Album sales down in the US
AAP reports that album sales fell 9.5% in the US last year. Massive changes to the distribution model for music in recent years has caused this downturn. Print media faces similar challenges but at a slower pace than music – because devices for accessing traditional print product are not quite there yet. Newsagents ought to read the AAP report about music and then cast an eye across capital invested in print product.
Myki story dead
The lack of follow up by other media outlets and newsagents had let the Myki story thud to the ground. If we wanted to really get traction on this, there needed to be consistent and loud follow up in other media outlets – a rally of newsagents could have done this, especially if it were at a ticket platform. The lack of immediate follow up means that the benefits of the excellent coverage in the Herald Sun of two days ago are minimised.
The long Aussie summer
With retail now a 365 day a year proposition it is frustrating that so many suppliers to newsagents close this time of year. Here we are on January 4th and still suppliers are closed for Christmas / New Year. Some even have another week off and one or two don’t re-open until after Australia Day. Talk about the long Australian summer.
While suppliers currently on break would say we should have ordered stock to cover, the reality is that I should not be their warehouse. If they want to sell product to retailers they ought to be more responsible to the needs of retailers – like opening right after New Year.
I have opened an account with one supplier today simply because they are open and can deliver Monday. The early bird…
Boxing Day sale strategy works
I have been pouring over our numbers this afternoon and our decision to bring in extra calendar, book and card stock for our Boxing Day Sale has paid off across each of our stores. Sales in the three departments on which we focused are up more than 300% on last year since the sale started December 26 – and the base was good. There is no doubt that the excitement around the sale has boosted other categories such as magazines.
Crazy scooter drivers!
Some people should not be allowed to drive scooters. Like the driver who brought down our book table when they side swiped our display or the driver who backed into our calendar stand and trashed product or the driver who ran over my foot and scraped my leg when they tried to squeeze past without warning. One driver drove all the way down to the back of the shop and got stuck in a corner not made for vehicles – it’s a retail shop for goodness sake! yep, some people should not be allowed to drive these things. Ugh!
Comparing card companies
With more newsagents running cards from two or more card companies, it is helpful to be able to report on performance of each card supplier side-by-side and for any date range without producing multiple reports. The Supplier Comparison Report in the Tower Systems software does exactly this. While card companies produce their own reports, taking control in the business empowers us to better deal with pushy sales reps and drive faster credits and replacement of non-performing lines with new product.
This comparison rep0ort is not only for card companies. It also works in the magazine space – indeed, any category where you have multiple suppliers involved.
While it is important to trust suppliers, newsagents need to approach the relationship with suspicion and undertake their own reporting in-house. It’s easy. While I will look at supplier reports, I will trust reports I produce, like the supplier comparison report, more.
The things customers steal
Some low-life stole the top from the the soft toy on the right. How pathetic is that?
It’s no wonder newsagents and other retailers become bitter about browsers sometimes. Behavior like this – stealing a top off a soft toy – is appalling. It is difficult to stop.
Oh well, we’ll offer the naked soft toy for a discount and if that fails it will go to a local charity for their op shop.
OK! what about stock?
I am not the only newsagent complaining that since ACP Magazines took an investment position in OK! magazine Australia, supplies had been cut back. Some newsagents complain of selling out. OK! is a title with a slow decay over the seven day on-sale period – slower than other weeklies. This slower decay in newsagencies means that having good supplies until the end of the on-sale is important – otherwise we cannot adequately display the title and draw interest.
If the publishers of OK! want to grow sales in newsagencies they need ot go back to the supply model of prior to the ACP investment.
Detox Cookbook a timely new release
This Detox Cookbook now in newsagencies across Australia is a timely offer from ACP – right after the indulgences of Christmas and New Year.
We have created a display at the counter of our newsagencies to tap into the guilt. I’d rather sell out quickly than have the title linger on the shelves too long.
Cards by the charity
I was talking with a customer at our boxed Christmas card table today and she was telling me how pleased she was that more card companies offered boxed cards as a fund raiser for charities. Her preference was for the Smith Family and thankfully we helped her support them.
My conversation this morning made me wonder what this move by the major card companies has had on traditional charity card outlets? It also reminded me that for Christmas 2008 we need to find a more practical way to connect with the charities for which card sales raise funds. I have a couple of ideas we might try.
By the way – boxed Christmas cards continue to sell well!
Killing Unique Cars magazine
I am curious as to how a ‘production error’ with the latest issue of Unique Cars can result in newsagent supply being cut back and that of their competitors not. Maybe I am jumping at shadows. If I am, given the noise among newsagents about the cost of lost sales, these are expensive shadows.
Why are newsagents starved of stock of top sellers by ACP yet their distribution subsidiary, Network Services, oversupplies newsagents with bottom selling titles. It’s all about cash I guess, that and the weakness of newsagents.
If ACP Magazines wants to kill the newsagency channel then it going about it the right way. Emotive? Sure. ACP execs ought to buy a newsagency and experience life on the other side. I guarantee it would change home they deal with newsagents.
Newsagents resisting Myki
Good to see the Herald Sun provide coverage this morning to moves by the Victorian State Government to cut revenue earned by newsagents for selling transport tickets.
The anti-small business moves by the Victorian Government follow those of State Governments in New South Wales, Queensland and elsewhere. To these governments, their profit is more important than fairness for small business. Indeed, the decisions by each of the State Governments have jobs at risk.
The challenge for newsagents is that a key retail competitor, 7-Eleven has signed to sell Myki cards and top-up. The TTA has made it easier for 7-Eleven by integrating with their software. Newsagents are yet to see progress on this. This is important since reducing operational costs like this at the newsagency could help make the cut to income more palatable.
My comments on Myki since the announcement in September 2006 can be found here.
Social stationery
There was a time when address books and other social stationery items such as special-purpose and generic were popular in newsagencies. Today, thanks to poor ranging by many newsagents and some suppliers and greater competition from other retailers, we are not the go to place for social stationery we once were. We are certainly not making the sales we could.
This category is a good example of how the actions of some newsagents impact others. If enough poorly range and manage social stationery then those who do it well will not be considered by customers who have had a bad experience elsewhere. Sure, those who do it well will grow sales to their customers and those who do find them, but people looking for an interesting address book and walking past their store for the first time are not likely to consider checking the range.
Getting a bigger share of the social stationery marketplace would require concerted effort by newsagents not in the space and traditional newsagent suppliers. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we are not happy with the current situation.
I have picked on social stationery because it’s a category we should be doing better in and one which we could easily fix. All it takes is for us, collectively, to act as retailers.
Playing with the brand
Outside the newsagency the signage promotes one brand of newsagency marketing group while inside posters and other materials promote another. This appears to be happening more often – newsagencies trading under two competing brands. No wonder customers get confused.
I cannot understand why marketing groups would accept money from newsagencies promoted under another brand. Does it mean the newsagent does not want to be known as the other brand? Does it mean both brands are undisciplined?
Lack of discipline is a huge challenge at the store level and for our channel nationally.
Facing fear and newsagents
Heights scare me. No, they freak me out.
Two days ago, on I walked the Tahune Forest Air Walk, and survived.
It was while I was hanging on for dear life, thinking that with the next sway the structure would collapse and I crash to the ground, that I wondered why many newsagents do not feel the fear I fear when it comes to the future of our channel? Don’t get me wrong, the fear is not debilitating, I see change as an opportunity, something to embrace.
All around us are signs that our traditional model is challenged: publishers are spending big on moving their readers from print to online; newspaper publishers are chasing more outlets and playing with free models as print advertising revenue falls in relevance compared to online; Gerry Harvey is about to enter the stationery retail space; lotteries are no longer a monopoly; Australia Post is pushing further into the traditional newsagent domain; and our key suppliers appear unprepared to help us cut costs out of our business model and thereby deny us the opportunity of fair competition.
While there are many successful newsagents experiencing excellent growth, I’d estimate this group to be less than 5% of the total newsagent community. Hence my surprise that so many are doing it tough hey they do not share my fear. Is it because they don’t see the changes I see or is it ignorance? I wish I knew.
When I was high in the air I could see what scared me. Newsagents often tell me they would rather not know about the impact of the Internet on newspaper and magazine sales. They say knowing this does not help their business.
The changes I mentioned – Gerry Harvey, Australia Post, newspaper sales falling, lotteries, etc can be handled if we, collectively, see and understand them and leverage or existing assets for ourselves. Ignorance is not bliss.
This means being tougher with suppliers who want to access our channel and forcing old practices to be replaced with fairer and more competitive practices. Magazine distributors, especially, need to understand that we are their asset and not their bank!
This is how to overcome fear, face it and crash through. I survived the Air Walk (barely) – and highly recommend it if you are in Tasmania – and am committed to helping newsagents find more just and efficient trading terms in 2008 for a bright future.
Discount magazines
Checkout DiscountMags.com for an interesting approach to selling discounted magazine subscriptions.
Newspapers less relevant?
The basket analysis work I am doing for around fifty newsagents shows an increase in newspaper sales between November 2006 and November 2007 for some newsagencies but a decrease for most. While some of these newsagencies will have shifted some retail customers to less profitable home delivery arrangements, many have lost sales to either other retail outlets or as newspaper customers altogether.
What is most interesting is the tracking of newspaper sales against sales of other categories – seeking an understanding of the importance of newspapers for pulling customers into newsagencies. For years newsagents have accepted flat earnings from newspapers – no increase in cover price, no change in profit – because of the view they were crucial to pulling traffic. Seeing growth elsewhere in a newsagency and a fall in newspaper sales suggests newspapers are not as important as we thought.
Publishers demonstrate our relevance by participating in more flexible marketing strategies in other retail outlets.
Is Zoo Weekly suffers from supply cuts
I’ve noticed fine tuning of supply of Zoo Weekly since ACP magazines took over and while it may be coincidental, it is unfortunate. In one of my stores, Zoo fluctuates. Not having enough stock to co-locate – as is now the case due to recent supply cuts – means some weeks we are not able to reach our sales potential. This will push supply down … the spiral continues. Zoo Weekly is one title I am happy to be oversupplied, within reason.