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

Month: July 2010

Simple retail impulse sales strategy works

kitty1.JPGWe know that shoppers at our Forest Hill store like dogs and cats.  We know this from sales of calendars, books, pads and rocks (with cats painted on them).  So, this weekend just gone we decided to place four mini books at the counter – dog and cat books.

Look at the photo and you can see them placed on the right hand corner of the glass counter top.  Just below we have our cat pads.

We sold enough books to make the tactical placement worth it.  Each sale was in addition to the main item(s) purchased – newspapers, cards, magazines and or lottery products.

In some cases we sold books and a pad together.  Many sales were to customers buying a single newspaper or a single card … a nice extension to the basket and a nice additional margin on the sale.  We made $2.17 off of each mini book sold.  Add that to the less than 50 cents we made selling each newspaper.

I appreciate that the part of the counter in the photo may look cluttered, it is not compared to many newsagencies I visit.  It is structured.  There is not much else on the counter, certainly nothing else in this counter position.

While newsagents will not be able to retire on the money made from putting these $3.95 cat and dog books at the counter, do this every day with careful consideration and we will.

We have wonderful traffic in newsagencies from newspapers, magazines, cards and lotteries.  Too often, we fail to leverage that traffic and therefore achieve the full sales potential available to us.

We have taken the four books off the counter for the busier Monday traffic.  However, we are looking at how to leverage the opportunity in busy periods without encroaching on counter surfance space.

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Newsagency opportunities

Attracting shoppers with Burke’s Backyard

burkes_backyard_july2010.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of Burke’s Backyard out the front of the store and facing into the mall.  We are trying to attract traffic with this simple yet bold display. The cover looks terrific.

We plan to leave the display up for a week, space pressures notwithstanding.  We also have Burke’s in its usual location.

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magazines

Flexible stand for New Idea

new-idea-stand.JPGI like the impulse stand from Pacific Magazines for New Idea.  It has a small footprint – meaning we can locate this where we want for maximum impulse opportunity.  Given how much we enjoy change in our businesses this flexibility is important.  We will locate the stand with newspapers this week, at the counter next week and somewhere else the week after.  It helps us combat store blindness and drive impulse purchases.  While it is another floor unit to service, it’s a nice looking unit with a bright and happy message.

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magazines

Chasing impulse sales of Woman’s Day

womans_day_july2010.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of Woman’s Day on the back of a display unit which faces customers as they leave our busiest magazine aisle.  This placement is tactical since we have food titles in this aisle and the cover story relates to the high-rating Masterchef TV show.  We will leave this display up until tomorrow morning when we will be short of display space given the volume of titles coming in.  Click on the image for a bigger version.

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magazines

Promoting Ultimate Wildlife partwork

ultimate-wildlife-july2010.JPGWe are promoting the Ultimate Wildlife partwork on the dance floor in a high traffic location toward the front of our Forest Hill store.  We also have it in our wildlife section.  At our Frankston store, it has been located on the counter between the two busiest sales positions. This price space focus is all about driving impulse purchases.  It’s a good looking product.  I hope sales are strong.

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partworks

Malicious attack against Tower Systems

The questionable ethics of key people in the newsagency channel has been on show over the last couple of days as they have spread far and wide reports of winding up action which has been commenced against my software company, Tower Systems.

Rather than ask me if the report is true, they have been quick to send emails or make calls to spread their spin on the story.

Thankfully, some in the channel have called me.  These are the ethical people, people who are want to know the facts of an issue before spreading gossip.

Yes, we have had a tax dispute with the State Revenue Office.  We are not the first business to have this nor will we be the last.  The issue is resolved.  We’re busy installing systems and helping newsagents.

I am happy to take a call from anyone with concerns on 0418 321 338.

I am also happy to receive evidence of those spreading this story along with their spin.

UPDATE: (3:50pm) Someone calling themselves “concerned retailer” has mass emailed newsagents today trying to fan this story.  It says something about their character that they would do this anonymously.  I know who is behind the emails today as I have the email trail from Saturday night to selected newsagents.

Tower Systems is in a competitive marketplace and has caused some pain for others.  It is to not a new experience that a misstep by the company is leveraged by others no matter whether their spin is inaccurate, slanderous or defamatory.

UPDATE: (9PM)  POS Solutions has put a post on their blog asking for people to send them this email.  From the evidence provided to me, they had the email on Saturday and forwarded it on.  So, I am not sure why they are making a public show about asking to see a copy of the email they had two days ago.

UPDATE (Tuesday 7PM) POS Solutions is continuing spin on their website which is contrary to the evidence.  As one industry association discovered today, the facts I have published here are true, the issue is over.

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About us

Fairfax misstep on tethering the iPad to print?

Newspaper publisher Fairfax is bundling newspaper iPad apps with weekend home delivery of print newspapers.  Check out the Fairfax press release here.  I am not sure that this is a smart move but I’d expect that they have done their research.

Thinking about this purely as an iPad user for the moment, this idea seems ridiculous to me.  Forcing me to get a print product to get access on my iPad.  No thanks.  I’ll get my news elsewhere – like the ABC or The Australian – or both.

Forcing me to get the print product is like, well, being forced to use a medium which I have moved on from.  The print subscription is something else I have to worry about.  With my iPad I take it everywhere whereas with the home delivery, I would have to remember to stop and start when I am away – I wanted to get away from all that by moving to the iPad.

The price is the other issue.  $18 a month?  What are they smoking?

No, I can’t see much upside in linking the iPad to a print edition.

Now, from a newsagent’s perspective … cheers Fairfax!  Smart move connecting the old technology product to the new technology.  It maintains a feeling of relevance for me and my print centric business. That will make me feel good and worry less about change bring brought about by technology.

Seriously, I don’ think this is a smart move from Fairfax but the market response will be more important than mine.

Newsagents reading this should not take any comfort from the Fairfax move.  Change is here, on our doorstep.  Publishers will do what they need to do for their future.  We should do the same in our newsagencies every day.  No supplier is going to put our needs ahead of theirs, nor should they.

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Media disruption

Woman’s Day / Recipes+ bundle sells out

wd-bag-july2010.JPGAt our Frankston store, the discounted bundle of Woman’s Day and Recipes+ which was provided by ACP Magazines last week sold out within a day.  At Forest Hill, 80% of the sales were achieved between Friday and Sunday.

We treated the offer differently in each store.  At Frankston, it was promoted in a high traffic location whereas at Forest Hill it was placed in two pockets at the top of the column of Woman’s Day stock.

My preference with offers like this is to ensure that the core high traffic product comes first – hence my decision to display it is such a way as to not disrupt the bulk of our sales at Forest Hill.  I don’t want to train our high volume customers, Monday to Wednesday customers, to expect bundled (discounted) magazines regularly.  That said, almost selling out from our passive display is a surprise and welcome.

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magazines

Australian Property Investor sales reflect the times

property-investor-june2010.JPGOur sales of Australian Property Investor magazine are in a slump.  Indeed, the last issue saw only a 20% sell-through.  This is despite prime positioning in our property and business category and time in one of the pockets above newspapers.  The publication itself looks good.  I suspect that the sales slump is more a reflection of the market and economic conditions generally.

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magazines

Selling the Heath Ledger book to magazine browsers

heath-ledger-book.JPGAs the week unfolds we trim the waterfall of New Idea and Woman’s Day, but usually leaving the flat stack in place.  Recently, we have taken to using the flat stack space to promote a book which will appeal to shoppers browsing the weekly magazines.  This is working for us.

While we have always blended book offers in relevant magazine categories, we have not done this in our weekly space because of space constraints.  By engaging in this tactical move Friday through Sunday we are attracting some book sales we might have otherwise missed.

I choose the titles carefully – hence the Heath Ledger book placed below New Idea.

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Book retailing

Credit card scam hurts newsagents

The credit card scam which I blogged about on July 9, has hit more newsagents.  A couple of days ago, a newsagency in a Melbourne bayside suburb was hit and is facing a loss of more than $2,000.

There scam is the same – they use credit card numbers to buy mobile phone recharge and to load prepaid debit cards.  They say they have forgotten their card but have the number in their mobile phone.  They usually purchase multiple mobile recharge coupons.  In the most recent case they said it was for employee rewards.

If someone is buying many, more than three, mobile recharge vouchers at once, be suspicious.

Here is a repeat of the advice I blogged two weeks ago:

  1. Only allow credit and debit card transactions where the customer has the physical card.
  2. If you are unsure of a cardholder, ask for photo ID, say it is store policy.  This is common in the US now.
  3. Never allow a customer to enter any numbers or touch any buttons on your eftpos terminal except for entering their pin number.
  4. Do not permit the loading of credit to a prepaid debit card from a credit card.
  5. Get all your employees together and warn them, run them through the proper handling of eftpos transactions.

You could also:

  1. Place a height guide by the door so you get this right when you call the police.
  2. Use a security system and have a monitor in store, behind the counter so that all customers can see that they are being recorded.
  3. Bring in an expert to provide security training for your employees.

The incident last week involved a male.  Another, a couple of months ago involved a female.

These people are exceptionally good.

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Newsagency challenges

Beckett World Cup Guide: late and expensive

world-cup-magazine.JPGWe received the Beckett 2010 World Cup Guide in store on Friday, long after the last goal of the 2010 World Cup had been kicked.  Gotch should never have sent out this title.  Sure there will be some die-hard fans who will want it as a souvenir but I doubt sales will be enough to justify the cash-flow cost to newsagents.  I would have given the title a go had I received it two months ago. We received three copies at $21.95 each.  I broke with my own rule and early returned them all.  I am not prepared to have $60 worth of out of date stock sitting on my shelf when I have more current and fairly priced stock available.  And while on the price, this magazine sells for $9.99 in the US.  How do we get to $21.95 here given the current exchange rate.  Surely freight cannot be that much.

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magazine distribution

Jamie magazine works best on impulse

jamie-magazine.JPGWe are finding that Jamie magazine, the food magazine built around Jamie Oliver, works  best as an impulse item in each of my newsagencies.  While we run the title in our food category, it actually works best when located in a pocket in the middle of our weekly titles – as shown in the photo.  Here, it is purchased on impulse, extending the shopping basket and driving good value for the business.

We have tried Jamie with newspapers, at the counter and even in a food display at the front of the store.  It is in with weeklies where it works best – for us.

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magazines

Promoting Men’s Health magazine to weekend shoppers

mens-health-july2010.JPGWe have placed Men’s Health on a stand just in front of AFL card albums at one of our sales counters.  This placement for the weekend is tactical because of the number of men we have shopping with their kids and buying AFL cards.  Money magazine did okay here following the same strategy.

we know that Men’s Health sells well when promoted with newspapers.  We wanted to discover other locations where it can work as an impulse purchase.  We also have a good display in the usual location for the magazine.

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magazines

Promoting APC magazine in the newsagency

fhn-apc-july2010.JPGWe are promoting APC magazine with an in-location display.  This display confronts everyone entering our men’s magazine aisle. This is next to the location we use to promote The Monthly.  That display had to come down as we sold all but one copy in a couple of weeks.

APC is struggling like most computer titles.  It is well browsed but the conversion rate to sales is lower than other titles in the aisle.  I’d note that this is my feeling and it is not based on accurate measurement.

We plan (hope) to leave the display up for a week at least.

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magazines

Flipboard, your magazine in your iPad

Flipboard is an iPad app which provides a digital magazine like experience on the iPad based on social media content.  It has taken the world by storm in just a few days, so much so that the developers are struggling to keep up with demand.

Flipboard is disruptive to print media beyond it being an iPad app.  It relies on everyday people for content from sites like facebook and Twitter.  Check out the promotional video and see how it works.

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magazines

Gameinformer magazine misses again

gameinformer-fil.JPGWe returned all stock of Gameinformer magazine earlier this week after keeping it on the shelf for the full on-sale period.  As I mentioned in my blog post last month, this title is not working well for us yet Network Services increased our supply.  There was no justification in our sales numbers yet they decided to spend our money.  And magazine distributors wonder why newsagents get angry and why paying the bill on time is such a challenge.

What I want is a magazine distribution model where I can choose the titles I want and the quantity I want to receive.  I suspect that if I had this, my magazine sales would grow – I’d carry a wider range of titles and more stock of titles which work for me.

Instead we have a magazine distribution model which is not based on sales – despite what some on the disribution side say.

Smart publishers would try and tap into the growing pool of newsagents who want more control over magazine supply so that they can grow magazine sales.  We are out there people – come and find us because we can help you grow your business too.

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magazine distribution

Is there really a market for African American magazines in suburban Melbourne?

monarch-july2010.JPGWe received Monarch magazine at our Forest Hill store this week for the first time.  I was surprised since this is a magazine which according to the publishers: commemorates the lifestyle of affluent African American Professionals.  I have owned Forest Hill for fourteen years and cannot recall seeing that many African American customers shopping with us.  What would possess Gordon and Gotch to send us three copies?  Certainly nothing in our sales data for other titles. Supply to us was plain dumb!  It wasted my time and money.

Publishers with more relevant stock vying for time and attention in Australian newsagencies ought to be as frustrated as me by this story.

As a rule, I do not early return stock the day it arrives but I did with Monarch magazine.

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magazine distribution

Driving Moroccan cookbook sales by cooking delicious food

gympie-moroccan.JPGWarrick Hosking at newsXpress Gympie was at it again yesterday.  This time he was cooking Moroccan food from the ACP  Moroccan cookbook.  In Warrick’s own words, here is how the day went:

We had an absolute blast today and that came with great results. Cooked Tagine lamb and sweet prunes in the morning and Spicy prawns with tomato tagine in the arvo. The smell wofting out into the street put our cafe next door to shame.

Sold 18 AWW Moroccan and 11 or 12 AWW Slow Cookers. Even the food I cooked looked like in the pictures. This has never happened before. Handed out around 50 little plates out and our customers loved it.

This exercise may cost a few dollars but the consumer confidence and customer loyalty it builds is fantastic.

I would encourage everyone to try this, newsagents cant say it wont work because I have done it twice now with great results.

newsXpress Gympie is competing with seven other newsagencies in town.  Warrick understands about competition.

Not everyone can cook in-store.  In our Frankston store in the Bayside Shopping Centre we have some challenges with this.  It has not stopped the team selling more than 200 copies of the ACP Slow Cooker cookbook.  This amazing result has been driven by simple tactical placement of the product – in high traffic locations to drive impulse purchase.

So, whether it is an in-store cooking display or tactical placement of product to drive impulse purchases, there are excellent sales out there which newsagents can snare to extend the shopping basket.

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magazines

Cookbooks selling well

food-cookbooks.JPGOur display of cookbooks (in the photo on a re-purposed Darrell Lea stand) , strategically placed to confront shoppers heading to our main newspaper stand, is working very well.  What we have left is a fraction of the cookbook range we started with a few weeks ago.

This is the second location for these books.  As they sell down further they will move again.

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Book retailing

Driving sales by promoting food magazines

food-july2010.JPGGiven that the food segment is outperforming all other magazine segments, we are taking the opportunity to promote a range of food titles out the front of our store.  You can see from the photo that we are using well-known brands across the top of the display and the Annette Sym Symply Too Good titles down one side – to draw people to the display.

Thsi display is not about creating a pretty billboard.  rather, it is designed to drive impulse purchases – it is passed by the majority of our lottery customers.

By promoting range we are reinforcing our point of difference over other magazine retailers nearby.

We will leave the display up until Monday – unless there is demand for the space with Friday’s magazines.

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magazines

Promoting Better Homes & Gardens

bhg-july2010.JPGWe are promoting Better Homes & Gardens at the counter for the next few days – until Monday. The simple display is mounted on a piece of slat-wall covering one of our computers.  We also have a full waterfall in with home and living titles as well as two pockets atop our weekly magazines.  Better Homes & Gardens continues to be a stand-out title while many other titles are experiencing tough times.

Once Better Homes comes off the counter display we will shift to an in-location display.  Then, we will move to a display with newspapers.  All of this movement generates excellent sales.

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magazines

Anyone want a beanie?

beanies-july2010.JPGIt is beanie season in newsagencies across Australian.  Right now we have four magazines bagged with a free beanie.  While I like a beanie as a gift, it is not so special when it is available with four different titles.  It would be good to see more creativity with gifts supplied with magazines.

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magazines

Selling Australian Good Taste magazine

good-tsate-july2010.JPGWe are ignoring the opportunity to be rewarded for a pretty display and instead are running with a tactical placement of the latest issue of Australian Good Taste at a busy counter point.  I expect this will work far better for us than a billboard type display elseweher in-store.  We are checking numbers so we know how many we sell from this counter position versus the stock in ur food section.

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magazines