Inviting shoppers to the newsagency

Here’s the front of one of my shops. The photo is from yesterday. It is deliberately open with products selected and placed to play against assumptions about newsagencies.

It’s working a treat.

Every day we make decisions in our shops about how we want our customers to see us, what they should expect from us. We do this through our product ranging, shop floor placement and social media pitches.

If we act traditionally, what we see through our register will be traditional. And, traditional is where plenty of newsagents are comfortable, which I respect. It’s not for me … hence the pitch you see in the photo.

Despite what we may think, we do have control over our businesses, what we carry, where it is displayed, how it is displayed, how it is priced and how we speak to it in-store. These are decisions we get to make, decisions that determine how shoppers see and interact with our businesses.

While we are part of a channel, the shops in the channel have become so diversified that there is no one model, no consistent pitch, except in an area under contractual control such as lotteries for those with that.

Now, on the displays … the tables you can see continuously evolve. There are major changes every two weeks and less major changes every few days. Oh, and in terms of the tables, we have eight positions like the in the photo inside the shop, each providing their own storytelling opportunity.

This space is called the dance floor, because of the never ending dance of movement of inventory and display fixtures.

I am grateful to the team members who have brought this latest offer alive. They have done a wonderful job.