Brilliant local area marketing
Hastings Newsagency in Victoria has distributed a promotional newspaper around its area. It’s brilliant. Inside are local stories mixed with stories about products and services connected with the newsagency. It’s an excellent initiative and a perfect example of local area marketing. They even got some local businesses ton support the newspaper with ads.
Using the newspaper format connects well with what a newsagency is known for. It’s the kind of local marketing newsagents need to use to compete with the majors and to deepen their community connect. It’s great.
This newspaper campaign is an idea worth copying. Well done Hastings Newsagency.
Australia Post newsagency
This is the Government owned Post Office opposite my newsagency as of yesterday. Looking more like a newsagency every day. See the Valentines card display in the entrance?
I wasn’t going to post the photo here, fearing some would think I am obsessed about Australia Post. Maybe I am. Maybe you would be too if a 100% government owned business was taking sales from your shop. I don’t have an exclusive product like stamps to guarantee traffic.
Back to School at Australia Post
Australia Post is running this ad on the back page of this week’s Woman’s Day.
Not content with chasing greeting card, stationery, calendar and book sales from newsagencies and other small businesses, Australia Post through its 863 government owned and operated outlets is now chasing the important Back to School market.
Government policy allows Australia Post to take revenue from small and other businesses in this way. They are trading of the highly respected postal service brand and achieving consumer interest for a fraction of what it costs businesses like newsagencies. They ignore competition policy by protecting Australia Post while also approving their targeting of newsagents through campaigns such as this one.
Every step by Australia Post into traditional newsagency space is further evidence of lack of interest by this government in small business.
Future of media, future of newsagencies
Newsagents wondering about what the future holds would do well to look at the program for the Digital Media Summit to be held in New York next month. Keynote speakers include Rupert Murdoch. Session topics include:
User Generated Media – The Transformative Revolution in Entertainment, News Media, Personal Communication, Search and Advertising
Publishing 2.0: How Multi-Platform Newspaper and Magazine Strategies Are Transforming the Publishing Landscape
Television 2.0: Cable, Telco, Satellite, Broadband & Mobile Redefine the Future of Entertainment and Communications
Contextual Media & Advertising: Transforming and Redefining the Relationship Between the Consumer, Advertising and Media Platforms
Advertising NEXT: Social Networks, User Generated Video, Blogs, IMs, Podcasts, Broadband and Mobile, – It’s the Breakthrough Year!
Personal Media Redefines Entertainment, Communications & News: As User Generated Video, Social Networks, Blogs and PODs Become Mass Media and Big Business
Embracing the Connected Consumer – Entertainment and Technology – From the Digital Home to the Mobile Universe
Reinventing Advertising: Broadcast vs. the New Platforms: VOD, PVR, Broadband & Mobile
As the pitch for the conference says:
Disruptive technologies are changing the face of the media and entertainment industry and Media Summit New York is the conference at the epicenter of the disruption.
Newsagents are feeling the impact of such disruption today and this is why we need to refine our model from the shop floor up. I emphasis we because this is our problem. It is our capital invested in our businesses and it is time for us to act on that investment for our future.
I am not saying get out. Rather, I am saying we need to respond to media disruption and the other changes going on around us and develop newsagencies for the future. Our future has to come from within us.
Time cuts jobs, focuses more online
Time Inc., the top U.S. magazine publisher, will cut 289 jobs from its estimated 11,300 workforce to slash costs as it invests more heavily in Internet properties. See Reuters for the whole story.
Time is not retreating from print. Rather, they are shifting resources to account for the greater contribution of their Internet businesses. Newsagents are not making similar business adjustments. While it is challenging to move a newsagency online, it <>em>is possible to refocus capital so that the business is not as reliant on sales of products which are moving online.
We need to question the amount of real-estate in our shops given to magazines, the location of the newspaper stand, the mix of stationery and how we package our services. As I mentioned in a post over the weekend, we are well served by habit based products. We are equally well served by products which enable us to add value in store such as copying, laminating, invitations and the like.
These considerations are opportunities for us to reinvent ourselves for these new times, just as Time is in the process of doing.
Retail distribution for Dutch free daily newspaper
Metro Holland, a free daily newspaper will increase daily circulation to 535,000 from Jan. 22 by distributing in 224 supermarkets. Read more at the excellent Newspaper Innovation blog. This post made me consider how I would feel if MX or some other free daily used supermarkets to distribute here in Australia. I suspect it has been or is being considered. Free newspapers need traffic and I can’t imagine the publishers placing them in direct competition with high volume paid sales at newsagencies.
Powerball lottery sales slump
Powerball sales dropped by around 20% nationally in the second half of 2006.
Powerball, once the darling of Australian lottery games, is in trouble. Sales are falling across the country based on data I am seeing. Punters are migrating to OzLotto with sales of that game up by more than 50% – higher in some states. While it is hard to get a full national view, I have seen data from enough outlets to be confident in my assessment.
I am surprised by the extent of the Powerball sales fall since Thursday is a strong retail day and, for many, it’s still payday. However, since many are now paid electronically the payday view no longer holds.
If Powerball is to continue newsagents and other lottery retailers need to get behind the game and push it. Like any lottery product, it comes down to how well we sell the dream – across the counter, in posters and through in store offers such as syndicates. Arresting the sales slump ought to be a priority.
Lottery products are important to newsagents. 80% of the customers purchase out of habit. Enough buy other things to make them valuable to us beyond lotteries. We need to ensure that the habit is maintained and hence the need to support Powerball.
Ghosts in magazines
We put some magazines in our returns trolley this morning and someone laughed at us. But there was no one else around – it was unnerving. It happened with the next bundle of magazines we put in. Someone was laughing at us! Investigation revealed that it was a magazine laughing at us – Dandy. Actually it was the free Desperate Dan’s Giggle Sack laughing when more magazines being returned were placed on it in the trolley.
For a moment there we thought we were going mad.
Selling magazines
The top third of a magazine cover is crucial to sales in newsagencies. Traditional magazine racking means that it is only on the flat stack that the full cover is seen. The eye level view is as shown in the photo above. I mention this today because of this week’s NW magazine.
To my untrained eye the cover of NW this week seems incomplete – certainly compared to the other weeklies. It feels like a departure for the title, not as busy as usual. Others have commented so I’m not alone on this. Sales are the only measure which matters.
While NW does not have the volume of Woman’s Day and New Idea, it’s an important weekly title given the demographic it attracts.
The fear of redundancy in a disrupted world
Newsagents may empathise for US Real Estate Agents and their concerns that they could become redundant if Zillow really takes off. Zillow allows home buyers to get rough valuations and access some services previously only available through real-estate agents. Liz Gannes at GigaOM last month reported on enhancements at Zillow which take their offering further:
Tonight, the company is announcing it will provide real estate agents and individuals tools to advertise a home for sale within the excellent Zillow map and home price estimator web interface. And, in a twist, home owners will also be able to attach a “Make Me Move†price to their homes as a casual way to explore putting their houses on the market. Everything continues to be free to users and supported by ads.
Zillow empowers consumers. Aggregators like real Estate Agents don’t like that. It happened in travel. Mainstream media companies rely on Real Estate Agents for advertising revenue. A Zillow type model in Australia could impact them as well as Real Estate Agents. The reality is that competition from a new model makes the incumbents improve their offering. Consumers win.
I am interested in Zillow on two fronts: We are offering better quality lower cost real estate ads at our Find It online classifieds site (in partnership with newsagents) to Real Estate Agents and individuals. Second, newsagents are experiencing the disruptions Real Estate Agents are worried about – the bypassing of their business by consumers who want a more direct relationship. This is what disruption is about.
My wish is that newsagents would engage in this discussion about their future and soon.
Opportunity knocks for newsagents
Using habit based products to replace falling newspaper and magazine traffic in newsagencies.
Newspapers and magazines are less important to newsagents than ten years ago. Since they are available in more high traffic outlets and with sales flat and, in some cases, falling, they are not the traffic promise they used to be. Few newsagents have addressed this fall in traffic.
One answer newsagents could consider is habit based product categories. That is, products which bring people back for more. In our store we have focused on Art Supplies for two years. It has a healthy GP and builds a loyal habit based following.
I like Art Supplies because they fit with our traditional mix of stationery and craft products. Also, we sell art magazines and if you put the two next to each other both benefit. Newsagents can buy their Art Supplies from their usual wholesaler or an Art Supplies specialist like Mega Shed – his is what we do.
There are other habit based categories newsagents could consider to build GP and lock in loyalty as traffic from other categories falls. These include:
Second hand books – out of left field but think about it, people buy / rent these because they are avid readers. This means they will, come back and back. The key would be to do it right and not bring your shop down.
Puzzles and jigsaws – these fit with crossword magazines; scrapbook products. Some newsagents do well in this space.
Ink and toner – sits with stationery. Again, some newsagents are doing well in this space.
Collectibles – say, small bears which you collect over a year.
These are just a few ideas in the habit based area. Our experiment with free WiFi is another example of what could be habit based – depending on those who use it.
Newsagents must start to evolve their retail businesses to address changing consumer habits. This is a wonderful opportunity to embrace change. Habit based products are a good fit. The challenges are to bring in good GP product and to do this in such a way as to not shock existing customers yet to ensure that new prospects are attracted.
Cloth Dolls & Bears – the magazine that never dies
When Vaughan Lawrence of Beechworth Newsagency told me of how shabbily his business had been treated by NDD in relation to Cloth Dolls & Bears I knew I had to check my situation. Sure enough, we have received the same issue six times over the last two years. I stress, the same issue six times over the last two years. It’s total sell through rate is 45%. The title loses $20.00 net a year for us. While the loss is not much, NDD would know the title is a failure yet they continue to send it to us and other newsagents, milking our cash.
I will write to the ACCC about this title as it offers further hard evidence of unconscionable conduct by NDD toward newsagents.
Keno lottery sales success
We setup a 10 share @ $10 a share Keno syndicate yesterday since the spot 10 prize was over $1 million. We considered it a risk since we had to sell all shares in the day. We sold our in 90 minutes. One employee sold nine shares – way to go Shaun. It is a lesson up selling from our newest employee. It also highlights the challenge of keeping long term employees fresh and focused on the need to offer over the counter as well as process the sales brought to the counter.
Newsagents support philanthropy through online classifieds
This is a poster we have emailed today to newsagents partnering in our Find It online classifieds business We’re asking them to print the poster and stick it on their window – after cutting between the tear off strips at the bottom.
Windows campaigns for the various Find It categories have been successful over the last three months. This latest poster connects with the philanthropic side of Find It – more than 60% of our categories will be free even after we start charging.
Click the image to download a PDF of the poster for yourself. You’re welcome to place it anywhere. You can read more about our views on philanthropy at the Find It blog.
Christmas is soooo yesterday
Here are five Christmas themed puzzle magazines which arrived at our newsagency and I am sure thousands of others yesterday. We have not even put them on the shelves as they would make our business look out of date. This is yet another example of a magazine distributor having little regard for their newsagent partners.
It also highlights the broken magazine distribution model in Australia. Government policy in part created this problem and they have washed their hands of the mess for small business they created.
Bill payment sales game for newsagents
At my software company we use sales games every year or two to reinvigorate sales and those who manage the sales process. Conducted right, sales games are a win for all concerned. I’m pleased therefore to see that Bill Express is using a sales game to enable newsagents to win back the cost of the recent BOPO debit card in store training. I like the idea because it reminds newsagents about the importance of bill payment and gets them thinking about this and BOPO in entrepreneurial terms.
In the Bill Express bill payment sales game, the bar is not too high. It’s built around newsagents engaging with their customers a little more to increase bill payment transactions. In return, newsagents win a rebate of the cost of BOPO training – a good commercial solution to an issue newsagents would have thought was lost.
I need to declare that I was one of the people Bill Express consulted in navigating this issue as a result of comments here.
Magazine twins
The Windows XP magazine on the left is published locally and distributed by Network services. It sells for $14.95. The Windows XP magazine on the right is published in the UK and distributed by NDD. It sells for $19.95.
That these are the same magazine, have different prices and come from different distributors demonstrated how broken the Australian magazine supply model is.
We have early returned the NDD product today. It’s a topped return meaning we rip the top off and post that back for the credit. This would make the publisher / importer happy if they found out that their stock never made it to our shelves and that they cannot sell the returned product elsewhere.
nook mixes local with bloggers, community and citizen journalism
I opened my local Leader newspaper last night to see page this Page 10 story about nook.com.au a new community and blogging site from Leader Newspapers. The pitch in the article says it all:
For Leader, nook.com.au squarely targets keeping people engaged at a local level.
This is what a local newspaper is all about. From my test drive I’d say nook delivers the goods. It’s easy to navigate and brilliant at connecting people. The site design is simple and appealing to first time bloggers.
Beyond connecting people and providing the community with another online voice, nook will provide Leader Newspapers with material for its print product. On many fronts nook looks like a winner. It’s part blogging, part community connection, part citizen journalism and part commercial. And, no ads – but I would like transparency on what makes something featured.
News Limited should be well pleased with their new baby.
Online music sales double
RECORD LABELS HAVE SOLD AN estimated $2 billion worth of music online or through mobile phones in 2006, doubling the previous year’s sales and accounting for 10% of the total music market, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s Digital Music Report 2007. Read the whole story at Mediapost.
This story is important to newsagents for two reasons: recharge business has not peaked yet – sales of recharge for products like iTunes, BOPO will grow and need to ensure we can service this efficiently and for an equitable return; also, the disruption which has hit music will hit publications. Consumers have demonstrated they want what they want and not necessarily the extras surrounding what they want. i.e. they want a song or to but not always the whole album.
Consumers want stories and not necessarily the whole magazine or newspaper package. TV, Radio and music have been broken down. Aggregating product have been replaced by single songs, single shows and even individual stories from TV shows. This will happen in the printed space.
By planning for these changes newsagents can build business models which serve well into the future.
Giving it all away, web 2.0 philanthropy
Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Warren Buffet grab the headlines when they give away billions of dollars. Lesser mortals get no coverage for giving away clothes, furniture and other things they no longer need. They probably don’t want media attention for their generosity.
Everyday philanthropy is important to any society. While we can leave our bags of clothes and other items in dump bins in car parks or at the door of the Salvation Army, Goodwill or other charity organisations, there is nothing quite like giving something directly to someone who will benefit from the gift. One to one philanthropy.
At Find It we want to help you do that, we want to help you give things which, you no longer use or need, away. It’s part of our contribution to a better world. I’d call it web 2.0 philanthropy.
We have introduced free listings at our Find It website. We want to connect people with things to give away with people in need. The only rule is that the transaction is free – it has to be a genuine gift. Under Available and Wanted you can describe the item, include photos and provide your contact details – all free.
While Bill, Richard and Warren will continue to get the headlines for their efforts, its individuals who can touch lives through personal one to one giving.
I posted this earlier today at the Find It Blog and re post it here because of the different readership community
Art Sale beats Back to School
We missed the deadline for placing our Back to School order with GNS so rather than pay the full price they wanted for catalogue items we decided to skip Back to School altogether and run with an Art Sale.
Back to School is not big for us given our demographic – retirement villages and the Neighbours film lot – and given the huge push from Big W in the centre and Officeworks nearby. We’re finding having the Art Sale offers a point of difference. The mistake on our part has not hurt us as much as we expected.
Find a newsagency at Yahoo
Go to Yahoo, type in newsagency and click search. Number 5 out of 191,000 entries found is the Beechworth Newsagency ad at Find It. Vaughan Lawrence placed the free business directory ad a couple of months ago and now it’s ranked 5 out of 191,000. Any newsagent or any business for that matter can have a similar free business directory entry including photos. This ad has been viewed 362 times. Some of these views will be from people who had never heard of his business. It amazes me that more newsagents are not taking up the opportunity of free online ads at Find It.
Australia Day newspaper bumper edition frustrates newsagents and customers
I’ve heard that Fairfax in NSW will publish a ‘bumper edition’ Sydney Morning Herald on Friday January 26 and to be on sale for the entire Australia Day long weekend for the usual Saturday price of $2.20. I would have thought that in the current newspaper market – challenged at best and decaying at worst – Fairfax would do everything possible to not upset customers. Their customers will be upset by yet another lazy Bumper Edition. Newsagents will bear the brunt of customer anger. Talk to any newsagent and they will tell you of the frustration expressed across the counter and on the phone explaining the pricing and the convoluted rules associated with the Bumper Editions this past Christmas. Bumper Editions are not good customer service.
Everywhere you turn there are reports of sales declines being experienced by newspapers. Newspapers themselves are regularly running naval gazing pieces about their own future. Publishers like Fairfax have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in online businesses which are speeding the decline. It is odd to me therefore that Fairfax would ‘play’ with their customers in this way. If they want to delay the decline they would publish each day of the Australia Day weekend. But then, maybe the financial return is better if they run a Bumper Edition and that’s more important than what the customers want.
Memo to Fairfax: You might want to let the computer companies know about your Bumper Edition plans so that they can provide advice in advance to their newsagent clients and thereby save the hundreds of phone calls which would be made otherwise.
Hooked can fish elsewhere
We have returned Hooked to NDD without putting it on the shelf. At $29.95, with a shelf life of four months, requiring two display pockets and with our fishing category already well stocked there is no room at the inn for this baby.
We need a magazine czar who decides which titles have access to the newsagent network. Currently, publishers shop the three distributors until someone is prepared to take the title on for the right fee. We are foolish enough to give them our real-estate and labour for free.