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

Month: February 2009

Monkey business for Valentine’s Day

frank_monkey.JPGOur team at Frankston has come up with a range of gift packs for Valentine’s Day. The one which intrigues me the most is the Monkey Business pack. Inside there are a couple of monkeys and a bottle of passion massage oil. Their goal in using themes with the packs and giving them a name is to bring some theatre to the occasion. Looking at the display as a shopper it works. All ages and situations are covered – usually with humor. The real test, of course, is in the sales. So far, so good.  Today is the real test for Valentine’s Day because it is with the last minute shoppers that you can do very well.

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Gifts

Stimulus package will help newsagents

In addition to the benefits you are likely to feel at the cash register from the passing today of the Federal Government stimulus package, the 30% investment allowance in the package means that if you spend money on capital improvement in your business in the next four and half months you can access a 30% investment allowance.

Tower Systems is adding value to the investment allowance offer with its own bonus package which includes an additional six months of support, free bonus training and package system prices at 2008 rates – before our dollar collapsed and drove hardware prices up.  We are also using our in hous accounting team to ensure that our offers are packages to achieve the best outcome for Tower newsagents.

With more than 1,500 newsagents partnering with Tower Systems today, we are well placed to help even more newsagents save time and improve business efficiency.

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newsagent software

Comprehensive software training for newsagents

Tower Systems yesterday announced a comprehensive schdule of free online training for newsagents using its point of sale software.  There are several new training programs including help for all the POS Solutions users transitioning to Tower.  Online training is free.  It is time friendly – do it at the shop or at home – and easy for staff to do without travel costs. Here is the schedule for the next two months:

  • 19/02/2009 11am Magazine Management Workshop
  • 19/02/2009 2pm Retail Stock Management – Configuration & Maintenance
  • 24/02/2009 11am Retail Stock Management – Reordering
  • 24/02/2009 2pm Magazine Management Workshop
  • 26/02/2009 11am Home Deliveries and Customer Management
  • 26/02/2009 2pm Magazine Management Workshop
  • 3/03/2009 11am Former POS Solutions Users – Helping Ease the Transition
  • 3/03/2009 2pm Point Of Sale Training
  • 5/03/2009 11am Magazine Management Workshop
  • 5/03/2009 2pm Home Deliveries and Customer Management
  • 12/03/2009 11am Point Of Sale Training
  • 12/03/2009 2pm Retail Stock Management – Configuration & Maintenance
  • 17/03/2009 11am Retail Stock Management – Reordering
  • 17/03/2009 2pm Magazine Management Workshop
  • 19/03/2009 11am Retailer Security
  • 19/03/2009 2pm Point Of Sale Training
  • 24/03/2009 11am Magazine Management Workshop
  • 24/03/2009 2pm Former POS Solutions Users – Helping Ease the Transition
  • 26/03/2009 11am Home Deliveries and Customer Management
  • 26/03/2009 2pm Putaway Management
  • 31/03/2009 11am Magazine Management Workshop
  • 31/03/2009 2pm Retail Stock Management – Configuration & Maintenance
  • 2/04/2009 11am Retail Stock Management – Reordering
  • 2/04/2009 2pm Point Of Sale Training

I am proud that Tower continues to innovate in delivering valuable training for newsagents.  It is this commitment which helps Tower Newsagents be the most IT compliant group of newsagents in Australia.

To book for any of the free online training sessions please go to the Tower website, select support and click on user training.

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Customer Service

Suppliers and engaging with newsagents

In between the newsagency management workshops I am involved with this week (off to Perth today), I have participated in several meetings with national suppliers to newsagents. I am fortunate to be able to do this often. In each meeting there has been mention of the challenges of engaging with newsagents. It usually starts with concerns about newsagent uptake of a promotion and that leads to a discussion about how the supplier engages.

Newsagents receive many communications from suppliers each day in the form of emails phone calls, letters and faxes. Way too many to be manageable an average size newsagency yet each sender expects the newsagent to read the communication and fully engage.  More than half the communications I see are inefficient and unclear in terms of the actions they expect from newsagents.  These are key factors in poor uptake.

I’d encourage suppliers who read this blog to look carefully at their communications with newsagents and consider:

  • Is the communication genuinely important? If not then don’t sent it.
  • Is there a commercial imperative for the newsagent? If not then reconsider sending the communication.
  • What is the outcome you want from the communication? Is this clear? If not, make it clear.  Edit.
  • Can the newsagent respond efficiently? Or are there forms to complete, details to other which will take time or other barriers to the action you wanted being taken?  Time you waste is time lost.

I see many communications from suppliers which are unclear in their goal and inefficient. Some judicious editing could help newsagent save time and improve outcomes for suppliers in terms of responses.

We are a time poor channel so suppliers please respect this, make communication more efficient and help us save time in working with you.

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Newsagency challenges

Entering the Valentine’s Day zone

fhn_val_entrance.JPGMy understanding is that males are more likely to buy a card from a newsagency than other outlets. We are trying to tap into this at Forest Hill by bringing Valentine’s Day cards right to the front of the shop, at the lease line. Rather than scare the guys off with too much tizz, this part of our Valentine’s offer is about the product and not wanting to overwhelm them. This approach has worked well for us before in the last week when around 85% of Valentine’s purchases are made.

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Greeting Cards

POS Solutions to get Cardplai

After bagging the Cardplai service and how my software company has gone about facilitating getting Cardplai to newsagents, POS Solutions is about to get their private wish and have Cardplai available for the 600 or so newsagents using POS. Watch for the change in public statements from the company about Cardplai. Their complaints were about being passed over as an IT platform for a another supplier’s new product launch.

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newsagent software

Bushfire donation stories

Feedback from my two newsagencies and four gift shops is that customers are thrilled to support our collection of change for the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal.  We are doing this as part of the newsXpress initiative announced Monday.  The notice we have with the collection container is that donations are best made direct to the Red Cross.  Even tough we are only asking for loose change, customers are leaving notes.  The generosity is wonderful to see.

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Social responsibility

Notice to newsagents: Bill Express and BOPO are dead!

bopoad_screen.jpgCheck out this photo from a newsagency in New South Wales.  The Bill Express screen is still up and turned on and running an ad for the dead BOPO prepaid Visa card.  No wonder we are considered a has-been retail channel by some suppliers.

If you have a Bill Express screen take it down or play other content.  Do not advertise BOPO because that makes you and all who share your shingle look bad.

We really are our own worst enemy sometimes.

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Bill Express

US Magazine sales fall 11%

US magazine retail sales fell 11% in the second half of 2008.  The same period a year earlier saw a 0.2% drop.  See the Wall Street Journal report on this.  Also check our Erik Sass’ report at Media Post for more an industry analysis.

The bottom line here is that magazine sales in the US took a considerable hit in the second half of 2008.  Magazines are not the recession proof category they have been before.

I think we will see similar numbers here in Australia.

Now, mroe than ever, newsagents need to engage smart strategies to protect their magazine business.  While consumers are spending less on the category, we have the capacity to pull business from non magazine specialists.  We do this by being the specialists not only in range but in display and, most important, value proposition.

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magazines

Dialogue with Universal Magazines

In October 29, 2008 I asked Is it time to Kill off Universal Magazines?  I wrote this in frustration about my inability to control the supply of product from Universal Magazines. After years of getting nowhere with suppliers on achieving an equitable supply arrangement for I felt I had to strike out and bring the supply model issue to a head. That morning, Universal was on my mind because of what I saw in my shop.

A couple of weeks ago I met with senior executives of Universal.  This was a good business discussion around the challenges from both sides and how the magazine distribution model is a real barrier to publishers and to newsagents.

In the months since the initial blog post, Universal executives have dug deep into the magazine supply model to understand why I and other newsagents who commenter to the post were so angry. The result of their investigation and reflection is improvements to processes and around the supply of their titles which did not exist last year.

From my own face to face discussions with the folks at Universal I also understand more about their goals. Interestingly, we agree on many discussion points. It is the magazine supply model between their business and my newsagency (and newsagencies around Australia) which is the barrier to an idyllic relationship.
magazine distributors lept to the defence of Universal quickly in October last year. The issue underscoring the blog post was their performance and decisions they make and not so much about Universal – it is breathtaking that they did not out their role in the problems at the time.

Hopefully, over the next few months, progress will be made on the model so that independent publishers and Australian newsagents can achieve a more mutually beneficial and rewarding relationship.

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magazine distribution

Magazines, Google and living in a 24/7 world

Magazine Publishers of America has announced that they are partnering with Google to host “Magazines 24/7: Google Day NY”. Here are details from the MPA blog:

Google team leaders will discuss digital strategies for magazine publishers to improve websites and build audiences. Topics include: how to maximize revenue with your website; growing your digital audience; and new opportunities for selling subscriptions online. We’ll announce more specifics on the May 14 event in the coming weeks, but it’s free to the first 200 people from MPA-member companies who sign up for the March 3 “Magazines 24/7” conference.

This event is a companion to the MPA conference being held in New York at the same time.  The is considerable work being done within US magazine publishing houses to leverage online opportunities.  Newsagents risk finding out about this activity and impact late in the day.  This is another reason we need flexible shopfits.

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magazine distribution

Smart ways to grow your newsagency

bne_workshop.JPGThe KICK START YOUR NEWSAGENCY management workshops I am involved with are in full swing. Yesterday in Brisbane we had a good discussion about our all important point of difference and again today in Sydney. It is good to see newsagents so passionate about ways in which they make their business stand out – some have flown into town to participate.  Like all workshops, this one will evolve as I get around the country this week. The details for Canberra, Adelaide and Perth, the remaining locations in this initial cycle are:

  • Canberra. Wednesday Feb. 11 at 6pm. Rydges Capital Hill. Cnr Canberra Ave & National Cct Forrest. Undercover Parking Available.
  • Adelaide. Thursday Feb. 12 at 10am. Rydges Southpark. 1 South Terrace Adelaide. Parking Available.
  • Perth. Friday Feb. 13 at 10am. Holiday Inn.  Burswood.  Parking Available.

    • If you would like to come and join the conversation about growing newsagencies feel free to drop in.

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    Newsagency management

    Newsagency closes and helps other newsagents

    dsc06234.JPGThe newsagency I have written about a couple of times (here and here) when they closed for lunch and closed for a week has closed for good.  While it’s disappointing to see a newsagency close, it is good to see a sub standard operator get out of the business and therefore stop pulling the rest of us down.  I was a regular in this shop and it frustrated me to see empty shelves and to experience mediocre customer service.  Some Victorians will recognise the shingle – the Logo brand was local to Victoria years ago but has not been in use since the mid 1990s.

    The presentation of this newsagency over the last couple of years was one reason I wrote here that the shingle newsagency is of little use any more.  Why would I want my newsagency to be considered part of a retail network with businesses like this?  This is why other retail brands in our channel are getting stronger and why, I suspect, they will refer to themselves less as newsagents and more just by their brand name.

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    newsagency marketing

    Publishers miss out by not letting newsagents choose magazines

    frank_green_power.JPGFollowing some discussion here, I have been taking more notice of titles I get in one newsagency and not another.  Take Green Power Today.  Had I known this was available I might have put my hand up to give it a go because I like the idea of an environmental segment.   Gotch is good at letting us know about new titles.  The other two magazine distributors are not so good.  Maybe more visibility of what is available would see newsagents being proactive at building segments and categories or magazines.  The challenge with that approach that it would need to come with the ability to more easily remove (permanently) titles from distribution and there is the problem for the distributors.

    As for Green Power Today, while I would have liked to try the title, please don’t send it NDD.

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    magazine distribution

    Supporting the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal

    newsXpress announced to its member newsagents yesterday that it was in discussion with the Red Cross about the best way it could support its Bushfire relief Appeal.  Through a series of discussions and following many calls from similarly concerned organisations, the Red Cross has asked newsXpress to promote donations being made direct to the Red Cross.  newsXpress has provided its members with material explaining to customers where and how to donate directly as well as inviting them to leave change which newsXpress newsagents will donate direct to the Red Cross bushfire appeal.  Here is a copy of one of the counter notices provided to inform customers in newsXpress newsagencies:

    nx_bushfire.jpg

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    Social responsibility

    Dressing for the OzLotto $40 million

    oz40_dress.JPGElizabeth Beach from Nextra Royal Brisbane Hospital sure knows how to dress for impact. The photo shows how Elizabeth was dressed today to promote tickets in the $40 million jackpot tonight.

    As Elizabeth explained to the newsagent’s workshop I was presenting in Brisbane today, dressing like this sells to customers and it engages with them – helping them to enjoy shopping with you.

    Elizabeth tells me that every day she dresses to connect with the customers and therefore the business. Customers come in daily just to see what she has on. What a fantastic point of difference for the business!

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    newsagency marketing

    Newspapers shine

    Newspapers across Australia are demonstrating today the important role they play through thoughtful coverage of the Victorian bushfire disaster. While online outlets have more immediate news, The Age and the Herald Sun provide a level of analysis of the events which showcases the difference of the medium.

    I was at the airport today and saw someone checking a news website on their laptop, the person next to them using their iPhone (not sure what for) and a third person reading the Herald Sun. Maybe I am biased but I suspect the newspaper reader will have a better perspective of the event thanks to the analysis and scope of coverage so easily through print as opposed to other mediums.

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    Media disruption

    WWGD: What Would Google Do?

    wwgd.jpgI’ve just read What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis and published by Harper Collins. I got my copy direct from Amazon where I ordered it six weeks ago. How I ordered the book is important because it is, in part what WWGD About – how business has changed and how consumers are more in control than ever. Whereas years ago I’d have heard about the book and had to wait at my local bookstore, now friends who buy books I like at Amazon can alert me to this and other titles, friend I never knew I had.

    What Would Google Do? is not about Google at all. It is about disruption brought about by technology intersecting with and driving consumer demand where one is more powerful than ever before. It is about conversations rather than sermons, connections rather than advertising. Being part of the story more so than just consuming the story.

    This is a book full of ideas for Australian newsagents because it challenges us to break free from a business model created more than 100 years ago and to pursue a model relevant to today.  There are excellent examples of how to Google thinking to bricks and mortar businesses like ours.  His comments about the music industry apply to us and some core products we sell in our 4,600 retail stores.

    For another perspective of the relevance of the book check out the interview Jarvis with with Newsweek. Also read Jeff Jarvis’ views (published in Business Week) on how the Google approach to business could help US auto companies.

    Jarvis and his publisher are demonstrating how to stretch a traditional model with the release this week of a video book version.

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    Media disruption

    Promoting Australian Good Food with a free timer

    fhn_good_food.JPGSince Super Food Ideas sold out when it had a free timer a couple of weeks ago we figured it is worth pitching the latest issue of Australian Good Food magazine at our prime counter position – with the free kitchen timer. This is a real test for Australian Good Food in our newsagency as it is struggling to find an audience. After a good start, sales have slowed. We will leave this display up at our counter all week.

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    magazines

    Selling Underbelly, A Tale of Two Cities

    underbelly.JPGWe have Underbelly A Tale of Two Cities on our shelves for $17.95.  We have priced the book to be within reach of the Coles price.

    While we would prefer a higher margin, we are happy to see it sell and for our business to be seen as being a reasonably comeptitive on price for such a popular product.

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    Book retailing

    Foreign language newspapers connect with the community

    neos_fires.JPGToday’s issue of Greek newspaper Neos Kosmos illustrates the community connection a good foreign language newspaper can have with the local community.  The Victorian bushfire story dominates.  Il Globo also provides excellent coverage of the story for the Italian community.  In our newsagency these titles are as important in terms of sales and customer loyalty as The Australian and the Australian Financial Review.

    As I write here often, niche newspapers, like foreign language newspapers, an important segment of the newspaper category in newsagencies.  Their sales returns are bucking the trend of capital city dailies.

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    Newspapers

    The cost benefit of quitting paper for digital for newpapers

    Nicholas Carlson writing at Silicon Alley Insider asks whether the New York Times would be better off giving all subscribers an Amazon Kindle to receive the newspaper electronically rather than a print edition.  Fast Company picked up the story and summarised the numbers:

    And then there’s the math: From the NYT’s financial report, production costs in terms of raw materials and wages/benefits tally around $844 million a year. Carlson has info suggesting the newsroom costs total around $200 million a year, meaning it costs some $644 million to print and distribute the physical newspaper.

    The Times reportedly has 830,000 subscribers. A Kindle costs $359. Thus distributing a free Kindle to each subscriber would cost about $298 million.

    This example illustrates the perfect storm scenario for Australian newsagents who handle newspaper home delivery.  Not that a publisher would give away the Kindle (it does not work here in Australia anyway) but rather that the numbers for a completely different distribution channel are so compelling.

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    Media disruption

    Lottery Valentines Day jackpot

    tatts_valentines.JPGIt is good to see Tattersalls try different marketing tools – they have sent pads of post-it type notes promoting the Valentine’s Day $14 million draw.  While we are putting these to good use, I’d like a way included to draws customers back here.

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    Lotteries
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