STATIONERY NEWS: How important is stationery and office products to The Lucky Charm group - as an average percentage of sales now and in the future.
MIKE KENTROS: Stationery and office Products are extremely important for the TLC Franchise. It is a major category for the group accounting for approximately 5 per cent of total gross sales and increasing.
Our franchisees endeavour to offer a comprehensive stationery range that works for both regular and business customers alike.
They are a number of issues with being tagged a newsagent. Customers' perception of newsagencies is as follows
Old fashioned
Service is average
Stationery is expensive
Irrelevant to younger shoppers
For this reason we have dropped the name newsagents from all branding. We are very fortunate that no part of our brand has any connotation to newsagent.
It is our history and we respect that, however, we must continue to evolve our brand, our offer and compete with the likes of Wild, Smiggle, kikki K and Typo.
Furthermore, at our annual conference in October we announced what will become our own line of fashion stationery and office products.
We have identified a major gap in the market for fashion stationery.
There is a place for traditional stationery but colourful, fun and exciting new stationery products are the future and will be a major focus for TLC in 2013 and beyond.
SN: Which stationery products are performing well at present and where do you see growth occurring?
MK: Ink cartridges are still very important for the group. We have recently increased our toner cartridge offering, in our catalogues and see this as an opportunity to diversify.
SN: What tips do you have for newsagencies to increase their sales of stationary products?
MK: Planogram and cleanly merchandise your stationery offering and create a visual impact with colours.
Customers should be able to shop with ease and fluidity. Pricing should always be competitive and stock products that suit your target audience.
Identify opportunities in your local area. Provide a service for your local schools, offices and small businesses that will encourage them to become regular customers. Everyone is a potential customer, especially the stores and management in your centre or strip.
SN:Can you explain what is involved in the TLC Online Business Stationery program?
MK: The TLC Online Business Stationery Catalogue is an office supplies catalogue and website that provides franchisees and sales agents with a tool in which to generate B2B office and stationery supplies.
Product availability varies from coffee, computers, office furniture as well as general stationery products.
Our members can now generate sales outside of their four walls by becoming business stationery wholesalers.
This has been possible because of our partnership with Corporate Express and it means that our stores don't have to worry about warehousing or shipping. The online store takes care of ordering, packaging, delivery and payment.
It brings TLC into the new world of online business.
SN: What results are you seeing with The TLC Rewards Loyalty Card program?
MK: The TLC Rewards program gives customers a scannable loyalty card that can be used in all TLC stores across the country, offering discount prices, value adds and entries into the $10,000 major prizes, which are drawn every four to five months.
We currently have more than 100,000 members and are seeing some really great results. Our TLC Rewards members average basket size is $24.78 compared to our total average basket size of $14.47.
This is a huge result and shows that the loyalty card is really working. A TLC Rewards card is used every 12 seconds.
SN: Finally, what is the current membership of the group and your expectations of future member numbers?
MK: We currently have 41 stores, of which seven have joined in the last six months. Following recent trends and based on the feedback we are getting from within the industry and with landlords and leasing partners, we see our membership reaching 55 stores by December, 2013.
We attribute much of this growth to the implementation of our TLC Rewards Loyalty Card and TLC Online Business Stationery. Both are industry firsts for our channel.
We also produce approximately six catalogues per year and our pro-active franchises are producing amazing results.
We have been working really hard on our overall business model. We focus on developing and providing our members with tools that follow global retail trends.
Whilst an exceptional independent retailer may survive they will be few and far between.
Likewise, with franchises across all mediums, those who do not evolve or put growth before structure will find the future very difficult.
Whilst retail is challenging we are pleased to see double-digit growth in sales for the first three quarters of 2012
