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

Month: October 2009

New Women’s Weekly Cookbook signage

fhn_acp_cookbooks.JPGWe are trialling new signage from ACP for their Women’s Weekly Cookbooks.  While I like the look, I was concerned that it may block sightlines to aisles behind the cookbooks, as seen from the counter. Now that it is in place, I don’t see this as much of a concern.

The bold signage draws attention to the cook the cookbook offer and reinforces the connection with the Women’s Weekly brand.  It cuts through the sea of colour which confronts shoppers in the magazine aisle.

The plan is to leave this signage in place until the New Year at least.

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magazines

Promoting New idea and free Ribena

fhn_ni_oct2609.JPGWe are promoting New Idea at the counter this week.  The free Ribena drink with every copy is a compelling offer and warrants this high value space. I like that the Ribena is provided separate to New Idea – this keeps the magazine in-tact and helps us create a better display.  I’d expect this promotion to work well for New Idea.

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magazines

Moving Andre Rieu

fhn_limelight_oct2609.JPGWe have moved Limelight magazine featuring Andre Rieu on the cover to the front of our shop as we needed the counter space for another display. While not big news, I am blogging about this to show how we are transition a title from one promotional location to another.  We only do this when we are certain that there are sales to be made from giving a title more time in the spotlight when space is tight.

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magazines

Newspaper freebie fails

fhn_papers_freebies_oct10.JPGThe gifts offered with newsapapers on Saturday (Herald Sun – free Intralot lottery scratch ticket and The Age – free Ferrero chocolate) didn’t work as intended in our newsagencies.  No measurable kick in sales and no strong interest by customers in the freebies.  I am surprised by this – for the lottery ticket especially.

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Newspaper marketing

Reject Shop not so cheap for Christmas cards

When comparing Halloween at the Reject Shop on Saturday (we are cheaper by between 5% and 25%!) I noticed their large Christmas card range.  Borowsing their Christmas cards, I soon discovered that the Reject Shop is not as cheap as they portray.

They had a large display single Christmas cards priced at $3.95.  Cheap designs and cheap production quality – expensive for what you get.  You are better off buying their dirt cheap Christmas cards – around $1.00 each – if you must buy from the Reject Shop.

What the Reject Shop does well is pitch themselves as cheap.  Shoppers ought to shop around because as I saw the value proposition is not always as it seems.

Shortly after my visit, I saw one Reject Shop customer looking at our Halloween stock.  Buying from us would have saved money she told me.  We had a chat about it and how they suck you in with the appearance of being cheap.  We also talked about Christmas cards as that will be her focus after Halloween.  I pointed out our various ranges which compete with the Reject Shop on quality and our boxed card range which competes on price.

A good way for us to educate shoppers about the value for money we offer is to talk with them.

Hopefully, Saturday’s conversation will facilitate word of mouth that our local newsagency often beats the Reject Shop.

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Newsagency opportunities

Men’s Health sells well with newspapers

fhn_mhealth22.JPGIn the first six days of on-sale of the latest issue of Men’s Health, we sold five copies more than the two we usually sell in the first on-sale week for the magazine.

As I blogged on Monday, we created a small display next to our main newspaper stand.  This is the location from which we have sold most of the copies, turning a newspaper sale into a newspaper plus Men’s Health sale.

While we cannot place every magazine next to the newspaper stand, it is great to find a title which works well in this location. The success this week tells us that at Forest Hill, we ought to place Men’s Health here for at least the first week of each new issue.

I’d encourage other newsagents to try this and share their feedback.  There is no risk and only a small time cost.  The potential gain is sales and who doesn’t want that?  Imaging the value if we find that this works for Men’s Health across the board?

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magazines

Using lighting in visual merchandising

mc_halloween09a1.jpgThe team at our Sophie Randall store in Melbourne Central has used a lighting trick to wash the boxed window with orange for great effect for our small Halloween display.  The photo shows the contrast of the display window and the general lighting in the shop.  They placed a colour gel on front of the light for the window – a small and inexpensive trick which has delivered a high impact. The impact is evident in the number of customers who stop and look and the sales.

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visual merchandising

Is the nook a game changing e-reader?

nook.jpgnook, the e-reader introduced by US book retailer Barnes & Noble this week in the US could be a game changer in the e-reader marketplace thanks to the lending ability it offers and the ability to pick up reading a book started on the nook on an iPhone or your Mac.  While the lending feature has limits – only to one other person and only for 14 days – that the facility is out there is enough to put this feature in play for others.

In addition to offering access to books on the nook, Barnes & Noble is offering magazines and newspapers.

The image is from Information Week.  Their story on the nook can be found here.

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Media disruption

Book wars in the US

The Book war which erupted in the US last week is set to get more serious with the Booksellers Association seeking Department of Justice intervention.  The argument is that Aamzon.com, Wal-Mart and Target are using predatory pricing.  The discount on top selling new release books is close to 70% off the cover price.

This battle started when Wal-Mart and Amazon engaged in a tit-for-tat price war close to two weeks ago. Walmart.com was offering the books for US$8.99 with free shipping; Amazon had the same books for US$9.  Target soon joined in.

While the three retail giants slug it out, smaller booksellers are left floundering in their wake and publishers are wondering whether there will be a long term shift in new hardcover pricing and, if so, what the implications will be for their model.

This is all happening on the backdrop of continuing significant moves on e-reader device sales and digital content promotion.

The recent US experience is relevant to us because it reflects another impact of disruptive technology and the lengths to which major retailers will go to drive their businesses in a tough retail climate.

One way or another, the US book war will impact on book retailing here in Australia.  We will have to wait and see the size of the ripples.

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Newsagency challenges

Driving impulse purchases with photocopying

fhn_copies_cover.JPGOur team at Forest Hill has refreshed the product offers located around our photocopier.  This makes more rewarding use of our retail space and offers compelling impulse opportunities to photocopying customers without impeding  easy access to the copier.

The basket data I have seen for newsagencies shows that copying remains one of the least efficient sales.

On average, more than 70% of copy sales are for copying and nothing else.  While those customers may purchase other items on other visits, the copy visit itself is inefficient – hence the importance of refreshing the impulse offers around the copier.

The O’Bon pencils, pens, journals and folders (on the left in the photo) and made from recycled newspapers and sugar cane pulp work particularly well in this location.

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Newsagency opportunities

Free lottery ticket with the Herald Sun

fhn_freescratchie.JPGThe Herald Sun today has a coupon which can be redeemed for a free Intralot instant scratch ticket.  While I like the idea of the promotion, I am concerned about the time which may be spent checking tickets.  Scratch ticket customers are notorious for having tickets checked even if they are certain they have not won.  This would be okay if the Intralot hardware was faster.  We will encourage those wanting their ticket checked to use the self service terminal if we are busy with other customers.

For this promotion to work it needs to drive Herald Sun  and Intralot sales. Where I expect it to work the best is in newsagencies with Intralot and without a second Intralot a few metres away.

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Lotteries

What’s the price deal with Model Engineers’ Workshop

fhn_model_eng.JPGTwo issues ago, the front of Model Engineers’ Workshop announced a new low price – A$10.90.  The latest issue, out yesterday, is priced at A$13.50.  I can’t see any reason for this – the UK price for each issue is the same.  Why increase the price here?

The UK price on the latest issue is hidden under a barcode on the plastic bag.  Some customers will discover that the UK price has not changed and ask why.

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magazines

Great poster for The Age

theage_oct2309.JPGThe Age today has a poster which is certain to drive sales – reflecting the sad news of the passing of Don Lane.  I mention this because I have written previously about newspaper posters and that they rarely drive sales.   While on Don Lane, I am surprised that the Herald Sun did not make this their cover story today – any newspaper or magazine with prominent Don Lane coverage will sell well for the next week or so.

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Newspapers

Damaged Delicious magazine

fhn_delicious_nov09.JPGThe card sticking out of the new issue of Delicious magazine is crumpled and torn with several copies, making the magazine look damaged when it is not.  Publishers sending magazines with cards sticking out like this ought to box them to ensure that they arrive in-store in a merchantable condition.

We will probably remove the cards because in their present form they will not help sales as intended.

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magazines

Is doubling of magazine supply justified?

fhn_30_luxury.JPGNewsagents may want to check out supply of 30 Luxury Homes from Universal Magazines which arrived in-store in Wednesday.  Our supply in one store doubled.  While I’d accept an increase because the last issue sold out, doubling is too much without our permission – especially given that it has a six month on-sale.  The smarter move if such a bump is forecast would be to send an initial allocation and a second allocation a couple of months in if sales warrant.  The current approach makes me the banker for the publisher, even with delayed billing.

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magazine distribution

Meeting with independent publishers

I am meeting with several independent magazine publishers over the next couple of weeks to talk about the relationship between their business and newsagents.  The discussions will be informal and aimed at mutual understanding.  They are not commercial negotiations.  These meetings have come about because of contact through this blog.

As recent moves by the publisher of Australian Traveller have shown, dialogue can lead to better commercial terms for newsagents and better outcomes for publishers.

Newsagents and good independent publishers have a lot in common.  We need each other too – they provide our point of difference and we provide a cheap distribution channel.   I say good independent publishers because not all can wear this label.  The best publishers are those who are honest about print run size, circulation achievement and how they commercially engage with newsagents.

The more publishers I talk with the more I discover that there are considerable differences between publishers.  All we see in our shops are the magazines and sometimes it is not clear which titles are from which publisher, making it hard to assess the impact of their supply model and new title launch schedule.

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magazine distribution

Tyro, the safe eftpos solution

Jost Stollmann, the CEO of Tyro (fast broadband eftpos), wrote to software companies which integrate their software with the Tyro eftpos solution about the recent reports of fraud using eftpos terminals.  I publish Jost’s note here in full as it provides excellent information of value to newsagents.

Tyro is better than a bank terminal since it is integrated with newsagent software.  You don’t have to key in the transaction value.  Approvals are processed in under two seconds usually.  As Jost notes, security is considerably enhanced over the old technology terminals you probably have today:

In recent press you may have seen headlines alerting Australians of a card payment scam that was discovered in a West Australian multinational fast-food restaurant chain. Something like 3,500 customers seem to have been defrauded by $4 million. What about your merchants? Are they exposed without knowing?

This is a check list for their peace of mind that I sent them:

1. Have your acquirer guarantee that his terminals are PCI PED and EMV 4.0 certified! All Tyro terminals are. They are the newest generation protected against eavesdropping, tampering or message forgery. All sensitive information is protected, and instantly erased if the terminal is tampered with.

2. Have your acquirer guarantee that no card holder data passes on to any PC, for instance residing in memory in the clear! With Tyro’s integration technology, no card or PIN data is ever passed on. It never reaches your Point of Sale (POS) software. Therefore, even if malicious data capture software was to be loaded onto your POS, it would not be possible to capture, store or transmit confidential card data.

3. Have your acquirer guarantee that card holder data is never transmitted in the clear! With Tyro’s technology, any transmission occurs only encrypted through an-end-to-end secured connection between our PCI PED certified terminal and our PCI DSS compliant switch, and it is using totally safely the public internet.

Sorry, if this sounds a little like bragging on about ourselves, but we are dead serious. The reality is that most EFTPOS terminals transmit card data in the clear. Integrated EFTPOS solutions hold card data in memory in the clear. We think it is most important to protect merchants and card holders against the increasingly sophisticated fraud industry. It is also important to maintain the consumers trust in the card payment industry.

Tyro is the only new entrant into the Australian payment industry. We are leading the industry in security. So, if you want to protect your merchants and their customers from card data security breach, possible scheme fines and potentially catastrophic reputation damage to their business and to the industry, recommend Tyro to them. If you are not yet integrated with us, what are you waiting for. If you are help us spread the word and recommend us to your customers. Thank you for your consideration.

Tyro is integarted with newsagency software from Tower Systems and POS Solutions.  Over 300 newsagents have switched from old technology slow bank terminals to Tyro.  They are saving time, cutting mistakes and saving money – in addition to enjoying better security.

Disclosure: Tower Systems receives a small clip from trabsactions through Tyro, this funds support and link development.

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newsagent software

TV move to help Top Gear

fhn_top_gear_nov09.JPGI hope Shane Warne does get the gig to host Top Gear and that it moves from SBS to Nine.  A good TV show promoting a good magazine drives traffic to newsagencies.  Top Gear would certainly benefit from the support.  Look at the tremendous success of the Better Homes and Gardens TV show / magazine tie in and the weekend sales achieved as a result of the Friday night show.

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magazines

Coles plays with the newsagency model

colesbayswater.jpgColes is quietly playing with a newsagency model within its supermarkets as a visit to Coles Bayswater (VIC) last month showed.  There, inside the supermarket and close to a newsagency, is a Paper shop – as the signs label the area.

While there is plenty to criticise about the model I saw, there is enough to it to raise concerns.  This is Coles playing and I suspect that they have only just started.  My understanding is that they have people with UK experience in this space working with them.

UK supermarkets ASDA and Tesco both successfully introduced newsagency like formats into their supermarkets years ago. There have been studies done on the considerable impact on high street shops in the UK, including newsagencies, of the march of supermarkets into the independent retail realm.  High Street Britain 2015 is one such report.  I first blogged about this in January 2006.

It is not only newsagents at risk if Coles and others get this model right.  All publishers would suffer.  The bigger publishers would give up more margin because of the higher cost of selling a copy of a magazine in a major supermarket compared to the cost of selling it in a newsagency.  Independent publishers would suffer because they could not afford to be represented in supermarkets and there would be fewer newsagencies through which to sell their product.

While there is a risk in studying the competition in too much detail, newsagents ought to inform themselves about the work Coles is clearly undertaking. If they get the model right in terms of range, service and community connection, the impact on newsagents could be devastating.  Especially considering the likely impact of disruption from devices such as the Kindle and similar technology when they get that right.

My visit to Coles Bayswater was a wake-up call, a call to action for newsagents to work on their businesses to meet this new challenge, to step up to the plate and be ready for Coles (and Woolworths) to get their paper shop model right.

Newsagents will ignore this at their peril.

I am working on what I saw at Coles on a number of fronts but I’ll save writing about that for another time.

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Newsagency challenges

When magazines go missing

We did not receive our magazines from NDD yesterday.  It seems the truck went missing and everyone on our run was affected.  While we found out the truck was missing early in the day, after a call, we did not have NDD magazines by the end of the day.

Thankfully, this does not happen often but when it does the knock-on impact is considerable to sales and the roster.

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magazine distribution

Andre Rieu season again

observer_rieu.JPGThis week’s Melbourne Observer heralds the start of Andre Rieu season.  For two years, Rieu has been responsible for driving excellent sales of the Melbourne Observer, Limelight and DVDs.  He is the perfect cover story for the over 50s demographic in my part of the world at least but has been missing from the cover of magazines and newspapers since his last tour.  What makes his a good cover subject is that he appeals to men and women.

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magazines

Grouping Halloween magazines

halloween_mag.JPGNewsagents might want to check their shelves for titles with a Halloween theme like this US cooking title and the ACP cookbook for Halloween themed parties.  Halloween is a good opportunity to place magazine titles covering the season together – titles from different segments and which would not usually be placed together.

Connecting similarly themed titles in this way reinforces the magazine specialisation of newsagents.  We should chase such opportunities.

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