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

Month: December 2012

Newsagents abused by Gordon and Gotch

Magazine publishers who wonder why newsagents early return their titles should read this.  Some newsagents received these toys from Gordon and Gotch on Monday.

Yeah, a magazine distributor has sent newsagents these Shoulder Buddies for sale at 25% GP. Newsagents get 50% and more GP on toys so why would they offer these for less?  There is no obvious or promoted magazine link.

So close to Christmas with shops already brimming with stock – who at Gotch approved this? Who has treated newsagents this way?  The Gotch leadership owes newsagents an explanation.

This is an appalling abuse of the newsagency channel by Gordon and Gotch. Gotch should not distribute toys. Newsagents have many toy suppliers at their disposal and the ability to achieve 50% (and more) GP.

No wonder 50% of newsagents are reducing magazine space in-store. Most feel that this is the only way they can control supply.

I would not be surprised if some newsagents struck out at Gotch and early returned magazines in punishment against Gotch. Yes, I understand such  move could be crazy … but think about how abused some newsagents will feel.

Footnote: I did  not receive this product in any of my stores.

12 likes
Ethics

Langham hotels: exceptional customer service

Langham hotels demonstrate the value of a consistent service offering under a common shingle. Whether it’s at the Langham in Southbank in Victoria, the Langham in Auckland or one of the other Langham hotels, the experience is consistently excellent. It is this consistent service that brings me back. Each time I am surprised at an extra service or extra step to help me enjoy and remember my stay.

On Saturday night I stayed at the Langham in Melbourne after our Christmas party. When I collected my car in the morning they had left this free bottle of water for the road.  Talk about exceptional service.  Brilliant.

I love how an organisation the size of the Langham hotel group has been able to systemise providing exceptional service yet doing this in such a way that it feels personal, like they do value you as a customer. It makes me confident that no matter which Langham I visit I will have a consistently good experience.

This is the challenge of the newsagency shingle and the reason more and more newsagents will break away from this and trade under a shingle that operates with some discipline.  Major landlords get this and often require newsagents to trade under a shingle that is promoted and has values supporting it.

There is nothing I would love more than the shopper experience in newsagencies to be uniformly exceptional or just good.  We can’t do it because we don’t own the shingle and can’t control what people do under and behind it.

8 likes
Customer Service

Christmas trees working at the counter

This illuminated Christmas tree has been working a treat for us at the counter in the lead up to Christmas. Having one lit has been crucial to our success.

Having a shopper ad an item worth $10 to a purchase on impulse is tremendously valuable and can drive a significant enhancement to the margin dollars achieved for the sale.

4 likes
marketing

iPhone magazines ideal for Christmas

We are promoting the iPhone for Beginners magazine and the The Independent Guide to the iPhone5 Magbook as ideal Christmas gifts this year.  The work in a broad range of situations so pitching them as Christmas gifts makes sense.

Newsagents have an opportunity to significantly grow magazine sales in the lead up to Christmas. We have an opportunity to achieve some stickiness into 2013 from this sales surge as gift recipients come back to try the title they were given again.

We are taking the opportunity to slip a bookmark into the magazines as a service and for self promotion.

3 likes
magazines

Wider Madison magazine

We have had to shuffle space to accommodate the wider Madison magazine. This part of our women’s magazine area is tight with every title up next to each other. We like clean lines. The wider Madison has disrupted that. While we have coped, I mention it to remind those designing magazines that a size change can create challenges at retail.

3 likes
magazines

Surprised to see Fairfax get out of TradeMe

Fairfax has announced announced today their exit from the NZ TradeMe online classifieds business.

This is a a disappointing yet somewhat understandable move from Fairfax. Disappointing in that it makes sense for them to own a strong classifieds business. Understandable because they need the balance sheet benefits to flow from the sale.

If I was a Fairfax shareholder I’d have preferred them to retain interest in the TradeMe business and to use this as a beachhead for digital expansion. Digtal is the future for Fairfax – they have said as much.

Newspaper publishers need to work hard at growing non print revenue – as do newsagents. If I had a strong online business I would not be selling at this time.

The sale is another move in a very busy year of moves by Australian newspaper publishers throughout all their operations.

2 likes
Media disruption

Trusting shoppers on theft pays off

Four weeks on, the display on the lease line with three large Beanie Ball plush items and our interactive dog has experienced NO theft. Despite being far away from the counter and quite easy to steal from, our property has been respected.

We’re surprised … we expected to lose one or two and were prepared to take the risk.

I am glad we did not give into fear of theft and not display these items in this best location.  Had we given into fear of theft we might not have achieved sales of close to $3,000 of these two items alone.

4 likes
theft

Free training newsagents on magazine returns

In a meeting with Western Australian home delivery newsagents last week I realised that many of them were not using XchangeIT for managing magazines – returns were done manually. So, the team at my newsagency software company created a training video. While the video uses my software for the example, the content is useful for any newsagent not currently scanning returns:

The more newsagents using XchangeIT the greater the pressure on magazine distributors to use the benefits facilitated through the service.

Tower has close to 40 videos like this for newsagents and their staff to view to learn how to use the software.

2 likes
magazines

Promoting InStyle magazine

We are promoting the latest issue of InStyle magazine with the full cover on show – making the most of Jennifer Lopez touring in Australia right now. This issue gives us an excellent opportunity to introduce InStyle magazine to new readers. We can do this better than any other retail channel.

We have this issue of InStyle with weeklies as well as the usual location. More eyeballs – more sales.

2 likes
magazines

Newsagency marketing tip: look for yourself

Previously here I have covered the need for newsagents to embrace free listing services such as Hotfrog, Google Places and true Local. Being listed on these make your business more visible to shoppers in your area.

My tip today is for you to do a Google search for products you sell in your area – at home, the shop and on your phone. See if you some up.

Let’s say you are located in Dubbo. Type in stationery Dubbo. If your newsagency is not listed you have a problem – especially if you have competitors listed.

I searched for stationery Dubbo and on the map not one newsagency came up. indeed, no newsagency came up on the first page. Then I searched for newsagency Dubbo and several came up in the results.

Shoppers are searching for products and not a shingle. We need to understand this when establishing our free (and paid) listings. The word newsagency means little to them – you only to check search analytics to see that.

Getting listed is easy. Yes, it takes time. But it’s free. I can’t think of a single acceptable excuse for newsagents not doing this.

5 likes
newsagency marketing

Newsagency management tip: understand sales by floorspace

Find the report in your newsagency software that reports on sales and gross profit by floorspace. While I am not sure, I would expect each of the newsagency software systems to offer such a report. Knowing this and comparing it by department and category ought to provide an invaluable insight into the performance of your business.

My experience is that too many business decisions in too many newsagencies are made based on gut feel and not facts.

Knowing the products that contribute beyond the actual cost of floorspace and being able to compare categories and even suppliers will help you better allocate floorspace. I have see newsagents surprised when they see the results for their business.

If you can’t find the report, contact your software company.

4 likes
Newsagency management

Amazing Angry Birds plush sales

We took one of the large Angry Birds stands from Skansen and are set to sell out by Christmas. All it’s taken is a few weeks. Most purchases have been on impulse, some are from word of mouth referral.

W#hile the stand could have been better made to suit busy retail floor traffic, that has not hurt sales.

Our success with Angry Birds fits with my commitment to brands. Shoppers will pay a higher price and support a better martin for brand name product. While newsagents who stock cheap China product disagree with me, I have sales results to show that brands sell and deliver a healthy bottom line and contribute to an above average overall business GP%. This is vitally important for newsagents as we head into 2013, a year of considerable disruption for our channel.

4 likes
newsagency of the future

Are transport tickets worth it for newsagents?

We don’t sell transport tickets in two of my current newsagencies.  I have done for many years but in the businesses I have today I am not so sure about signing up for the two stores without them.

Sure, transport tickets (Myki in Victoria) attract traffic. Basket data I have seen from many newsagencies indicates that in only 15% of situations do transport ticket sales include other items.

I question the value of transport tickets.

The risk of such an analysis is that we lose sight of what someone who purchased a transport ticket today might buy tomorrow on a separate visit. Even where I can see this, the data is not showing value for newsagencies form selling transport tickets.

State governments around Australia has disrespected our channel and cost us significant margin dollars by cutting our margin on transport tickets. This makes them loss-making for many newsagents. Factor in the labour, counter-space and opportunity cost of how we might spend the time released I question the value of transport tickets in our channel.

I think we need to move away from looking at ourselves as agents. This makes some of us think of ourselves differently to being professional and accountable retailers. gents are at the end of the food chain and do what they are told for a few cents. Professional retailers are accountable for their situation and build value-based businesses.

I’d be interested in what others think.

9 likes
Newsagency management

Promoting Street Machine magazine

We are promoting the latest issue of Street Machine magazine with this aisle end display in our men’s magazine area.

This is a great magazine to promote as a Christmas gift for guys which is what we are doing in one of my stores.   We will leave the display up through to Christmas Day.

4 likes
magazines

And the article breaks free

The announcement overnight by The New York Times of their partnerships with Byliner and Vook are a move toward monetisation of the article. This is where we could see considerable disruption, through the sale or articles rather than aggregated content such as under a newspaper or magazine banner.

While the NYT move remains associated with their masthead, it will put the opportunity of monetisation of the article in more open play. I see it as an excellent opportunity for the digital platforms. Think about it – we chase stories that interest us. Being able to use a service to bid, say, a couple of dollars for quality stories about a topic of interest to us could have more take up than a subscription to a masthead.

1 likes
Media disruption

The different Christmas window

In one of my newsagencies we are using our main display window facing into a busy Westfield mall to promote a hero product rather than a more traditional Christmas display.

We have made a conscious choice that this business will compete with the majors in the centre for major seasons – in a way that respects the core focus of the business. This means sourcing unique products with which generate traffic, deliver good margin and fit with core offers of cards, magazines and stationery.  hence the focus on a water canon – a family item.

Newsagents in major shopping centres who do not present competitive offers and who do not play outside the traditional newsagency model will struggle. Rent being what it is, landlord disciplines and the highly competitive retail environment make for a situation not for the feint hearted.

I think that it’s in major shopping centres where we are more likely to see the significant commercial innovation leading to bigger changes to the traditional newsagency model. That is not to say that shopping centre newsagents are better, they are not. It’s that the highly competitive and expensive environment itself forces change upon us. Shopping centre newsagents were first to reduce magazine space years ago for example.

While there is excellent innovation being embraced in high street, regional and rural newsagencies, I think 2013 will see faster and more bold innovation in shopping centres. I know this is something landlords will drive – some have are already.

In a small way, this display is about changing the perception shoppers in this centre have about a newsagency. It’s working. The mix of products being purchased and the overall GP shows this.

6 likes
Gifts

Great initiative by Scottish newsagent

Read the story of how a newsagent in Glasgow created a pop-up shop and sold 10,000 copies of the last issue of Dandy magazine in a few days.

A TINY newsagent sold more than 10,000 copies of the last ever Dandy comic within days.

The final editions are being snapped up for £50 on eBay. But Des Barr is delighted to be offering them for their £3.99 cover price at his pop-up shop in the Braehead centre near Glasgow.

Des said: “I’m the only shop in the country that has copies of the last ever Dandy for sale.

“The response has been amazing. We’ve had orders from all over the world, including Canada, America, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.”

Read the whole article. Inspirational!

5 likes
Newsagency management

Encroaching on other magazine space

While I admire the approach of the publisher of The World of Cross Stitch is promoting what comes with this issue, the challenge is the additional space this issue takes above and to the side of the magazine itself. Also, the flimsy plastic looked somewhat tattered for plenty of our copies.

We were able to make some extra space to promote this issue but many newsagents would not have been able to give them tight space situation.

It’s a challenge: publishers want to promote their special issues and we need to manage a finite amount of retail space.

2 likes
magazines

Newspaper covers the main story of the day with a stuck-on ad

The publisher of the Herald Sun is so proud of the PSO attacked in Melbourne a couple of nights ago that they sold ad space to cover their front-page photo of the local hero.

The front page without the ad would have had far more impact but, hey, the newspaper is a vehicle for advertising first and foremost so it makes sense that they put dollars before such an important local story.

This ad for David Jones harms their brand.

5 likes
newspaper masthead desecration

Magazine theft problem in Brisbane?

Further to my reports here recently about a magazine theft problem experienced by some newsagents, I have been contacted by a newsagent with a report that some sub agents only want them to supply weeklies, saying that is all they need. Checking in these shops sows a range of monthlies on display – being sourced outside the traditional sub agent relationship.

The question is where these magazines are coming from? If they are being sourced through a newsagent the margin would most likely be the same. It begs the speculation that the monthlies are stolen magazine stock. The sub agents when asked are vague in their answers.

This situation demonstrates that there is leakage somewhere in the supply of monthly magazines in Brisbane.

1 likes
magazine distribution
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