Sales also fly at Whitcoulls Auckland International Airport

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There you are, struggling through the rigours of check-in, searching for your entry portal to the wide world beyond, weighed down by your on-board accoutrements and you suddenly reflect... “What am I going to do for the next (x number of) hours.”

There is only so much sad food you can consume and the alcohol will play havoc with the jet lag. Squinting at the on-board entertainment just doesn’t enthuse. What you need is a... book!

You're in luck. Any self-respecting airport has a book store.

In fact Auckland International Airport has four under an exclusive contractual agreement with Whitcoulls. Two are ‘land-side’ and two are ‘air-side’, ensuring the desperate customer has the facility to purchase at all stages of their progress through the airport. They even get the bonus of not paying GST in the ‘air-side’ stores.

The Whitcoulls chain comprises 65 stores, 40 of them located in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. In each of these cities Whitcoulls operates a major flagship store. Their stores are generally located in prime retail areas, airports being perfect examples.

Whitcoulls is an iconic New Zealand brand and has over a century of history in New Zealand that dates back to the establishment of Whitcombe and Tombs in 1888 and Coulls Somerville Wilkie in 1871. It sells books, stationery, DVDs, newspapers and magazines. Books account for a significant proportion of total sales and Whitcoulls holds the leading position in the New Zealand book retail market.

We spoke to Whitcoulls’ international terminal sales manager, Inge Wilhelm, who told us that airport stores make a different sales proposition for the group.
“Most of our customers are on holiday and therefore present a captive audience keen to buy. Our job is to ensure that we have right products available. This means a slightly different mix to our regular stores.”

To this end, a lot of the book buying for the four stores is undertaken separately. While there is the huge volumes of top selling fiction seen in the main-street stores, DVD sales are much smaller, a bigger volume of travel guides and titles are sold and there is also an emphasis on New Zealand titles. They would also outsell most Whitcoulls stores in magazines. Sales of international product ranges including periodicals is also an area currently being developed further. Representatives from the major publishers are also regular visitors and an integral part of keeping the stores up to speed with new releases and other developments.

Inventory management is critical. Inge says, “We also have our own warehouse based nearby with two store-men and a delivery van. The warehouse receives daily print-outs of stock sold and undertakes the picking, packing and delivery that keeps all four stores up-to-date stock-wise.”

All four stores are open 365 days a year with hours between 3.30 am and midnight. This means 50 staff in total working in two shifts.

“Good staff is essential,” says Inge. “We are currently working on up-skilling all members of the team; making them more confident and knowledgeable with the ability to up-sell. The approachability and helpfulness of team members is very important to us.”

Another area where these stores differ from the regular because of the customer demographic is in the volume of add-on sales. Products here include souvenirs, confectionery, bottled water and other impulse buys.

So Whitcoulls is on to a winner. While the ‘land-side’ store at the top of the escalators is the biggest of the four, one of the ‘air-side’ stores has the highest turnover per square metre of any store in the group. And frazzled travellers get the bonus of a good browse, a targeted selection and a happy read to while away the 30,000 foot boredom.