Anzac Day is like Australia Day from a retail perspective … very quiet. While newsagents will no doubt be busy bringing in the usual last Wednesday of the month spike in magazine stock, the day is one of the weakest in terms of sales.
Frankly, I wish landlords would close centres all day given the traffic we see. This is where high street newsagents have more control and can therefore better manage costs of a day like today.
That said, if you find yourself in your newsagency today and not much in the way opt shopper traffic, embrace the opportunity:
- Do a magazine relay.
- Do a stock take.
- List stationery items you have not sold in six months and make that difficult decision.
- Take everything off your sales counter and rebuild it from scratch with fewer conflicting messages.
- Rop everything off the wall behind your counter and use the space to create a compelling single message offer.
- Rip everything inn your front window and create a fresh and cleaner image for your newsagency.
- Revise your roster with a goal of cutting labour costs by 10%.
We are responsible for what we achieve in our businesses. A quite retail day can provide the time to work on the business.
We have been flat out today………. getting those early sales for $50 million oz lotto. Finally some big jackpots.
I agree Mark that today is a good oppotunity to get in and make some changes to the business, this will be a focus – however that has been put in perspective for me this morning.
Earlier today perhaps my favourite customer (Mr Harold Martin) came in to pick up a book we had ordered in for him before heading to the ANZAC Day Service. He said to me “Sometimes it doesnt matter a fig how well trained you are, how prepared you are, how much experience you have or even how bloody good you are – sometimes you just get lucky.
The book he picked up is called Lucky 73. He is one of the 73. Below is a description
Today USS Pampanito is a tourist destination. During WWII the submarine earned six battle stars, sank six Japanese ships, damaged four others, and rescued seventy-three British and Australian POWs from the South China Sea. Astonishingly, this rescue happened three days after she sank one of the transport ships on which the Allied prisoners were being ferried to Japan.
The chain of events that led to this rescue is truly remarkable. Captured in 1942, forced to spend fifteen months constructing the Burma-Thai Railroad, and then loaded onto floating concentration camps–hellships, as they were called–the prisoners were in the wrong place at the wrong time when Pampanito and her wolf pack attacked a Japanese convoy. Returning to the coordinates a few days later, the crew was astonished to discover survivors in the water from among the more than 2,200 prisoners who had been aboard the Japanese ships.
Even more remarkable is that the officers and crew of Pampanito, after picking up these men (the Lucky 73), thought to have them record their thoughts and experiences while the events were still fresh in their minds, before returning to port. While working as curator for Pampanito, Aldona Sendzikas discovered these documents and began an odyssey of tracking down one of the most incredible rescue stories of the Pacific War.
We expected a quiet day and it was until just before midday, then bang, it took off.
Down 3% on our average Wednesday and that was opening for 3 less than usual. Basically a days takings in not much over half a day. We don’t know why but are not complaining.
“3 hours less”
Rained in Melbourne and I’ve never seen my local shopping center so busy – the newsagency was closed all day however.
This year was unlike others for us. Good numbers all round. Maybe the weather helped.
Anzac Day is always relatively normal for us. We’re only ever down 5-10% on an average day’s turnover. It’s actually one of our better public holidays.