I have scheduled a Newsagency of the Future workshop for the Gold Coast for Monday April 16 at 11am at the Marriott. This provides an opportunity for Gold Coast area newsagents to meet and discuss the many changes that are impacting on newsagency management and direction. Anyone is welcome, it’s free.
I am also working on dates for Launceston, Geelong, Newcastle and a couple of other locations. These will not be until May.
I am glad we got back into toys in our newsagency. It’s a small but good department to have in the business. It’s ticking along for us, attracting some new shoppers and extending the basket when shoppers of other products purchase toys on impulse.
We find that we are selling three types of toys: the low cost impulse items (like in the photo), brand name products people know and love (like Play Doh) and fun products for kids (like water cannons).
We have a display table full of toys at the peak of an offer.
We give toys time in the spotlight and then move them back into the business. School holidays is when we usually punch the offer … for obvious reasons.
Since we are not a toy shop of a major discounter we know that people are not purchasing toys from us because of depth of range or price. We range and price knowing these points and this helps us achieve a good margin and focus only on top selling opportunities.
Toys are a good example of a product category newsagents use to own, lost and can win back.
I have been contacted by several people looking for more examples of what Renee, the manager at my Watergardens store, has been able to do through her Visual Merchandising course. Here is the Easter display.
I love the serene look of the display yet the clear commercial focus.
Investing in professional visual merchandising training provides excellent results.
We are still seeing good results from the second issue of Smith Journal. This is in part to our co-location strategy. The photo shows the second location we have for the title – this with men’s health and fitness titles. Ad the photo shows we have gone for a symmetrical display that makes Smith the visual hero. It’s working a treat from this location.
I want to grab as much business for Smith Journal as I can because it sells to a demographic which is vitally important to us. The more younger shoppers, 20s and 30s, we can satisfy the better in my view. Smith is certainly in a niche on its own and for this alone deserves our active support.
I have scheduled a Newsagency of the Future workshop for the Gold Coast for Monday April 16 at 11am. This provides an opportunity for Gold Coast area newsagents to meet and discuss the many changes that are impacting on newsagency management and direction.
Attendance is free.
I am surprised by the things newsagents worry about sometimes. Take the recent Fairfax announcement. I have been called by several newsagents who are concerned and want something done about the changes in remuneration by Fairfax. They say the changes are good today but may not be so good over time depending on cover price changes. One wanted to know what I was going to do about it.
Okay so there could possibly be some concerns about the changes. But I don’t think so, not at a level that would concern me.
The bigger question is what are you doing about the parts of your newsagency over which you can exert control? Are you worrying more about what you can’t control and less about what you can? Is your performance with what you can control better than the performance of the parts of your business you can’t control?
I am concerned that newsagents spend their time on things outside their control to the detriment of other parts of their businesses. This concern has its foundations in the performance data I see for many newsagencies. Departments like stationery, confectionery, copying and gifts are a good indicator of whether the newsagent is a good retailers and positively influencing key and valuable parts of their business over which they have complete control.
Following newsagent feedback here the publishers of Australian Traveller magazine have adjusted their production of the magazine to the start of the month rather than the end of the month. This is a terrific move and one newsagents should applaud as it is proof of their opinions being listened to.
The next issue goes on sale on April 4. It’s their popular “100” issue. This time it’s 100 best views in Australia. Based on past “100” issues, it will sell very well. The publisher has increased supply so newsagents can leverage what is usually sell out success. They are supporting the special issue with TV as well as PR and in-store marketing collateral.
I’d urge newsagents now to make a note to NOT early return this title. Make the most of the opportunity of what is usually a sell out.
We will co-locate this title with a feature with travel titles and a feature with women’s weeklies titles. Women make most travel decisions and we know from our own sales history that Australian Traveller sells well with the weeklies.
I’m thrilled with the sales of the My Kitchen Rules cookbook 2 from Pacific Magazines. We will achieve an excellent sell through in advance of having to pay for the title. Sell through is the key here. While some newsagents complain about the 25% margin, the reality is the margin dollars you bank are what really count. This is all about quality products which shoppers want. The My Kitchen Rules cookbook 2 is one such title.
What makes this title even more successful for us is that shoppers are seeking it out thanks to the excellent promotion by Pacific and the Seven Network. It surprises me sometimes that newsagents don’t realise the efforts some suppliers go to in driving shoppers to our front doors.
The photo shows our second display for the title. This faces shoppers as they enter the newsagency. Our investment in high-profile displays of the title is helping to drive our success.
One challenge for newsagents with counter offers is now to keep them tidy. With our counters very busy, loose product does not work. I was pleased to see this Tic Tac display in a couple of newsagencies recently. It’s neat, tidy and compelling, ideal for a busy counter. What’s more, the newsagents I spoke with tell me it is working a treat, driving good impulse purchase business with shoppers who present at the sales counter – regular and transit newsagencies.
We are promoting the latest issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly magazine at the front of the newsagency with this display using the basket builder unit.
We also have the magazine in its usual location as well as a stack located with newspapers, next to Better Homes and Gardens.
The free chocolate cookbook with AWW should help drive sales. My only complaint is with the placement of the cookbook. Had it been placed spine down fewer copies would have been damaged when shoppers put the magazine back into the traditional newsagency magazine fixturing.
As with Chat, covered in my last blog post, Gotch has cut supply of Real People magazine for reasons we can’t work out. This is extremely frustrating. If it is not oversupply with Gotch it is undersupply. Maybe they have a reason. If they do, they are keeping it to themselves. In the meantime our business and our customers suffer.
We called Gotch and they confirmed that the supply had been cut manually but could provide no explanation.
Click on the image for the details of the supply change and see for yourself the certain loss of revenue for us as a result.
How are we supposed to act as magazine specialists with this supplier driven behaviour?
The senior management of Gotch will have their spin about this which they will share with publishers who ask them. They won’t share their spin with me. Their way of dealing with factual complaints is pathetic. Now if only they would invest as much in a professional magazine distribution model as they invest in spin.
Chat magazine is a successful title in our mix of British titles yet yesterday our supply was cut from the usual 6 copies down to 1 by magazine distributor Gordon and Gotch. Click on the image to see the details including historic supply and return data. We called Gotch to find out why and are yet to get an answer. This is most frustrating.
We called Gotch and they confirmed that the supply had been cut manually but with no explanation. Why?
The manager of our Watergardens store, Renee, is six weeks into a professional visual merchandising course. The training is covering all aspects of visual merchandising from product selection to display creation.
The photo shows the latest display created by Renee as part of the course – promoting one of the cookbooks in our Easter sale. I like the warmth of the display, it makes the book look far more appealing than it might in a more traditional book display you will find in a newsagency. The cakes on the side would certainly draw my attention if I saw this display in a shop.
We are promoting the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens with this display on a column facing shoppers as they enter our newsagency as well as with an in-location display in the usual location plus a stack mixed in with our newspapers.
Better Homes and Gardens is a title that rewards this high-profile promotional effort with excellent sales. The promotion with the latest issue looks good and is certain to deliver a nice bounce in sales.
Newsagents who have not done so today should read Neil Chenoweth’s extensive report in the Australian Financial Review today about News and Pay TV piracy. You can see part of the story here.
The first two of the Newsagency of the Future sessions have gone well. Today is Canberra with Adelaide and Brisbane rounding out this week. next week it is Hobart and Melbourne on Monday and tuesday respectively. At these sessions I am trying to reset how newsagents view their businesses and how they respond to the economic, print media disruption and retail challenges of today’s world. Click here for the booking form.
Anyone is welcome. Attendance is free.
Being able to connect with other newsagents to talk about business, compare sales and share ideas is a key benefit of being part of a proactive newsagency marketing group. Check out the photos from the recent National Conference hosted by newsXpress. More newsagents attended this than any other newsagency conference in the last year except for the ACP Connections conference – and probably more than will attend any conference this year.
What is also interesting is the use of Flickr and Pinterest top share access to the photos from the conference. This, plus Facebook and Twitter promotion of the photos, shows leading edge engagement in various social media platforms by newsXpress and through this driving not only interest in the group but interest in newsXpress retrial outlets.
Besides the business outcome oriented agenda, the conference provided access to a host of special deals from preferred suppliers, sales performance information from strategic partners, open discussion on operational matters at the core of every newsagency and some excellent business growth initiatives.
People visit here talking about the challenges of retail and operating a newsagency in particular. This conference was a testament to the value of focussing on that which we can change to build stronger, more valuable and more enjoyable newsagency businesses. The follow up from the conference is a practical testament to these goals.
Check out the photos and see the enjoyment in the faces of the participants. You could talk to any today and they would tell you that the fun and excitement continues as success is realised as a result of participating in the conference.
Yes, I am conflicted as I am a Director of newsXpress. However, I came to newsXpress from time as a member of Newspower and a shareholder in and member of Nextra. newsXpress is different. The networking opportunities, like at the conference, member meetings and regional workshops, are exciting and valuable. Yes, there are supplier deals from which we achieve better margin and other benefits. But personally I enjoy the bonus ‘margin’ from networking.
newsXpress welcomes newsagents from businesses of any size and in any situation. It’s prime focus is on the people – proactive newsagents who want to build stronger, more successful and more enjoyable businesses.
I was interested to see the Australia Post announcement of a new digital mailbox service a couple of days ago. It’s a fascinating offer, putting into one digital storage place a range of items. So it’s more of a storage space than a mail box as such.
The Australia Post announcement comes a couple of weeks after the launch of a privately owned service: Digital Post Australia, a joint venture between Computershare, Salmat and Zumbox.
Given the digital services available I am not sure why a government owned and protected business is getting into this space. But then Australia Post has never been one for living with the rules or doing what one expects.
I will be interested to see if this push online and the announcement of the creation of superstores by Australia Post impacts on the goodwill value of LPO businesses.
From a purely commercial perspective, small businesses should be unified in lobbying all politicians for Australia Post to follow the same competition requirements of all businesses, including the removal of their government protected monopoly which gives then an unfair advantage over the private, and often small, businesses with which they compete.
Pacific Magazines is publishing a One Direction one shot next week, on Wednesday, under the Girlfriend masthead.
One Direction is a UK boy band that has teen and tween girls in Australia going nuts. If you have these shoppers in your shop or can attract them or those who buy for them, here is a great chance for you to make some good money. Contract Gotch, check your supply numbers, make sure you are getting enough stock.
One Direction appeals to the same market as Justin Bieber. They have over 2 million Twitter followers and 3.7million fans on Facebook.
This is an excellent tile to promote in advance of the on-sale. Pre sell the title telling your shoppers to order and pay now so they don’t miss out. This locks them into buying from you … a very smart move for a one shot I expect will sell out.
Pacific Magazines will be promoting the One Direction one shot with a bunch of activity including support on the Girlfriend magazine website and Facebook page. This will drive traffic for newsagencies.
While the title will get to supermarkets, newsagents will have it first … seize this opportunity.
Having said all this, I bet there are newsagent who early return the title the day it goes on sale, missing the opportunity and damaging how newsagents are looked upon.
We are leveraging the Easter themed cover story on the cover of the latest issue of National Geographic magazine with good placement of the title showing off the full cover and through double pocket placement. We are planning to give the title time either at the coulter or with newspapers as part of the run up to Easter when we place through the shop a range of Easter related upsell opportunities.
Here is how we are supporting the release of the My Kitchen Rules cookbook 2 in another of my newsagencies. Here, since space is tight we are running with an in-location display, as shown in the photo.
We also have a display on a column facing shoppers as they enter the business.
As I see it we have a limited time opportunity to make the most from this title … hence our commitment with extra space. This is the only title like this in-store at present – a cookbook connected with a runaway success TV show. So it makes sense to me that we promote it as much as we can.
In a move NSW newsagents are certain to welcome, Fairfax has announced that it will increase fees paid to newsagents for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald an average 10 per cent as part of an overhaul of its payments to its home delivery distributors and specialist newsagents.
Fairfax claims that the increases represent the biggest single injection of funds – $3.5 million – into the newsagent network in many years.
I like that Fairfax briefed the newsagency software companies on the move in advance of the announcement to ensure that the software handled the fee changes.
This move reflects the learnings from changes made in Victoria a couple of years ago.
Click here for a copy of the media release from Fairfax about the move.
We sold out of the Woman’s Day / NW / OK! bundle pack yesterday, the day it went on sale. we rarely sell out of the packs let along on the day of on-sale. While I am happy to sell out I don;t want to educate shoppers to seek out those bundles. I want the full cover price for magazines. That said, maybe there are some shoppers who buy the bundle who would only usually purchase just one or two of the titles.
The media section in The Australian yesterday had a interesting article by Darren Davidson about the different approach being taken by newspaper publisher Fairfax to address uneconomic newspaper distribution compared to that of News Limited. I think newsagents would find the article most interesting.
Beyond the usually News bias you read in any article they publish about Fairfax, there is the claim that the two publishers are taking quite a different approach to dealing with the migration of readers from print to digital. I am not so sure this is the case once you allow for the differences in circulation and the respective digital offerings. Their situations are fundamentally the same.
The cost of getting a bundle of newspapers to a regional or rural location is just about the same for both companies.