Our calendar sales in September were up 72% at Forest Hill and 37% at Frankston.
At Forest Hill the increase is driven by having a solid range on display early in the calendar season.
At Frankston it is thanks to a new point of difference – previously this store focused on magazine distributor calendars. We are focused on a more unique range of titles. We have given over a column at the front of the store to promote our calendar range as well as to feature a Calendar of the Week.
At each store we are not discounting and do not plan to discount until after Christmas. We leasrnt our lesson three years ago after playing the discounting game for two years and losing. Now, we focus on range and service – two areas in which the discount calendar outlets.
Too often, newsagents think that discounting is the way to win a sale or grow a business is to discount. Discounting is admitting defeat if you have gone to it ahead of other smarter options such as a point of difference in range and or service. While there is a time for discounting with calendars, as I have learnt from my own mistakes it is not now – not even with others discounting nearby. If you have the right range you don not need to discount.
I’d note that the calendar strategy we follow is that developed by newsXpress more than five years ago, long before I joined the group. Indeed, this is one reason I was attracted to newsXpress – to replace magazine distributor calendars with better margin more unique product.