I have seen few Easter Eggs in Easter displays in retail in the US despite obesity being a far greater problem here than in Australia. Easter candy is more regular candy repackaged and some marshmallow things called Peeps – not delicious marshmallow.
I have seen plenty of religious chocolate and while Easter is for many a religious season, I don’t understand the desire to eat Jesus chocolate.
In the card aisle of one drug store – a convenience store on steroids – they have wine in the card aisle. I am guessing the placement near sympathy cards is not intentional. It gave me a laugh.
Good for them pitching wine to card shoppers though.
If we could sell wine, this is the type of display unit I’d like. Slim. Efficient. Easy to place.
The $40M Powerball winner from last night’s draw purchased their ticket online direct from Tatts. Anyone who has sold a major prize will know this boosts sales for the winning outlet. Online will get a boost for sure.
The interim results announcement from WH Smith yesterday gives us a peak into their Australian strategy. I includes this:
Our international units are performing well and we have invested in additional resources to develop the business and support further growth. We have now won 156 units in international locations including 15 new units announced today: in the International terminal at Bali; Pudong Airport, Shanghai; further stores in Russia; and additional Fresh Plus hospital cafés in Australia. Additionally, we acquired a small cards and gifts franchisor in Australia in January 2014, Wild Cards and Gifts, which has 40 franchisees, enabling us to offer an additional brand to landlords and to develop further our international wholesaling.
To me, this reads like the Wild acquisition is a landlord play – getting a retail real estate footprint in Australia, facilitating their wholesaling operation. The wholesaling comment is interesting since WH Smith hived off its wholesaling division into a separate public company eight or so years ago.
On Wild, if I am reading the financials on page 5 right, the acquisition earnout cost to WH Smith was £2m.
Now this is a different way to display asparagus and spring onions – standing up on a shelf. They also had broccoli and other vegetables on vertical shelves – very smart and enticing for the shopper.
This is excellent and inspiring visual merchandising – it shows what can be done even with something you thought you might not be able to display.
The workshops I have been lucky to be part of here in the US this week underscore the importance of keeping the retail offer fresh. This does not mean keeping displays tidy, no, it means creating fresh displays through a season pitching new opportunities.
In all major seasons here retailers in channels similar to newsagency businesses are encouraged to change their offer every couple of weeks in a reasonably major way.
In my experience this is rare in Australia. So imagine how thrilled I was to receive a photo showing a significantly refreshed easter offer in one of my stores. Regulars or semi regulars will see this as fresh and that will help drive sales.
The sand we ordered a while back has been on the shop floor this week and selling very well. I never thought I’d have customers buying a 5kg pack of sand. It’s terrific.
We have the sand in a floor display unit on the lease line – in our kids area. Notice the sand they can play with!
I am thrilled that sand is attracting new shoppers to the newsagency. Some of these shoppers then browse the store and purchase other items.
I’d suggest newsagents get into it but suppliers are out of stock as early adopters spend above expectation.
Lawyers and Accountants advising on the purchase of a newsagency have a responsibility to ensure that the advice they provide is accurate. It is frustrating hearing one or the other make a statement that is not based in fact.
One accountant recently told a prospective newsagency purchaser that it may not be a good business to buy because News Corp. is taking control of all the newspaper home delivery runs.
This is not true. Newsagents can hand their newspaper home delivery runs if they wish but it would be their choice.
The T2020 project trialled more than a year ago in South East Queensland to facilitate newspaper home delivery territory consolidation did not proceed as trialled.
Here’s a scratchie vending machine I saw at a convenience store in Kansas City yesterday.
While not as sophisticated as the vending machine I wrote about a couple of days ago, this one does the trick for scratchie tickets. It’s the only way scratchie tickets are sold in this store.
Not only do they change how lottery tickets are sold, they change where they can be sold.
I have been communicating with the publisher of Good Chef Bad Chef following some comments here by readers and newsagents. Here is an update from the publisher:
The response for issues 1 & 2 has been simply amazing. We increased the print run between issue 1 and 2 but again the demand has outstripped supply. We have sent out all the returns already to agents that had back orders BUT we simply ran out very quickly so there are still some orders in the system (with network) that need to be fulfilled.
What does surprise me though is that we still received 17% of early returns (immediately) when issue #2 went out. And over 120 of those were from newsagents that sold 4-7 copies of issue #1. Then on the other hand we are now close to sold out.
Issue 3 is on sale 3rd July – Orders can be made through the Networks Netonline system: https://www.netonline.com.au/SeasonalAllocation/ALLX010.aspx
I hope this helps.
Take a few minutes on the Newsagent conference / trade show survey. Your response is anonymous. Results will be published here for all to read. Suppliers are welcome to respond too.
Take a careful look at the text printed next to the barcode labels on these two magazines. Notice it says: Display until followed by a date. Since most magazines are sold in major / national retailers they do not need or want to micro manage magazines as we need to so only the recall date is important. If your supply was more commercially sensitive to our businesses and if publishers printed recall dates we would not need labels at all and that would be good.
Check out the strip of candy in front of magazines that I saw at a CIBO outlet at New York’s La Guardia airport a couple of days ago.
Click on the image to see the detail.
Notice the tray of chocolate bars and candy in front of each row of magazines? See the branding consistency on each shelf. Excellent retail layout design work for this transit location ‘newsagency’.
The CIBO outlets at La Guardia airport, and there are several, are the best airport businesses I can recall seeing. Modern, fresh in approach, enjoyable to shop and trustured to drive sales.
It’s obsession to details like these that is important in convenience retail which is, after all, what transit locations are all about.
It seems each time I come to the US the reach of electronic cigarettes has extended – faster than in Australia. In New York, in the three months since I was here there are more signs and billboards promoting them.
This photo shows the side of a news stand on Broadway in Midtown and where in the past regular cigarettes would have been advertised in the poster window you now have ads for two brands of electronic cigarettes.
Respected journalist Ben Hills wrote a long and fascinating piece for Good Weekend – published March 28 – that looked at Bauer media, the business formerly known as ACP. Hills was thorough in his research – I know because of questions he put to me as part of the research.
The article is something newsagents should read as it takes us behind the scenes and provides some fascinating direct quotes like:
Tony Sarno, who resigned as editor of Bauerʼs two technology titles before the magazines were sold last year, believes the writing was already on the wall before the takeover was consummated. “When Yvonne came out we were told to have our offices all scrubbed up and clean and tidy,” he says. “We were told she was in the building… and then nothing happened. She never arrived (to visit us). It was all very disappointing, but I now think that they couldnʼt give a shit about the menʼs titles and technology. They are not interested in fostering an Australian magazine culture, just in rehashing all the stuff they have from overseas.” He says that on one occasion, when an editor asked how they were supposed to translate an article from German she was told to try Google.
While it will be a while yet before any reasonable assessment can be made of the purchase of ACP by Bauer, those affected by the purchase – employees, former employees, suppliers and newsagents – all have an opinion on how its going. This article by Ben Hills will get people thinking about their own perspective.
I have been looking at how lottery products are promoted and sold in the US over the last few days. No retailer has the space and fittings investment Australian lottery outlets are forced to make.
The most interesting approach I saw was in a CVS store in Los Angeles – a self-serve vending machine offering stratchie and lotto tickets through a touchscreen selection – or a paper coupon entry and have this scanned.
The vending machine takes cash and does not give change. On top is a digital screen promoting games and listing the winning lotto numbers.
I watched as several customers made purchases without difficulty.
While a sign says YOU MUST BE 18 OR ORLDER TO PLAY, I saw no evidence of an age check.
The CVS store where I saw this lottery product vending machine is part of a large national business focused on healthcare. Their approach to retail is what I would expect to see from any of the national retailers in Australia such as Coles, Woolworths and 7-Eleven. I mention as they are the biggest bricks and mortar threat to newsagency lottery sales.
If technology like this vending machine did become available in Australia, it would be interesting to see if newsagents embrace it. For example, if it could be located in a shop window like an ATM, I wonder if many would. Or, if not, would newsagents place it in-store? I suspect newsagents would prefer the personal service of over the counter. This makes sense as it is a perceived point of difference. However, such a point of difference is only valuable if you leverage it.
I have no knowledge about whether vending machines like this will come to Australia. What I do know is that Tatts continues to require small business newsagents to invest more retail space and capital in representing lottery products in their stores – compared to 7-Eleven and Coles Express and compared to what is required of lottery retailers in the US.
The lottery space is in play both in bricks and mortar stores and online. This is what the space and capital you invest is important.
Further to my recent posts here and here about newspaper stands, check out what I saw Sunday at New York’s La Guardia airport. While it does not hold a lot of stock, you could place your top selling daily at the bottom and the others in the pockets above. The stand is sturdy so there would be no problem jamming the pockets.
This stand is easily moved – allowing us to keep the newspaper pitch fresh to regulars.
Since it is slim it could work right at the counter, driving impulse purchases of newspapers. In fact, I could see two of these stands being useful in different locations in-store.
The days of the boat anchor newspaper stand newsagents were forced by publishers to use under threat of receiving a default notice are over thankfully. What we need now is an efficient newspaper stand that serves our businesses and our customers without giving up too much space and without one publisher dominating.
Getting the right stand could help some newsagents become more engaged with the newspaper category.
I like this stand I saw Sunday a lot. Unfortunately, the people I spoke with did not know the supplier – but I’m doing some research.
Take a few minutes on the Newsagent conference / trade show survey. Your response is anonymous. Results will be published here for all to read. Suppliers are welcome to respond too.
Newsagents contemplating transitioning their business to a convenience model need to thoroughly research the range of convenience retail offerings in Australia, and not just those nearby, before changing their business focus.
Convenience is about more than convenient hours or location. 7-Eleven, Coles and Woolworths have made it about value with every location every day offering nationally recognised products at discount prices.
The photo, taken a couple of weeks ago, shows a Coles Express outlet in Melbourne. Click on the image to see the clarity of their pitch on price. Count how many offers being pitched and the consistency of their marketing collateral – from the Coles express shingle to each of the posters and signs. The strength of their value proposition – it is obvious from far away. They are leveraging the nationally recognised Coles brand and their down down advertising campaign that focuses on price.
This is what newsagents who transition to a convenience offer need to compete with to be noticed – they will need to consistently make a professional and understandable pitch on price from outside the business to attract shoppers.
Attracting shoppers is important because convenience shoppers are fickle. There may be some customers who shop with you regularly because they walk past every day or catch public transport nearby but the majority of convenience business is new or infrequent visitors shopping with you.
The Coles pitch is clever, designed to get you thinking that everything is discounted when it’s not. But enough is discounted to support the value proposition once inside. Their goal is basket depth with fuel used as the anchor product.
The other aspect of the push over the last few years by 7-Eleven, Coles and Woolworths into fuel is that they are taking more convenience business from stand alone retailers, retailers without fuel like the old mill bars and delis. This is driving a change in shopper behaviour with people walking to one of the new style fuel outlets for what they would have purchased from the local milk bar or newsagency.
While CBD convenience outlets like City Convenience focus on being convenient (and certainly not price) as their point of difference, the convenience competitors most newsagents face will be a mixture of the price focused giants: 7-Eleven, Coles and Woolworths.
Newsagents wanting to play in the convenience need to thoroughly research their competitors and develop a model that is sustainable for a locally owned independent business. They need to make any move knowing what they will be up against in terms of the better supply terms and the consistent and professional marketing pitch of the majors.
