Australian Newsagency Blog

We are considerably busier than than any school holidays in recent memory, suggesting that more people, in our area at least, are staying home instead of holidaying in warmer places.  We are noticing more grandparents shopping with grandchildren.
School holidays, the winter break especially, usually see business slow for a two or three weeks.  The opposite […]

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We have replaced the column of crossword magazines next to our women’s weeklies category with a column of wedding magazines.  This is, I am told, the season for wedding magazines.  We have done this previously at this time of the year and achieved a good uplift in wedding titles.  Our goal is to get the […]

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This display featuring the Michael Jackson special issue of Rolling Stone and the special issue of Who was created by Renee at newsXpress Watergardens.  It looks stunning.  It was a key reason for us selling out of Rolling Stone today - hence there are none on display until Monday when we get more stock.  This […]

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We are promoting The Retiree magazine next to our main newspaper stand for the next few days.  This is one of those magazines which needs to hunt down an audience.  There are not too many people who would ask for it.  So, next to the newspapers, The Retiree will be seen by more people and, […]

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We are promoting the Rolling Stone, Who, Time and The Week special Michael Jackson magazine issues at the front of our newsagency today.  Each magazine has a catching poster which should draw attention in this high-traffic location.  Newsagencies are the best retailers in Australia for Michael Jackson coverage.  We have the best range and offer […]

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We have capped our busiest magazine aisle with a display for the new issue of Good Health.  This has given us an opportunity to display the collateral for the free lip gloss which comes with this month’s issue.  Often this collateral is missed as customers a quite close to the display.  The aisle-end display is […]

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The Just In bookmarks are being put to good use today to draw attention to the special edition of Woman’s Day which arrived this morning featuring Michael Jackson stories.  we use six to eight of the bookmarks for selected new titles which customers might otherwise not see as new.

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Grazia magazine gets my vote for the best (and most unexpected) Michael Jackson coverage today.  They are using the story to connect with their relevance as a publication.  To reward such a good and timely issue, we have given Grazia an impulse location at one of our busiest registers - a rare location for Grazia.

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Magazines featuring Michael Jackson tributes have been given prime position this week.  The photo shows the feature display which lines the approach to our main lottery counter.  We have allocated space based on the extent of Michael Jackson coverage.  We selected the supporting posters based on those which featured the Michael Jackson coverage in the […]

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The mall-facing displays being created at our Watergardens store are working very well.  Each side of this prominent column are used to present titles in a professional and eye-catching way.
Australian Women’s Weekly sales are up thanks to the display in the photo.  By using some of the publisher’s collateral and adding professional VM style, the […]

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We are promoting Wheels magazine at the exit of our men’s magazine aisle for the weekend.  We did have Zoo in this location but sold out so this morning we had to make a quick move.
We have been using this ‘created’ location for several months now with excellent browsing and sales success.  It is terrific […]

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With Hannah Montana The Movie opening this weekend we have opportunistically placed the magazine next to TV Week as well as in our teen section.  This is one of those titles which will be purchased on impulse and this weekend is our big opportunity to shift stock thanks to the publicity for the movie and […]

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Even though the Oz Lotto jackpot is soaking up plenty of attention, we are still finding time to promote other categories.  We have given the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens a prime display thanks to the free cookbook which comes with the new issue out now.  The display has been up since Wednesday […]

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A representative of ACP Magazines visited our shop this week to ask us to remove the $50 million OzLotto posters from the side of the ACP Magazines basket builder stand. They did so because of the photos I posted here.
We had a representative of Tattersalls in our shop just over a week ago who […]

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The official guide for the 2009 Tour de France is selling well.  We have this located next to our newspaper stand as well as with our sports magazines.  The newspaper stand location is working best - as one would expect.  While some have asked for the Guide, most customers purchase on impulse. Our goal is […]

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We had to re-think our weekend counter strategy yesterday with Who selling out from our counter display by lunchtime.  In its place we put Diabetic Living.
Diabetic Living is a successful title for us and while it does not come with a free gift (something we prefer for this premium location) we know it will sell […]

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In response to queries here and privately, here is a quick overview of how we do Syndicates.  The photo (click for a larger version) shows the syndicate wall for tonight’s $20 million draw.  It is deliberately not too slick.  My view is that if it is too slick it loses the value of being fresh […]

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We are promoting the new range of ACP cookbooks along with a couple of older titles at the entry to our busiest magazine aisle.  Nothing too special about the display - it is premium space and that people approaching our main sales counter from our newpaper stand will tent to see this display.
Food titles are […]

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We are promoting Who magazine at the counter this weekend thanks to the free hair product gift and the coverage of the Rove McManus wedding.  The photo shows how our counter display sits in context with the rest of the counter - our busiest non-lottery counter is to the right and our two lottery counters […]

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Swobbles get the star treatment as we launch our STOCKTAKE SALE.  We have a table of swobbles at half price right at the front of the shop.  In the one day they have been up sales have been good - they will not last long.  The stock was acquired in a way which enabled the […]

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The ‘green’ magazine section we created in our home and living category around two months ago is driving good sales.  Last week, we had one customer buy four of the titles we have on display.  Discussing her purchase, she made it clear that having the titles together and in this location were key factors in […]

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We are promoting InStyle magazine at the counter and featuring the gift of Avon lipstick valued at $22.99 which comes with every copy.  The offer will suit our customers and is likely to be successful in this impulse location.  Receiving a good mix and quantity of  marketing collateral is key to creating a display which […]

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We are promoting Ralph magazine in the body of our newsagency in Frankston with a prime location feature display.  Ralph sells well here and this great looking display (using excellent collateral from ACP) created by our team should work a treat for us.
At Forest Hill, Ralph magazine does not do so well.  To attract new […]

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We are promoting weeklies again this week at the front of our newsagency but this time with a bigger selection of titles.  We have also included two crossword titles because these sell well with weeklies.
Whereas last week we pitched Woman’s Day and New Idea alone on this display, we felt that a broader selection works […]

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We have a new range of gifts on display in our window.  The display has been created to be seen by people as they leave the new Dick Smith store opposite our newsagency.  The display does not have much height as we do not want to block the view behind the display, into our card […]

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