Fair Trade chocolate
Interesting to see this petition seeking to make it law that UK newsagents and sweet shops have to stock at least one line of Fair Trade chocolate.
Why stop at the Trading Post and Google ACCC?
The announcement yesterday of court action against Google and the Trading Post by the ACCC has shocked many. The case appears to centre around the names of businesses which compete against the Trading Post appearing in the title of sponsored links (ads) for the Trading Post on the Google website. In plain English, people using Google might see, say, company A, click on that expecting to get to company a and find them selves at company B.
How does this connect to newsagents? Earlier this year, as I blogged here previously, RSVP, the Fairfax owned business, paid for a campaign with an affiliate of Commission Monster which targeted my 3loves site. Here is how it looked on a Google search:
3loves is a social networking site connected with Find It, the online classifieds model created to provide newsagents with revenue from online classifieds.
The scam against 3loves appears to be similar to what Google and the Trading Post are charged with.
People searching for 3loves were presented with what appeared to be a link to the site. When they clicked that they were taken to Google. Now I don’t know if Fairfax had any knowledge of this. What I do know is that they were the beneficiary of the action – or at least their RSVP site was. Fairfax approved the use of Commission Monster. Commission Monster manages its affiliate relationships. Each of the companies involved ought to have known about campaigns like that which benefited Fairfax by targeting my 3loves site.
My question is, if the ACCC can take Google and the Trading Post to court, why not Fairfax and the other parties involved – plus the scores of others who have engaged in similar tactics? I doubt that the Fairfax press would out their involvement in something similar to the current ACCC action.
FiFi breaking
FiFi’s World is a very popular new partworks magazine. Sales are very strong – thanks to the target audience (young girls), the school holiday launch and a good TV campaign.
The problem is that many newsagents are having to refund customers who return folders which have broken. The importer tells me they are going back to the UK publisher to seek replacement stock. With some newsagents reporting a 50% product failure rate the rectification cost could be extraordinary. I’d note that my shop has been lucky, we have a less than 10% failure rate.
Big W to rollback magazine prices?
Big W at Mittagong in New South Wales is a concept store for the group, a place where they experiment with and refine ideas before rolling them out nationally. At Big W Mittagong you will see a professional and broad stationery offer dominated by national brands – essential for unlocking money from the brands for fixtures, rebates and marketing funds. There is also a compelling greeting card offer, well signed with the John Sands brand.
It is the magazine display which would interest most newsagents – many magazines in their display are on rollback prices, discounted. Rollback pricing is a feel good offer consumers love – look at what Coles are doing at present with rollback pricing on grocery items. I know from working with the magazine club card for the last three years that magazine buyers like a deal. The rollback strategy will work.
Big W Mittagong and the similar concept stores for Officeworks, Target, Coles and Safeway will all show that these big business competitors we so often complain about invest heavily (as do their suppliers) in navigating change. They experiment, gather data, tweak and ultimately find the model which they run with nationally.
While it would be easy for a newsagent to walk in, see the magazine rollback price offer at Big W Mittagong and get angry. the reality is that there is nothing stopping newsagents making similar strategic moves. It starts with us being entrepreneurial, exerting more control over our businesses and stopping busy work – things we do for the sake of being busy.
PS. Check out the Big W website and how they are promoting the new Harry Potter book. There is a clock counting down its arrival. Nice.
Promoting outside the shop
Apparently a My Business magazine ad playing on Australian Newsagent Satellite Radio yesterday promoted the title as being available in newsagencies as well as by subscription. This would be like the CSI producer running an ad on Channel 9 saying it is available for download elsewhere. My Business would do well to revisit their ad copy for in-newsagency ads.
Fat wedding magazine
Take a look at the Wedding and Bride – it is four times the thickness of Australian Women’s Weekly. One more page and it would not squeeze into traditional newsagent magazine pockets. While it is an impressive publication, space allocation is a challenge in an already full wedding segment in newsagencies. We are playing with co-location next to our high traffic women’s titles for a week to see what happens. It is wedding season after all.
Supporting diabetes week
Ben Kay has come up with an excellent promotion in support of Diabetes Week at my newsagency.
Ben, the manager of the newsagency, has brought together a range of titles including the excellent Diabetic Living from the Better Homes and Gardens team at Pacific magazines and Annette Sym’s Symply Too Good cookbooks to create this excellent display.
In the middle of the display Ben has placed information sheets takes from the Diabetes Australia website.
It is this kind of local marketing which newsagents can use to better connect with customers and to demonstrate to publishers their relevance.
Diabetes does not attract the glamour and glossy marketing support of, say, breast cancer at Mother’s Day yet it affects so many. What Ben has done in our shop reflects well on the cause.
OH&S and newspaper home delivery
The current situation, in my view, is unsafe and modifications to the weight, dimensions and volume of papers distributed per person need to be reduced to provide a safe system of work.
This is from the Nery report – an ergonomic assessment of the manual handling of newspapers by newsagents in South Australia by David Nery. The study was commissioned by the Australian Newsagents’ Federation and the resulting report published in July 2006.
My understanding is that the Nery report was provided to News Ltd shortly thereafter. I was given a copy in November 2006 by someone not encumbered by any confidentiality agreement.
To my knowledge there has not been any change to the weight of newspapers – meaning that on some days people are delivering newspapers which are of an unsafe weight. Nery pulls no punches when we says:
There is also, in my opinion, and as outlined in the South Australian Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations (1995) an obligation for the manufacturers of the newspapers, News Corporation in this case, to provide a product that is safe to handle by the members of the Australian Newsagent’s Federation.
I am concerned for newsagents and their employees and hope that this post may add to pressure on publishers to address the problem of overweight newspapers and the health and safety of those working with them.
In 2004 while on the Board of the ANF I pushed for that organisation to call for a Productivity Commission Inquiry into the deregulation of newspaper and magazine distribution in Australia. Such an inquiry is as essential today as it was then for the Government, publishers, distributors, newsagents and consumers to understand the implications of the policy of deregulation. The handling of heavy newspapers is one example which could be cited.
Famous tights
Customers have been asking if our newsagency is giving away a free pair of tights with Famous as is being promoted at Safeway. We’re not and I am okay with that as I know publishers need to offer premiums at different times in their various channels. What is interesting is that we are being asked. I see this, in part, as a consequence of our Magazine Club Card, a loyalty program which is pulling customers who would traditionally purchase their magazines at a supermarket.
Our comeback to the question is what’s a pair of tights when you can get a free magazine.
Online classifieds and newsagents
This letter is being mailed today to all newsagents inviting them to take a stake in Find It online classifieds.
Central to the Find It offer for newsagent is the guarantee of 100% commission on vouchers sold by newsagents to customers wanting to place ads online. There is also a guarantee of trail revenue.
There is no capital cost for newsagents – no financial commitment whatsoever – and the commitment to a profit share remains.
Find It aims to help Australians save millions from online advertising. All but three ad categories will be free and it is from these three that newsagents stand to make good money – if they actively support find It online classifieds.
Inspiring newsagents
The Source, a newsagency of the future in Melbourne has received excellent coverage in Inside Retailing. Newsagents ought to read the article and visit the store.
While the future the owners of The Source are pursuing may not be for everyone, their choices are bound to inspire newsagents to consider their own plans for the future.
Theft reduction tips for newsagents
At Tower Systems last week we released some theft reduction tips for newsagents. You’re welcome to download a copy here. The tips have evolved from our work with newsagents and police on a variety cases. While a single sheet does not do the issue of theft justice, it is a start for many who ignore the threat – to their financial loss.
Free coupon newspaper
Smart Saver is a compelling yet unconventional free newspaper. There are no stories, opinion pieces or photos one usually finds in a newspaper. Smart Saver is 100% advertisements, coupons to be precise. The copy I picked up today from a City Convenience Store in Sydney is the first I have seen. Eight pages of coupons from national businesses through to local business for products ranging from fast food to dry cleaning. Backing up the print edition is access to the coupons online.
What is interesting is that Australians are not known for their use of coupons – but, hey, we were not known for our love of fast food a few decades ago.
The distribution model through the convenience stores is also interesting – particularly their branding of the newspaper under the masthead.
The case for a magazine czar
The photo shows the fishing segment of the magazine range in my newsagency as at this morning. Next to these two columns we have another two columns of boating magazines. The photo and my posts over the last two days about Fisherman & Boating serve as evidence supporting my call for newsagents to appoint a magazine czar to approve all titles which have access to our retail and distribution network.
Until we take control of this and respect our network as the asset it is, we will continue to experience oversupply and undersupply or magazines.
The Coles, Woolworths / Safeway, BP and Mobil petrol outlets get what they want in terms of magazines because they manage access nationally. That newsagents do not is, in part, our own fault. It leaves us disadvantaged. This is why we must appoint a czar and require all magazine publishers and distributors to deal with us through the czar. Sure distributors would not like this. It does not suit them having us control our labour and real estate assets.
Given the Forest Hill demographic, my newsagency is over serviced for fishing magazines. The problem is that no one distributor would know this as they would only look at their sales data. That suits their model. It does not suit niche publishers but they are too small to do anything about it.
I am across the discussions between magazine publishers, distributors and the Newsagents’’ Federation of magazine KPIs. The KPIs agreed thus far do not address the issue.
Until newsagents take control we will continue to experience problems such as those with Fisherman & Boating.
Publisher takes aim at distributor
Responding to my post yesterday, the Editor of Fisherman & Boatowner takes a swipe at NDD, the distributor of his title. Here is a selection of the comments from his rant:
It is NOT the newsagents that are the problem – but I have to be careful how I word editorial about these matters.
We’ve had this argument about supply / sales / corrections over and over again with NDD for the last 15 years, and we’ve been getting increasingly angry at every meeting.
We’re all going broke because of this distributor problem . . . kid you not. We’re right on the edge now.
I also remember having a ‘crisis’ conference with Gotch’s 1980’s man, Peter Bissett when our sales fell below 75% . . . . (God ‘elp me, I wish . . .) Today we’re luck to average 25% . . . But why hasn’t NDD worked this out? We’d pay them an over-riding per mag fee just to look after the administration . . there has to be a way forward.
Newsagents say there is a problem with the distribution model for this title coming from NDD. The Editor agrees. I am guessing that as with all similar complaints NDD will have excuses as to why the problem with Fisherman & Boatowner is not their problem.
NDD was the best for years at IT and especially the IT connection with newsagents. It is apparent that the data flowing from this compliance is falling out of the pipe somewhere within NDD and that their scale out is not based on performance.
Is this a newsagency?
A colleague sent me this photo of a store at Chatswood, NSW. One sign says Convenience Store, the other, above the door, Newsagency. Confusing. The Newsagency sign, including the N, is the trademark owned on behalf of newsagents by the Australian Newsagents Federation.
The only newspapers and magazines for sale in this ‘newsagency’ are the few on the display at the door.
I’d expect that few newsagents would agree with this business calling itself a Newsagency.
Fisherman & Boatowner bites the hand
Peter Webster, the Editor of Fisherman & Boatowner in the latest issue asks readers to switch from a retail purchase to a subscription. His pitch is rather clumsy, saying the retail price of the mag in the newsagents in about to start climbing, big time. Nothing like taking a stick to your customers.
Walker then makes a reasonable pitch about wastage, saying in part: When you subscribe, we only need to print just one magazine to make the sale…
In the next paragraph of his pitch for subscriptions, Walker takes a swipe at newsagents. When you buy it through the newsagents, the ratio can be as high at 4:1 in some places ie, print four, sell one, shred thre, lose our shirt. Every month. If the sell through rate is 25% as he claims, Webster ought to talk with NDD, his distribution partner for it is NDD which sets scale out to newsagents and NDD which has the most control over the long-term sell through rate.
Walker and his publisher can set rules for NDD and this should have been where he started. Take my newsagency – I receive 3 copies of Fisherman & Boatowner a month. I sell 1 copy most months, occasionally 2. On these numbers, I lose $1.50 carrying this title each month. I am effectively paying Walker and his partners in the magazine to showcase their title among better selling fishing and boating magazines. I am providing cheap advertising, billboard space, for his masthead.
I suspect that newsagents who read the statement by Walker will contact NDD and ask that they are no longer sent this magazine. Sales of the title, including subscriptions, will fall thanks to less billboard space in newsagencies like mine – all because Walker did not use the resources available to him to fix the magazine supply model for his title.
Niche magazines face a tough battle to survive and while the newsagent retail model has challenges for publishers, careful use of sales data and a smart management by the distributor ought to ensure a good return for the publishers and for newsagents. This is what newsagents want too – better sell through rates. Rather than over-servicing a niche area, newsagents would prefer to sell more of fewer titles. This saves on labour and saves on real-estate.
Newsagents who wish to email Walker can do so by clicking here.
eBay online classified pitch
Further to my post here last week about Kijiji, the eBay backed free online classified site launching in the US, it is interesting to read some of the 160 stories posted so far. Kijiji is big news in the US. Read what some newspaper reporters and commentators have to say: Steve Johnson writing for the Chicago Tribune, Catherine Holahan – BusinessWeek, Saul Hansell – New York Times.
While US newspapers and commentators are taking the eBay move into free online classifieds seriously, newspapers and newsagents here appear to remain ignorant of the threat of online classifieds. Well, that is not quite right. Newspaper publishers have positioned themselves well in the paid online classifieds space. Fairfax has also positioned themselves well in the free classifieds space with Cracker.
Newsagents who are yet to notice what is happening online.
Driving impulse magazine sales
Every week we, like most newsagents, diligently put up the promotional material from publishers on aisle ends and elsewhere. While I am certain the effort is important, an immediate sales kick to match the labour and real estate investment is not always evident.
The Real Living display this week is different. We have noticed a significant sales kick. I’d say this is in part due to the free organiser and in part due to Real Living being more of an impulse purchase. We display each issue next to Notebook in a high traffic area yet Real Living does not perform as well as Notebook.
Seeing the sales kick this week makes me wonder why publishers don’t push titles like Real Living more as opposed to the higher selling destination purchase titles. While newsagents can do this in-store, we need materials such as extra posters and other materials to enable us to create appropriate retail theatre.
Who back on track without Paris
Who seems back on track after the dip last week when Paris Hilton was on the cover. Maybe it’s only around my newsagency that Paris is a sales turn off but I doubt it.
Supanews franchisee in need of help
Corie and Tammy Schwarzl are about to commence legal action in the Federal Court against Supanews Retail Group in an effort to resolve a dispute they are having following the take over of their Supanews franchise at Westfield Tuggerah (NSW) by Supanews Retail Grroup.
The Supanews Retail Group now controls the store and the Schwarzls have not, to my knowledge, been compensated for this.
The Supanews Retail Group was formed late last year in a joint venture with Pacific Equity Partners-owned A&R Whitcoulls Group and the Gaskin family owned Supanews. ARW Group operates the Angus & Robertson bookstore chain (over 170 locations in Australia), the stationery and book retailer Whitcoulls (70 stores in New Zealand) and casual lease retailer Calendar Club.
The planned court case, as prepared by the Schwarzl’s lawyers, will claim unconscionable conduct, misrepresentation and breaches of the franchise agreement against Supanews Retail Group.
The poanned case will also draw attention as to whether the Schwarzls ought to have been appointed franchisees. Corie has cerebral palsy and has been unable to find gainful employment. He and Tammy purchased the business on the understanding that he could valuably contribute buying himself a job effectively.
I mention the impending legal action against Supanews Retail Group here because there may be some who wish to support the case financially.
I am supporting the case because I would like to see the Supanews franchise model put under the scrutiny of the Federal Court. Such scrutiny could bring greater transparency to the benefits or otherwise of the Supanews model for existing newsagents, newsagent suppliers and prospective newsagents.
If you would like to financially support the case, please forward your cheques to their lawyer:
Paul Kean
Macedone Christie Willis – Solari Partners
Lawyers
Suite 1, 16 Gibbs Street
MIRANDA NSW 2228
Ph: (02) 9528.9133
Fax: (02) 9525.6537
Successful cross promotion
I am often asked by newsagents how it is that Tattersalls allows us to sell newspapers at our main lottery counter. The photo below shows a promotion we are currently running at our main newspaper stand.
This type of cross promotion works. Newspaper sales benefit. Lottery product sales benefit. Thankfully, suppliers of both understand the commercial benefits even if we do bend their rules.