Giant US retailer demonstrated a couple of days ago how much the world had changed when they opened for business in Australia. No tens of millions invested in traditional infrastructure like shops, no they opened a website offering good value product. This is exactly what News Ltd and Fairfax have been doing in entering new cities this past year – with online product as opposed to print product.
I wonder if newsagents are noticing a trend here?
Click here to see a copy of the latest newsletter we have produced for our Sophie Randall businesses. We place new issues each month in a stand in front of each shop – going through around 200 a month. We are quite passive about distribution – we do not hand them to customers from the counter or mail them. This newsletter is designed specifically for passers-by. It works. Customers come in that day or sometime later and ask about featured product.
The advertising agency creative team is busy putting together the TV ad for newsagents which we are funding. We hope to see a first cut on Monday next week. Thanks to generous offers from the Herald Sun and Lovatts, we are creating a print version of the ad to run in these publications. It is a thrill to see these two suppliers get behind the newsagent TV ad initiative.
I “get” the 30 Days of Fashion and Beauty which is run by ACP Magazines. It helps us promote a range of magazine titles from different categories under a common brand backed by TV and other media coverage. May be it is just me, but the campaign this year seems better, more cohesive, than previously. I particularly like the point of sale material. We are certainly embracing it in our newsagencies and actively promoting the magazine titles.
I have an arrangement with Gordon and Gotch whereby I have a say on the quantity we receive of a new title. Based on support for AFL magazines I decided against taking any copies of Harves, the commemorative one-shot about St Kilda AFL legend Robert
While I am sure that some of my decisions to block titles and increase quantities for others have been right, the experience with Harves is proof of the risk in letting newsagents determine what they receive.
No, I am not saying that the distributors ought to have complete control. There are plenty of instances where they do not serve newsagents well in exercising control. What we need is a serious review which includes looking at the experience of newsagents who do have control through the Gotch arrangement – I would like to see how others perform compared to me in picking titles. I’d expect learnings from this to help navigate a revised model from what we have today – my experience with Harves notwithstanding.
My newsagent software company, Tower Systems, sent a fax out to newsagents yesterday promoting our offer as better than Bill Express. Click here for a full copy. With Optus and Vodafone coming to our exclusive integrated eziPass platform, integrated eftpos, excellent eftpos rates, exclusive magazine supply initiatives and our respected newsagent customer service status we felt like crowing.
Claims about how good we are would be hollow if were not putting something back into the channel and I mean really putting something back. While this year already we have sponsored the ANF national convention, three QNF conferences in Queensland and the national website initiative, it is our soon to run national TV commercial which demonstrates the extent of our support for newsagents.
I have owned this business since I started it in 1981. The TV commercial is a long held dream and proves more than any sales pitch that when it comes to newsagents that I am prepared to put my money where my mouth is and support the channel in a practical non partisan way.
This is why we are better than Bill Express, much better.
The Victorian Government today increased the number of lottery games from three to five. While we will get behind the new Monday and Wednesday games, I am concerned at consumer fatigue. In our own newsagency, we helped migrate Wednesday Tattslotto customers to other games. I don’t want to see those games suffer at the hands of the new games. Nor do I want to see the Intralot Keno, Bingo and Lucky Lines games suffer.
We are happily promoting Good Health at the counter at Forest Hill from today. The free health book which comes with the title this month qualifies it for this location where a title has to have a free gift to get the premium space.
This location continues to perform well for us and for the titles we select each week. As I have noted before, the keys are the free gift and that customers can buy off the display.
This morning’s rant about tote bags as gifts notwithstanding, our team at Frankston is displaying the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar in prime position at the counter between two sales registers. It looks stunning in person – primarily because of the black and white background and their use of the red bag as part of the display.
This display is a terrific call to action. It makes buying Bazaar easy and will be more effective as a sales aid than a power end display.
We like this Complete Aussie Guide to Growing Vegetables for kids.
Gardening related magazines are strong as are children’s titles. This new title covers both. We have it on display in the garden and weeklies sections. We plan to promote this at the counter on weekends – when families are shopping. The front cover makes a good pitch.
We received this issue of ABC’s Organic Gardener a month ago. It sold well as usual – we co-located. We received more stock of the same issue today. While the distributor will say this is to ensure we have stock for another four weeks, our view is that the pocket has been profitable based on the first round of supply. Today’s extra supply makes the issue economically marginal. They should not push their luck like this.
The latest issue of Stab magazine gets our vote for poor packaging. It comes in a white paper envelope which was damaged in transit – making it look unmerchantable in my view. While I understand the publisher created the title without the rigours of the Australian distribution system in mind, there is no point in us receiving something we cannot sell.
We gave Rolling Stone extra space and attention last month and sold two of sixteen copies. This sell through of 12.5% kills cash-flow. Hopefully, the new attention from ACP Magazines for Rolling Stone will be able to lift this title out of the doldrums. The music category needs a beacon brand pulling eyeballs.
In response to questions posted here, we have put together some notes on how we go about running our Intralot Lucky Bingo syndicate at newsXpress Forest Hill. The information is published here as information and not as advice or a recommendation.
The BBC has announced a worldwide live tour by the Top Gear team. The show will tour to 15 countries including Australia with Sydney a confirmed city. In Auckalnd on friday I saw one store selling Top gear boks, DVDs and a game as well as the magazine. Given the development of this an other worldwide brands by the BBC newsagents ought to consider getting behind more than the magazine.
Tote bags are the most popular free gift in magazine marketing departments based on the number we have seen this year. I have lost count of how many have been on offer this year. On Monday, the new issues of Real Living and Bazaar came in, each with, yes, tote bags. We already have a couple of other magazines in-store with tote bags as gifts. This makes the gift less special and therefore less like to drive incremental sales. It certainly makes the exclusive claim some publishers make questionable.
While I appreciate that publishers need to find gifts which fit their budget while connecting with their demographic, I would have thought that there were more options available than constant stream of tote bags we see.
Four months after announcing to the ASX of a deal with Bill Express over the Bill Express advertising screens, the Swish group has written to newsagents saying they would like to take over the operation and management of the screens in newsagencies. To their credit they are proposing focus groups to find out what newsagents want.
The key unanswered question from the letter is the basis on which they think they may be able to access the screens. We kow from the Liquidators of Bill Express that the ownership of the hardware is in question. Complicating this, many newsagents have stopped paying the lease on equipment.
While newsagents will want a digital signage network, they will want it on commercial terms which reflect the value their retail network brings to the opportunity. The network could not exist without newsagents. The Bill Express mess has left many wary. On the Swish Group proposal I would suggest approach with caution.
Vin Crosbie’s post, Transforming newspapers (part 2), is an excellent read on why US newspapers are struggling today. While the US market is different to Australia, last week’s announcement from Fairfax indicates that the difference may be one of timing. I like Crosbie’s post because the more we understand the drivers of change to newspaper sales the better we, as newspaper retailers, can navigate our own way forward.
Several newsagents called me yesterday to advise on-going difficulties with their banks allowing money to be taken out for the Bill Express equipment. Any newsagent in this situation ought to understand that many others have now successfully stopped this and received refunds from their banks. The QNF and NANA have advice out with their members on handling this. The legal team behind the proposed class action has provided advice on this. There is no reason I can see for newsagents continuing to pay for this useless equipment.
We are running the newsXpress Father’s Day Book
It was good to see the latest issue of Top Gear
We are now at the business end of Father’s Day, the last week when somewhere between 60% and 90% of Father’s Day purchases are made. We have a story across the front of the shop as well as deep inside across a variety of product categories – cards, gifts, confectioners, lotteries, magazines, books and stationery.
The photo does not capture the full range. To some it may look a little hodge podge. It does look much better in person.
We have sought to demonstrate the range we offer as well as the value of our offer. Father’s Day is no Mother’s Day when it comes to card and related sales. Our in-store efforts are working against that, hence our full-throated display.
Sales are already excellent, showing that going early with a season can work very well, even for Father’s Day.
Here is proof of local effort paying off. Our Intralot Lucky Bingo syndicate sold out Friday. This is the first time it has sold out. Sure it took a few weeks to build a following. So did the Wednesday Tattslotto syndicate when we started that. All it takes is some local marketing effort. This is where we as retailers have a resonsibility to build the Intralot story in-store. We will watch when this syndicate sells out and start another. This will build with small steps.