At Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day we see terrific engagement from shoppers in our newsagencies with products that have a social responsibility or charity connection. Card companies have been particularly good at this engagement.
As retailers have built their businesses around ethical product sourcing and charity support or social responsibility engagement in some other way, it has become more important for us to be aware and active in this in our newsagency businesses.
Think about Toms, The Body Shop and Life is Good – helping others is at the core of the pitch they make to their shoppers.
While you probably have products that help fund charities and community groups through their purchase, how much do you pitch this?
I have seen a good example of this working recently when we introduced a line of handmade pure soaps from a local family business. While they sold well, it was only after the social responsibility story was pitched with the product that sales really hit their stride.
There are many shoppers today who like to do good with their purchases. Sure there will always be people looking for cheap imports but the more valuable shopper is the one who comes back to you because they know you stock products that do good beyond the use of the product itself.
Look for opportunities to tell the stories of those helped when customers purchase a product from you, expect the appeal of these products.
The soap offer supports a family in Nepal where the packaging is made from scratch. Sales of the products helps the family have a life they otherwise might not have had.