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

Month: December 2010

2010, the year that was

What a challenging, memorable and terrific year.

I have enjoyed 2010.

I like that tablet computers and other disruptive devices are making their moves.  I feel like sending an I Told You So card to some people.

I like that newsagents are starting to realise that their future is in their own hands.

I like the customer traffic, sales and margin growth some newsagents are seeing through embracing change.

I like the benefits of a smaller format newsagency and achieving a significantly better per square metre return.

I love the excellent continued growth in ink sales.

I am looking forward with excitement to 2011, the changes it will bring and the opportunities which will be mined from them.

I own two newsagencies and have a 50% share in two more. Yes, 2010 has had its challenges, especially for shopping centre newsagencies.The year is finishing very well though.

On a technology front, my newsagency software company has had a terrific year.  Our market share is up, major new software for newsagents is out, newsagency efficiency has improved and millions of dollars in employee theft has been discovered, stopped and is being pursued.

With more than 1,700 newsagents using our software, the Tower newsagent community remains the largest newsagent community in the country.  In 2010, this community has helped the channel by providing access to the only regular sales benchmark data – data which is widely used and reported.  The growth of the Tower newsagent community will continue in 2010.

I am excited about 2011.  It will be a year of great change and, I hope, achievement.

0 likes
Newsagency opportunities

New Year’s Resolutions

Here’s a grab bag of resolutions for 2011 newsagents could consider.

  1. Reconfigure the floor space allocation of your newsagency to reflect your plans for the future.
  2. We drive serious debate about the green challenges of the magazine supply model.
  3. To act on what you think needs work with the traditional newsagency model.
  4. To get serious about theft management in your store.
  5. To stop supplier reps from placing orders and take full control of reordering for yourself.
  6. To reconnect with the local community.
  7. To carry stock which actually sells rather than being the retailer of last resort for many lines.
  8. To more actively engage in managing the magazine floorstock by more intelligent and timely early return.
  9. To present a fresh face to the newsagency from the front window and throughout the store.
  10. To introduce at least one completely new department.

This could be a year of significant change if we decide to lead our businesses rather than follow.

0 likes
Newsagency opportunities

Why aren’t we using women to design newsagencies?

More women shop in newsagencies than men yet our businesses, which depend on women for survival, are designed by men.

Why is it that we do not have women designing newsagencies? 

If we did, what changes could we expect to see in newsagency layout and the overall experience provided by the shop fit?

Too often, a newsagency shop fit is approached as a carpentry job when it should be approached as the single most important business development and positioning investment by the business.

If you expect to attract women to your next shop fit, consider adding their voice to your design team.

0 likes
retail

Is it a policy to greet customers in your newsagency?

The most common complaint newsagents make about anything, and I do mean anything, is that they (we) are too busy.

It is an excuse trotted out if we miss a notice or an email from a supplier, are late in paying a bill or have been discovered not running our business as well as it deserves.

Too often, I fear, we trot out this excuse to excuse us of good retail manners.

Take greeting customers.  Do you do this in your newsagency in a structured way?

While we can get into a discussion about whether we have the time,  I’d rather think about the kind of ‘newsagency’ we would need to have in order to make offering such a personal greeting to customers as they enter worthwhile – to us and to them.  What does that business look and feel like?

With an average sale value in newsagencies of between $6.00 and $10.00, an average margin of around 30% and with hundreds of transactions a day, it is no wonder we don’t place too much attention on the customer greeting. We see little value in this.

What if you had an average sale value of between $15.00 and $25.00 and a margin of 35% or more?  The importance of personally greeting customers increases dramatically. The margin opportunity is triple.  You could afford the additional labour resources to deliver the personal greeting and related shop floor service.

Newsagents say that their personal service is a key point of difference.  Do we really show this in our businesses?

Why is it that we do not demonstrate this by ensuring that customers are greeted as they enter the store – rather than waiting until they get to the counter?

The challenge for us in 2011 and beyond is to reconfigure our businesses to make offering a personal greeting commercially valuable to our businesses.  Think of it as a goal, to have that kind of newsagency.  How much we change our businesses is up to us.

0 likes
Newsagency management

XchangeIT needs to realise that newsagencies are open this week

If XchangeIT was serious about providing good customer service to newsagents who are forced to use it, it would be open and providing assistance this week.

Their security device requires access to a key when XchangeIT is installed on a computer,  A computer trashed by flood, fire or a major hardware crash will require re-installation.  By not being open this week, XchnageIT makes a mockery of the claimed commitment to customer service.

The Help Desk team at my newsagency software company were trying to help a couple of newsagents in dire straits yesterday.  They called the XIT help line and expected to at least be directed to a mobile phone.  Had they not hung up they would still be listening to the music track not, almost a day later.

Appalling customer service.

0 likes
Customer Service

Ladies and diaries

lady-diaries.JPGIt never ceases to amaze me how sales come in waves.  This week it has been pocket diaries.  Excellent sales.  Especially of this Letts range.  Our customers (women 40 and over) love them.  The post Christmas sale is pulling new people into the store and they are buying other items, like these diaries.  Of course, we are getting asked in the diaries are on sale.  When we say no and that we never discount diaries they buy anyway – no harm in asking I guess.

0 likes
Diaries

Editorial choices harm newspapers more than new devices

Bloggers and online commentators have been doing the heavy lifting on the St Kilda and AFL footballer scandal.  While The Age, the Herald Sun and TV and radio news outlets have  taken a back seat with this story, Derryn Hinch, Mike Stuchbery and Phil Quin and been providing the level of commentary and assessment a story like this deserves.

Derryn Hinch in particular has written some excellent pieces teasing out the real story behind what is now called the dickileaks scandal.

Mainstream media outlets worried about their future in this era of significant disruption need to look at how they handle stories which are connected to commercial partners.  By bowing (pandering) to the AFL (and related parties) and not reporting without fear or favour (as they should), as appears to have happened in this case, mainstream media has lost the story and with that the respect of some consumers.

This is what will kill newspapers, evidence of them not doing their job. With easier access to platforms such s Twitter, people who would buy a newspaper or switch on to TV or radio for the latest on a story have options which do present a without fear or favour perspective on major stories.

0 likes
Newspapers

Can’t give away a cricket calendar

cricket-cal.JPGAustralians are savage when national teams fail.  One only has to look at how the nation has turned on the Australian cricket team this week to see this in action.  The comments across the counter are blunt, everyone has an opinion it seems. Fair enough given that many of us define ourselves as a nation by the success of those representing us on the field.

I was looking forward to the Boxing Day test to move our stock of Australian cricket calendars.  Sadly, we look set to  be left with this stock.  If I had the room, I’d set the calendar up as a dart board and run an in store competition to take out those who have let their country down … and at least have some fun with the calendars I have left.

It’s pathetic really, talking like this about a national team. I ought to be ashamed.

0 likes
Calendars

Interactive Hammer magazine

hammer.JPGThe latest issue of Hammer music magazine is interactive, playing sound when the cover is opened.  It’s a nice touch and likely to appeal to the target reader.  Given the continuing (market leading) strong sales in Hallmark interactive sound cards, I am surprised more magazine publishers have not embraced this technology to lift sales.

0 likes
magazines

Is Myki for the chop?

The Herald Sun is reporting today that the new Victorian State Government is set to scrap the Myki ticketing system.  Myki is a dog of a system.  The previous government allowed it to provide 7-Eleven with an advantage over newsagents by agreeing to integration with their in-house systems.  This was promised for newsagents, after my lobbying, and then dropped.  So much for the Government back then supporting small business.  If scrapping Myki pulls this back then it’s a good thing.

0 likes
Newsagency challenges

Very different sales mix during post Christmas sales

salesgraph.JPGWe have been running very different newsagencies these past two days.  As the sales graph shows, most of our business have been greeting cards.  To give some perspective, we still did close to $500 in calendars in this store from which I extracted the graph.  95% of the card sales are boxed Christmas cards which were brought in especially for the post Christmas sales – so margin remains excellent.

Based on experience from previous years, we expect this sales balance to continue until Friday, after which we will transition into a more regular school holiday mode.  By then, most of our sale stock will have been exhausted.

A hallmark of the post Christmas sales so far has been customer attitude.  There has been little grumpiness or complaint – even though the line for service got quite long sometimes.  Customers tend to come in massive waves in shopping centres around sale time.  One minute you may have a couple of people in the store and the next minute you have a line of fifteen at the counter.   It is a great time to be behind the counter.

Of the Christmas boxed cards we had on sale, the charity cards are by far the most popular and among those, the religious themed cards and the most popular.

0 likes
Newsagency management

Cool magazine packaging

jewellery-mag.JPGThe latest issue of Jewellery magazine, out yesterday, comes in a clear strong plastic bag – promoted as a beach bag.  While I am not sure of the appeal of the bag to readers of the magazine, I like the creativity of the packaging.  While it is a challenge to fit in a magazine pocket, we made it work.  It looks different enough to draw more attention than usual for this title.

0 likes
magazines

Drowning in NW magazine

nw-wk52.JPGWe continue to be oversupplied with NW magazine from ACP.  Based on current supply, we are lucky to achieve a sell through of 30%.  This is odd for a weekly title from ACP, they control supply tightly as a rule.  Given the space allocation, we need a sell through rate of 60% and above for this title.   NW is not a popular title with our customers.  That said, this week we are giving it a shot with the best pocket placement in with the weeklies as well as a full facing with our newspapers.

0 likes
magazine distribution

Terrific Boxing Day

We had a terrific day of trade yesterday for the start of the Boxing Day Sales.  Christmas products were the hit – Boxed and single cards and Christmas decorations sold like hot cakes.  Much of the product sold had been sourced especially for the event – our margin was excellent.  $3,000 in boxed cards alone in one store is a terrific result.

There was also nice business in calendars, stationery and general gifts.  Not so much for magazines and newspapers but I can’t complain as they have had a brilliant seven days.

0 likes
Newsagency opportunities

Wanting more from iPad magazine apps

project.jpgIn a smart move, Virgin is providing free access between Christmas and the New Year to the launch issue if Project, their digital only magazine available through the iPad.  I grabbed my copy yesterday.  It’s pretty cool – making good use of video and some clever navigation techniques as is de rigueur for iPad magazines.  I like the experience and think Project will appeal to iPad users.

After looking through the magazine, I thought about whether I would subscribe.  Probably not.  While the content is quite unique and the experience very iPad friendly, I am looking for an experience which takes me completely away fro the magazine experience.  This is where I think we are headed.

The iPad experiences being developed today are to help people transition to the device.  The real innovation will be in second generation apps and beyond, where the experience is not like today’s print magazine experience.  Indeed, the experience will not be anything like a magazine as we know it.

How people access, consume and share news and information has changed dramatically in the last few years. Magazines, print, online and digital on devices like the iPad, are still coming to grips with this.

The challenge for older model publishers is that the needs of advertisers are out of sync with the needs of consumers.  Look at the St Kilda Football Club nude photo story which took off last week.  A decade ago, the story would have sold tens of thousands of copies of newspapers.  Thanks to Twitter and mobile phones, the story spread faster than any older model media outlet could handle.

This is the experience I am looking for from my iPad, connecting me with breaking stories closer to the source and with the capacity to comment, add, forward and otherwise interact with the story.  This is what next generation apps will offer, making the currently cool looking Project app seem out of date quite soon.

That said, I also want the device to connect me with analysis and review – I am happy for this to be in a more traditional newspaper or magazine experience.  However, given what I can get today online for free, I am not so sure that I will pay for it on the iPad.

Now, before newsagents think that I see print as being dead … no, not yet.  The next three to five years will see magazines continue to be important in our businesses.  Beyond that … it’s anyone’s guess. And that is what makes being a newsagent today exciting.  We are part of a reinvention of the model.

0 likes
Media disruption

Bring on the Boxing Day Sale

calendarsale.pngChristmas is over for many newsagents, especially those in shopping centers.  Our stores at Forest Hill, Knox City, Frankston and Watergardens kick off BOXING DAY SALES first thing this morning.  All Christmas stock is half price as are all calendars plus a range of items we have sourced specifically for the sale.  We have A1 colour posters promoting the event and the stores have been configured into sale mode to make the most of the opportunity.  We also have a small gift for shoppers in a couple of the stores.

We have done well on Boxing Day for many years now and have learnt to plan and buy for the big day … not just by bringing in sale stock but also by making sure that we have a good range of full price stock which will sell well on impulse.

We are looking forward to a long and successful day.

0 likes
Newsagency opportunities

Taking back the farm with toys

knox-toys.JPGAustralian newsagencies used always have a toy department decades ago.  Over the years we lost the market to the majors.  We forgot how to compete.  Some of us  are taking back the farm and enjoying good success with toys.  At Christmas especially.

In one of my stores we have brought in a pallet load of toys to fill space from sold out Christmas stock and to make the most of the high shopper shopper traffic for the Boxing day (and beyond) sales.

While we did not anticipate putting the display up before Christmas, this became necessary because of excellent Christmas sales.  No sooner was the toy display being put up and the registers were ringing with sales.

Newsagents can take back the farm, not just with toys but with other categories.  There are many excellent traffic growing margin building opportunities, if we are smart and commercial in our approach.  This is what 2011 should be about, re-energising your business with a focus on traffic, margin and efficiency.

I am not alone in having success with toys and other new categories.  If your business is experiencing tough trading, there are plenty of good stores out there which could unlock good stories for you too.

Check out the stunning display – it shows what can be achieved when you bring in a pro.

0 likes
Newsagency opportunities

Quirky bands selling well

bands.JPGWe have sourced a better range of bands than magazine distributor Network Services sent newsagents last week.  The range is broader, better priced, better packaged and offers a better margin.  The look stunning on slatwall.  The range is bigger than in the photo.

The supplier of the bands sent by Network ought never have been given access to the newsagency channel.

0 likes
Gifts

Promoting the Australiam Women’s Weekly

aww-jan2011.JPGWe are promoting The Australian Women’s Weekly in our prime women’s magazine section as well as next to our newspapers this week.

This newspaper location is working a treat for us – generating good sales from a simple and tactical display.

While this space is premium, AWW is earning its keep.  It’s great to see someone come in for a  newspaper and purchase AWW on impulse.  It’s better that we get the sale than a supermarket or some other retail channel.  I’d encourage other newsagents to try this co-location approach.

0 likes
Uncategorized

iPad update and subscription deals for The Australian

oz-ipad.jpgTo coincide with the launch of a new release of the iPad app for The Australian, News Limited has released details of a new subscription offer.  $6.17 a month is a good deal if the new app has worthwhile improvements.  The offer was communicated by News to current and past subscribers two days ago.  The regular monthly subscription for The Australian is priced at $8.99.  Meanwhile, the app for the New Zealand Herald, best newspaper iPad app in my view, remains free.

0 likes
Media disruption

Newsagent associations engage on newspaper distribution

Just after the announcement that Fairfax and News Limited had met to discuss newspaper distribution, the collective of newsagent associations released their New Territories Report.  This report lays out several principles which they consider to be important to newsagents in negotiating the newspaper distribution model of the future.

Internally, News and Fairfax are playing their cards close to their respective chests.  Newsagents need to approach this project in a similar way.

In the late 1990s newsagents botched the negotiation of new contracts.  The egos of a couple of blokes got in the way and newsagents were left with poor representation on a crucial matter.

While the report from the associations released yesterday makes a range of statements with which I agree, I would feel far more comfortable if I knew that they were being advised and guided by a text of professionals from outside the channel: legal people, economists and business strategists.

If newsagents want to have a strong position at the table discussing the future of newspaper distribution, they will need to stump up the funds necessary to be as well prepared and represented as the publishers.  This is not happen in the late 1990s and the result was a poor one for newsagents.

I applaud the associations for making the report public.  Now, I’d like to see details on their expert external advisors.

0 likes
newspaper home delivery