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

Month: March 2012

Smith Journal #2 out Monday – WARNING do not early return this title

Smith Journal volume 2 goes on sale Monday – get a sneak peek here. This is from the publishers of Frankie. Many newsagents sold our of Smith Journal Volume 1 last year. I did in my newsagency and order ed more. Sold that too. ordered more and sold that too.  This is a hit title.

NEWSAGENTS: do not early return Smith Journal.

I have seen some sales data for this title and am certain that they stock you will receive Monday will sell. The print run is tight. The publisher has not scaled out with fat for returns.

There is a strong social media campaign around Smith Journal. This will work but over time.This is our opportunity to demonstrate that we will support new and innovative Australian titles. Other publishers are watching how newsagents react to Smith Journal. So, please, for the sake of all of us, DO NOT EARLY RETURN SMITH JOURNAL.

I have no commercial relationship whatsoever with then publisher, Morrison Media. It just so happens that I love the title and what they are doing to drive traffic to our stores to purchase this and their other titles.

I have already sought more stock as I am certain we will sell out.

If we as a channel to not fix the early returns problems we will turn out osiers away fro our businesses and this will ultimately hurt the most valuable habit based traffic we have.  This is not an issue for us to debate. It is an issue for us to act on in your own newsagencies. Yes, I understand there are titles we should early return – but this has to be done intelligently and based on good data.

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magazines

We need to get political about Australia Post

Reading the latest Australia Post catalogue it is clear that the operators of the government owned and protected corporation will put the needs of their shareholders and protectors, the federal government, ahead of the needs of small businesses.

We newsagents complain but what are we doing?

Unlike supermarkets, convenience stores and others winning business from those who might otherwise have shopped at our businesses, Australia Presents us an opportunity because of the government ownership.

A relentless, professional and  co-ordinated campaign could get the politicians to have to make a decision. They go on about competition policy yet for selfish reasons ignore their own advice. I think that they are weak on this.

The problem is that Australia Post is not a broad small business issue. It is an issue particular to newsagency businesses.

It frustrates me that politicians on all sides support this government owned business and through their support permit it to continue to target small businesses, like newsagencies. They have to decide whether they want profits from Australia Post or jobs in newsagencies.

Look at the items on the front cover of the catalogue. What do they have to do with postal services?

Section 14 of the Act requires Australia Post to provide a postal service first and foremost:

The principal function of Australia Post is to supply postal services within Australia and between Australia and places outside Australia.

Section 15 talks about permitted subsidiary functions:

A subsidiary function of Australia Post is to carry on, outside Australia, any business or activity relating to postal services.

Section 16 talks about other permitted functions:

Functions incidental businesses and activities

(1) The functions of Australia Post include the carrying on, within or outside Australia, of any business or activity that is incidental to: (a) the supplying of postal services under section 14; or (b) the carrying on of any business or activity under section 15.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the functions of Australia Post include the carrying on, within or outside Australia, of any business or activity that is capable of being conveniently carried on: (a) by the use of resources that are not immediately required in carrying out Australia Post’s principal or subsidiary function; or (b) in the course of: (i) supplying postal services under section 14; or (ii) carrying on any business or activity under section 15.

The last federal government and the current one have permitted Australia Post to take millions of dollars in revenue from small business. The situation is getting worse.

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Australia Post

Nice timing for Bowie book

We were pleased to see the David Bowie book in our Easter book sale pack as it ties in well with the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. We are using the book and the magazine in an out of location promotional display with newspapers – we figured both should work well at attracting impulse purchases from this high-traffic location.

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Tactical display

Newsagents missing the social media opportunity

Many newsagents are missing the opportunity of social media by finding and speaking with their own voice. Instead, they are promoting what everyone promotes – new issues of magazines, major newspaper stories and major seasons in a traditional way.

The best use of social media by small and independent retailers, like newsagents, is to publish content with a local connection … to show speak to your community about what you offer which matters to them.  This is what I mean about finding your own voice.

Each tweet, Facebook post and blog post should reflect your business, your situation and your community. Sure it can talk about a new magazine issue but it should be with a local context.

While some newsagents do this today, many do not and they are issuing an excellent opportunity to drive traffic and sales as a result.

I think that we can do better as a channel.

Newsagents speaking from their heart with a local voice will be more relevant to the local community than what any big business with which you compete could do.

If you want to understand the power of social media in the international stage, take a look at the Stop Kony campaign. In three days this week they have achieved close to 40 million views of the half hour film documenting the atrocities of Joseph Kony. If you don’t know what I am talking about, watch the video now. It will be 30 minutes well spent.

The Kony campaigners are using social media aggressively and cleverly for an important cause. Beyond their campaign there is a lesson for all with a message they want to spread. We could do this ourselves for our businesses and collectively for political attention. It all depends if we can agree on common goals and actually want to achieve the goals.

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Newsagency challenges

A good magazine cover can do wonders

I was talking to a graphic designer who works for a magazine publisher yesterday. They were asking about title covers which work on the magazine shelves and titles which don’t. While many titles can look good in a feature display with additional collateral, the discussion yesterday was specifically about how covers look in their regular situation.

The visual cut through of a title depends on the cover of the current issue. A title which might be average one month can look amazing the next.

This photo of some of the finance and property titles we have in-store at present is an excellent example of a title achieving good visual cut through. The latest issue of Money from ACP looks excellent. Indeed, we liked the cover so much that we made sure it on full show. Even the top quarter which is all shoppers would see of many covers looks good for this issue of Money.

Designers of magazine covers need to visit newsagencies to see how their work is placed. Hopefully this photo provides a good example to illustrate yesterday’s discussion.

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magazines

Promoting Australian iPhone magazine and the free iPhone case

We are promoting the Australian iPhone magazine with a double space allocation display in the Apple section of our technology magazines.

We are giving the magazine additional space in the spotlight because of the free iPhone case which comes with this issue. The extra value of the iPhone case gift makes the title pretty compelling.

Given the excellent sales of the iPad magazine (we got extra stock having sold out) we have high hopes for the latest issue for the iPhone title. With Apple back at the top of news stories following the launch of the iPad 4, this is a good time to promote the iPhone title.

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magazines

Promoting Feast magazine

We are promoting the latest issue of Feast magazine with this column-based display which faces shoppers as they enter the business.

The display can also be easily seen from the mall in the front of the shop, by people as they pass by our newsagency.

We also have the title in a half-waterfall in the usual location, in with food titles.

For years we have embraced columns with terrific sales success in our newsagencies … for magazines, gifts and selected other products which lend themselves to a tall display.

The key here is to use brands which make sense to shoppers, brands which are understood. Brands reinforce the professional representation of our business.

I think that’s where the Feast display works for us and for the title itself.

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magazines

Touch Networks launches loyalty program for all newsagents

Kudos to telco recharge and electronic products vendor Touch networks for launching a loyalty program which is open to all newsagents. Touch launched the program today and started communicating the details and benefits to newsagents right away.

This new program gives newsagents a point of difference between Touch and e-Pay and given that newsagents can easily access both they may want to look at the partner them use for telco recharge, iTunes cards, Moshi Monsters products and many other products which sell well in newsagencies.

Click here for a flyer about the loyalty program.

With the volume of electronic products newsagents sell and can influence the sale of, this loyalty program is a terrific bonus opportunity.

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Newsagency opportunities

Selling $80 gifts in a newsagency

We are playing with the boundaries of what we sell in our evolving gift department. This iPhome controlled helicopter, appCopter, is the latest addition. Indeed, it is part of a range of similar products we have started carrying under the same brand … they all make for a good range story in store.

This move is as much about price points as it is about the types of gifts we sell. I know of some newsagents who have no trouble selling gifts valued at hundreds of dollars and others who cannot sell anything over twenty dollars.  I am experimenting, through a range of products, to find what our level is.

I also like the appCopter as it connects with the shopper we attract for event tickets and many of the types of magazines we sell. It will also appeal to the parents of these shoppers.

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Gifts

New ATO benchmarks for newsagency businesses still wrong

The latest performance benchmarks for newsagency businesses issued by the ATO a few weeks ago are wrong in my view and will most likely result in more newsagents having their business records audited.

While the new benchmarks are an improvement on what the ATO published last year, the remain ignorant of the facts. For example, they say the average cost of sales is 70%. I know many newsagency businesses where this is not the case. The considerable variation is a testament to the diverse nature of the businesses which trade under the newsagency shingle.

 

Having had one of my newsagencies audited because of faulty benchmarks, I am concerned that the new benchmarks have not adequately addressed the situation.

The ATO benchmarks should accurately reflect newsagency trading situations as they are used by the ATO to determine if a newsagency business should be audited. This happens when the business results fall outside or near the borders of the benchmark.

Newsagents should click on the link and read all the ATO numbers and what they say about them. If you are trading outside the benchmarks, get ready for a call from the ATO.

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Newsagency management

Brilliant Apple-themed display in Bairnsdale

Check out a brilliant Apple-themed display created by the team at newsXpress Bairnsdale.

By bringing together a range of products for the Apple iPhone, Apple iPad and Apple iPod, they have created a wonderful retail story – unlike what shoppers would expect to see in a traditional newsagency.

I love the inclusion of the Apple iTunes cards in the display both from a visual perspective and that they fit nicely in with all the other Apple products.

This is the type of display we all need to develop in our newsagency businesses to leverage magazine traffic and to drive magazine sales to people purchasing other items – in this case the Steve Jobs books.

I’d expect suppliers of the various products in the display to be very happy at their inclusion. Even magazine publishers who may prefer a big display of just their title would be happy, I think, to be part of a stronger visual story.

This is one of the best commercially-focussed displays I have seen in the last year.

I’d be happy to receive photos from other newsagencies for publishing here.

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magazines

Promoting the marie claire 200th

We are thrilled to be promoting the 200th edition of marie claire magazine.

The new look (and size) marie claire looks stunning. The supporting collateral is excellent. I love that some of the posters included copies of pages from the magazine – this makes it easier to take the browser into the title. See the posters above the magazines on the shelf – I’d like to see more posters do this.

The main collateral has excellent visual cut through, just stunning, as does the magazine itself in our regular magazine shelving.

On the back of the look of marie claire we yesterday ordered 100% of our initial order. We’re confident we will sell all of this stock.  It’s a collectors item as well as a magazine shoppers will want to read.

The marketing around the 200th issue has been excellent, we had customers asking abut the title before it went on sale.

Special magazines issues like this present newsagents with an excellent opportunity to stake our claim as the magazine specialists.

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magazines

Excellent Dolly promotion

The promotion with the latest issue of Dolly magazine, out yesterday, is sure to drive sales. We have given the display prime position in-store, facing on to the dance floor.

The collateral for the Dolly promotion is particularly good – offering excellent visual cut through.

We ordered extra stock as we are certain to sell out. We sold out of the last issue of Dolly with a few days of the on-sale period to go.

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magazines

Customers loving the Pacific Magazines promotion

We are seeing an excellent response from customers to the latest Pacific Magazines promotion which offers $10,000 in cash prizes. We are promoting the opportunity at each of my newsagencies with displays facing into the shopping mall to attract shoppers and show off a point of difference for us in each of the shopping centres.

I particularly like the campaign because it has hit at a good time of the year – after Back to School, before easter really kicks in and at a between season time for many retail businesses in shopping centres. It’s a campaign that helps us stand out and that’s important in retail.

The promotion gives participating newsagents a reason to put the related titles under the spotlight. It also gives shoppers a reason to consider purchasing the titles.

The other aspect of the campaign is that it’s simple … it’s about a cash prize.

I am seeing a sales lift of as much as 40% for some titles and, curiously, at no impact to competitor titles.

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magazines

Talking about the future of quality newspapers

LaTrobe University in Melbourne yesterday hosted a discussion on the future of quality newspapers. Included in the panel were Eric Beecher, Chairman of the company which owns Crikey, Paul range, Editor of The Age, Prof. Robert Manne and Dr. Mary Debrett.  Click here to see some tweets posted during the event. While I can’t find a video of the event to share with newsagents, I figured it would be worth at least sharing details of the event.

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Media disruption

Book now for a free Newsagency of the Future workshop

The Newsagency of the Future workshop series starts at the end of this month. Anyone is welcome to attend, newsagents, newsagency employees, would be newsagents and newsagency suppliers. You can book by faxing in a booking form or registering through the online booking facility on the Tower Systems website.

At this workshop I will share the very latest retail trends based on what I saw at the National Retail Federation Retail conference in New York last month and will see at the Retail Week conference in London next week.

I will also share my thoughts on the factors we need to consider in planning our future – migration to digital, online shopping, competition from supermarkets and others, the growing cost of labour and retail real-estate and changes in attention from core newsagency suppliers.

The last time I ran such a workshop was mid 2010.  So much has changed since then. Many new challenges have emerged and many new opportunities are before us.

I don’t profess to have the answers. That said, I certainly see plenty of options for us.  My sense is that newsagents want to discover and understand their options.

If you can’t make one of the capital city events I do plan to consider regional events if the interest is there in this series first.  I’ll keep you posted.

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newsagency of the future

Federal government move on red tape welcome

Like a long line of governments before it, the current federal government has announced plans to cut business red tape. The plans this time look more thought out and designed for action than announcements in the past. I hope it works. Cutting red tape was on the wish list for the Minister of Small Business which I published on the weekend.

I like the idea of business people meeting with state and federal leaders prior to COAG meetings. I am concerned, however, about the limited small business representation. There are so many small businesses in Australia, over a million according to the ABS, and to distill the needs of these to one, maybe two, representatives feels to me as unworkable. The other challenge is that small businesses are to be represented by COSBOA which, while the peak small business group in Australia, does not represent the majority of small businesses which do not belong to or support industry associations.

I’d love to see COSBOA engage with member associations, like the ANF, to ensure that red tape ideas and issues are canvassed as close as possible to the grassroots and filtered up, as appropriate to ensure that those representing small business at the pre COAG meeting are properly informed to represent their constituency.

The government needs a workable group if it is to make progress on red tape and I am sure this has informed the size of the group they are putting together. We in the small business trenches need to make sure that bodies representing us through the channels to COSBOA are informed of specific red tape reduction ideas we have.

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Newsagency challenges

Tapping into loyal AFL fans with Beanie Kids

We have placed our display unit packed with AFL Beanie Kids products on the lease line facing into the mall. It’s the perfect place to drawn traffic. That’s the guiding factor for all displays facing into the mall – will the draw traffic to the newsagency? If so, they go there.  If we are not sure we give them a run and measure the results. The AFL beanie Kids display had been ump less than a day and it was already generating traffic for us.

I love AFL fans who are loyal to their club and I love this Beanie Kids range. This range reinforces the importance of brands in driving traffic, on several levels. Try and copy this with cheap China product and you have no hope.

People will pay a premium because of the loyalty they have with the brand and the emotional connection this engenders. This is what brands can achieve for our businesses. It’s why I prefer to stock brand name products in my newsagencies.  Retail psychologists say that people who purchase to satisfy an emotion will pay more. I have seen research which backs this up.

I am confident this range will sell out. It’s a welcome addition to our AFL story and the stock has gone on sale at the perfect time.

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Gifts

Do you chase extra magazine product?

We sold out of the latest issue of The Essential Guide to iPad and chased extra stock and have this on the shelf now thanks to Network Services. I am curious about how often newsagents chase extra stock.  If you don’t chase it, is this because you don’t are or are tired of there never being any stock?

If it’s a title we know we will sell we don’t accept an out of stock response. Most times we do this and chase harder we get the stock. Sales grow as a result.

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magazine distribution

Fat magazines challenge space allocation

I am not happy with the adventure pack sent out by ACP Magazines yesterday.  Our caravan section was full already so we had to find room. With each pack containing three magazines we can only fit two per pocket. This means a three pocket allocation or we store stock somewhere and remember to replenish. Either way there is a cost.

Given the Sales based Replenishment program at ACP / Network Services and given that we do send accurate sales data on time, I would have preferred to receive less stock and sales based top ups. Instead, I am made to be the warehouse. To fit the title in we have had to reduce space to a title from another publisher. I am not happy about that.

There are magazines which are regularly bagged and I have come around to accepting and understanding that based on the customer research by the publishers involved and the sales data I have seen. My concern here is that this is not usual for this title – certainly I don’t recall it as being usual or regular.

This is not a unique challenge presented to us by ACP. There are other publishers who chase sales with occasional bagging or one shot bagging. They all need to understand that our stores have a finite amount of space. Send a new title or a much bigger package and there are consequences for us.

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magazines

Messy magazine stand

Check out one of the magazine displays at a Newslink store at an airport yesterday. Two magazines, Woman’s Day and OK! on the top row are upside down While NW has an insert left in front of the cover. While one could argue that this was unusual I see this regularly at airport outlets and supermarkets. It would not take much to ensure that all stock is placed right side up from the outset and to regularly check the stand so that all titles look good.

These corporate outlets appear to not care as much about how magazines are presented as we do in newsagencies. Their shops are usually staffed to have just enough to run the counter let alone take care of the shop floor through the trading day. If I was ACP I’d not be happy about how my products look in the photo.

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magazines

Promoting Bride to Be magazine titles

We have been promoting the two Bride to Be titles next to each other. It’s how we approach all magazines published under a common banner where appropriate in terms of display segmentation. I find this drive purchases of both titles. I mention this because I noticed one newsagency this week with these two Bride to Be titles separated. It’s not rocket science that we do this. Indeed, it is this type of placement which shows our care about magazine placement.

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magazines

Tesco shows that customer service is vital

Giant UK supermarket group Tesco has announced overnight the creation of 20,000 new jobs. The Tesco announcement is evidence that major retailers understand that customer services is a valuable differentiating factor.

Here is part of what Tesco UK CEO Richard Brasher said:

At the core of this investment is our determination to deliver the best shopping experience for our customers, bar none.  We will invest in more staff on the sales floor at busy times, greater expertise and help in the crucial areas of fresh food, and enhanced quality and service across our stores at all times.

Our takeaway must be: how are we resourcing our newsagencies? Are we staffing for the optimum customer service experience. We like to think that customer service is a differentiating factor for us. Is it really?

This ties back to my previous post this morning about us being retailers of the moment.

Footnote: watch for Coles or Woolworths or both to make a similar announcement to that from Tesco.

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Customer Service

The challenge to be a retailer of the moment

Further to my post last week about Gerry Harvey talking down retail, I was interested to read Eli Greenblat’s piece in The Age on Saturday. Greenblat took a more considered view of the situation and recorded the disappointment aired by some about Harvey’s comments.

My concern about the retail commentary is that it continues to focus on overall numbers without delving into then success stories. Consumer confidence is driven, in part, by the negative stories.

Our job as retailers is to give shoppers what they want. We need to pursue this relentlessly. But we need to be smart.  It is too easy to say that shoppers want value and that value means cheaper prices. There are many ways to deliver value, price is but one.

Newsagents are lucky in that we have a core group of habit based products which will drive shoppers through our doors: magazines, lottery products (for some at least), greeting cards, newspapers and photocopying. While we can argue about challenges for each of these, today, at least, there is good regular traffic off of which we can build growing newsagenices.

The question is – are we leveraging this existing good traffic to our advantage?  Are we being smart in giving shoppers what they want? I worry that too many newsagents are too busy complaining about factors outside their businesses and ignoring that they should be fixing what they can within their businesses.

This is our biggest challenge – to be retailers of the moment.

Our future is up to us just as the future of Harvey Norman is up to gerry Harvey and his management team. We each have to own our respective situations.

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Newsagency management

This blog being preserved by the National Library

This blog in being preserved as part of the PANDORA project by the National Library. The National Library made the request some considerable time ago in recognition of the cultural value of what is published here.  Here’s an explanation of PANDORA from the website:

PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive, is a growing collection of Australian online publications, established initially by the National Library of Australia in 1996, and now built in collaboration with nine other Australian libraries and cultural collecting organisations.

The name, PANDORA, is an acronym that encapsulates our mission: Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia.

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Blogging
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