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

Month: September 2012

Father’s Day card sales up 23.5%

What a terrific Father’s Day season for card sales.  Achieving 22.5% growth year on year comparing the same days in the lead up to the day in 2012 with 2011 is an excellent result.

Plenty of the growth came earlier in the season. While the last week of sales is important for Father’s Day, two and three weeks out are now strong for us.  I put this down to high-profile displays and our promotion of an excellent prize for one lucky shopper.

Gift sales were up too. Magazines, too.  In fact, magazine sales for the season – three weeks to the day – are up double digits. I’d say around a third of this growth is Father’s Day purchases.  more publishers need to embrace the Father’s Day opportunity … people do give magazines as gifts – not just subscriptions but single copies!

Newsagents can use their software to compare the years easily. Go and see how good Father’s Day was for you this year.

6 likes
Gifts

Target selling the Dora partwork

Check out the photo sent to me over the weekend by a newsagent showing the new Dora partwork on display in their local target store.

Shame on whoever allowed this to happen. Newsagents have been the go-to retailers for partworks in Australia. We have served the category well with prime placement, strong VM support and after sales service unlike any other retailer could deliver.

Those involved owe newsagents an explanation.  If they care.

12 likes
Newsagency challenges

Launching the new DC Chess Collection

We are promoting the launch of the DC Chess Collection partwork with this display facing the shopping mall for all passers-by to see.

While not expected to be a massive seller – given the specialist interest in chess – we are giving it the usual treatment. we are not our customers after all.

Partworks continue to do well for us, bringing in new shoppers to get to know us.

8 likes
partworks

Opportunity for newsagents in Darrell Lea sale

With all Darrell Lea outlets being closed as part of the sale of the Darrell Lea business, maybe licenced retailers, like many newsagents, will benefit. It all depends on the direction the new owners take the business – to mass or specialist.  The press reports indicate they will use the current licenced network.  If they stick with newsagents will be among the winners.

4 likes
Newsagency management

American Greetings promotes iPhone greeting card app

American greetings, the parent of John Sands cards in Australia, is promoting an iPhone app for the sending of ecard greetings.

More and more suppliers to the newsagency channel are pursuing direct to consumer routes. I’d do the same if I were them. We need to be aware and take these changes into account for our own business planning.

While this American Greetings app is not available in Australia, I am certain it or something like it will come.

Our challenge is to be building retail businesses that encourage shoppers back, often.

0 likes
Greeting Cards

Beware the offer of a supplier discount – make sure it’s real

I was talking to a retailer last week about a considerable discount they were receiving form a supplier. They were pleased with what they had negotiated. On checking their invoices and comparing them with others it turned out that the base price off of which their discount was calculated was higher than what appeared to be usual.

The extraordinary discount negotiated disappeared once you took into account the inflated base price.

If you are offered a discount, make sure it is off the standard wholesale price quoted to all other customers.

8 likes
Newsagency management

Women’s Fitness launch in the news

Newsagents should check out the media section of The Australian today. There are several items sure to be of interest including a story about the launch of Women’s Fitness by ACP. This is a new title in an already strong category. While you’re in the Media section check out the report on the sale of ACP.

1 likes
magazines

Australian Traveller in the food section

We have been pitching the latest issue of Australian Traveller magazine in the food section of the magazine department – because it’s the food issue of course.

The cover features of this magazine give us opportunities for co-location with just about every issue. yes, we have to check the cover and find space but, hey, we’re retailers after all and chasing sales in our job.

2 likes
magazines

Great Father’s Day for magazine sales

We experienced a terrific boost in magazine sales in the week leading up to Father’s Day. The boost this year was up on the Father’s Day boost last year.  As I have noted here over the last few weeks, we pursued this growth by promoting magazines as part of the Father’s Day offer – including displaying magazines on one of the tables at the front of the business as shown in the photo.

6 likes
magazines

Fans using Twitter to pitch magazine cover stories

This is interesting. @JonasAUS, a Twitter account for fans of a US group called the Jonas Brothers, tweeted to 27,769 fans that they wanted to see the boys on the cover of Dolly and Girlfriend. The tweet went to Dolly and Girlfriend Twitter followers, 18,886 and 25,004 followers respectively. It was also retweeted by 39 followers, getting it in front of many thousands more.

This interests me on two fronts: 1. Fans going to Twitter to request magazine content.  This is fascinating. I’d love it if I were a publisher.  It also shows us what great chunks of shoppers want and their passion for this.  2.  The opportunity to tap into viral conversations like this as a voyeur and possible contributor to the conversation when there is something to add.

Our sales of teen and tween magazines are up thanks to our better understanding of what these shoppers look for.

I appreciate this is challenging stuff for some of us to get our heads around. It’s the world we are in now. Online is more important to our businesses than we can imagine.

8 likes
Media disruption

Sunday management tip: Why are some newsagents more successful than others?

Following on from the discussion yesterday about the article by Stuart Binnie saying the sky is falling for newsagents, I figured this was a timely question to ponder.

Why are some newsagents more successful than others?

The answer is easy. Because they choose to be successful.  They plan for success, manage for success and pursue success in every business decision.

I see this every day in my contact with newsagents.

The most successful newsagency businesses I see are those with a point of difference in their community, an offer – product, service of both – that sets their business apart.  They are not necessarily big.  No, some of the most successful newsagencies I see are the smaller in an area.

Having a successful point of difference starts with understanding your customers and would-be customers.

These are the actions of retailers.  This is what we need to be – retailers.

An average newsagency business from yesteryear selling products others select for the business has a tough future ahead.  A growing newsagency business will have more products sought out by owners and  management, presented professionally and marketed outside the four walls of the business.

Successful newsagents are choosing to be successful and pursuing this relentlessly in their decisions and actions.

This is what we must do.  We must be retailers and not agents.

T2020, the News Limited changes, is a wake-up call to all newsagents – even though there have been many wake-up calls in past years.

14 likes
marketing tip

Good GNS Market Fair in Brisbane

I was at the GNS Market Fair in Brisbane yesterday and got to catch up with plenty of newsagents. Most I spoke with were happy with business, reporting growth.  I also go to speak to several people buying their first newsagency business.  They were excited for the opportunities.  Suppliers I spoke with too were happy with sales at the fair.  The trade show floor itself was buzzing with good deals from professional looking stands. Industry suppliers were putting on a good show. Maybe those who talk the channel down should get out more and talk to proactive newsagents.

 

5 likes
Newsagency management

Ignorant commentary on newsagents at Inside Retail

Stuart Bennie has penned an ignorantly incomplete article at Inside Retail about newsagency businesses.

Rather than write about newsagents who have reinvented their businesses and others who are reinventing their businesses, Bennie paints a picture of an old-style newsagency business, the kind that time forgot.  Yes, these businesses will die.  The thing is, many newsagents have moved on from this death wish model.

Bennie is not the first, nor will he be the last, to tell us that the sky is falling. It’s old news, news that many newsagents have responded to. I suspect articles like this are written reflecting research of some newsagents who have not seen or embraced change.

Bennie’s article misses other points:

  • Many of us are growing magazine sales by focussing on special interest titles.  And, we are exerting control over supply in a way bennie says we cannot.
  • Our margin on phone cards is usually 40% or more and not cents like he suggests.
  • Gift sales are skyrocketing, some newsagents are doing $300K a year and more – okay not everyone BUT those working on gifts are growing.
  • Card sales, excellent margin, are growing to almost double-digit levels in many newsagencies.
  • Toy sales are coming back to us. Some are at $60K and more
  • Lottery products are financially rewarding if managed well.

There are many steps newsagents can take to build stronger and more valuable businesses. Many of these have been documented at this blog over the years. They all come down to us, each newsagent, being accountable for our situation and running our businesses with authority and in pursuit of profit.

It does not help when commentators go off half-cocked and tell us the sky is falling. Yes, it’s tough but there is good news there for those who look.

24 likes
Newsagency management

The Father’s Day magazine, gift and card pitch

The photo shows part of the Father’s Day pitch at the front of one of my newsagencies.  This is a carefully considered and co-ordinated pitch at this side of the entrance to the business.

We have part of our Hallmark Father’s Day card range on show on the left, MANSPACE magazine in the middle and The Blob iPhone stand on the right.

We are using the two unique products on the right to show Father’s Day products unique to our business. Being different is important as people like to buy items not available in mass.  Being different also means little or no price pressure.

We have a double display of Father’s Day gifts on offer facing into the mall.

5 likes
Gifts

Your Garden tactic pays off

Our placement of Your Garden magazine with newspapers has achieved a sell-through of 72% in the two weeks since we placed it with newspapers.  This simple move has achieved excellent sales growth for us in this two-week period.  All we did was move the title from garden magazines to next to newspapers. It cost us a minute or two of time and the pay-off is sales we would otherwise not have achieved. Yes, we can grow magazine sales.

2 likes
magazines

Promoting AWW

We are promoting the latest issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly with this aisle-end display for the first week of the on-sale.  We also have the magazine in a waterfall display in the usual location.

It is good to see ACP supporting the title with reasonable collateral in the on-sale week for a change – most welcome.

0 likes
magazines

Promoting Girlfriend

We are promoting the latest issue of Girlfriend magazine with this aisle end display capping our women’s magazine aisle.  The display also faces our dance floor – it is easily seen by all shoppers entering our store.

This issue has received excellent social media coverage because of excellent reader-focused content and we are trying to tap into that.

0 likes
magazines
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