Talking shop with Ad Gefrin
Bookspeed has been working with multi-purpose visitor attraction and distillery Ad Gefrin since it opened. We spoke to buyer Jolene Martin to discover the secrets behind developing a successful retail range for such a unique place.
As a visitor attraction, Ad Gefrin is hard to define. Nestled at the bottom of the Cheviot Hills, surrounded by rugged countryside, this Northumberland destination hosts an anglo-saxon museum, distillery, bistro, and gift shop in a RIBA-award-winning building. It’s a special place, appealing to a broad range of visitors from outdoors enthusiasts to whisky connoisseurs, as well as the local rural community. The retail space is a draw in its own right, thoughtfully curated, artfully presented, and generating strong sales.
“It's not a typical distillery or museum gift shop.”
“It's not a typical distillery or museum gift shop,” says Jolene Martin, buyer for Ad Gefrin’s retail. “We’re very rural, so we wanted the gift shop to be somewhere that the locals will come to find a nice birthday present. We try to focus our offer on nice gifts, rather than branded products. And, it's working.”
The retail has gone from strength to strength since opening three years ago. Jolene has been a part of the team from the beginning, tasked with developing the product range from scratch. This wasn’t without challenge.
“Basically, I was buying blind, I had no sales history. I didn’t have a clear idea of who our customer was going to be because we have all these different elements to our attraction. So choosing the ranges initially involved a bit of guesswork,” says Jolene.
Previous retail experience targeting tourist customers prompted Jolene to consider books for Ad Gefrin. Initially, she was focused on sourcing regional titles. She visited Bookspeed at a trade show to find out what options there were for local interest books but was guided towards a far broader selection.
"Bookspeed just took the lead and picked out options that would really suit us."
“Bookspeed just took the lead and picked out options that would really suit us,” Jolene explains. “The way everything came together was really inspirational and very creative and I've just continued to work with them in that manner. I give a brief to my account manager, and they pull together a really wide selection. I would love to take all the options but I narrow it down to what I think will work for us.”
Three years on, and books are selling well. While regional interest titles feature, Jolene has expanded the book range to cover themes including outdoors activities, such as wild swimming and hillwalking; folklore; and local cookery. Whisky and history books feature too, but it’s the gift books with broad appeal that customers are most drawn to.
"We’re very much known for having a good selection of books.”
“Books are key for us and we always get compliments on our range. We’re very much known for having a good selection of books,” says Jolene. “People come because they're interested in whisky but their interests go beyond that, so our range reflects the different motivations of our visitors.”
Books also add value to the visual merchandising. In displays they add colour or storytelling details and encourage browsing. Jolene prefers to integrate books alongside other products rather than having a books section.
“Having nice displays is absolutely key to creating the right atmosphere for your shop. It’s about getting people to linger longer. You want to create that feeling within customers that they can't leave without having to buy something,” says Jolene.
“The cover of the book is very, very important, not just for inspiring the customer to buy it, but for merchandising. If I need a space to be filled in a display, I can just slot a book in there. I like to colour merchandise. So if I've got blue vases or blue candles, I can mix a complementary book in with that and it just becomes really visually coordinated.”
"Books fall into that pick-up gift category."
Books fit neatly with pricing strategy, offering quality options at all price points. Selling Ad Gefrin’s range of spirits is a priority for the retail, but books offer an added extra, boosting average transaction value.
“Pricing structure is very important to me and books fall into that pick-up gift category,” explains Jolene. “Some are £10 and under, some are £20 and under. For somebody who’s buying a bottle of whisky, which we sell at £42, picking up a book alongside that bottle doesn't seem like too much of an extra expense.”
Ad Gefrin’s 500 members provide a loyal customer base for the retail, so keeping ranges fresh and interesting for these regular visitors is essential. Books offer easy options to add some seasonal newness.
“It is very important to have a lot of new books."
“It is very important to have a lot of new books. I do different things throughout the year. During spring and summer, there will be a focus on gardening and regional books. When it turns to autumn and winter, we’ll focus on Christmas, cocktails and woodland themes,” Jolene says.
In three years, Ad Gefrin’s gift shop has established itself as a critical part of the visitor attraction, but Jolene has ambitions to cement its role as a destination in its own right. She says:
“We’re always trying to think out the box and make the shop a little bit different. I'm working on events that will generate revenue for the shop, and will also raise awareness of the brands that we stock and the suppliers that we work with. We want to bring customers in, not just for a whisky tour or for visiting the museum or something to eat, but to come in for the gift shop specifically.”
Be inspired by Ad Gefrin
Level up your book range
If you would like Bookspeed to support you to develop a book range to compliment your retail goals, themes and appeal to your customer, get in touch.
