As part of our post Mother’s Day plans, we have been running a book sale facing out into the shopping mall. This week our focus is cook books – the theme changes weekly. While stock is thinning, we cover a reasonable range in the display. Food titles perform well at attracting browsers to the store.
All titles on display are for sale at less than retail yet our margin integrity is maintained for all but the magazine cookbooks which we have in a couple of spots in the display.
Next week, we plan to flip the book display and replace it with a range of brand name toys facing into the mall.
Each of these displays is as much about attracting browsers as they are about driving sales of the products on display. Getting someone passing in the mall to stop and approach the shop is vital. Enough look beyond the display itself and enter our retail space to make the time commitment valuable for the business.
Good point as always, Mark. Yet how many newsagents have we seen with utterly dismal book displays – the same tatty, curled covers on dusty books that are bleached by the sun (for those exposed to sunlight)? That’s not going to entice anyone in. I thoroughly agree that books are a great way to stop the traffic: but if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to turn over the stock, keep it clean and keep it relevant.
i know what your saying about curled and sun damaged books ,up here in the north if you have it sitting flat it curls within a day .A tip for any one with this problem ,when you close up for the day flip them over and they are flat again for the next day .