Odd story of the day goes to reports that Burger King has licenced their character for a range of greeting cards.  Maybe I am out of touch but why would you buy a birthday card with the Burger King character on the front?

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Easter arrives at last

March 20th, 2008 · No Comments

Now that the heat in Melbourne is finally fading people apparently think it’s safe to buy Easter eggs.
With more than $20,000 invested in easter chocolate across a few stores I’m relieved. Some customers coming to the counter with an armful of eggs said the heat made them hold back.
Sales were great yesterday and I’d […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards · confectionary

Easter cross-category promotion

March 6th, 2008 · No Comments

In Frankston we have a strong plush offer capping the card aisle with our Easter card offer. Sprinkled in with the plush is an easter themed children’s book distributed by Gotch yesterday. The photo below shows this display.

Behind where the photo was taken is a bold Easter egg display. So, for us, Easter […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards · Newspaper marketing

Easter cards at priceline

March 5th, 2008 · No Comments

Any newsagent near a Priceline store ought to check out their Easter card range. Their new card supplier relationship has brought consistency to their greeting card offer. While the cards are cheap, they are packaged in such a way as to make them appeal to someone walking by.
A newsagent I was talking with […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

St Patrick’s Day cards

February 26th, 2008 · No Comments

We are promoting our range of St Patrick’s Day cards away from the usual card display in one of our newsagencies. Our view is that some people may buy a card as an impulse and not as a destination purchase - hence this small display at the counter. We’ll move it around a […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards · newsagency marketing

Mothering Sunday cards

February 20th, 2008 · No Comments

We’re embracing every possible greeting card season in our newsagencies, no matter how small or seemingly irrelevant to our customers.
If we want to be known as the card specialists it’s only appropriate we back this with commitment.  Take Mothering Sunday - Mother’s Day in the UK (March 2 this year) -  we have our cards […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards · retail

Cheap cards turn me off

February 19th, 2008 · No Comments

I was at a premium retail business yesterday and walking into the shop I passed a stand of $1.00 “quality” cards.  I thought what an odd message - I pass cheap cards as I enter a premium business.  Why not better quality cards?  Because they don’t sell said the retailer.  When did you last try?  […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Valentine’s entry

February 15th, 2008 · No Comments

One of our customers treid extra hard to win the $400 bear we gave away as part of our Valentine’s Day promotion - they mounted their entry on a plastic heart and begged to win.
We loved their effort so much we created a second prize (as they didn’t win) and gave them chocolates and a […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards · newsagency marketing

Valentine’s Day is here

February 14th, 2008 · No Comments

It has been fascinating watching the different waves of Valentine’s Day card customers over the last month.  First it was the older customers, often in a long-term relationship, then it was the hopefuls and this week it’s been more of the oh, no, it’s Valentine’s Day and I don’t have anything.  We are […]

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Tags: Gifts · Greeting Cards

Cards in the window

February 11th, 2008 · No Comments

We’re have cards in the window with other products for Valentine’s Day. Saturday I saw a customer buy a card from the window. We use the window ought to showcase our full offer.

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Tags: Greeting Cards

Valentine’s Day tips for newsagents

February 9th, 2008 · No Comments

Here are some free Valentine’s Day marketing tips for newsagents included in the Tower Systems weekly email bulletin sent yesterday:
Kissing booth: raise money for a local charity, $2.00 a kiss;  Make sure it looks like an old style booth.
Red lips: paint some big red lips on the side of your face for the day […]

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Tags: Greeting Cards · marketing · retail