A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Month: December 2008

Interesting Newspaper subs offer in NZ

nz_herald.JPGIf you subscribe to the New Zealand Herald for six months you get to choose a free six week subscription to New Zealand Listener or New Zealand Women’s Weekly.  If you take a one year newspaper subscription you get to a twelve week magazine subscription.   I like that this offer combines newspapers and magazines and is pitched as a Christmas gift.  The twenty six week price is NZ$119.60 and the one year price is $239.20.  I don’t know the NZ market well enough to comment on the financial value to the consumer or the cost to the distribution business.

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marketing

Great newspaper Christmas gift

momentsinhist.JPGAt Auckland airport this afternoon I saw this in one of the newsstands – Great Moments in History.  It’s a collection of New Zealand newspaper front pages.  It’s a great Christmas gift which I am sure we could sell in Australian newsagencies.  I’d certainly give it a crack at Christmas or for Father’s Day.  It should be cheap to produce and therefore have a better margin than newspapers.

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Newspapers

Confusion around Fairfax bumper editions

Circulation departments at Fairfax are confused about the company’s plans for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age over Christmas / New Year.   People from Tower Systems have made eight calls to Fairfax in pursuit of consistent advice on their plans.  The original advice supplied to newsagents indicated that there were several bumper editions for the SMH and The Age.  Several Fairfaax circulation people we spoke with did not know anything about the plans.   

The Tower Systems research has uncovered that there are no bumper editions – in the sense of what bumper editions have come to mean in Australia.  The only change is a temporary price increase to the price of the Friday paper, to the Saturday paper price.  This will lead to anger from both home delivery customer and full freight home delivery customer who will be forced to pay the higher price on the Friday.

Fairfax will complain about this blog post saying here I am criticising them unfairly again.  The reality is that Fairfax had it is its capacity to resolve these issues through consistent professional advice provided weeks in advance of any change. 

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Newsagency challenges

Magazine reading banned

no_reading.JPGI heard about the sign before I read it.  A staff member called out to a browser from behind the counter.  No reading, look at the sign she barked. I looked up from across the aisle as did several others.  Sure ,the sign was there.  Two customers put down magazines and walked out, others muttered about customer service. 

Browsing is important for magazine sales.  Sure, there are people who abuse this.  Many do not and end up buying magazines they have browsed.  I don’t want any barriers between browsers and a purchase.  Signs like the one in the photo turn people off.

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magazines

Music with greeting cards

The new Cardplai offer which is being launched exclusively to newsagents through our Tower Systems eziPass software is ready for newsagents to sign up in advance of the February 2009 launch.  Go to their website to see the details.  The Cardplai cards is exclusive to newsagents and launched with a solid advertising campaign promoting newsagents.

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Greeting Cards

Promoting phonecards as Christmas gifts

aussie_register.JPGWe are promoting the Aussie and Earlybird phonecards as Christmas gifts at each of our registers with this small sign.  Giving someone conversations with family and friends overseas or interstate is a good gift.  For the customer it is a different gift and easy to wrap.  For us there is no stock cost and good margin.  The artwork for these signs can be downloaded free here.

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phone recharge

Last chance promotion

street_mach.JPGThe photo shows the display browsers at our newsXpress Forest Hill store see as they leave our men’s magazines aisle. 

This week we feature a Street Machine promotion.  The stand is from ACP – the front is their basket builder – so we always promote ACP titles here.  We are having good success using this as an aisle exit display – a last chance to buy display. If we move the magazine to another place we will choose titles based the type of customer most likely to walk past.

In the middle of the display is a shelf with product for easy purchase.

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magazines

Magazine gifts

magazine_gifts.JPGThankfully, not all magazine publishers think the best gift to entice customers is an old copy of the same magazine.  Right now on newsagent shelves we a good range of gifts available – sunglasses, a belt, a calendar, a bag, lipstick, a camping planner and, the best value gift of them all, a t-shirt.  While the gifts are a challenge to display sometimes, they are an important part of the fix for the titles which carry them and for us.  In our own stores we actively promote the gifts, as we should.

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magazines

N-Stock USB deal duds newsagents

N-Stock, the VANA / ANF stationery business, is promoting 2GB USB Wrist Bracelets for $10.25 on a buy three and get your fourth for free deal.  As one savvy newsagent emailed me – you can find 4GB USB Wrist Bracelets for $5.90 retail.  Associations have no role in running a stationery business.  VANA should not have gone into this business using member funds without member approval.  This latest offer is proof of why buying should be left to professionals.

The credibility of VANA and the ANF in representing newsagents to suppliers on matters of price are compromised by this evidence of their lack of commercial skill.

I know this blog post will frustrate Directors of VANA and the ANF.  If they had stuck with running their respective associations as associations then the problem I have described would not exist.  Their decision to go into this N-Stock stationery business is what has caused the problem here, not me.

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Newsagency challenges

Teacher gift season

teacher_gifts.JPGWe have done good business these past couple of weeks in teacher gifts – desk calendars, photo frames, figurines, books and charms.  These gifts along with cards have sold well.  The photo shows one of the desk calendars we carry and a beautifully packaged glass apple – ideal for a female teacher.  While the end of the school year is not as big as the start, it is a nice boost since not many retailers play well in this space.  I like that a teacher gifts promotion combines departments.

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Gifts

Great gifts for AFL and Tennis fans

afl_tennis1.JPGWe are promoting the Australian Open Tennis program and the AFL 2009 Official Fixture above our newspapers as they are products which most customers will not come in to purchase.  Both are good Christmas gifts – hence our decison to use newspaper trafffic for the add-on sale. 

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magazines

Drift Central wasting space and cash

drift_central.JPGDrift Central fails in our newsagency.  It has done for the last two years.  Not one copy sold.  The distributor continues sending stock.  No wonder newsagents throw their hands up in the air and scream sometimes.  The cash and space Drift Central takes reduces cash and space for more profitable activity in my newsagency and, I am sure, hundreds of others.  The sooner we collectively flex our muscles on magazines like this the better. 

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magazines

Seismic shift in US newspaper home delivery

The reports of a change in home delivery arrangements for two newspapers in detroit have proved to be accurate.  The Detroit News overnight announced details of their new newspaper home delivery model.  I say this is a seismic shift because it will result in more newspaper publishers thinking outside the square.  For example, if it works in detroit (or even looks like it might work) others will follow.

The US home delivery model is quite different to here.  Publishers carry considerably more of the costs and penetration (efficiency) is not as good as we see in Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide – three strong cities for home delivery.  That said, I am sure that bean counters within newspaper publishers are watching the action in Detroit intently.

Home delivery of newspapers has a high cost.  Just ask most newsagents who receive no clip from advertising.  Now is the time for people representing newsagents to be on the front foot, considering Detroit and other models which may be more appropriate for newsagents and publishers in providing a home delivery service.

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Newsagency challenges

The wrap wall driving wrap sales

wrapwall.JPGClick on the photo to see a larger version of an experimental wall of Hallmark packaging options.  While still a work in progress, the customer reaction we have seen is positive, especially with purchases of wrap or a bag and other wrap related items. 

Gift packaging, like everything in retail, needs to keep changing if we are to break through store blindness.  Newsagents have a much lower share of gift packaging sales than we have of greeting card sales.  This is, in part, due to poor location and poor display.  This wall, at the front of the shop and as a lead in to the card department is boosting sales.

Like all good fixturing today, the wall can be easily reconfigured both for current use and to handle other product categories.

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giftwrap

Newsagents advised to resign from the ANF

The QNF has warned newsagents who have ceased paying their ANF membership fees to write a resignation letter to the ANF. They published this advice after finding around twenty newsagents who had stopped paying thinking that was all they had to do to resign. The QNF has advised newsagents that the ANF may charge non financial members for the period until they receive their resignation in writing. By resigning, the ANF will have a more accurate membership base and therefore be better able to quaote accurate representation numbers to companies they pitch to and government bodies they engage with.

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Newsagency challenges

The old wave wall

old_wave.JPGIt will be good to see the last of this awful old wave style wall of magazines at our Frankston newsagency.  It treats product poorly and does not offer the flexibility necessary in modern retailing.  Unfortunately, some shopfitters think the old wave wall still represents good design.  I have seen plans recently which included one of these wave walls.  The better alternative is slatwall or some other frame system into which flexible magazine fixturing can be clipped – and moved as time requires.  While they may look attractive when stocked with fresh stock, after a couple of days in an air conditioned environment gravity makes the products look shabby.

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Newsagency challenges

Displaying magazines

I am often asked about magazines we carry and how they are laid out in our magazine department. I have put together a slide show of photos taken insequence down each of our magazine aisles.

Nx Fhill Mags Dec08

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

We have magazines elsewhere in the shop as well as feature displays. The photos in this slide show only cover the core magazine department.

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magazines

The lazy newspaper publisher

Click here to download a copy of the announcement which Fairfax has provided to newsagents regarding bumper editions and other requirements over Christmas.  Well not Christmas actually – this weekend is a usual weekend yet they have gone for a bumper edition.  While newsagent software easily handles all of this, newsagents at the counter cop flack for charging $2.30 for the SMH this Friday and Saturday when it is, in the main, the same paper.

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Newsagency challenges

And now for the deals

At this time every year suppliers offer end of line, end of year deals.  Some deals are exceptional – 70%, 80% and sometimes even 90% off usual wholesale prices.  The buying opportunity is excellent and smart newsagents set themselves up for a profitable post Christmas season.  Most suppliers only offer the deals to newsagents who support them.  Some suppliers only offer such deals through marketing groups.

That such exceptional discounts are available from time to time is another reason to deal with certain suppliers.  The ABC Christmas CDs I blogged about a week back are a good example.  We paid $1.50 and sell them for $4.95.  One customer bought 50 on the weekend – amazed at the low price we offered.

Setting yourself up for these buying opportunities depends on your buying relationships through the year and your connections – i.e. marketing groups or group buying with colleague newsagents.

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retail

Winning Optus customers back

Losing Optus mobile phone recharge hurt newsagents when Bill Express and associated entities collapsed.  Even though Optus has been back online through our registers for three months we are still winning back some customer we lost.  The slow process of winning these formerly loyal customers is a reminder of the cost of losing customers if you are out of stock of a popular item.

Optus is a good friend to newsagents, an important traffic generator.  We respect this by making selling of Optus recharge fast, easy and accurate.  This is what helps bring customers back to us after problems like those caused by the collapse of Bill Express

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Bill Express

New Intralot TVC

The folks at Intralot last week launched three new TV commercials.  They grew out of feedback from Intralot outlets including some correspondents here.  The new TV commercials have been loaded to You Tube here, here and here.  They promote Intralot retailers as the go to place – i.e. not online.

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Lotteries

Stuck on The Age

age_dec15.JPGOn some copies of The Age today the coat of arms was completely covered by the post it type ad stuck on the front cover of the newspaper.  Why not remove the masthead altogether and have an ad permanently embedded in the masthead?  I am regularly asked by journalism, marketing and other students about these ads stuck on the mastheads of Fairfax newpapers.  I will keep publishing photos when I notice the ads if only to record the damage to great brands.

 

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newspaper masthead desecration

US newspaper to cut home delivery?

Two newspaprs in Detroit are reportedly looking at cutting home delivery to a few days a week.  There are close to 400 stories online about this, just the prospect is sending shockwaves through newspapers and those connected with their distribution in the US.  Just the prospect of the plan, which does appear to have some meat to it, is enough to make a business connected to newspaper home delivery in the US have concern. 

I don’t see any logic in a plan to cut home delivery days.  It says the print model is in trouble and shrinking. It would push newspapers into a spiral they would find it hard to exit.  The better alternative in tough times is to beef up home delivery:  make it more valuable and deliver a truly differentiating product.

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Media disruption
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