In a newsagency recently I noticed a selection of fax rolls on a shelf and available for purchase. I was surprised since we stopped selling fax rolls in my newsagency two or three years ago.
While there is demand for fax rolls, it is not sufficient for us to warrant the stock investment. Instead, we offer to get in any fax rolls a customer wants. Given the range of roll sizes, this is a better course of action.
If I did carry fax rolls I’d have a mark up of 300% or more to reflect the long time fax rolls will sit waiting to be purchased.
Hey, Australians think newsagencies are expensive so why not meet the expectation – especially for hard to source items that turn slowly?
If we are to be a retailer of last resort, we need to embrace this as a value proposition, pricing the last resort type items to reflect the service we provide our customers. This is how diamonds are priced so why not humble stationery items which shoppers visit newsagents for because they can’t find them elsewhere?
I am all for newsagents stocking hard to get stationery items. However, those who do need to do so with a price model which reflects the service.
I have talked to newsagents about this recently, the need to price items, stationery particularly, in a way which reflects time on the shelf and ease of availability of the item elsewhere.
We need to shake off the fear of being as expensive as shoppers expect us to be.
