Check out this video promoting Timbuktu, a new magazine for children published for the iPad. Timbuktu is currently available free in iTunes.
The navigation of the magazine is interesting. They are not using the usual page flip. Instead, you navigate down when a new section starts. It’s worth checking out not only for content but also for design and other innovations.
We have been promoting Cosmopolitan magazine on an aisle end facing a reading nook we have for woman’s magazines. While toward the back of the store, we certainly see shoppers browse and purchase off displays we place here. We find that people who get to the end of our magazine aisles and into this reading space tend to be the more avid magazine customer – hence the value of good displays to help drive impulse purchases. I guess my point is that displays don’t always have to be in a high traffic location to work. In our case, down here in this location, the lack of visual competition works to the favour of the title on promotion.
I had a good discussion with an advisor to a local member of parliament today who asked excellent questions on the EFTPOS issue. He was well across the issue for small and independent businesses like newsagencies and was working on a strategy to get the issue in front of the right people. He gets the challenges for small business people in this. He will also talk with the ANF before developing a briefing paper.
I have been talking with the publisher of frankie magazine about the opportunity given the decline of Borders and that the title was a hit for them. This is an excellent opportunity for newsagents.
The latest issue of frankie magazine goes on sale next week. This is the title which delivered a 35% increase in sales in the latest circulation audit. Newsagents near a Borders store should consider contacting Gordon and Gotch today to get supply increased. A process has been established in Gordon and Gotch to handle this.
I urge all newsagents to check their sales of frankie and request in increase in supply if they sold out of the last issue. If you didn’t sell out, start panning now for active promotion of the next issue. With this title achieving excellent growth it is not something you want to sell out of early in the on sale and miss sales you could have achieved.
I have asked for a 25% increase in my newsagencies as I know I can achieve this with additional promotion.
Morrison Media, the publisher of frankie, is making aan A2 poster available for stores with the space and who want to get behind this issue.
What I have found with frankie is that tactical placement works well. Place the product where younger female shoppers can see the cover. Do not hide it in regular magazine fixturing.
If you want to make the most of the opportunity next week, contact Gordon and Gotch today.
This is an opportunity for newsagents to demonstrate that we are serious about magazines and that we will engage when given an opportunity with a pull model – where we can order extra stock prior to the on sale. If we all act on this opportunity we could show other publishers the power and opportunity of the newsagency channel.
The image is of the current issue of frankie, issue 40.
Check out the amazing display crated to promote the Woman’s Day Royal Wedding souvenir at newsXpress Deception Bay. At the centre off the royal looking display is a signature book which customers can sign. This will be sent to London to pass on the good wishes of Deception Bay shoppers. Very innovative!
Click on the image to see a bigger version of the photo.
I am not sure what is going on with our supply of Great Walks magazine. I like this title but not to the extent of being supplied to achieve a sell through of only 30%. This month we received 7 copies. We will probably sell the usual two copies. I have looked back at sales data for the last six issues – given the supply algorithms I am told are in place, we should have received maybe four copies, not seven. We will give all seven copies of the latest issue a crack but will look at early returning three copies if we do not see movement by the start of week three.
As I noted, I like Great Walks. I just wish that it was a destination title, that shoppers would come in asking for it. But I could say that for a ton of special interest titles.
On Tuesday, ASIC revealed that on March 17 it had banned Ian Christiansen, a former director of Bill Express, from managing a company for five years. I suspect that the same fate would have befallen Ian’s brother Hal had he been alive today. Fairfax papers have the story. No news yet on the fate of Julian Little, the Bill Express director who managed the relationship with newsagency.
Newsagents sunk more than fifty million dollars into Bill Express, signing five year agreements.
There were complaint of false and misleading information being used to get newsagents to sign these long term agreements. Nothing ever came of complaints about tactics used in the field to get newsagents to sign what we now know to be unfair and grossly expensive five year agreements.
Bill Express was promoted to newsagents by the ANF. The ANF got a commission from Bill Express. The ANF Board endorsed Bill Express in 2003 with lavish promotion and support, having done no due diligence on the company or its offer. In 2008, when Bill Express was collapsing, the then ANF Board continued to support Bill Express, providing advice to newsagents to continue to pay for Bill Express equipment without seeking legal advice as to the appropriateness of this advice.
The behavior of the ANF in 2003 and in 2008 damaged the organisation. The ANF today is not the ANF of 2003 or 2008 thankfully for newsagents.
Go into the back room of many newsagencies and you will find some of the old Bill Express hardware stored away.
As ASIC and others work through their processes and put the Bill Express mess to bed, maybe newsagents can too. It is truly time to move on. the past is the past.
The administrators for RED Group last night announced the imminent closure of another 16 Borders stores. The move reinforces the some challenges in retail at present. However, it opens more opportunities to nearby newsagents as we are well positioned to pick up the Borders magazine business. They keys here are range, service and encouraging browsing.
Smart newsagents near these closing Borders stores will refresh their magazine rage, relay their store, renew staff training to lift customer service and promote their magazine range externally.
Now is the time to promote Donna Hay magazine folks. Donna’s first TV show is on the air PLUS the latest issue of the Donna Hay magazine (out yesterday) comes with a free timer – a good gift for a food title. We are promoting this issue with an aisle end display as well as placement in with our weekly titles. Oh, and in with our food titles.
We will scale this multi location activity back after the weekend once we assess sales for the title and consider demands on our space.
Our competitors with this title – supermarkets,, petrol and convenience, will do nothing more than place the title where they are paid to place it. We can grab incremental business with good placement early in the on sale.
We are promoting the Woman’s Day Royal Wedding one shot right at the front of the newsagency, facing into the shopping mall. This is the kind of title which will draw traffic – even though marketing collateral is light on. Ugh. We are reusing the I Love Magazine stand from ACP. We, like plenty of newsagents, are chasing more stock as we expect to sell out of what we received. (Click on the image for a larger version of the photo.)
Dun & Bradstreet has picked up the push by the ANF, newsagents and COSBOA for justice and fairness for small business on the EFTPOS fee issue. See their news report here.
That’s Life Reader’s Recipes is a popular food title even though the latest issue is only issue #4. It is also from the reality genre – real recipes from real people. There is a photo of each contributor next to their recipe. You can’t get more reality than that in the magazine space.
Judging by sales of this and the previous issues of the title, as well as the continuing popularity of weeklies which play in this space, there is a good market for reality magazines. While we like to watch the fancy chefs ponce about and make their creations, I think that there is strong interest in accessible everyday recipes. That’s what That’s Life Reader’s Recipes offers.
You only have to look at the continuing success of reality TV shows to know that real people like to watch real people. Having said that, it is not fair to compare the ‘reality’ of some reality TV shows to the authentic reality on the pages of That’s Life Reader’s Recipes.
I’d encourage newsagents to promote this title in a good traffic location. Our sales in the last few days have been excellent. We have ordered more stock as a result.
Well done to Pacific Magazines for creating this title.
Sometimes in the sea of magazines on our shelves we lose track of titles with which we can attract a younger group of shoppers. SLAM magazine from Morrison Media is good title, especially for young males. While sales are not massive, this title placed next to titles with similar appeal – surfing, body boarding, wake boarding – can work very for some newsagents. I have seen SLAM work as a promotion at the counter as well as in a well defined section in the magazine department. Like any title, show it some love and you are usually rewarded with sales in return. This is a good title with which we should remind ourselves that we are not our customers as I bet there are not all that many skateboarding newsagents out there. Click here to see the flyer from the publisher with more details on SLAM.
We are promoting the latest issue of MasterChef magazine with an in-location display capping our food section. I love the colour of the cover and the poster for this issue – they make it easily noticeable in the sea of of colour in a magazine aisle.
With the TV show soon to return I’d expect interest in the magazine to pick up. We will also be supporting the title with promotion at the counter over the weekend.
Like most newsagents around Australia we have been promoting the latest issue of TV Week and the Logie Awards feature with an aisle end display. While the display looks good and promotes the title, I think that a more tactical approach would drive sales. With space is at a premium we cannot do both and so have opted for this display as required by the ACP Connections program. I’d much prefer a channel marketing program which focused on incremental business rather than billboard displays.
25 Angus and Robertson stores are today giving notice to terminate their relationship with Angus and Robertson and will each trade under their own independent name. This is another blow to the restructuring of the RED group which owns A&R, Borders, Whitcoulls (in NZ) and Calendar Club.
As I have noted previously, the turmoil around RED Group businesses presents an opportunity for opportunistic newsagents and other retailers. I guess that these 25 A&R franchisees have seen this and decided to back themselves.
The Courier Mail yesterday covered the looming EFTPOS fee challenge from a newsagent’s perspective with a story featuring Brett Carey from newsXpress Deception Bay.
Politicians on all sides have played a role in what has created the opportunity for the expected EFTPOS fee hike against small business. Politicians on both sides need to facilitate a solution.
Newsagents tell me that the Sunday Telegraph published by News Limited this past Sunday weighed 920 grams. This is an unsafe weight to deliver using traditional delivery means.
As I blogged on November 20, 2006, the Nery report, commissioned by the ANF, found unsafe work practices which stem from the handling of heavy newspapers. According to the report, current work practices are unsafe. The report documents unsafe work practices which stem, in part, from having to handle heavy newspapers. Any newspaper above .6 kilogram in weight is considered to be heavy. Consider this quote from the Executive Summary the report:
The Results section of this report (page 10) has outlined significant ergonomic risk factors associated with the newspaper delivery tasks. These risk factors are particularly related to dimensions of the weekend papers (Advertiser and Sunday Mail) when combined with the repetition, volume and manual handling aspects of the delivery process. In particular, there are significant risks associated with the delivery/throwing of the larger dimensioned and heavier Saturday Advertiser and Sunday Mail newspapers.
David Nery, the respected author of the Nery report was clear:
The current situation, in my view, is unsafe and modifications to the weight, dimensions and volume of papers distributed per person need to be reduced to provide a safe system of work.
Late last year, News Limited issued a rebuttal to newsagents, based on their own expert study. Their report, or what has been published to newsagents at least, is years late and lacking in detail and professional scope compared with that of David Nery. The News Limited rebuttal is in the from of a letter telling newsagents that they are responsible for OH&S issues relating to newspaper delivery. They claim that Nery is wrong and that it is safe to deliver heavy newspapers.
News Limited controls the weight and dimensions of the product being delivered. They also control most of the economic terms relating to newspaper home delivery: delivery fees, cover price and requirements about obligations on newsagents to accept customers. These economic terms determining whether newsagents can reasonably split a heavy product into two.Newsagents need to revisit the Nery Report in the context of the fat Sunday Telegraph. If I still had a home delivery business and were in a position to influence industry response I would:
It may be that the process results in a negotiated middle ground position between News and newsagents. If it doing nothing wrong, News should have nothing to hide and therefore be prepared to actively engage.
I was in Borders on the weekend to spend a gift card before they stopped honoring these from last night and noticed signs in the usually busy and now deserted magazine department at a Borders store reflected the challenges of the retail group trading under Administration. Coming soon! New issue magazines will be in next week. Lack of current issue stock is death to any magazine department, especially one where range is promoted as a point of difference – as has been the case at Borders.
The issue of kicking a business when it is down notwithstanding, newsagents with a Borders store in their shopping centre should check out the Borders magazine department and if they find it depleted as I saw they should increase their attention on their own magazine department. Promote magazines inside and outside the store. Talk to Centre Management about an off location promotion. Try and attract Borders magazine shoppers to your business.
Check out the gifts bagged with the latest issue of UK magazine My Weekly Healthy Living. There is a Brain Booster puzzle book as well as a tub of Luxury Body Butter. While these are both good gifts, I am surprised to see them both in the same pack. Maybe I am wrong but it feels like gift overkill to me. Either one of the items would have been a good gift. The other could have been held over for another issue. I guess it all comes down to the money on the table to promote the gifts. I noticed the title when looking at how to display it – the unusual shape and thickness mean that we cannot display it in the usual way.
I want to sell out of magazines. I love it when it happens. Independent publishers I speak with love it too. A sell out is good. I it happens early enough in the on-sale I will order more stock. I’ve done that plenty of times.
The newsagent magazine distribution model is not designed for us to sell out. The distributors think that sell outs are bad. Many publishers think that sell outs are bad. One distributor representative told me that publishers don’t like sell outs. I can’t find evidence supporting that view. Publishers I have spoken with say they like sell outs when they occur at an appropriate time through the on-sale.
The kind of sell outs which I think are acceptable and for which I would not order additional stock are: weeklies – by day five or more; monthlies – by week three or more. I am not including anything beyond monthlies since I do not think that any title in a newsagency should have an on-sale of more than thirty days.
For this issue to be resolved, a publisher and a distributor need to make a start. I hope this happens soon.
We have been promoting the latest issue Better Homes and Gardens in three locations since its release last Wednesday. On the weekend, we added this simple display next to newspapers. With the impressive free cooking brush and spatula, it made sense of make the most of the opportunity – especially given that we were the only retail outlet in the shopping centre with the offer. It has performed very well for us, especially this newspaper location.
I like how Pacific Magazines attached the free gift to the cover yet made the magazine itself browser friendly. Very smart. Whoever decided to not bag the whole issue is to be congratulated.
I know that some newsagents will complain that they were not given this offer. Various publishers choose to engage with various groups and sizes of newsagencies and other business in return for shop floor engagement. I think that we will see more of this engagement as publishers realise that not all newsagents are the same.
We now have too many new partworks being launched at the same time. The drought has turned into a flood with the launch last week of Build Your Own Tiger Tank. We are doing our best to promote the new title but space is at a premium. Also, the total cost of building the tank, in excess of $2,000, has already been mentioned by customers as a challenge. That and the highly special interest nature of this title. We have Build Your Own Tiger Tank on display behind the counter – space shared with another part series.
Publishers who really want engagement from newsagents on partworks will:
Partworks can work well if better managed and if there was a more common sense approach to release schedules.
The classic Children’s Birthday Cake Cookbook from ACP continues to sell up a storm. Another fifteen copies on the last week. No slowdown due to the Big W deal at $10.00. We still have this displayed at the front of the store – resuing the I Love Magazines stand. It will stay there as long as it is working at pulling customers into the store.
It is surprising the number of shoppers saying that other newsagents do not have this title.
