Doubling up on cards
We are experimenting with a new approach for cards not in our everyday range at our Sophie Randall store. With space a premium and a desire to better serve customers we have started a self-managed doubling and tripling of card pockets.
For two weeks we have been testing our approach with 99 pockets. Customer feedback and sales both suggest that in the Sophie store the idea will work well – customers browse for longer than in a newsagency, are prepared to work to find what they want and we have the labour resources to manage the pockets daily to ensure we’re not out of stock. With only two of each design in each pocket, daily checking is essential.
Once we have extended this to our full face card display wall we will cover 243 facings and have capacity for over 700 designs. This will help us through seasons such as Christmas where fixturing for lifestyle cards is lost to the seasonal display.
We don’t plan to test this approach in our newsagencies. The consumer mindset when shopping for a card in a newsagency is very different to what we see in a Sophie store.