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

Month: August 2012

Up on Darrell Lea opportunity and newsagents

The expression of interest in Darrell Lea registered with the administrators of the business on behalf of newsagents remains on foot but still a long shot.

There are people at the table with deep pockets and this will be appealing to the administrators and the secured creditors.

Having lodged an expression of interest puts newsagents in the room and this was a key goal. It’s possible we could play a role, somehow, in what emerges from the discussions going on at the moment. If we had not put in an expression of interest this would not be an option.

Expressing interest in Darrell Lea has seen newsagents talked about in a positive light in the media over the last two weeks. This alone raises our relevance in the eyes of the public. In fact, this became clear in an interview I did with a radio station yesterday. We got to have a good discussion about newsagents and their relevance and the changes we are all chasing.

There are some in the channel talking down newsagents having a crack at Darrell Lea. Working on change is harder than criticising it.

13 likes
Newsagency management

Good that’s life! school fundraiser campaign

that’s life! is offering five $1,000 cash grants to participating schools around Australia in the run up to the Australian Government’s National Literacy and Numeracy Week (NLNW), running August 27 to September 2. This money can be used to buy whatever educational equipment the schools need.

Over the next four weeks in the run up to NLNW, and during the week itself, that’s life! will feature a series of kid-friendly puzzles and learning challenges to be utilised by schools and students during NLNW.

This is an excellent opportunity to promote that’s life! in a second display, contact local schools and promote in other ways. Newsagents could also offer some local promotion or incentive to raise funds for schools.

2 likes
Social responsibility

Great counter promotion for Zoo

I love the collateral for the latest issue of Zoo. It’s simple, providing good visual cut through.  It’s also clear in its goal.  Both factors help us in our environment of considerable competition for attention.

I also love the display created at the counter by one of our team members. This is an excellent place for the title. The display rocks!

9 likes
magazines

Promoting Total Girl

We are promoting the latest issue of Total Girl magazine with the Charm It and Beanie Boos products, products which connect beautifully with this issue.

Promoting three products in the one display like this will get more people looking at the offer.  Our goal is to drive sales of this issue of the magazine.

This display is at the entrance to the magazine department.

6 likes
magazines

The Threat of Real Distortions in the EFTPOS Market

Tyro, the EFTPOS partner for many hundreds of newsagents, today issued a press release relating to their submission to the RBA on EFTPOS. It starts with…

Australia’s four major banks and Woolworths and Coles will potentially be the big beneficiaries if a new regulation of the EFTPOS payments system is allowed to proceed, the country’s only independent EFTPOS provider warned today.

Under the proposals, the major banks and retailers will be allowed to negotiate special deals for themselves, while charging small and medium sized retailers higher fees if they wish.

This is because the big four banks and Woolworths and Coles through their ownership in eftpos Payment Australia Limited (ePAL) are being given the freedom to just do that.

Click here to see the press release and read more about the Tyro position on behalf of their small business customers. The Tyro fight is important to newsagents.

8 likes
EFTPOS fees

US newspaper paywall update

PaidContent has published a terrific update on the state of US newspaper paywalls – based on a report by the Newspaper Association of America. Check it out. Fascinating. It includes the insight that the metered paywall approach being used here by Fairfax is the most common with 87 percent of newspapers allowing readers access to a certain number of articles before requiring a digital subscription.

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Media disruption

Who is funding The Sunday Telegraph free deals?

I was contacted recently with a story about a nearby greengrocer who is offering a copy of The Sunday Telegraph for free with every purchase over $10.00.  The usual price for The Sunday Telegraph at the greengrocer is just $1.  The posters are professionally done, making it look like a corporate-driven offer.  It’s hard for a retailer a couple of doors away to compete with this.

The person who drew this to my attention notes:

Two things amuses me about this brand devaluation: the advertised home delivery promotion is $1.50 per week so no incentive for me to commit to that AND there is no in-paper “hook” to get me to become a regular purchaser when this discounting ends.

I’d be interested to hear from others who may have noticed a similar offer from a local business – not one of the majors as we know about them.

I understand publishers are trying a range of activities to drive newspaper sales from subscriptions to deals around single copy sales. It is vitally important that they do not harm the established newspaper outlet by working with a new outlet.

7 likes
Newspapers

Hallmark refreshes Father’s Day

We are receiving plenty of terrific comments from shoppers and from employees about the new range of Father’s Day. With so many new designs in the seasonal offer, Father’s Day 2012 looks fresh.

The new collateral and black display units also help in making the offer look more enticing.

We have four units back to back on the dance floor. We don’t take regular cards down for seasons.

The new designs should help us achieve our goal of double-digit year on year growth for Father’s Day cards.

6 likes
Greeting Cards

Double opportunity fromScience Illustrated

While the cover of the current copy of Science Illustrated looks good, it is the back cover is more compelling. Check it out.

How to survive floods earthquakes bushfires taps into topics close to us.

I was thrilled to see both the front cover and the back cover on show at one of my newsagencies this week. Excellent initiative.

3 likes
magazines

Check out WH Smith in Australia

Newsagents should check out the expanding range of WH Smith stores in Australia if they get a chance. This UK group is presenting a good alternative to the traditional newsagency model and the usual transit location model we have seen here in Australia.  I mention transit locations as this is the focus at the moment of the WH Smith model here.

I’m off to New Zealand today for a couple of days of meetings and got another opportunity to check in with their Melbourne airport stores. The larger store, past immigration, is as impressive as ever – easy to shop, well zoned and easily managed with a lean employee roster.

If you get an opportunity check out one of their stores, especially a larger one when you get to see a fresh newsagency model in action.

I’d note that the WH Smith stores I have seen in Australia are different to what I have seen from many of their UK stores.

0 likes
Newsagency management

Pre selling a new gift line

I have copied an idea from another newsagent and started pre-selling a new gift line we will be carrying shortly. Just a simple A4 at the counter and a sample of the item – showing how it works – has generated 20 pre-sales in a week. $200 in locked-in revenue. Nice.

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Gifts

A small Aussie magazine we should support

When working through our food titles I came across Creative Sugar Craft. At first I thought this was an overseas title and sort of ignored it.

On my second look I noticed it was an Australian title, a good Australian title (I like cake!) – this got me to take time to think about how I could support the title.

Creative Sugar Craft is a title for these days of the amazing popularity of cupcakes and other baking. Get it in front of the right people and it will sell. While that statement – get it in front of the right people and it will sell – could be made about almost any title I think it’s more true with this one for several reasons: it’s a quality special interest title, it’s about a topic which is hot right now, it plays to our point of difference in the magazine space.

We are supporting by Creative Sugar Craft placing it at the front of the column, at eye level, with the full cover on display.  We will also put it on our list of titles which we give extra attention to – at the counter and even with women’s weeklies … to increase the eyeballs that see it.

I encourage newsagents to seek this title out and give it careful attention.

7 likes
magazines

Promoting family circle magazine

We are promoting the latest issue of family circle magazine with this display in-location and several other activities including placement with women’s weeklies, featuring it at the front of the store and time on the counter over the next few weeks.

With a sell through for us of 97%, family circle is a terrific success. I put this success for us down to a mix of the product being excellent and us making sure that shoppers see title title through our various activities. Our hard work pays off in sales.

family circle is not always a destination purchase for shoppers – probably because it is not monthly. This is where we, as magazine specialists, need to play our role and chase sales. In our case, this work is working a treat.

5 likes
magazines

When the power goes out

The power went out at 4:30pm at the the shopping centre where I have one of my newsagencies yesterday.  Thankfully, we have an uninterruptible power supply on our main computer and this enabled us to shutdown in an orderly manner.  An investment of a couple of hundred dollars provides excellent insurance against this type of incident.

Regardless of the computer system you have, I’d suggest all newsagents use a quality USP – this is not something to go cheap on.

I took the photo in-store yesterday … shopping centres get dark when all the lights go out.

3 likes
Newsagency management
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