We decided to not place OK! from the UK with our other Michael Jackson titles because of the controversy around their use of the last known photo of Michael Jackson on the cover. This decision by our magazine team this morning is one I respect. Instead of featuring the title as we might have, we have placed it in its usual position with our range of UK weeklies.
We have refreshed our Michael Jackson tribute magazines offer at the front of our newsagency to incorporate the fresh stock we have received of Time and Rolling Stone and the new issues of Who and OK! Australia. These tribute magazine continue to sell well in each of our newsagencies. I expect them to do even better over the weekend – when we sell more of our music related titles.
Newsagents are generally risk averse compared to other business owners. I realised yesterday that I take more risks in my non newsagency businesses than in my newsagency, risks which don’t feel risky but are not taken in a newsagency.
I have been thinking about risk taking in newsagencies recently because it is what we need to do to reinvent our businesses. In my own case I have been thinking specifically about the gift department and how safe we play in selecting products. We have had tremendous success with gifts, almost trebling last year’s sales thanks to our choices.
Take the Chubby Geisha money boxes in the photo. We would not stock them as we’d consider that they are too far removed from what we think our gift offer should be. What is odd is that gifts are new to us in this location so we don’t really know how far outside the traditional we can play. We have allowed our own blinkers to restrict what we can achieve.
In my gift shops we are far more adventurous, allowing our customers to tell us what works and what does not work. We experiment more – probably because gifts are central to the business whereas in a newsagency they are often a small department.
Realising how conservative we have been, we are committed to experimenting more and pursuing the boundaries of what we can achieve in terms of product category, style and price point. The only boundaries will be margin and overall feel – we do not want to look like a $2 shop.
We will take more risks, try the Geisha moneyboxes and try other items we have said no to. We’ll have fun funding the new level.
While there are many newsagents taking risks, more of us need to – and share the results.
ACP has advised the avilability of limited floor stock in each state of the Michael Jackson Tribute Issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Orders need to be placed through Netonline. They will be processed on a first come first served basis. There is only limited stock. Given the value of this title, I’d suggest it is important to take care in ordering only what you know you will sell. This is an excellent opportunity for newsagents to restate their position as the go to retailer for magazines.
We have gone out early with some Father’s Day gifts, items which show a point of difference and which work as gifts for other occasions. We were able to source these globes at an excellent price so it was a logical decision to place them in our window with other items from our expanded gift range.
Maintaining a gift department beyond seasons is new for us at Forest Hill and so far, it is working a treat with excellent growth and great margin.
All of our gift buying is based on what we know about our customers from card captions, magazines and calendars purchased.
The Age will print The Form, its Friday racing guide suppleied free with the newspaper, for the last time tomorrow. The racing guide is moving to an online-only format. This follows the trend in the US where guides which have traditionally appeared in newspapers have moved online. From my perspective, I am happy to see The Form go as it was delivered separately from the newspaper and we needed to allocate additional premium space for no financial return at all.
See The Australian for their coverage of this story.
Yesterday, we received Road Rider Cruiser and had no available space for this title. As happens in newsagencies across the country we have to find space by taking off a title which has not performed as well. We tool off Australian Road Rider. This had been on sale for five weeks and while the publisher wanted it left on the shelf for another four, we needed the space. This problem is not of our making. Newsagencies have finite space. Magazine publishers and distributors send stock often without considering the physical space available. If we find ourselves unable to display the new issue of a title, we prefer to take off an old issue of a title from the same distributor. In this case, we selected Australian Road Rider as it was from Network Services.
Space allocation is a complex issue to resolve. Indeed, it will become more so as newsagents reduce the space they allocate to magazines. Newsagents need to take the initiative to resolve the problem because it is our space at the core of the issue. If we leave it to publishers and distributors we our business needs will not be put first.
We have sold one copy of Fishing Knots & Rigs from Express Publications in seven weeks on sale. Rather than keep this for another six weeks or so we have cut our losses and returned this title early. The publisher and distributor would prefer that we don’t early return. Since they are not funding my real-estate, labour or theft risk, early returning makes sense. Outside of the early return battle is the issue of the cost of returns. This publication, like most from express Publications, comes bagged with old magazines. We have to pay to ship this stock back to the distributor. The weight of each bag is such that we will spend around $10 shipping these returns back – this is stock we did not order in the first place.
Either Network Services or Cycle Sport Magazine have been way too late in getting this Tour de France special magazine to newsagents. Receiving it today as we did, days after the race has started makes selling the title a challenge. We have this guide on the stand next to our newspapers – the same location from which we sold out of the official program more than a week ago.
The extra copies of the special Michael Jackson issue of Time we were billed for was actually the regular issue featuring Kevin Rudd. Kevin won’t sell what we could have sold of the Michael Jackson issue. This is a frustrating mistake from cash-flow and lost sales perspectives.
UPDATE: This has been fixed – and in time for is to get the extra sales!
Jackpot is a new multi-language digital magazine developed by WeClick for the ParadiseCasino brand. Go to the WeClick website and flick through this innovative digital magazine. You don’t read this magazine, you experience it and this is exactly what the target reader would like over a printed version of the Jackpot. While this level of interactivity is not for everyone, it certainly works for this title.
Be sure to look at other titles already developed by WeClick.
The latest issue of FHM magazine has given us an excellent opportunity to embrace the column at the front of our newsagency in Frankston. This display acts like a beacon – it is hard for shoppers walking out of Coles nearby to miss it from outside our newsagency. I like how the Frankstion team has used height – too often magazine displays are low. This FHM display was done with the goal of drawing people into our shop – it’s a matter of playing to the marketplace.
The state government in Western Australia last month put out a tender for the publishing an distribution of a free afternoon commuter newspaper.
Distribution of a Free Commuter Publication on Public Transport Authority Property
Public Transport Authority is seeking proposals from Proponents interested in obtaining rights to distribute a Free Commuter Publication (FCP) on PTA property. This Proposal is not restricting the FCP to a commuter publication form. PTA is open to, and invites proposals for other forms of commuter publications.
Last time they put out such a tender it did not result in a newspaper being launched.
New Zealand stationery manufacturer Croxley is setting up its own postal service to compete with New Zealand Post. According to stuff.co.nz, it aims to control about 10 per cent of the NZ$500 million postal market in two to three years. Croxley NZ is owned by United States multinational Office Max.
This move is possible in New Zealand because their postal market was deregulated in 1998.
We have started testing snack foods at one of our newsagencies. The snack food stand in the photo compliments a broader range of confectionery we are carrying to help drive impulse purchase revenue. We have priced the range for convenience – that is, just above Coles which is nearby.
Our longer term plan is to use queue management facilities to help us more creatively represent these products as our customers approach the counter.
Attendees at the Home and Giving Fair in Sydney over the last three days have been positive about business generally and their retail businesses in particular. In the mix with gift shop owners, there have been newsagents expanding their commitment to gifts.
My software company, Tower Systems, has a stand at the trade show and we have been talking with people about business, to get an understanding of how they are performing and what they see for the next six months. All bar one retailer we spoke with is enjoying good sales. People are buying plenty of product to take them through to Christmas. (They are also buying software which is great for us.)
This would have been an excellent trade fair for more newsagents to attend to see new product catgeories as well as to mix with a positive bunch of people investing in making their own success. We have certainly seen some new products we plan to bring into our newsagencies to expand our gift offer.
We placed a small display of Darrell Lea Toasted Marshmallows on our lottery counter on Saturday. This is a seasonal line which we have just brought in and it was not selling from the Darrell Lea stand. By yesterday morning we had sold everything we put at the lottery counter. Needless to say, we added more stock. We will leave this for several days before retiring this back to the Darrell Lea stand. To balance this encroachment of the Tattersalls counter, we are promoting the Powerball $20 million elsewhere in-store. We also ensure that the across the counter area is free of product.
If only nwsagent suppliers could not overly regulate our businesses and leave us to be entrepreneurial retailers.
Media Watch on ABC1 was excellent last night in a couple of fronts: a review of Michael Jackson coverage and attention on John Hartigan’s speech last week at the National Press Club and, in particular, his claim of high standards for professional news organisations compared to bloggers. The whole episode is available online.
We are noticing a slowdown in the sales of children’s magazines, especially the small format titles such as Mania. Indeed, the last issue has a sell-through of 12% – one copy. This makes it loss-making for us. A couple of issues back we sold out. This rocky road of sales leaves newsagents carrying the cash cost of poor sellers.
We have the new Hannah Montana partwork launched today on display at the front of our newsagency, near other Hannah Montana merchandise we have on sale. It is bound to sell well.
I wish we have received this new partwork a week ago, at the start of school holidays and to coincide with the launch of the Hannah Montana movie. Based on sales of our Hannah Montana products over the last week, the partwork would have sold well.
I took the photo from our counter, looking across at the Dick Smith store which opened at Forest Hill in December 2008. From our counter we can see their excellent range of ink and toner. Next to Dick Smith and even closer to us is a government owned Australia Post shop – also with an excellent range of ink and toner.
When Dick Smith opened we felt some pain in ink and toner sales. This was short-lived. Our ink sales are as strong as ever. I am sure that ink sales in Dick Smith and Australia Post are good too. I put our success down to consistent engagement with the newsXpress HOT Ink! strategy – brand name ink at great prices and marketed regularly through brochures delivered to homes and businesses around us.
Rather than being swamped by the competition, the arrival of Dick Smith especially, we have lifted our game. We have broadened our range and extended our marketing to ensure that ink remains a growth category for us.
Ink customers, once they trust your knowledge, range and prices, come back again and again. We like that.
Looking across at the Dick Smith ink display from our counter is a great motivator.
