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

Month: February 2014

Newsagents benefit from extra margin for The Saturday Paper

IPS has been promoting The Saturday Paper to newsagents in advance of the launch in a couple of weeks. They are reminding newsagents that our commission will be 27%:

The much-anticipated launch issue of The Saturday Paper – Australia’s first new national newspaper in forty years – is out March 1.

From the publisher of the Monthly and Quarterly Essay, The Saturday Paper will publish long-form journalism each week on the country’s most important issues. It will be distributed into New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT through newsagents and home delivery, and will not be available in supermarkets. Published 48 times a year, the paper will earn newsagents a 27% commission on sales.

The addition of a new weekly independent voice is a significant event in Australia’s news media. The Saturday Paper is expected to attract back to the market customers who drifted away from buying weekend newspapers, as well as to become another regular purchase of existing customers.

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Newspapers

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: what are you doing today?

Success in retail is more about the many small steps you take to promote, grow and manage your business, the one percenters some call them. I’m a firm believe in this for newsagency businesses today.

There is no big thing, no single bold step, no one product or product range that will save, define or grow your newsagency.

The future of every newsagency relies on many small steps, some interconnected, some stand alone. I am talking here about hundreds and thousands of small steps. This leads into my marketing tip for today: what are you doing today? What small step are you taking today to market or promote your newsagency.

Here are some examples of small steps you could take today: create a new window display, move a department or category of products to a new location, change the products at your counter, print a small flyer to be given to every shopper with an offer for a product you want to move, put signs on your car and part it a few streets away, reach out to another business you have not connected with before, reach out to a community group you have not connected with before, spend an hour you would not usually spend on the shop floor helping customers, relieve a staff member stationed at the counter and give them freedom to change something on the shop floor while you serve at the counter for them.

While these steps may seem tiny, they represent the types of steps necessary to make an overall small-step strategy to work and help a business grow.

The idea is that every day you do something, every day – yes, EVERY DAY – you take a step, no matter how small.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: being direct is the best approach

While being direct in your communication with someone can lead to them thinking you are offensive, it is the best way to communicate your concerns. In the long term, being direct pays off.

Many years ago I had an employee who had shocking body odour. Subtle approaches did not work. A direct approach about their smell resulted in the problem being resolved. They stayed on for years and we had a good relationship. This was a win for being direct.

More recently, I had another employee with an odour problem – not this is not something I seek in hiring people! – and I approached them believing, by then, that direct was better.  I wasn’t rude, at least I didn’t think I was. I explained that after a couple of hours work they started to smell and it was being noticed by co-workers and had been noticed by customers. They resigned a few days after I spoke with them.

Some topics are challenging to approach directly but that should not stop us. Being direct is not about being rude, it is about communicating your concerns clearly and directly, proving all the information necessary for them to act on what concerns you. The alternative is a meandering indirect route and that can end you up somewhere you do not want to be.

A spade is a spade is a terrific figure of speech, it reflects how we should communicate in business.

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Management tip

Thorntons chocolates in Australia?

chorthorntonsI must have missed the arrival in Australia of the Thorntons chocolate range. Thorntons is a strong UK brand with stand-alone stores – 296 shops and 186 franchises – and a good presence in a range of other retail businesses. The photo is a Thorntons product I noticed in a Coles supermarket, as part of their Easter range. We are seeing a surge in UK brands and retailers arriving in Australia and this leads me to wonder if Thorntons will open here. Thorntons products I have tried in the UK were excellent.

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confectionary

Strong start to Sydney gift fairs

giftfair2014I was at the Home & Giving Fair in Sydney yesterday, one of three excellent trade shows for retailers in the gift and homewares space. There was plenty of excellent product for the traditional newsagency shopper as well as excellent product to use to attract new traffic. The mix of retailers at the fair indicates how blurred the lines between retail niches has become: jewellers, card shops, gift shops, homewares shops, jewellers, garden centres, department stores, convenience stores and newsagents. Everyone is looking for products for their business as it is defined today. Some were looking for products through which they can diversify. That’s what I was looking for. The Home and Giving Fair is usually seen as the poor cousin to the Reed Gift Fair. I was certainly impressed with opportunities I saw yesterday.

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Gifts

What is the ANF connection to Crimvid?

anf-commercialSeveral newsagents forwarded to me an email from the ANF yesterday promoting a security product called Crimvid. They were surprised that the ANF is promoting this product.

If I was an ANF member and had received the email my first response would be why is the ANF promoting this product? What is in it for them? There is no disclosure of s commercial relationship between the ANF and the promoters of Crimvid. Given the endorsement of Crimvid by the ANF the organisation needs to be clear about why – otherwise members could distrust the endorsement.

As an association serving its members, the ANF would / should have done due diligence into Crimvid before endorsing it. The ANF communication offers no disclosure as to due diligence.

Some involved with the ANF will say that this blog post is an attack on them. It is not. It is pointing out that their communication endorsing and promoting Crimvid is incomplete: tell your members why you are endorsing it, share with them your due diligence insights as to why this is good for newsagents.

The ANF communication includes:

We often talk about a reason  for customers to step into a newsagency, our point of difference and our unique selling proposition.

If the ANF is suggesting that a single product is a USP then they are mistaken. A USP is something deep within the business, something long term around which to build a business plan. It is not a single product.

Instead of mis-using catchphrases of others, the ANF communication should have clearly demonstrated the relevance of this product to a retail newsagency business so that newsagents could continuer it in the context of their businesses and what they do today.

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Newsagency challenges

Promoting Daphne’s Diary magazine

magsdaphnesdiaryWe are promoting Daphne’s Diary magazine – a publication in the form of a diary.  It appeals to an important demographic for us. Sourced through Gotch, this is a challenging magazine to place – challenging in a good way. We have it next to home and living titles and near Frankie. The Daphne’s Diary website provides a good insight into their target customer.

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magazines

Oversupply of AWW cookbooks

aww-oversupplyHere is another example of Bauer sending our magazine stock unnecessarily. We received more copies of monday to friday diet when we still had plenty of stock of the first issue of this title. This is not sales based replenishment – no, it’s an abuse of the newsagency magazine supply model. We early returned the extra stock.

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magazines

Damaged re-issued magazine stock frustrating

magazines-damagedSome stock of the reissued part 1 of Precious Rocks Gems & Minerals was damaged and had another retailers sticker – on barcode stock that was not removable. Very frustrating!  retailers should use removable stickers. Distributors should only send merchantable stock – instead of us having to return stock we can’t sell.

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magazines

Mixed results in latest magazine circulation audit

Source: Mumbrella

Source: Mumbrella

Sales of Family Circle magazine jumped 26.4% in the July – December 2013 compared to 2012. Women’s Fitness, Australian Property Investor, Australian Home Beautiful, real Living, Diabetic Living, Grand Designs Australia, Russh, Caravan World, Frankie, Belle, Australian handyman, Super Food Ideas and Feast all posted good growth – between 4% and 21%.

Cleo and Cosmopolitan experiences double digit declines of 17% and 14% respectively while Marie Claire experiencd a 1.7% decline. Girlfriend sales fell 23.3% while Dolly sales fell 22.3%. Food titles generally are struggling. Mumbrella has more on the monthly magazine circulation results.

As for weeklies, New Idea performed the best with a decline of 4% and Zoo performed the worst with a decline of 34.9%. See Mumbrella for more.

I’d love to see the sales breakdown by channel – that data would be valuable to newsagents to understand where we sit and to compare ourselves against the whole channel.

Newsagents can grow magazine sales by offering shoppers a unique value proposition and by working the category and individual titles.

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magazines

Double-digit decline in newspaper circulation

Capital city newspapers around Australia experienced double-digit declines in circulation in the October to december 2013 compared to 2012. The Advertiser, The Mercury and The West Australian are the only exceptions. the 17% decline for The Age and 16.6% decline for the SMH continue an awful trend for these titles. The declines of 12% for the Daily Telegraph and 12.3% for the Herald Sun are awful news for News. Mumbrella has the gory details.

These numbers reinforce my view that we will see at least one and maybe more capital city dailies cease daily production this year. The cost of producing and distributing product with lower ad revenue is the issue. the recent price rises announced by News will not fill much of the revenue gap.

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Newspaper distribution

Muddling through Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day brings out a range of strong customer reactions from the sweet and romantic to the smokin angry – and everything in between. While people at both extremes are interesting, the angry ones are especially so as I’d love to know drives them to react that way to what I see as a reasonably harmless retail season.

I love the customer who shares anticipation about the card or gift they have bought and about what they may receive. I also love the customers outside the usual who buy a card or gift – especially those 70, 80 and older. It’s sweet.  I also love the kids buying cards. In fact that’s a real treat – seeing a teenage boy or girl agonising over a card for young love.

Yes, Valentine’s Day is a commercial season, one we gladly support for all its commercial glory but it is also a season drenched in tradition and expectation and we newsagents play a role in reinforcing the tradition and in helping people find fulfilment from expectation. In our small businesses we get to see people engage more so than in other places where a Valentine’s Day card or gift is just another SKU. Across the newsagency counter, as with much of our interaction, it is more personal.

This is what is special about seasons like Valentine’s Day for small business newsagents, the opportunity for us to watch people as they engage with their feelings, and the opportunity to engage with them. It’s a pleasure not many retailers have, one to cherish.

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Fun

The Age disrespects closing the gap message

theage-coverupFairfax yesterday stuck an ad over the top of the lead image in the front page of the newspaper yesterday, a story about the Closing the Gap report delivered by the Prime Minister in federal parliament on Tuesday. Fairfax took money to advertise the Mexican Fiesta show on SBS TV. I am shocked that people in production didn’t realise the insensitivity of the placement of the ad and I am more shocked that this has not been more widely covered.

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Ethics

Elle magazine being discounted

ellediscountBauer is trying to drive sales of the new Elle magazine by bundling it with Cosmopolitan and offering the two for $5 off. While discounting can be seen as rewarding people for buying more than they expected, I think it gives the wrong message. The discount voucher approach I use works better as it is a whole of my business  push.

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magazines

Promoting the INXS one-shot

magsinxsimpulseWe are promoting the INXS one-shot title in three locations for impulse purchase by shoppers: with newspapers, with weeklies and here as shown in the photo at the entrance to the main magazine aisle.

Each location is getting shopper engagement – reflecting the broad appeal of the TV show on the Seven network.

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magazines

How some newsagents act harms others who trade under the newsagency shingle

being-cheapIn a newsagency a few days ago I noticed them selling Hallmark 2014 date books at the counter for $2.00. This is an item they got for a few cents to be used as a customer gift to help drive sales. The same newsagency had other items at the counter, also priced at $2.00, such as freebies with magazines – including a craft kit from the cover of Mollie Makes.

While the independence of our businesses is a strength, it is also a weakness. The image of every newsagency can be tarnished by the actions of one newsagency.

Newsagents selling items that should be free disrespect their fellow newsagents, their customers and the suppliers of the products involved. The same is true for newsagents who keep for themselves any item provided by a supplier as a customer prize.

The newsagent selling the date book could have been offering it to customers to drive care sales. Instead, they disconnected from the opportunity in pursuit of a small amount of revenue.

I know of a supplier some years ago that retreated from proactive engagement with the channel to barely active engagement on the back of evidence of some newsagents behaving poorly.

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Ethics

Price comparing our newsagency prices for ink with the majors

save-on-inkFollowing comments from my post yesterday about the Officeworks price comparison and guarantee I thought I’d post one of the ways we promote on price at my newsagency.

This simple yet clear flyer is in a couple of high traffic locations in store. The same pitch has been emailed to close to 1,000 of our customers, a more thorough flyer goes with each customer purchase and we have delivered 15,000 to homes around the shop.

Ink sales are up 35% year on year off a good base. We’re in a centre with several major ink competitors including a new format Dick Smith which has opened right next door.

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marketing

Covering the magazine masthead

brand-coverupHelping out a newsagent this week I suggested they take more care when placing labels on magazine covers. They were placing big labels over magazine mastheads, potentially making it harder for customers to find the titles they want. I also suggested they consider a slimmer more discrete label.

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magazines

AWW large-format cookbook discounted at Coles?

colescookbooksAt a Coles supermarket yesterday I noticed two pockets of AWW Meals in Minutes at $19.95 each. This is a large-format title, the same size as the new superfoods title we have for $10 more. These price inconsistencies can’t be good for anyone, especially the retailer with the higher price.

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magazines

Now there goes a real celebrity

In this era of reality TV (it’s not real, in fact it is more fake than non-reality TV) and social media enabled instant celebrity, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the passing overnight of Shirley Temple Black, a real celebrity with real talent and who did real things outside her celebrity life. Reading about Shirley Temple Black would be, I suspect, more interesting to many than reading about a convicted drug smuggler just released in Bali or a Kardashian who is famous for nothing of substance.

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magazines

Why not beat Officeworks at their own game?

officeworks-pricecheckAt an Officeworks in Sydney’s CBD Monday I noticed this Check our prices noticeboard near the entrance. This is another strategy they use for pitching their prices and their price guarantee.  If I was a newsagent nearby with lower prices in, say, ink, and if my lease permitted I promote in my window a comparison of my prices and theirs. I’d take it to them. But I’d use a twist: my promotion would be for last week’s prices and I’d note that we’re doing this comparison to show that our customers were the winners.

Officeworks spends a considerable sum of money promoting that their prices are lower and their LOWEST PRICE GUARANTEE. I would not be surprised to discover that the amount they spend on this price pitch compared to other businesses is inverse to where they actually sit in a price comparison.

Newsagents are often cheaper than Officeworks yet we do not tell the world about this. In some cases our leases do not permit in-store comparative promotion. But for the rest, why not? Some newsagents do but not enough. I suspect it is too hard.  This is something a switched on industry association could do.

Several suppliers have conducted research over the years that indicates shoppers consider newsagencies to be expensive when price research indicates we are not. I was at a newsagency conference ten years ago where this was presented. Given the perception, why not a national campaign that helps newsagents promote their price position, a campaign showing the small business fighting back and competing with Officeworks and others. This would be good work for an industry association like the ANF to undertake – there’s no money in it for them but members would like it.

The Officeworks noticeboard reeks of ignorance but the average person entering their store would not know that. Newsagents nearby who do offer better prices need to engage. Yes, a fight with Officeworks could be challenging but, hey, what’s the alternative?

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Newsagency challenges

Mr Men challenges for newsagents in SA

mr-men-stuff-upSouth Australian newsagents are not being supplied enough volume of the Mr Men books to satisfy demand generated by promotion in The Advertiser  and through TV and other advertising.

The circulation manager at News in Adelaide wrote to newsagents saying that they, newsagents, should direct customers to News and the company will endeavour to assist. Note the line written by someone who has not spent enough time serving customers at a newsagency counter:

I must stress that you should make no commitment to the customer that they will definitely be supplied their order.

News is heavily promoting the Mr Men books in its newspapers and on national TV. It would / should have known the success the campaign could achieve and should have ensured sufficient supply in South Australia. Thankfully, I am not experiencing short supply in Victoria.

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Newspaper marketing
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