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

Month: April 2014

Cool business advertising billboard

baladCheck out the billboard I saw on the floor of the Hong Kong Gift Fair trade show this week. The balloon, backpack and related items cost US$100.00 – and you then have all you need for an attention grabbing billboard. I am not so sure about this. Sure, it would be noticed and talked about – but once the novelty wore off you’s have a balloon with a message in need of updating. That said, I’m writing about it so it was memorable and that’s vital for any ad message. It works best at night time.

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marketing

Day three of a five-day back to basics newsagency management challenge: stationery

This week I am shining a light on five back to basics areas of our newsagency businesses over which we can make a difference for the good of our business and the benefit of our customers.

By back to basics I mean parts of our business that define us and can separate us from others.

Today, I want to challenge how you manage stationery.

Newsagents used to own the stationery category in Australia. While some would argue that our dominance was taken from us, I’d suggest that we played a role and may have even pushed it away through our own poor management.

Anyway, we have today the situation we have and it’s time we looked to the future and where we could take stationery from where it is at today and build.

Here are areas I’d challenge newsagents to consider in relation to stationery:

  1. USP. What is your unique selling proposition? What’s special about your stationery offer? Why should people shop with you? If you can’t answer this question don’t proceed any further as this is a deal breaker to progress.
  2. Range. Is your range relevant for your situation? If yours is a convenience offer for stationery is it relevant to that? If yours is a destination offer for school suppliers is your range relevant to that? Being more successful with stationery starts with buying right for your customers.
  3. Price. Know who you are competing with and price accordingly. many newsagents I know can charge more and not hurt sales.
  4. Reach out to more customers. Stationery is usually the forgotten department – poor merchandising and hidden in a low traffic area. Give stationery time in the spotlight. Do this with off-location displays, front of store displays, featured products at the counter and displays in other departments like selling funky stationery to people buying funky magazines.
  5. Offer more than you sell. To really drive stationery sales sell out of catalogues and deliver. Sow your business as being connected to other local businesses in a way your competitors are not connected.
  6. Serve your customers. If a customer asks if you have something – take them to where it is located. If they ask if you have something and you know you don’t – look anyway and they will appreciate that more than a straight out no.
  7. Think outside the traditional. Give your customers more reasons to buy stationery by stocking stationery items outside the usual. For example, look for fashion related stationery items and treat these as gifts in your promotions.

Newsagents can increase stationery sales. It takes planning and management – strong leadership from the top of the business down. Success starts with respecting this category.

The goal of this series of back to basics newsagency management advice is to get you revisiting parts of your business that you may not be paying enough attention to. This should help imporrove basket size, drive traffic and get you better engaged with your newsagency business.

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Management tip

Great use of a corridor leading to the bathrooms

bathroommagsCheck out how one Hong Kong supermarket is using the corridor leading to the bathrooms they have in-store … for their magazine department.

You see this type of smart use of space all over Hong Kong – which is only to be expected in a city very tight on space.

The corridor is ideal for magazines. They have done it well with excellent fixturing holding 400+ titles. It was always busy when I passed.

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magazines

Excellent creation of storage space

storagespaceCheck out how one toy / hobby shop in Hong Kong has created storage and display space in a challenged and expensive retail situation. They have done this in a way that looks integrated with their business. I love their use of ceiling space.

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Gifts

Easy selling of newspapers in Hong Kong

paperstranspWhile successive state governments from all sides of politics around Australia screw up transport ticketing, here in Hong Kong this week I have seen how their Octopus cards are used to purchase all sorts of things including newspapers, public transport and plenty more.

This photo shows a stack of papers outside a 7-Eleven store. Newspaper customers don’t even have to enter the store. They tap and go – on the device on the side of the newspaper stand.

While newsagents would prefer to get retailers in-store and buying other items, c-stores are happy to get a few cents by serving customers who don;t have to queue to buy a newspaper.

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Newspapers

Day two of a five-day back to basics newsagency management challenge: cards

This week I am shining a light on five back to basics areas of our newsagency businesses over which we can make a difference for the good of our business and the benefit of our customers.

By back to basics I mean parts of our business that define us and can separate us from others.

Today, I want to challenge how you manage greeting cards.

Australian newsagents sell close to 35% of all cards sold in this country. We are the largest single retail channel. Cards giver us the best gross profit of any product we sell – depending on your deal between 50% GP and as much as as 70% GP. Cards are important to us and we are important to the category.

But are we managing cards for success?

Too many newsagents leave the running of th card department to their card spillers. This is a mistake. It’s your business, manage it.

Here are some tips for driving card sales:

  1. Put your own cards out. Stop using a merchandiser. Learn more about the product and be more helpful to your customers. Everyone working in the shop should be able to do this!
  2. Refresh your offer at least annually. Work with your main card supplier on this.
  3. Promote seasons on the floor. Do not take everyday or lifestyle cards off the wall to make way for seasons. Peple still buy these cards.
  4. Leverage licences. Cards with licenced characters sell well. Seek these out.
  5. Connect with gifts. Cards drive gift purchases and gift sales drive card purchases. Get this two-way flow right and sales will increase.
  6. Place cards and gifts together. Retail 101.
  7. Reward loyalty. Use whatever options are available to you to drive shopper loyalty.
  8. Locate your card department at the front of the shop. It attracts shoppers.
  9. Light your card department well. Make the colours pop!

Cards are vitally important to newsagents. Ignore tham and you invite shoppers to look elsewhere for their magazines.

The goal of this series of back to basics newsagency management advice is to get you revisiting parts of your business that you may not be paying enough attention to. This should help imporrove basket size, drive traffic and get you better engaged with your newsagency business.

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Greeting Cards

Day one of a five-day back to basics newsagency management challenge: magazines

This week I am shining a light on five back to basics areas of our newsagency businesses over which we can make a difference for the good of our business and the benefit of our customers.

By back to basics I mean parts of our business that define us and can separate us from others.

Today, I want to challenge how you manage magazines.

Magazines continue to be the single most important newsagency channel wide traffic driver for us. Every newsagent sells magazines.

While we don’t have enough control over supplier, are not given equitable gross profit and are are disadvantaged through the supply model, there are management opportunities available to us that can make magazines more successful.

But first, I want to consider why? Why spend any time on magazines? That’s a question I am often asked by newsagents angry with iover supply, under sipply, poor margin and disrespect from distributors. I understand their frustration and that this feeds into anger.

Magazines are important to us because the range we carry is the only channel-wide point of difference we have. Magazines generate excellent traffic,. Magazines work as impulse purchase item. Many maggazine shoppers are loyal. Magazine sales can informa many other valuable business decisions.

How can you better manage magazines?

  1. Do a relay. This really is the single most important management activity. It should be done once a year. Click here for my advice on how to do a relay in your newsagency.
  2. Several times a week review magazine placement. This is an owner’s responsibility. Give the category your attention.
  3. Have a magazine promotion at the front of the store – as a traffic driver.
  4. Always have one or two impulse purchase friendly magazines placed with your toip selling newspapers.
  5. Engage in co-location for key titles: Better Homes and Gardens with weeklies, crossowrds with weekliues, garden magazines featured to align with major season shifts (spring etc).
  6. Feature magazines that are growing. For exasmple, how do you treat Frankie? It speaks to a young shopper and you can build other sales around it.
  7. Engage with publisher programs: Nexus from Pacific Magazines and Connections from Bauer. Use the services of these porograms to their fullest.
  8. Offer a loyalty program for genbuinely loyal magazine shoppers. Either a points based program or discount vouchers – whatever you offer make sure that it rewards / drives genuine loyalty.
  9. Promote magazines on your receipts.
  10. Respect the category. If you as the leader of the business respect the category your employees will follow.

Magazines are vitally important to newsagents. Ignore tham and you invite shoppers to look elsewhere for their magazines.

The goal of this series of back to basics newsagency management advice is to get you revisiting parts of your business that you may not be paying enough attention to. This should help imporrove basket size, drive traffic and get you better engaged with your newsagency business.

6 likes
Management tip

Leveraging newspapers

papersmagsWe have had a good run since Anzac Day promoting the latest Better Homes and Gardens and the My Kitchen Rules Cookbook between our two top selling daily newspapers. Our tiny time and space investment has paid off. We can sell more magazines.

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magazines

US newspaper revenue decline continues

The decline in revenue for newspaper publishers continued as evidenced with the release of the latest data. The revenue challenge has more to do with ad revenue than circulation revenue whereas the cost challenge is more to do with distribution than editorial.

Smart publishers will realise that they could make more money setting their content free from mastheads. I am more likely to purchase news stories than I am to subscribe to a branded news outlet. I suspect that I am not alone.

Focussing on making money from your core competency is a better business plan in my view.

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Media disruption

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: use your touch points

Newsagencies have some of the best retail foot traffic yet too often we fail to leverage that. Here are some very very basic touch points you can use to better connect with shoppers to drive purchases and return visits:

  1. Bags. Make sure they are branded with your brand and contain a sales pitch.
  2. In the bag. Always include a flyer or gift of something that adds value.
  3. Receipts: The top should have your brand logo.
  4. Receipts: Ensure you have an ad or a coupon or an offer on every receipt.
  5. Receipts: If you use a points loyalty system – show how many points on balance.
  6. Receipts: If the customer has purchased an item with a care instructions opportunity – include these on the receipt.
  7. At the counter: always have an easy impulse purchase opportunity. Under $10. With broad appeal.
  8. On your vehicles. Promote your business.

There are many more touch point opportunities. This list is barely a starting point yet many newsagents do not even embrace these … missing opportunities to reinforce the brand and all it stands for.

If you are not happy with how your newsagency is performing – are you doing the things on the list?

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: be a proud owner

Sometimes when on the shop floor of my newsagency customers approach saying do you work here? or something similar. I can understand that since I am often not in uniform as I am only there for a brief visit.

In an instance recently I joked with the customer – work here? I own the joint! She laughed, thankfully. We then had a good discussion about a very specific card caption she thought we should carry. It felt like she talked more because I owned the business.

The interaction got me thinking that we business owners should do more than wear a shirt with our brand and a name badge, we should wear something letting people know we own the business – making ourselves a target … in a good way!

This is a way we can differentiate ourselves from big business competitors. In our newsagencies customers can speak with the owner whereas in competitor businesses they struggle to even get to a manager.

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Management tip

Evidence important in claims of newsagency sales success

Newsagents and suppliers often claim success without providing proof supporting their claim. There have been instances in our channel where newsagents have believed a claim without seeking evidence and gone on to discover that there was ho evidence and that the claim was false.

Everyone wants success. Unfortunately some want it bad enough to spin or lie to get their success – often at the cost of newsagents and others they serve.

Nothing beats the truth, especially the truth in sales data.

As I wrote recently, sales of our everyday counter cards, a card segment that accounts for 56.90% of our overall card sales, are up 17% year on year comparing January through March 2014 with the same period in 2013.

This is an extraordinary result.

Unfortunately, word has reached me that someone is putting it about that the figure is made up.  It’s not made up. I can provide the growth back to source data, data that anyone is welcome to audit.

So, it is true. Our every day (birth through death) counter card sales are up 17% year on year. We did this without a major advertising campaign and off an already good sales base. We also did it without a VIP loyalty points program.

Our success is in part due to our front-end loyalty program, discount vouchers. By giving away under 1% of card revenue we have achieved a stellar year on year increase.

In fact, the growth we have achieved puts us, I think, in the top group of newsagencies in growing card sales.

In someone claims to you that they are achieving extraordinary growth, ask to see the report that shows this. satisfy yourself that the claim they make is true. There are some in our channel who pay little regard to truth and, sadly, newsagents follow and make bad choices as a result.

Data does not lie.

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Ethics

Excellent Cosmopolitan Bride cover

cosmobridecoverI love the cover off the latest issue of Cosmopolitan Bride – it stands out from all the other bride titles we currently have in stock. Whereas other bride titles use a soft pallet, Cosmo Bride has gone for bright … and it works. This is the wedding title you see first in our wedding section.

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magazines

Tapping into Kylie interest

kyliemagsWe have made sure to place TV Week and New Idea Jumbo Puzzler next to each other to leverage the Kylie Minogue covers of each title. This placement sets up to sell both titles together. It’s small moves like this that help us sell more magazines than being average would usually achieve. Supermarkets ands other national retailer outlets would not respond to magazine covers in this way.

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magazines

Maximising gifts with magazines

gfwhWe have made sure to allocate extra space to Women’s Health and Girlfriend to display the excellent gifts with purchase available with the current issue of these titles. the extra space is resulting in a bump in sales and that’s what the gifts are all about. yes they are taking some extra space but the sales are worth it.

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magazines

Staples introducing postal counters in some of its US retail outlets

US stationery giant is introducing US Postal Service sanctioned postal service counters in some of its stationery stores and US postal workers are understandably angry. So far 82 Staples outlets have introduced the counters. Reports claim that the hourly cost of someone on the postal counter goes from around $25 an hour for the US Postal Service worker to $8.50 an hour for the Staples worker.

This is a story to watch on several levels: Stapes in Australia, Australia Post continuing to evolve its model, newsagents looking to expand foot traffic generators and competitors of newsagents looking to broaden their appeal. To explore this story from the US further check out the results of a Google search.

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Australia Post

Fin Review barcode issues

I know some newsagents have received copies of the Weekend Financial Review without a barcode. While this should not be a challenge because of touch screen hot buttons, I thought I’d open a thread here in case anyone wanted to comment.

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Newspapers

How to choose a marketing group for your newsagency

Continuing my week-long series on newsagency marketing groups, today I’ll outline how newsagency marketing groups support the channel beyond the individual businesses the serve.

As with all the advice I have shared in this series, today’s advice is carefully crafted to NOT guide you to choose a specific group but rather to get you to cast your own critical eye over choices available to you. Like any business decision, there are many factors unique to your situation that will and should feed into your decision. My goal is to help you be broad in your focus so more factors are considered.

What I will tell you is that it is important you are part of a group that helps you grow and enjoy your newsagency business.

How do you choose the group that is right for you?

  1. Know what you want. Have a list of what is essential for you in a newsagency marketing group. This list is about you and your business.
  2. Do your research. Meet the people involved. Get all the details in writing. Read as much as you can. Get any special promises documented. Be sure of everything.
  3. Talk to other newsagents. Find out members of the group for yourself – don;t just call who they say. Talk to fellow newsagents and ask for their feedback.
  4. Ask lots of questions. Ask suppliers, your staff, other newsagents and staff from the group themselves why you should choose them. Especially seek out those not aligned with a group for a more untainted view.
  5. Find out how the group makes its money. Is it just out of membership fees or is it from commissions on your purchases. There is nothing wrong with either – transparency is best.
  6. Be sure about the control you have. Understand what you would have control over and what you would not have control over. Ensure you are happy with this.
  7. Check who the group supports. For example, if supporting newsagent affiliated businesses like GNS is important to you ensure the group you are considering does this.
  8. Make the decision when you are ready.

Joining a newsagency marketing group is a long-term decision that should add significant value to your business if you make the righter decision.

As a guide, you ought to expect the decision to be worth at least four times the cost of membership fees in terms of gross profit improvement in the first year.

If you have done your research and made a decision based on this and that meets your needs then you should be in for good times if you embrace all your chosen group has to offer.

Footnote: Regulars here would know I am a shareholder in and Director of newsXpress. Prior to that I was a member of Nextra and a shareholder in my later years with them following a capital raising. Prior to that my newsagency was a member of Newspower.

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Newsagency management
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