Given the interest here in my EDI post from two days ago, click here for a copy of the ten-page EDI compliance document being provided by Tower Systems at the national EDI / XchangeIT compliance training workshops currently being delivered to 1,600 Tower Newsagents nationally.
While parts of the document are Tower Systems specific,there is sufficient general content to be of help to non-Tower newsagents.
We are playing in the jigsaw puzzle space at Forest Hill and early sales are very good. Our team has selected puzzles based on successes from our calendar range. The Planet Zoo range looks great! Each features an appealing image. There is a social responsibility connection – a portion of each sale is donated to a wildlife organisation by the folks at Planet Zoo.
We find calendar sales are an excellent resource when looking at other parts of the business for opportunities. They demonstrate popular interests – as do magazines.
While we’re not about retire on the sales of puzzles, they are extending the focus of our business and helping achieve gift purchases from our customers which would otherwise have been satisfied elsewhere.
Issue 2 of the Combat Tank Collection partwork went on sale yesterday. Newsagents I have spoken with are chasing back copies of part 1 to satisfy special orders. This series is surpassing expectations from what I can see – a welcome outcome in an otherwise lean year for partworks. The supply model for partworks, while better than years ago, still has a way to go if publishers, distributors and newsagents want to achieve the maximum sell-through.
With swine flu significantly impacting at us at our Epping Plaza location in Victoria – McDonalds around the corner from us was closed for most of the day – I thought I’d share the simple steps we are taking for peace of mind of our team and of our customers:
We are not alarmed, just cautious and keen to show our customers this. The Victorian Government Health website has more information.
This is the same centre which pulls some customers from communities impacted by the bushfires earlier this year.
Crikey today published a story by Alex Mitchell about newsagent interest in purchasing a stake in NSW Lotteries. I mentioned this on May 1 when NANA, the NSW Newsagent’s Association wrote to members announcing its intention. The Crikey story has some interesting points:
Newsagencies in NSW have been complaining loudly about the forthcoming privatization of NSW Lotteries because of the impact on their revenue streams and the value of their businesses.
So they’ve decided to put in a bid themselves.
On Friday the Newsagents’ Association of NSW and ACT Ltd has a meeting with Treasurer Eric Roozendaal, former general secretary of the NSW Labor Party, who is leading the privatization push.
Under the bank-backed newsagents’ proposal, the government would retain a majority 51 per cent shareholding and the association the other 49 per cent.
Whether this gets up or not, it is goot to see newsagents taking a yes we can approach to such a challenge.
We bumped the Family Circle promotion from our premiun front counter location to make way for That’s Life and the free MasterFoods pack which comes with each issue. This was an opportunity too good to pass up. The free gift is excellent value. We expect it to work very well with our demographic. We will re-position Family Circle next week or when, hopefully, That’s Life sells out. Given the shape of the MasterFoods gift it was a challenge to display the product in our usual way so we have adopted the simple stack approach.
Annette Sym graces the cover of the latest issue of Christine’s BIG Crossword from Lovatts. Annette’s Symply Too Good Cookbooks have been sold in newsagencies for years. We are promoting BIG and Annette’s books at the end of our busiest magazine aisle. We also have BIG in the crossword section and in a pocket on the display near our main lottery counter. Click on the image to see a larger version of the photo. We were fortunate to have Annette at our store for a demonstration a few years back – she was very popular with our customers.
The median age of magazine readers in the US has risen greater than the population accoring to research just published in the US.
Since 2001, 64 out of 90 leading consumer magazines have seen the median age of their readers increase faster than the population at large, according to a MediaPost analysis of the latest figures from Mediamark Research and Intelligence. The analysis, based on MRI’s spring 2009 measurements, confirms the continuation of a long-term trend previously observed in 2006-2008.
This generational shift is seen in our newsagencies every day. It is why some newsagents are experimenting reconfiguring their businesses to appeal to a younger demographic.
It seems that every day there is another online business offering direct to consumer magazine subscriptions of digital versions of print product. Exact Editions is a free iPhone application which lets you read the print content exactly as designed. There are some who prefer this to the designed for digital approach. While they don’t offer a feast of titles yet, the range will grow as more iPhone users experience their interface.
Newsagents are being offered free software by a couple of software companies. In one case, the system being offered for ‘free’ today cost the same a couple of months ago. They have reconfigured how this is invoiced to improve the tax situation. They are also charging for the software annually – if you don’t pay, access to the software stops and you lose access to your data.
Another company is giving away their software but charging hefty fees for training, support and plenty of essential add-ons. They also have a mandatory annual fee which, if not paid, blocks access to your business data.
Take care, research the costs, get the total cost of ownership for three to five years in writing. Beware of free claims as you want to deal with a company which has a business model beyond the next sale.
There are reports that Playboy, the magazine, the company, the lot, is up for sale and that Virgin in the UK is considering a bid. The story here for newsagents is the shift in how consumers access entertainment. There was a time when publishers said consumers liked the flexibility of being able to access content anywhere and at any time and that print ‘owned’ this flexibility. Now, a few years on, devices like the iPhone provide access to content where people want. The disruption by these devices is, in part, what is challenging Playboy.
We face similar disruption in our model.
We have had our own small warehouse a few doors down from our head office since late last year. With three newsagencies and four card and gift shops to serve, the warehouse is making it easier for us to buy as a group and better manage stock. Instead of holding stock at the stores, most of it is held at the warehouse. This means we are spending less on our overall stock holding. It also means we are spending less time in each retail location managing stock.
While we have some kinks to iron out of our model, it is developing well.
I watched the 7.30 Report story on ABC1 tonight on the future of newspapers and was left wanting more. It presented the situation and provided background but did not canvas in any detail the future. It gave too much time to print connected people. That said, I guess for many viewers the report was news. It will be interesting to see ff it generates questions tomorrow.
I would have preferred to see a more detailed piece: history – the collapse of classified revenue which is shaking the print model overseas and here to its core; the ripple impact of that collapse – newsagents, advertisers etc; and, the future – the opportunities to embrace change and redefine how we as a society create our own checks and balances independent of government funding to monitor those who lead us. The future is where I’d like to see most time spent.
I’d like to see greater exploration of these issues. I am concerned that we will call for this when it is too late and change well advanced. Now is the time for us to embrace change and escalate this.
It was interesting to watch the story on Foreign Correspondent about Detroit and General Motors which followed the 7.30 Report. It complimented the newspaper story. While they focus in the US on rebuilding the auto industry, some say they should focus on the opportunity of change. We need to do the same in our newsagencies.
UPDATE: You can access the 7.30 report story here.
Quentin Long, Managing Director of Australia Traveller magazine, has been true to his word in comments at this blog. He has provided newsagents who opted-in with marketing collateral and information to help drive sales of the next issue of Australian Traveller which goes on sale tomorrow. We were advised Monday that the collateral had been posted. This came in an email with a copy of the cover and additional helpful information about features in the issue: Time To Go Outback; The Amazing Expriences of the Outback;Bob Brown What’s He Fighting For? A portfolio of the Senator’s own photos of Tasmania; The 20 Best Tours in Australia; and,Melbourne Laneways. Knowing this is useful if an opportunity presents when talking with a customer – it helps us act like magazine specialists.
Quentin is to be commended for his engagement with newsagents through this place and elsewhere/.
News Limited is using its free daily newspaper, mX, to promote sales of the Herald Sun here in Melbourne. All this week, mX is publishing a coupon which entitles the bearer to redeem the Saturday Herald Sun for $1.00 this Satruday, May 30. I like this offer and the use of the free newspaper to drive sales of the paid product. Newsagents are being reimbursed at full value by the publisher.
I have been contacted by HK Consultants and asked to comment about Negotiating Your Payrise, a 2 CD Audio Course they have on offer. They would like to place it in newsagencies for sale. It’s RRP is $19.95. Of the $18.14 (ex GST), HK will bill the newsagency $9.06 ex GST, leaving with $9.08 (ex GST) for each unit sold. Click here for a flyer.
I advised that I was not sure how the Negotiating Your Payrise would go in newsagencies in that it would need to be at the counter given the price and given that it would not easily fit into any department in a newsagency. I can see it working well in some newsagencies and not so well in others. This is why distribution through a magazine distributor would not be ideal.
I suggested I blog about it here so that newsagents could provide direct feedback. The folks at HK agreed. I am pleased for the blog to be used in this way – for suppliers to ask about whether newsagents are interested in a product.
Supply enquiries should be directed to Drew Okawa email: drew@hkconsultants.com.au.
Disclosure: I have no commercial arrangement with this company.
A colleague was shocked to see the hand-written returns coding on magazines on the shelves of a newsagency he visited last week. The image is from the cover of Computer Music. It shows it as a Week 25 return and having a price of $19.95. Imagine the time this business must be wasting on hand writing details on magazines and hand processing returns. They have no stock control as sales are rung up on a cash register. Talk about living in the dark ages. I am disappointed that the magazine distributors let them get away with this.
At our newsXpress Watergardens store the team takes a different, more corporate, approach to magazine displays. There isn’t the usual space in-store for the traditional magazine displays. The photo shows their treatment of Family Circle which went on-sale yesterday. This is a warmer, more professional, display than what I published here yesterday. Given its location, at the front of the shop and on view to all who pass by the business, it is appropriate for drawing people not inside the shop to consider purchasing the title. Magazine sales are growing at Watergardens thanks, in part, to these creative displays and their appeal to shoppers.
We are not good with upselling across the counter in newsagencies. For whatever reason, we don’t offer a couple of chocolate bars as they do in petrol outlets. I think that our reluctance has to do with newsagents themselves feeling uncomfortable in making such a pitch and therefore not being prepared to ask employees to do this.
I was talking with someone last week who worked in a petrol outlet. The requirement was not negotiable. While he did not enjoy it, his view was that it was good for business and that was good for his job. His most interesting perspective was to do with product selection. Petrol outlets focus on guilty pleasures and small personal items – easy decisions to make.
We have excellent traffic in our stores that we are not leveraging to maximum value. In addition to passive impulse offers at the counter, we need to develop a consistent approach to pitching an offer, measuing the success and revising this accordingly. The extra revenue is better off in our business than a petrol outlet.
While the display in the photo (click the image for a larger version) is not ideal, it is a start at promoting men’s lifestyle titles outside of their usual separate locations in the newsagency. I blogged about our broader plans last week. Our thinking behind placing them in this display with TV Week and two columns of women’s weeklies is that they draw the eyeballs which will hopefully wander to the men’s titles and result in add-on sales. It’s a start.
We are promoting the Winter edition of Family Circle at the counter this week. It earns this place based on the sales performance of the last two issues in this same location. We also have Family Circle with our weeklies and in our food section.
The $5.95 price point makes it an easy impulse purchase decision.
We have high expectations for this counter position. Delicious in this same location was not as successful as we had hoped – hence the decision to replace it this morning with Family Circle.
It is interesting to see the mix of newspapers now available on the Amazon Kindle reader, especially the overseas titles. When the Kindle, or something like it, does arrive here, the impact will be felt faster than in the US because we will go straight to third or fourth generation technology.
We have our Financial Year Diaries on sale on our dance floor, toward the front of the shop – between our newspaper stand and our counter. While we have regular customers who deliver good Financial Year Diary business, we are chasing the customer who has not come in with a Financial Year Diary purchase as their goal for the day. Our range, while not extensive, is good in terms of our demographic and what our sales history shows as working for us. We will move this display as we get closer to the end of June and depending on sales.
We have brought in a range of pencils, notebooks and other items with excellent green credentials. The pencils are made using recycled newspapers. The paper in the notebooks is made from sugarcane pulp. The manufacturer uses wasted pulp, a by product of sugarcane, to produce the paper in the notebooks.
The design of each item is stunning – making them visually appealing – there are themes to the designs. The wildlife pencils are especially appealing for kids. There are plenty of designs which appeal to adults.
These products fit an important space in which newsagents ought to have more of a presence.
We have this new range on display at the corner of our counter for the first couple of weeks.
This is a range introduced to us through newsXpress.