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

Month: September 2012

Christmas music already?

I was walking through a supermarket in Manila yesterday and heard a Christmas carol. I checked with my local companions and sure enough they said the rule here is it starts when the calendar turns to months ending in ber. I feel for those working in retail.

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retail

Excellent article in Crikey on the future of journalism

I urge newsagents to read the excellent article, Brave News World: media is dead — long live media, by Gideon Haigh and published by Crikey today. It’s a long first instalment of a series contemplating what media will look like in the future.

Since newsagents rely on media products for around 33% of all revenue and 50% of all foot traffic this article is must-read research. I highly recommend it.

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Media disruption

Sobering report on the state of newsagents and stationers in the UK

It has been a sad story for newsagents and stationery retailers over the five years through 2012-13. Industry players have had to operate in a tough trading environment and confront increasing competition from external players, declining newspaper circulation numbers and cheaper stationery imports from Asian countries.

Source: Newsagents & Stationery Stores in the UK: Market Research Report. Just published by IbisWorld. I am not spending £695 on the full report.

From what I can read, we could cut UK and replace it with Australia.

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Newsagency challenges

Selling magazines from bundles?

A couple of times recently I have seen a table loaded with magazines priced at $2.00 each in front of shops that could pass for newsagencies.

The $2 magazines in each case were old issues of home & living, backyard, craft, car and other magazines. They were the sort of titles bagged with current issues.

Thinking about this I am curious about the supply. Do publishers dump unsold product? Publishers I have spoken to say no. Do newsagents dump stock removed from bundle?

Either way it’s not good for the channel to have discount tables like this, cheapening a core product for newsagents.

Is this type of discount table a trend – have others seen it?

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magazines

Management tip: How to reduce employee theft in your newsagency

Retailers too often struggle with cutting the cost of employee and customer theft. They ignore opportunities to block theft and turn their backs on understanding the cost in their business.

Here is best practice advice which, if followed, will reduce the cost of theft in any retail business.

  1. Establish a theft policy and stick to it.  See below.
  2. Check references of prospective employees.
  3. Ask candidates if they would agree to a background check.
  4. Only sell what you arrive, bring into the store, through Point of Sale software. If you track it you can know if it has been stolen or not. If you do not track it who knows if it is stolen. [Most often businesses I work with to resolve theft issues would have found it sooner had they been doing this.]
  5. Track ALL sales – by scanning, touch screen button or PLU (product look up code), a hot key on your computer screen.
  6. Stop all department sales, sales where the employee gets to enter the amount of the item.
  7. Scan out ALL returns, products which are returned to suppliers.
  8. Undertake regular spot stock take throughout the business. The discrepancy between what you have and what the system has reflects theft.
  9. Reorder stock using your retail management software. This stops poor buying decisions. It also identified stock theft and employee fraud around stock.
  10. Use employee initials, codes or bar codes against each sale. Yes, this adds time to each sale. The benefits far outweigh the time cost.
  11. Set an end of shift balance target of $5.00. Many retailers achieve this – it takes discipline.
  12. Change your system passwords regularly. Make it a condition of employment that these passwords are never shared.
  13. Do random, during the day, register balance checks. Check that the cash your computer system thinks should be in the cash drawer is what is actually in the cash drawer.
  14. Use your software to check and report on behavior which could indicate employee theft.
  15. Follow your suspicions regardless. Put your business ahead of friendships..

The cost to any retail business of customer and employee theft can be significantly reduced. The keys are retail owner and management engagement, full use of the software and relentless application of a zero tolerance approach.

Here is a suggested THEFT POLICY for employees to read and sign.

  1. Theft, any theft, is a crime against this business, its owners, employees and others who rely on us for their income.
  2. If you discover any evidence or have any suspicion of theft, please report it to the business owner or most senior manager possible immediately. Doing so could save a considerable cost to the business.
  3. We have a zero tolerance policy on theft. All claims will be reported to law enforcement authorities for their investigation.
  4. From time to time we have the business under discrete surveillance in an effort to reduce theft. This may mean that you are photographed or recorded in some other way. By working here you accept this as a condition of employment.
  5. New employees are to provide permission for a police check prior to commencement of employment.
  6. Cash is never to be left unattended outside the cash drawer or a safe within the business.
  7. Credit and banking card payments are not to be accepted unless the physical card is presented and all required processes are followed for processing these.
  8. Employees caught stealing with irrefutable evidence face immediate dismissal to the extent permitted by local labour laws.
  9. Employees are not permitted to remove inventory from the store without permission.
  10. Employees are not permitted to provide a refund to a customer without appropriate management permission.
  11. Employees are not permitted to complete their own sales.
  12. Every dollar stolen from the business by customers and or employees can cost us up to four dollars to recover. This is why vigilance on theft is mission critical for our retail store.

Take theft seriously.

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Management tip

Are newspaper publishers offering deals to cafes?

I was contacted by a retail newsagent yesterday concerned at their loss of a long term account with a cafe juts a few doors away from them.

The distribution newsagent in town has offered the cafe three copies of the Herald Sun and three copies of The Age seven days a week for  just over $13.00 a week – an amazing deal by any measure. The retail only newsagent can’t compete, he can’t retain his long-term customer.

The deal makes me ask if anyone is aware of deals from Fairfax and News that would enable this offer to be put. I can;t see any subscription offers that make such an offer work.

If there is no such deal then I can’t see how the distribution newsagent makes such an offer viable. They’d have to be getting the papers for a few cents each.

Am I missing something here?

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Newspaper distribution

Quarterly Essay promotion pays off

Placing Quarterly Essay with newspapers helped drive sales, a sell out in one store and sure to in another. Acting on a title based on news coverage – and this issue of Quarterly Essay sure got great coverage – makes sense and is another way of making magazines more profitable for newsagents.

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magazines

It is time newsagent suppliers accepted more responsibility

Over the decades newsagents have been forced to invest capital in meeting demands of suppliers in the name of consistent branding and with the pitch that the investment will drive sales.  Usually, suppliers have not taken responsibility for the capital investment in stands, signage, display units and the like they have required newsagents to invest in in order to sell their product.

Today’s competitive marketplace ought to see newsagents extract from any supplier a guarantee on the performance of any demanded investment. Otherwise, it would be unfair for us to be forced to make an investment others selling the same product are not forced to make.

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Newsagency management

New circ. system for News coming to Victoria

Following our successful implementation of News Ltd’s new circulation and subscriptions solution to Northern Territory News in July and New South Wales last year, the company is now preparing to implement at The Herald Weekly Times and The Geelong Advertiser in Victoria during November. This is a good move as it brings subscription handling a step closer t a national solution.

Newsagents will need to have the current release of their software to be able to work with this new subscriptions system.

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Newsagency management

Cakes with the Cake Decorating partwork

Here is another way we sought to make additional sales from the Cake Decorating partwork. Notice the cakes? They are soaps – made to look like delicious cakes. While from completely different categories, the products compliment each other.

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Gifts

Promoting the 2013 Women’s Health Diary

I love the collateral provided for supporting the 2013 Women’s Health Diary. Our team has used it to feature this pillar-based display facing shoppers as they enter the business.

We also have the diary with women’s magazines as well as with our 2013 diary range.

The 2013 Women’s Health Diary has become a vitally important diary in the newsagent diary range. Giving it prime display space is worth it for the social responsibility connection as well as sales.

While it’s early days, diary sales this year are nicely ahead.

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magazines

Promoting real Living

We are promoting the latest issue of Real Living magazine in-store with this aisle end display as well as a half waterfall in with our home and living titles. This display is seen by all shoppers as they head to purchase newspapers or magazines.

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magazines

Do you want to save time on magazine statement reconciliation?

One of the future benefits of a new XchangeIT platform pitched to newsagents around four years ago was computer-based reconciliation of magazine distributor statements.  If my memory is correct this was pitched at the ANF conference in 2008.

For years, newsagents have told me this is something they want. I have supported it to XchangeIT on their behalf.

When asked at regular review meetings with the software companies established by XchangeIT earlier this year what they can do to add value to newsagents, my colleagues at Tower Systems have pushed for the implementation of computerised magazine distributor statement reconciliation.  The time saving and business management benefits to newsagents would be considerable.

I was disappointed to discover recently that within XchangeIT the message of support for this initiative has become diluted or lost. Indeed, the report back through the XchangeIT business was that there was no appetite among the software companies or newsagents for the implementation of computerised statement reconciliation.  Whoever put this position has ignored the consistent support for the initiative by me and Tower Systems on behalf of newsagents.

XchangeIT is a boon to magazine distributors and publishers, saving time and delivering access to data at no cost. I think it is essential it improves the benefits it delivers to newsagents.

Computerised reconciliation of statements could mean that newsagents who do not reconcile today can do so cost effectively and those who do reconcile today could save hours every month.

To make the process work, newsagents would need to report variations in supply (over and under) through their software. This would sure beat reporting it in any other way. The result would be more accurate business data, time saved and greater certainty around statement reconciliation and amount owed.

It’s an enhancement that should / could be delivered without cost to newsagents.

So, newsagents, what do you think? Do you support the idea of computerised account reconciliation? Please post your comments here…

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Newsagency management

Go ahead and read all you like in this newsstand

There are plenty of newsstands like this on the streets of Shanghai. This city has a population or around 22 million so the market is there. These newsstands appear to be the only newspaper / magazine outlets from my few hours on the street. I certainly did not see newspapers and magazines in c-stores, cafes or coffee shops.

What I loved about this particular newsstand was that the operator had no qualms about people reading the product. Nice customer service … I see a lot of that in China.

You can click on the image for a larger version.

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retail

Scratchies in Shanghai

Check out the shop selling scratch-it lottery tickets I saw yesterday here on the streets of Shanghai.

Stuck on the board to the left of the door are scratched tickets. I am not sure why they are there.

this is the only shop like this I saw while walking around town.

Fascinating. you can click on the image for a lager version.

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Lotteries

Leveraging AFL ticket sales

For the last few weeks we have been promoting AFL team plush and towels at the counter next to where we are selling AFL finals tickets. This move is another example of how we try and drive greater value from ticket sales. For every major traffic generator we do this – keep looking for items that will appeal to the people visiting for a seasonal or some other high-traffic occasion. It works, often delivering bonus margin dollars for the business.

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Gifts

Beijing newsstand

Check out the newsstand I saw on a main road in Beijing yesterday.  This is the first newsstand I have seen here. It reminded me of what I have seen throughout Europe. In convenience stores, supermarkets and other outlets so far – no newspapers or magazines. Nor on the streets but then I have seen but a tiny fraction of the country.

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Newspapers

Good future of newspapers / journalism discussion

For those interested in commentary and discussion on the future of newspapers and the future of journalism (two different things), check out the article at gigaom about an interview by New York Times media writer David Carr.

The article reports on an interview with Carr on CBC Radio in Canada. You can listen to the interview here.  It’s a fascinating consideration of the future of journalism and touches on the future of newspapers.

Interviews and articles like these are useful since the challenges of disruption faced by print newspapers and professional journalists are not dissimilar to the challenges we newsagents face in the traditional model of our businesses.

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Media disruption

Moshi Monsters is a strong brand for newsagents

The range of Moshi Monster plush we have in-store is working a treat for us – just like the Moshi Monster magazines and cards. Moshi Monsters is a money-making brand for newsagents and since our plush sales are so strong – $1,000+ a week – it made sense for us to extend our reach of support for the brand.

The other thing to like about Moshi Monsters is that while the brand appeals primarily to kids, there is a growing adult support for the brand. Oh, and once someone is engaged with the brand, they talk about and this sends their family and friends looking for Moshi Monster themed gifts.

While the items in the photo are part of our plush offer, I class them also as collectibles – a segment of our business on which we seriously focus because of the value we get from it.

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Gifts

Promoting Women’s Health Training Guide

We are promoting the Women’s Health Training Guide in front of Women’s Health magazine. We know from previous issues of the Training Guide that this is the way to do it. We usually sell out without any difficultly, before we have to pay the invoice for the magazine.

Timed for Spring, we are planning for the Training Guide to feature in our Spring promotion in a couple of weeks – for this we are bringing products together from several categories for a bright and fun display.

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magazines

What’s the shopper and employee theft situation in your retail newsagency?

News Limited outlets reported last week that retailers in Queensland claim a 70% increase in shoplifting (theft) over the last six years. Russell Zimmermann of the Australian Retailers Association was quoted:

“Retailers end up having to put the cost of theft into their business and it then behooves the public, if they realise there could be theft going on, to alert the retailer.”

Queensland has the third highest rate of shoplifting in Australia, behind NSW ($2.3 billion) and Victoria ($1.9 billion).

While I have not seen the 70% increase reported, I have seen an increase – not only of shoplifting but also fraud by employees. Indeed, tracking employee fraud is something I am often asked for help with by newsagents. Some of these cases are shocking in their magnitude.

Through the newsagency computer systems there are steps newsagents can take to track and protect against theft. My challenge for newsagents today is: what are you doing about managing theft in your business? If it is not part of your management plan it needs to be. Talk to your software provider and get their best practice theft management advice.

From a theft policy to regular spot stock takes to password management to tight cash control, there are steps newsagents often ignore that could save tens of thousands of dollars in business expenses.

This is something completely within our management control.

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theft

Shopper interest in webstore – newsagent parcel collection service

We have been promoting the ParcelPoint parcel pick up service at the sales counter with the placement of this brochure. It’s generating interest, letting shoppers know that we can be a collection point for online purchases.

If consumers ask their online shopping suppliers to offer ParcelPoint collection then we can expect to see parcel business grow. Being freight company agnostic means parcelPoint can develop more relationships and therefore get more coverage for the hundreds of newsagents in the network.

Click here for details on ParcelPoint.

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Newsagency opportunities

Sometimes the free gifts all look the same

I understand the value of a good gift with a magazine to help drive sales. It is especially useful in drawing attention to one title over a competitor. Sometimes, the gifts all look the same (even if they are different), thereby losing the point of difference factor in driving sales of one title over another.

With the gifts associated wit the current issues of Madison, InStyle and Harper’s Bazaar all looking the same I wonder what shoppers think. Of course, publishers can’t co-ordinate gifts, I understand that. When we encounter what we have today on the shelves we try and separate the titles – if space permits.

I want the sales lift a good gift can bring.

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magazines