We moved a bunch of products during the week including this range of items targeted it kids.
In placing these items at the counter, we are targeting kids shopping with parents as well as grandparents who are busy purchasing stocking stuffers for Christmas.
With space very limited, plenty of time is spent each week moving items around – a bit like one of those puzzles we did as kids … chasing the perfect fit.
JB HiFi is demonstrating its care, or lack thereof, for Australia by starting a grey import service of goods from overseas. This service offers products which JB says are the same as what can be purchased from their stores. The difference is that the products are shipped direct to the consumer from overseas, avoiding GST.
While JB will say that they have to do this to counter overseas websites selling into Australia, my take is that their initiative disrespects Australian taxpayers. It dodges their obligation to support Australia, to be a good corporate citizen.
The JB HiFi move speaks volumes about ethics and social responsibility. They are putting their profit goals ahead of the needs of Australia as a country. they are doing this by pandering to greed – theirs and that of those who will purchase through them.
Yes, I want the federal government to address the tax anomaly. However, I understand the challenges of achieving this in a cost-justifiable way as a recent Productivity Commission report discussed.
JB HiFi should work harder to address the issue of collecting tax on items purchased overseas and shipped direct to Australian addresses rather than joining others to deny vital tax dollars which fund schools, hospitals, roads and other federally funded infrastructure and initiatives. Yes, this is a hard road. Equity can be like that. Imagine what life would be like if people always took the easy or greed route.
By helping, and even encouraging, Australian consumers to avoid paying tax JB HiFi disrespects us.
Pens and refills account for 34% of our stationery sales. Stationery for us does not include ink and toner, photocopying, art supplies or papers – each of these has their own department. So, in what we call pure stationer, pens and pen refills account for 34% of sales.
This is pretty good from what I can see. However, the percentage depends on the range of stationery carried. In a high street or rural regional situation the percentage would be lower because of a considerably more diverse range of stationery.
In my newsagency for which I am writing about here, the range of stationery is focused on impulse and every day convenience purchases. We have not stocked the business to be a stationery retailer of last resort. If the majors do not stock it then it would not be valuable of us to stock it in my view. We have very limited (expensive) space and need the best possible stock turn to pay for this.
I am curious as to the percentage of stationery which pens / refills achieves in other newsagencies. I think this figure could be an interesting discussion point … we could learn a lot about how others run their businesses.
I have had several newsagents asking where they can source Dumbo Feather magazine which I have written about here. Network Services has the title even though it is not found on through their website. While not a volume title, it appeals to a valuable and committed niche … well worth stocking if you consider yourself to be a magazine specialist.
We are promoting the latest issue of Real Living with this aisle end display facing into our magazine reading area. We’ll run the display for a week. Our next step is to promote the title in two locations so that it has a next step from when this display comes down. We try and make sure that all titles promoted in a display have somewhere to go after the display. I think this is important as it supports the title before the initial flourish of activity.
We have moved newspapers from the front counter further into the store. We have done this to create a better shopper experience. With sales up our counter was becoming log-jammed and making getting to newspapers more challenging. Also, we have expanded our newspaper product range and at the counter we could not fully display these and make the most of the expansion opportunity.
We have encountered some push-back from regular shoppers about the move but that faded after the first couple of days.
Like any move in the business, we will monitor sales and make adjustments if necessary. Our goal is to grow newspaper sales from this store over time. The new location for newspapers should help achieve this by making them more accessible and more easily browsed.
This latest change is another in the various changes we are making in-store, flowing from the magazine relay we undertook last month.
We are thrilled with sales for this Merry-Okee Christmas karaoke microphone from Hallmark. Customers love it. We have ordered more stock to ensure we can satisfy demand.
What I especially like is that the Merry-Okee product is selling off the shop floor, without any special promotional display or marketing collateral. This speaks volumes for the product packaging.
I also like the product as it extends the reach of the Hallmark brand in-store. This fits well with our focus on branded product as opposed to cheap China product. Brands fit in with a sustainable business plan whereas cheap Chins product will only provide sales spikes.
We are promoting the latest issue of Madison with this display as well as good placement in the regular location for the magazine. This aisle end display is at one of the entrances to our women’s magazine aisle. While not a big seller in in the overall magazine department, it is important in our women’s interest category. Sales lift when we undertake promotional captivity. This is why we are happy to debit the time and space.
Newsagents should read the report yesterday at Press Gazette about accusations by UK newsagents that The Guardian is trying to steal their customers.
The spat between newsagents and The Guardian has rumbled on after the newspaper was accused of stealing customers from local retailers in London.
Trade body the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) has condemned The Guardian’s decision to print a loose insert into a copy of last week’s paper offering direct delivery subscriptions to readers within the M25.
The NFRN claimed it was a direct attack on newsagents providing home delivery services.
It claims The Guardian is trying to “steal” customers through “unfair competition” by offering consumers free delivery, guaranteed delivery before 7am (8.30am on Sundays) and by giving subscribers a free gift worth £60.
This report is timely given the state of play of newspaper home delivery in Australia. It reinforces an understanding of the challenges being faced globally around the newspaper home delivery function.
Another newsagent in Melbourne walked away from their shopping centre tenancy last week. He dropped the keys off at Centre Management and left the building mid lease. The shop was relatively full of stock.
While there is no doubt that newsagents in shopping centres face extraordinary challenges, walking away is not an answer. There are avenues of mediation, especially in Victoria.
Landlords are less concerned about the need for a newsagency today from what I hear. This has been brought on in part by the behaviour of some shopping centre newsagents.
We are leveraging the Junior MasterChef TV Show with the Junior MasterChef board game as part of our Christmas grift product mix.
This is another example of our commitment to and support of big brands. I see this as vital in newsagency businesses. A brand strategy will deliver more value for us that the alternative – chasing the dissent shops down the path of cheap China product. There is little loyalty in the deep discount space as price is your only differentiator.
While there is a risk that a major will come along and whack you on price for a big brand product, the key is to land the product with some flexibility with which to respond to this. However, it is rare that a major would deeply discount a big brand item for the whole of the season. This is where watching their activity is vital. By choosing your time you can make excellent margins off products like this.
The other value in big brand products like the Junior MasterChef board game is that it is recognisable. This makes for easier shopping, faster decisions.
Earlier this week I published the latest newsagency sales benchmark report.
The first quarter of the financial year lived up to expectations, delivering challenging sales results for newsagents with key categories reporting sales declines.
There was a considerable difference in results for city versus country newsagents with the latter overall delivering steadier results.
A key take-away from analyzing the data from 143 newsagency businesses is that newsagents who work on their businesses reap rewards. This is reflected in department and category sales data as well as sales efficiency: basket size and sales value. The results speak to the importance of focusing on the three critical aspects of retail: customer traffic, average basket size and, margin.
In the all-important magazine department, there appears to be a greater volatility in sales between categories. This volatility is reflected in two ways:
The overall result for magazines in the benchmark study pool is better than I’d expect to see for the channel as a whole because the data is provided by newsagents who care about and understand data. Newsagents who would not even know how to access their own trading period sales comparison data would, in my view, be less likely to care and therefore manage their businesses for sales success.
The group of newsagents delivering the most challenged results, across the whole business, continues to be those in capital city shopping centres. Based on recent closures, it is fair to say that the lure of shopping malls for newsagency businesses is fading. The benchmark sales data shows that achieving the sales growth necessary to stay ahead of the annual 5% (and more) rent increase is challenging. This is made even more difficult by the fixed margin nature of much of what newsagents sell.
Click to here read on.
More detailed information is being shared with participants.
The New Idea Test Kitchen TV show launches this coming Sunday, November 20th. The show is sure to boost interest in the New Idea magazine, especially in the lead up to Christmas. Check out a teaser for the show on YouTube:
The launch of this show is a good reason to give New Idea greater prominence in-store
We have put our iPhone and Android related magazine titles together to make the most of the story we are able to tell in this topical space.
The small display is at chest height in our magazine display and therefore quite noticeable. We have situated the display to make it the feature segment of our technology magazine titles.
This is an example of the continual tweaking we undertake of our magazine offer, based on titles we have in-store at any time. We are forever reviewing what we have and considering the refreshed stories we can bring to the magazine department.
We have the Royal Wedding calendar out on display as part of our calendar offer. This is a test of interest in the Royal Wedding earlier this year.
On calendars more generally, our sales are up 145% for November to date. This is off an excellent sales base last year. 145% growth is excellent. We’re feeling very positive about calendar sales this year. And, yes, there is a calendar Club in our centre with their usual push. Plus we have three retailers nearby selling calendars.
We put our calendar sales growth down to having a good range in a high traffic location and making the range easy for shoppers to browse.
Calendars sales are tracking at 15% of magazine sales. This has been my target ratio of calendar revenue to magazine revenue for several years. It’s a useful target KPI for newsagents.
The newsstand for the Amazon Kindle Fire device debuts with 400 magazines available. Check out the newsstand here.
The state based newsagent associations are taking proposals to News Limited for changes to the distribution of newspapers. The proposals are in response to a request from News Limited.
My understanding is that the Victorian and Queensland approaches are similar which the NSW/ACT approach is a bit different.
Some Victorian newsagents contacted me following a briefing from VANA last week to express their concerns at what they say is a narrow approach which appears to have been created to benefit those already well established with distribution only businesses.
I have not been to a VANA briefing and so cannot comment.
The reason that the states are driving this issue is because News Limited has historically managed newspaper home delivery on a state by state basis. Indeed, today there remain significant difference between the states and how newspaper distribution is managed.
Newsagents need to engage with their respective associations to ensure that they understand what is proposed and that their views are taken on board.
Our promotion of the latest issue of Time magazine has generated at least one sale for us with a customer adding the magazine to his purchase on impulse when he saw the cover story on Silvio Berlusconi. While one sale may not seem like a lot, given our small sales of Time in this particular newsagency it’s something we are thrilled to achieve.
This blog post is important as it reflects the commitment in my newsagencies to chase even one sale of a magazine. In this store, one of our team members placed Time here of their own accord. This is excellent initiative.
The more newsagencies where this is done the more value we will show ourselves to be to magazine publishers. There is incremental business for the taking … if we are more engaged with magazine placement and train all in our business to be engaged as well.
Having just completed another newsagency sales benchmark study I have no doubt that we can do better with magazine sales in our channel.
We have the latest issue of Harpers Bazaar magazine being promoted at the entrance to our main women’s magazine aisle with this display.
The pack of 10 Bazaar gift cards which comes with the magazine is a nice gift and while we don’t want to pull focus from our excellent range of greeting cards, we have strategically placed this display next to our card department.
We’ll run this display for a week before giving any remaining stock prominence in our women’s interests section.
We are promoting the latest issue of InStyle magazine with this in-location display. Simple and attention-getting. Also, it plays to the sales we should achieve with the title.
This is the only fashion related title being displayed and so it’s eye-catching.
I appreciate that some merchandisers who visit this blog may not consider this the most attractive display. I agree. What really matters though is the sales. These in-location displays, for the right title, work a treat!
The part of the Magazine Week conference which I attended on Friday in Sydney was terrific. While the panel session was interesting (more on that in a moment) it was the discussions before and after, the networking, which was more interesting and worthwhile.
My takeaways are:
On this last, and important, point, magazine publishers need to focus in delivering valuable, engaging and enjoyable content in print. Discounting is a mugs game. Giving away your print content for free is a mugs game. If you want to be online too, deliver access to different content than the print offer.
The panel discussion itself was good albeit way too short to fully explore the issues of the future of the retail channel. I’d like to see a longer conversation between publishers, distributors and newsagents. At least half a day. We need time to properly and fully debate issues for it is only robust debate in a relatively open forum which will let us get to the bottom or core issues such as over simply, under supply, inflexibility and arcane business practices.
What was disappointing about the panel discussion was some of the interaction with Craig Davison the Executive General Manager of Gordon and Gotch. He said he didn’t like being bullied (and in doing so inferred he was being bullied), that they only make money from sales, that they do not over supply, said that the quality of sales data from newsagents was poor and said he was happy to have a discussion about their model offline.
I’d like to respond on each of these:
There was a brief discussion about an idea I pitched here some years ago about a magazine czar. While I accept that this is impractical, the overarching idea is something we need to explore.
As I have been writing this post I have been thinking about the issues around magazine distribution and what we should do next. I’d like to modify the idea of a workshop mentioned above and make it a newsagent and publisher only workshop. We should discuss the issues and reach common ground. We are the core parties after all. Once we agree the distributors can be brought in to facilitate what has been agreed.
As 2011 comes to an end I think we are in better shape on magazine distribution than when we started. Network Services has improved considerably. IPS has arrived and upset the apple cart. These are good moves.
We are seeing good sales of single Christmas cards early in the Christmas season. We have the full range of Christmas cards in the front section of the newsagency, on the dance floor. This is directly opposite our card department, so nice and close to regular card shoppers.
We will move our Christmas card offer twice between now and Christmas, to refresh the offer and combat store blindness among our regular shoppers.
Cold calling is one of the most successful methods used by companies to grow sales. It is the process of approaching someone to offer your products, in person or on the phone. It works in all sorts of businesses, why not newsagencies?!
If you want to grow your stationery sales, try this. I have seen newsagents enjoy excellent success as a result of cold calling.
Visit at least six businesses near your newsagency which do not currently purchase their stationery from you each week. Introduce yourself. leave a flyer with current prices for popular office stationery items. Make your that all your contact details are on the flyer.
Have a brief, one or two minute pitch ready. This should focus on why they should support your business.
Do this for four weeks, six businesses a week. That’s 24 businesses in a month. 24 businesses not currently buying from you having received your pitch.
If you get no new business think back on your pitch. It could also be that you need to allow time for their stationery needs to evolve. If you do get business then repeat what worked for you.
It is vital that your approach is natural and friendly. Have something you can share which is valuable. An idea or suggestion which is stationery related. This could build goodwill.
It’s rare that a newsagent has a cold call sales program in place. Try it, it could work! I am sure that your stationery sales could do with a boost.
Here are answers / responses to objections concerns I expect some newsagents will have.
The more work you put in promoting your newsagency outside your newsagency the greater the rewards you will reap.
Gordon and Gotch yesterday supplied 12 copies of the The Friendship Book 2012 edition to one of my newsagencies. We have not had the title since we opened in 2009. In my view, there is no justification for them sending the title.
We were supposed to be on a list to not receive new stock unless requested or approved. This newsagency does not have flat-stack space, meaning that displaying the book in the appropriate place is challenging.
The only reason I can think of Gotch sending us this stock is that they had spare stock and wanted money from getting this out to stores, for the distribution fee. They will say this is not the case. Until I see proof of this I am a doubter.
We will give the title until the start of the last week of November. We’ll make space somewhere. If there are no sales and no discernable interest in the title, we will early return it to avoid the cash-flow hit.
It is activity like this, unexpected and unwarranted supply, which causes newsagents to act, sometimes early returning other titles without justification. Magazine publishers need to understand this – the behaviour of a distributor in their handling of one title can cause newsagents to strike out against another title.
What should have happened here? Here is my suggestion:
By forcing the stock on me Gotch gets me offside and has me more likely to strike out against such (in my view) gross over supply. This only gives them another excuse to tell publishers and others that we are not good retailers.