Supermarkets are destination shops, shoppers walk in with items they are there that day to purchase. I suspect it is rare people say oh let’s go to the supermarket for a browse. Good supermarket managers leverage destination shopping for valuable impulse purchases.
At my local Coles supermarket they are leveraging destination shopping with key Christmas items capping major aisles. In this photo you can see three such placements: games and two card stands.
We can do the same in our businesses, especially in more traditionally laid out newsagencies that serve destination shoppers. In these types of businesses key destination traffic for papers, magazines, cards and / or lotteries will rarely see products outside their destination category.
Disrupting destination traffic with an appropriate impulse offer is key to maximising the shopper visit opportunity. While the Coles aisle ends are not as disruptive as they could be, they are right for a busy supermarket. In a less busy newsagency you could disrupt the straight line destination shopper, so they have to step around what you want them to see.
While supermarkets are frustrating giant competitors, the actions they take on the shop floor can be instructive to us in small business retail.
My suggestion is to take a look at your shop and look at where Christmas is pitched. Could you increase engagement with a Coles type approach. While there will be plenty here who done;t have the space or where it would not work for other reasons, there are some for whom this approach could work.