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

Month: May 2009

Thief makes a second visit

Someone who stole several items from one of our shops last week visited us again on Tuesday. One of our staff members identified him from the photo we have from our security system. I am surprised that this chap would have the gall to come back in. He was clearly preparing to steal again. Our staff member approached him and he left. They followed policy and called centre management.  What bothered me was that this thief was shopping for specific items.  Talking with someone in centre security, they say that theft is on the increase based on their call-outs.

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theft

Money for Mum

money_for_mum.JPGThe marketing collateral from Intralot promoting scratch tickets as gifts for Mother’s Day looks enticing when placed with greeting cards.  While this is not how it was intended to be used, I saw it at our Frankston newsagency today – in with Mother’s Day cards.  Enterprising!  I’d love a camera trained on this and see how people react.

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Greeting Cards

Calendar relief for bushfire victims

Talking with customers at our Epping Sophie Randall store we discovered that bushfire victims were buying calendars to replace those which were lost in the fires. Through the relief centre at Kinglake, we have donated calendar stock we had left for distribution as they see a need. I am sure that newsagents with spare calendar stock would find welcome homes through the Kinglake or other relief centres.

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Uncategorized

Promoting Lovatts Mother’s Day crossword title

lovatts_mothers_day.JPGChristine’s BIG Crossword from Lovatts which went on-sale today is a special issue for Mother’s Day.  In addition to the usual location for BIG, we have it on display in the stand (as shown in the photo) next to our newspaper stand as well as part of our Mother’s day display in our card and gift department.  We know that promoting seasonally connected issues of magazines can achieve a lift in sales when the promotion is outside their usual location.

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crosswords

New Scientist Swine flu cover timely

fhn_new_scientist.JPGThe Swine flu cover story in New Scientist which went on-sale today is timely.  We have placed this issue above in a display unit The Age in our newspaper stand.  This location has a successful history in boosting sales of magazines which connect with the day’s news.  The Swine flu coverage is a great opportunity to bring New Scientist out into our mainstream customer traffic.

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magazines

News Ltd pitching online newspaper subscriptions

I was surprised to see the Adelaide Advertiser make noise the other day about their online subscription offer. Smart Edition, as it is called, costs $2 for a single copy – less per copy for a longer commitment.  News Ltd has offered this for some time for titles like the Herald Sun and The Australian. So, I am not sure what is new about this.

They are using the Newspaper Direct platform.  This is used by over 1,000 newspapers.

While I have doubts about the consumer interest in accessing newspapers in this way, newsagents ought to be across this pitch from News and the challenge it presents to our retail channel.

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Media disruption

Selling mince recipes with a lottery ticket

fhn_mince_tatts.JPGWe are using the empty space below one of our Tattersalls screens to promote the new Mince cookbook from ACP this week.  I picked up the idea from one of the comments made by another newsagent here a week back – they sold out.  The greater value we extract from high traffic areas like Tattersalls counters the better for us and all of our suppliers.  We will change the offer weekly – essential given the frequency of visits by regulars.

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Lotteries
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