Australian Newsagency Blog

The team at our Frankston store is driving more valuable wrap sales with a good display os wrapping tape displayed with Christmas wrap.  Talk to the experts at Scotch (3M) and they will tell you this works for the majors.  Every newsagent should copy this idea.  You can display whole panels as at Frankston or […]

[Read more →]

Folio reports a 29.5% drop in consumer magazine ad pages in the United States in the second quarter of this year.  Erck Sass, writing at MediaPost comments about how 2009 looks:
At this rate, 2009 is shaping up to be the worst year for consumer magazines since 1932, when total revenues dropped 30%.
Ad revenue is […]

[Read more →]

Shayne and Roslyn Clarke of newsXpress Cooma showed me a brilliant, cost effective and simple marketing idea.  They sponsor the drink coasters at a local club.  This shows their support for the community and puts their brand in front of plenty of people outside their shop - a few hundred dollars well spent.

[Read more →]

With OzLotto jackpotting last night to $50 million, we have an excellent opportunity to leverage the bonus traffic.  Here are some initial thoughts:

Set a goal.  Decide now the growth you want on last week’s OzLotto sales.  Track this daily.  The growth target ought to be at least 50% up on last week.  Offer a reward […]

[Read more →]

The Home and Away magazine, celebrating 21 years of the TV show, has been a runaway success for newsagents with many reporting selling out within 24 hours this last week. We could have easily sold two or three times the quantity we received in our newsagencies.
The success of the Home and Away magazine says […]

[Read more →]

We are promoting instant scratch tickets and crossword magazines at the counter this week in our Double Your Crossword Fun promotion.  We have used an oversized copy of the $5.00 Intralot crossword scratch ticket as the backdrop for latest issue of Lovatt’s Colossus crossword magazine.
We will change the feature crossword title several times through the […]

[Read more →]

Valentine’s Day is a short yet intensive season for Australian newsagents and retailers more generally.  Making the most of the season means planning a multi-faceted attack well in advance.  Here are some left-field marketing tips you could consider to supplement the traditional approach around greeting cards, plush and chocolates.  It is not too late to […]

[Read more →]

It is not too early to put red packets (or red envelopes as they are known in some places) for Chinese New Year at the counter.  We did this Friday, at our main lottery counter.  Given that the tradition has a lot to do with luck, it is worthwhile remembering that the preference for the […]

[Read more →]

If you are into the party goods check out the Kids Birthday Parties blog. It is an excellent resource with ideas for customers planning parties. Its tips are also useful for visual merchandising around themes. While the content is skewed to the US marketplace, I have found plenty of ideas which translate […]

[Read more →]

In the sales benchmark report I released a week ago, I outlined some ideas for addressing the decline in stationery sales. I have added to that list to provide newsagents ideas worth considering. Our stationery sales ought to be growing, not declining. From what I can see we let ourselves down. […]

[Read more →]

Kids magazines are a challenge to display since they usually come bagged with several free items and do not easily fit into traditional fixturing. At our Watergardens store, using deep pocket Kleerex fixturing, it is easier - we can display kids magazines efficiently and professionally.

[Read more →]

We display pens with crossword titles at our Watergardens store. The pens are changed regularly to give coverage to different brands. The clip on bin for the pens as shown in the photo is what makes this easy. We can use the bins in other magazine categories to promote similarly […]

[Read more →]

Father’s Day is a season around which newsagents can choose to shine. I know from Hallmark market research that our the newsagent retail network is a popular destination Father’s Day and other seasonal cards. We need to make the most of this popularity, not only in the card category but in allied […]

[Read more →]

There are a few magazines out now with Christmas in July cover themes so I thought it would be a good time to offer some in-store retail and marketing tips for Christmas in July. Santas Warehouse has some good information on the history of Christmas in July.

Check with your local council or […]

[Read more →]

The now dark Bill Express advertising screens are a marketing opportunity for newsagents.
While some newsagents have connected them to DVD players and other devices for use in store, I suspect that most newsagents will not venture that far. Given that most of the screens are in excellent highly visible and high traffic locations, here are […]

[Read more →]

The higher price of petrol climbs, the greater the opportunity for newsagents. People will think before they get in the car and drive to shop. If they can get what they want locally they will walk or at least drive a shorter distance. This is where the high petrol price is an […]

[Read more →]

A good way to promote your newsagency is to offer something of value to another business to giveaway. Using Microsoft Word it is easy to create coupons tailored to your business. These could offer a free gift with a purchase, a discount off, say a magazine, a two for one deal or some […]

[Read more →]