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

Month: November 2009

Too many the Picture titles?

picture_magazines.JPGI understand the strategy of brand extension but do wonder whether ACP magazines has taken it too far with picture magazine. We have three additional the Picture branded packs – on top of the regular weekly title. The latest Picture extension which went on sale yesterday was supplied in almost the same quantity as the main title. Besides challenges for sales, these extra titles are demanding space we do not have. To make space, given that we cannot early return ACP titles, we have had to cut titles from lower profile publishers.

I know some folks at ACP will be disappointed that I have published this blog post.  I’d ask them to take a look at the issue, consider the space, cash-flow and other challenges with three brand extensions in an already full segment.  They should ask if they would be happy if it was their space, labour and cash involved.  I’d be happy to take anyone through the numbers.

The key frustration is lack of control.  I cannot choose to be in or out not only with ACP brand extensions but with titles from from other publishers too.  I’d like more respect for my space, more control.  I’d like to choose whether to participate in brand extensions.  This would help me make decisions which could lead to sales elsewhere.

ACP has many excellent brand extensions which I often blog about here. Picture extensions are frustrating because of my low sales and space challenges in the segment.

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magazines

Lost sales for Burke’s Backyard

Our Burke’s Backyard stock went missing in transit and when we called Network Services early Monday morning we were told that they were out of stock. I pulled some strings and got a commitment for replacement stock. This was due to arrive yesterday. Hopefully it will turn up on Friday.

My frustration is that Burke’s sells well for us early in the on-sale. Not having stock is costing us business. Had I not pulled strings we would have lost the business this month. Our regulars would have had reason to try somewhere else.

I am not sure who is responsible for the last of floor stock to address shortages but someone needs to address this. There are shortages of every title somewhere in the system. Magazine distributors need to better handle these if they want the newsagency channel to remain their preferred retain channel.

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magazine distribution

Promoting Australian Women’s Weekly Christmas issue

dsc00457.JPGThe Christmas issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly went on sale this morning.  We are promoting the title in three locations including the front of store display shown in the photo.  The tote bag, while a gift done to death this year on other titles, has been well packaged with the title to make it look special.

Kudos to ACP for sending spare bags for use in displays.  This kind of detail in the VM pack is helpful.

I expect this issue of AWW to sell well.  The cover looks stunning.  By promoting in three locations we are chasing sales from passers-by, regulars and shoppers of other titles.

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magazines

The problem with some imported magazines

late_halloween_magazine.JPGThe Halloween magazine sent to newsagents today by Gordon and Gotch has arrived a month too late.  Their system ought to have stopped this $15.50 title being sent to newsagents.  I could have sold this title had it been supplied in August or September.  November 25 is way too late.  This is 2009, surely there is smart technology to stop this happening!

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magazines

News Corp moves on online contact gain traction

The position put by News Corp a couple of weeks ago that it may pull access to its content from search engines like Google is gaining traction.  Read what Robert MacMillan has published overnight at his MediaFile blog at Reuters.  He has moved from being a skeptic to seeing possible sense in the idea.

The debate is fascinating as newspapers struggle to find ways to monetise content online as they have done in print with classified advertising.  Once they achieve this and can deliver content through a game changing device line the iPod was for music, the scale tips for online and away from the more expensive print.

The debate is even more interesting as Australian newsagents contemplate what the future of newspapers may be for them.

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Media disruption

Top Christmas stationery items for 2009

Check out Staples’ Top Christmas Products list for 2009.  It provides an excellent insight into the US stationery market throught Staples and their 1,500 retail outlets.  Staples owns Corporate express Australia.

The list is about trusted brands, technology products and products for busy families.  While many of the items would work here, most are not among those we will promote in newsagencies this Christmas.

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Newsagency opportunities

The front of the newsagency

fhn_zones.JPGThe photo shows the offer across the front of our newsagency. Customers enter between the zones: boxed Christmas cards, calendars and Darrell Lea Christmas candy. We move categories around but always present the offers in a defined space and right at the entrance. The result of attention to this part of the newsagency is that sales of these categories so far this year for the season are up on last year.

While I am sure that there are far more attractive displays out there, we have found that our approach works well for us. The keys are: daily refresh, moving stock and having a good range in each of the categories.

Two of the three categories at the front of our newsagency are the best margin products we sell.

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Newsagency opportunities

Cookbook holders popular

fhn_acp_cookholder.JPGThe free cookbook holders provided by ACP Magazines to drive sales of their cookbooks are working well. We have noticed a sales lift. Unlike some gift offers with magazines, customers want these – they bring them to the counter with their cookbook. The offer is well timed since we have a number of new ACP cookbooks in stock.  I like the offer since it sits with the magazines on the shelves and passively (and successfully) pitches the sale.

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magazines

Oz Lotto hits $30 million

Oz Lotto did not go off tonight meaning that it hits $30 million next week.  This is great news.  The $30 million jackpot will drive extra traffic for newsagencies and better sales from regular traffic.  This jackpot is happening at a good time in the Christmas sales cycle.  It gives us an excellent opportunity to get good margin business: calendars, boxed Christmas cards, end of school year gifts, graduation gifts, diaries as well as more regular products such as magazines, newspapers and stationery.

We plan to make the most of the opportunity, promoting the $30 million prize and placing carefully considered impulse items in the area of our lottery counters.

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Lotteries

Newsagents put their customers first

The decisions of good newsagents reflect of their community – in terms or customer service, range and visual merchandising. It is visual merchandising which has been on my mind this weekend.

Comments I have published here about not pushing some titles because of concerns for my customers have led to a couple of calls telling me that it is a privilege to sell certain products and that I must honour this by promoting the titles as I am told.

I can’t do every display how and where I am told for to do this would upset my customers.

My customers come first.

This means no feature display if the title being promoted relies on breasts on the cover to attract interest. I’ll display it somewhere, just not where every customer sees the display.

Publishers and visual merchandising representatives need to understand that our customers come first. This commitment is good for us and our suppliers.
If we do as told, and promote titles which may not speak to our customers, we risk turning people away and no one benefits from that.

I wish newsagents were served by more suppliers who trusted us to make good business decisions for our businesses and the businesses of our suppliers. Treating us like robots is disrespectful of us and our customers.  Thankfully, not all suppliers do this.

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Newsagency challenges

Promoting Men’s Health with newspapers

fhn_menshealth_nov09.JPGWe are pitching the latest issue of Men’s Health next to our newspapers having discovered last month that it works well for us in this location.  We’re using the side of a Duracell battery stand for the posters.  Magazines are an easier impulse purchase with newspapers than batteries – well, the right magazines at least. Men’s Health is that it is a title which would not usually be given front of store space.  My goal is to educate customers to look for it regularly in our shop.

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magazines

Refreshing the Twilight new moon display

fhn_acp_nov2309.JPGWe refreshed our Twilight new moon themed display yesterday by adding TV Week into the mix this week.  The free unauthorised calendar free with the latest issue makes it eligible.  We should sell out of Dolly, also in the display, by the end this week (we will have achieved excellent growth on our usual sales) meaning it will be time to move on from new moon for the moment.  Twilight is proving to be an amazing franchise for retailers – I am glad we have had an opportunity to participate not only through magazines but also with calendars, the board game and other merchandise.

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magazines

Famous at the counter

fhn_famous_nov23.JPGWe are pitching Famous magazine in primt position between our two busiest sales points this week for two key reasons: it is achieving excellent sales growth and this week has a good value giveaway.  The audited sales growth reported a couple of weeks ago was excellent.  It certainly responds well to in-store promotions.  We will leave this display up until Wednesday by which time we’d expect to have moved almost all stock.

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magazines

Mater Chef magazine to launch next year

News magazines is launching a magazine based on the Master Chef brand next year.  While food titles are strong, my sense is that we are close to saturation in this segment.  Given the representation of Master Chef on TV, the magazine would be mid range or above.  It will be competing with Delicious, Australian Traveller and Good Food.  All well established titles.  Good Food is the most recent launch and it has established its place well.

My ‘sense’ aside, any new magazine launch tied to a successful TV show will be welcome – as long as they embrace the newsagency channel in their launch strategy.

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magazines

Covering the whole front page of a newspaper

age_nov2309.JPGThe Age and the Sydney Morning Herald newspapers are covered today with a translucent paper on which is printed an ad for the new Toyota Prado.  Customers are confused when they see the newspaper, thinking they have the wrong product – I witnessed this several times.  While an advertiser may like this disruption, the consumer is more likely to be frustrated.

I photographed the newspaper as it presents on the left with the Business Day insert out on the right to highlight the difference.

I am shocked that a publisher is happy to cover up the entire front page of  their newspaper in this way.  It is further proof that ads are more important than stories.  However, without stories, ads have no medium around which to pitch.

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newspaper masthead desecration

Counter sales opportunities in newsagencies

US research firm Dechert-Hampe & Company recently completed a study of front-end performance at more than 300 stores in the grocery sector. Magazines, confectionary and beverages, made up the “power” group of top performers at checkout. Click here for a summary.

While one might expect this result from a study funded by Mars, Coca-Cola and Time-Warner, the results are interesting and useful to newsagents.  They reinforce the importance supermarkets place on national brands to shoppers as well as the value of focus on the front of the shop.

The summary of the report offers good advice:

While the study was conducted in grocery stores, it is believed that most of the key findings apply to other types of store outlets as well. For example, the concept that consumers re most likely to buy products at the checkout that ave high household penetration, are purchased frequently, and are impulse driven, applies equally to any retail outlet regardless of format.

Newsagents tend to be less focused on national brands.  While there are favourites, it is not uncommon to see three or four brands of essentially the same product in a newsagency.  One is the hero of the segment and the others are there probably because they are represented by good sales people.

We also pay too little attention to our counters and the front of the shop.  If this first few metres is so important, why do we let it fill with clutter which will push  more people away than attract them?  Why do we confuse our customers with counter offers rather than focus on what will sell easily?

The stat in the study which is most compelling is that on a typical day, 18% of shoppers make a purchase from the counter.  This is a stat we should gather in our newsagencies and  seek to improve through better counter management and operation.  I know that in my own situation we are nowhere near 18%.

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Newsagency opportunities

Hunting for the free wrap

bhg_wrap.JPGI noticed a customer yesterday rifling through copies of the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens. On offering to help I found out that she was looking at the colours of the free wrapping paper with the magazine.  She wanted the purple, a colour in short supply in our shop.  SI helped her, going through a stack of BHG she had not seen.

While we were looking for the paper, she told me that she liked newsagencies because they were how shops should be.  She likes personal service, friendliness and great magazine range.  She specifically said that she would not be able to look for the wrapping paper she likes at a supermarket.

We found the purple paper.  She was happy and I was happy to have shared the experience.  I also gave here a couple of spare wrapping paper sheets we had.

The experience reinforced for me the value of engaging with customers.   The amount we made from the single magazine sales is not that much but the personal enjoyment was considerable.

I saw the lady around ten minutes later and she made a point of saying goodbye.  She told me again how much she loves the shop. Her smile stayed with me all day.

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magazines

Journalists as rockstars?

Peter Ricci adds a welcome Australian voice to the discussion about the future of newspapers at his Business2 site.  He makes some excellent points about how journalism will need to change for the online model – yes, his focus is online an not print.

I like his comment that journalists will become rockstars in new online models.  I’d take this further and say that some journalists will become their own brands, free of the masthead.  Online, stories want to be free of the old aggregator model.

We do not have enough in Australia writing about the future of journalism in an online context.  That’s because many media commentators here work for print organisations.

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Media disruption

The role of newspapers according to News Corp.

James Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation, Europe and Asia, delivered a speech yesterday in Barcelona which provides context for Australian newsagents as they read the new newspaper distribution contracts which need to be decided within the next four weeks.  Reuters, Roy Greenslade at The Guardian and others are reporting that the speech reflects a smaller reliance on newspapers in the future of News.

We need to make our own assessment as to the role newspapers play in the future of newsagencies. This assessment is best done on our own terms and based on our assessment of the future of the medium. As I wrote here a couple of days ago:

I doubt that anyone, consumers, economists, share analysis, newspaper publishers or newsagents expects newspaper distribution to grow considerably. We are at best in a flat market and at worst in a declining market. The consideration of the future of newspaper distribution needs to be considered in the context of a pragmatic assessment of the medium and the environmental and economic costs associated with it.

We cannot set our future by reacting to suppliers. We need to set our own agenda and pursue it with commitment and determination.  If we fail to do this, some newsagents will read about themselves as victims of circumstances and the decisions of others.

Smart newsagents will not be victims.  These are newsagents who understand margin balance and basket efficiency and who are leveraging today’s traffic to tomorrow’s opportunities.

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Newsagency opportunities

A Trading Post replacement in Queensland

tradingpostreplacement.jpgFortnightly title Vehicle Mania is gaining newsagent and consumer attention in Queensland as it fills part of the void left by the closure of the Trading Post.  backed by a good website and an promotion, it is local publications like this which stand a chance of working where the Trading Post failed.

Here in Victoria, the Melbourne Trader which is incorporated in thre Melbourne Observer is going well.  The latest issue of the weekly boasts 36 pages of free ads.

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Newspapers

Small lottery wins drive sales

fhn_oz_win.JPGOne of our Oz Lotto syndicates on Tuesday, paying $331.50 for each $30 share.  The simple sign on our syndicate wall is helping drive excellent sales.  This is timely with the $20 million Oz jackpot – we’re already ahead of where we would usually be with such a prize on offer.

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Lotteries

Promoting around the copier

fhn_copier_products.JPGWe have changed the offer around our photocopier with space tight this time of the year.  As the photo shows, we are using this space for a secondary display of diaries and some office products.  Our main diary display is a metre away.  This secondary display is designed to attract copying service customers as well as newspaper customers.  Nothing fancy about the display, this is more about location.  We can tell it works based on watching customers engaging with the display.

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Diaries

AFL 2010 fixture promotion

fhn_afl_2010.JPGWe are promoting the Official AFL Fixture 2010 with our newspapers this weekend.  We know from past experience that this is the best place for it.  Most purchases will be impulse – a nice add on to a newspaper purchase.  Unfortunately, we did not receive any collateral with which to promote the fixutre.

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magazines
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