Bauer has shifted its discount magazine pitch, moving from the three titles for $10 offer to two titles for $7.
The store where I noticed this promotion was running it for a specific period of time. It is timed to end in May. This is interesting in that the previous three magazines for $10 promotion seemed to never be off sale.
I hope this stays in transit locations.
Representatives from a supplier visited one of my newsagencies yesterday and while there they took photos of products from a competitor.
Too often I hear of supplier reps taking photos of competitor products in newsagencies. Suppliers should make an appointment for each visit and get owner permission before taking any photo.
We need to exert more control over our businesses.
When placing magazines we look at the title word. Like garden and gardening in these three garden titles. Too often I see garden magazines, for example, placed in different places, not in a line. This blocks browsing and hinders sales in my view.
Looking at the photo, I love the look of Good Organic Gardening – it stands out in the sea of colour of a magazine department. While I am no expert, to me the masthead is the stand out … it’s a beacon not only for the title but also the section.
We’re promoting the Pacific Magazines Win a Car promoting with this placement of the floor display unit next to Mother’s Day cards. This off-location placement is easy given it takes little floor space, we can include titles relevant to the Mother’s Day shopper we’re likely to see in our centre.
This floor unit is easy to place and move – essential for temporary floor display units.
We are promoting Cleo and its new cover price of $6.95 with this in-location display in prime position with women’s magazines. This location is directly opposite our weekly magazines – meaning it will be seen by a large number of our shoppers.
I’m keen to see a sales kick for Cleo. I think the best place to achieve this is in the magazine department – i.e. and not off location in-store.
Ninemsn yesterday reported that the billionaire Koch brothers who have dumped millions into ultra right wing political action groups in the US are contemplating acquiring the Tribune group in the US. Tribune titles include: Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. What a tragedy for journalism if they do this. No, I don;t trust them.
I feel for Queensland newsagents who have been under the pump today with what appears to be a poor switch in lottery product sales technology. Many have been without a working terminal all day. Those who can get their terminals working have had operational problems frustrating them and, more important, their customers.
Calls to Golden Casket (Tatts) for assistance are not getting through apparently because of the call volume. This is causing newsagents to call anyone who may have an answer for help.
News Corp’s New York Post made some serious missteps as the Boston story unfolded over the last week. The Huffington Post has an excellent report on this.
The Post said 12 people had died, when only three had; it said a Saudi man was a “suspect” in “custody”, when he wasn’t; and, perhaps most gallingly, it splashed pictures of two young men on its front page even though it admitted it did not know whether they were suspects or not. The men turned out to be completely innocent. One was 17 years old; he told the Associated Press that he was scared to go outside.
It also covers Rupert Murdoch’s lame response. No wonder media barons don’t want tighter controls. They prefer a free press so they can get stories wrong and not be held to account for this.
For decades newspaper publishers told newsagents that the front page was the most important selling tool for a newspaper. Today, with stuck on ads and wrap-around ads – like we see on The Age today – they clearly no longer believe it. It’s frustrating given the pressure they put on newsagents about displaying the front pages and their posters. I can’t see how an ad for a car will help me sell more copies of The Age today.
New Idea out today comes with a FREE My Kitchen Rules cookbook on the cover. The 24-page My Kitchen Rules cookbook. The success of the show should and that this cookbook is a gift with News Idea should drive sales of the magazine this week. We have decided to run this magazine at the counter today to make the most of it.
The publisher of frankie magazine is promoting the availability of its new 50s inspired paper book in newsagents via twitter and a website through which retailers can be searched geographically. Given their connection with the frankie community I expect this activity to work a treat for us.
It’s targeted and engaging activity like this that newsagents should appreciate.
The local coffee shop near the office, Bar Ristretto – 89 Burwood Road Hawthorn … brilliant coffee – recently put out an item the owner found at a local market and asked shoppers to identify this and guess the weight. The right name and most accurate weight won the marron. It was a fun competition, not directly related to coffee. It showed that promotions don;t need to be a close fit with what you do. The key is helping your customers enjoy shopping with you.
Here’s the tip – what marron competition you could run?
Check out the photo and see how local and personal the entries were. This reinforced the local nature of the business.
The first step in exerting control over magazine supply to your newsagency is to advise the magazine distributors of the total pockets available. Putting this in writing to them provides them with information the most likely do not have today. It establishes your land mass, thereby providing them with the information necessary to not over supply you.
While the magazine distributors do not work together on equitable ranging – stupid as that is – them knowing your total number of pockets and their own knowledge of the titles their computer carries means that they should behave more fairly toward you.
Write to the distributors, let them know your pockets and send this in an express post envelope or as registered post – so you can prove the received it.
You should send this letter any time you change the amount of space you allocate to magazines.
Here is an example of why I want to control my magazine supply. In a newsagency in Queensland last week I saw this food title. I’d love to have this in my newsagency, it could work as part of my Keep Calm Carry On range. the current push model makes it difficult for us to use what we know to get more of what will sell in our shops.
Magazine distributors rely on flawed models that continue to supply magazines in an inefficient way. If only they wanted to sell more magazines.
Further to my newsagency marketing tip from two weeks ago, check out the sign I saw today outside a cafe. This is terrific, very funny – something that shows they have a sense of humour. It makes this cafe more memorable than many others I walked past.
I’m sure there are fun things we can write on signs outside our newsagencies to show off our sense of humour and promote enjoyment to those who visit with us.
Optus announced Friday that it will move to managing its retail partner network directly, just as Vodafone decided a few days earlier. This disappointing decision by Optus brings to an end a long-term association between Optus and Jenlist – a supplier which has been important to newsagents, delivering excellent service and leading many newsagents to make good money selling Optus handsets and SIM cards.
True to their professionalism, Jenlist communicated with newsagents in a timely and clear manner:
Dear Jenlist Retailers and Industry Partners,
Optus, and its subsidiary, Prepaid Services, have made a decision to directly manage distribution of Optus Prepaid products to Jenlist Distributors Retailers from 11th July 2013.
Therefore, Jenlist Distributors will not be able to supply Optus Prepaid products to you from the 11th July 2013.
Prepaid Services are currently contacting Jenlist retailers for arrangement of the supply of Optus Prepaid from 11th July 2013.
Until then, Jenlist Distributors will continue to supply and deliver Optus Prepaid up until the 10th July 2013
Jenlist Distributors thanks you for your ongoing business for the past 15 years, and we look forward to continuing the supply of our wide range of products available to you, including unlocked mobile handsets & accessories, torches, batteries, and power & computer accessories.
You can continue to place orders with Jenlist:
· on our web site, www.jenlist.com.au,
· via phone, 1300 781 758
· Fax, 1300 781 759
· or your Jenlist Sales Representative.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me personally:
James Simadas
Mobile: 0411 683 131
Email: james@jenlist.com.au
I am thrilled with the shopper response to the $500+ Napoleon Perdis gift pack that one of our Mother’s Day card shoppers will receive. We are receiving excellent feedback. On Thursday I had a mum say she was going to tell her sone about the competition. Pretty good word of mouth!
Having a $500+ gift for one of my customers is a big pitch, something the customers like – especially where some retail groups have a $1,000 prize across a whole group. For key seasons having prizes for shopper engagement is important, especially prizes for your shoppers..
What started out as lazy collateral placement has proven to work when promoting magazine competitions. Take the latest Win a Car collateral from Pacific Magazines and the holiday promotion from Bauer – using the header cards in this way – sticking out – draws attention. I’ve see it work myself. And that’s the battle – getting people to notice a promotion in the sea of colour that for many blends into a visual blur. So, we often use promotional header cards in this practical way – sticking out and hopefully getting more noticed than a neater approach.
In 2006, I asked Is Uncensored the worst magazine ever? The post was somewhat controversial, it attracted 57 responses.
I checked in with Uncensored recently and didn’t like what I saw. It’s a controversial magazine catering to a fringe. The cover story about the Sandy Hook shooting, for example, is disappointing. I don’t like offering it in my business. But it gets shelf space because I am not the censor of what magazines I sell and because today range, even of fringe titles, can be important commercially.
If I did have complete control I’d not carry the title as I’d focus on a different message with my magazine product mix.
Is it the worst magazine ever? No. In fact, it’s no worse in its writings on fringe topics than, say, the IPA Review, a magazine we also carry.
I need to stop looking at some of the magazines on the shelves.
Malware attacks affecting newsagency businesses through their computer systems is on the rise. In the last week several businesses have been harmed. It’s too late after you’ve be affected to ask what you should do to protect your business. Act now. Use a respected anti-virus program. Keep your protection up to date. The time being wasted helping newsagents who were not adequately protected is ridiculous.
It feels like there has been a rush among magazine publishers to send more titles to newsagents with delayed billing. It feels like someone has opened the floodgates.
I am concerned about the number of delayed billing titles I am seeing in my own newsagencies – from multiple publishers! Do other newsagents feel the same?
Delayed billing of itself is sort of fine, it’s the long shelf life attached to the delayed billing that offends and as long as there is not an increase in the range of titles supplied.
Four months is too long for us to hold a title – unless it is selling well and is profitable for us after allowing for shelf space, labour and opportunity cost.
Delaying billing does not make a long shelf life okay and magazine publishers need to understand that.
delayed billing does not justify a publisher using our space and labour to showcase their stock. Space and time cost money!
I know some publishers think newsagents are less likely to early return a title that is not billed until the end of the on-sale. While their assumption is probably right for some, it is not the case for all. Retail space in shopping centres is expensive and this is what I consider when early-returning … am I getting the return I need to deliver a profit? If not, the title goes back regardless of whether billing is delayed. The only way I will keep an underperforming magazine title on the shelf longer is if the retail space it takes is being paid for by the supplier through a subsidy.
If you are a magazine publisher considering delayed billing as a way of keeping your title on newsagent shelves longer, be aware that delayed billing of itself is not the way to achieve this.
paidContent has this morning published an excellent report about news paywalls and the future of journalism in the midst of a more disrupted world – from their conference in New York on Wednesday. Anyone interested in paywalls and journalism should read this.
Our sales of the Hallmark Scooby-Doo! branded interactive story buddy product are terrific. We’re now chasing a mid-season bump by adding more Scooby-Doo! branded merchandise.
In addition to the Hallmark product and a comic, we have added Scooby-Doo! figurines. This display has products from three suppliers, making the most of the licenced product opportunity.
We chase licenced product opportunities from multiple suppliers to tell a good story and maximise sales. Licenced products are valuable!
From our display, we have shoppers purchasing all three items as a gift, delivering to us a far more valuable basket.
This is what we need to do in our businesses – pursue licenced opportunities to drive basket depth and to establish our businesses as the go to stores for these well-known brands.
I love the nail care gift with the latest issue of Take 5. It’s a perfect gift for the Take 5 shopper. We are using the counter unit in a placement above our weekly titles in a feature space we reserve for opportunities like this. We also have the magazine in another location as well as its usual location – it’s got three opportunities to be browsed and purchased.
We have the counter unit here and not at the counter as we no longer place magazines at the counter – that space is reserved for higher margin impulse purchase items.
