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#1 of five provocative suggestions to challenge how you view and manage your retail newsagency
This week I will publish five deliberately provocative suggestions on aspects of retail newsagency management and operation. My goal is to challenge newsagents and their suppliers to break free from the past and engage in more present day retail
Suggestion #1: remove all magazine posters.
Magazine sales have been declining between 5% and 9% year on year for at least the last five years. You cannot deny the data. The trend is down and unless publishers start publishing content to drive sustained increased interest, the trend will continue. My view is that the key reason for decline is content and not the medium itself.
Why put up posters for a declining category? Why spend the time and give over your front window and other locations promoting products which are suffering from declining interest.
I think if all newsagents did not put up any magazine posters for three months sales in your newsagency would not fall. I say this based on my own experience.
I suspect one reason we are encouraged, bribed and pushed to put up magazine posters is drive awareness of the mastheads and not necessarily to drive purchases in our businesses. None of our competitors give away promotional space and staff labour time like we do to promote magazines.
Imagine the new uses you could make of the open windows, aisle ends, columns and other places you fill with magazine posters.
I don’t use magazine posters and have not for five years. My magazine sales are growing. I think other newsagents could have a similar experience.
So, my provocative suggestion today is to not put up magazine posters. Instead, use that space for something more useful to your business. Use the space to differentiate your business, to promote products and services which are unique for you in your area. Use the space to attract shoppers who may not usually walk through your front door.
Sure, it’s tough to have to work out what to put in a window or what to promote on an aisle end but since you pay for this space surely you want to get maximum value from it?! Magazine posters for a slowing category are not good use of the space, especially since the display is not promoting something even remotely unique to your business.
This action of not putting up posters could be the beginning of a revolution in your newsagency, the start of you looking at your business differently.
My own experience is that the posters are not necessary. If we all found this publishers save money on printing and on merchandisers (for the newsagencies that are visited by merchandisers).
Are you up for this revolutionary suggestion?
While I am publishing the suggestions I am not necessarily advocating them for all newsagents. I see this blog as playing a role in challenging how we look and manage our businesses and from that encourage newsagents to think carefully about decisions they make.
Survey reminder – how can suppliers help you improve your business
Please take a moment to complete a single question survey: how you think newsagent suppliers can help you improve your business. You can answer anonymously and as often as you want. If you are writing about a specific category, please start with it … for example: Magazines: or Newspapers:. While how you respond is up to you, I suggest you keep responses to categories and not specific suppliers.
Sunday newsagency marketing tip: crazy Easter marketing ideas for retailers
Here are some left-field marketing ideas for Easter in case you want to kick up interest over the next three weeks. I have deliberately not included traditional ideas such as colouring competitions:
- Give rabbits a discount on a set day or days. Promote it widely – get the local paper in for a photo. Make the discount worth it for them dressing up.
- Have an egg eating competition – who can eat the most in 30 seconds.
- Offer free fried eggs one or two mornings for a gold coin donation to a local charity.
- Make a giant papier-mâché egg with things you sell (old newspapers, coloured paper, paint). Go big, I mean really big. Taller than a person. Let the kids paint it. Make it a local thing for people to come see.
- Promote reconnect with a friend – send an easter card. Give people a reason beyond the season itself to send a card. Offer a discount: but a card and get 25% of your next. Alternatively, offer to post an Easter card free for any customer.
- Have an easter Egg hunt for over 70s. Egg hunts are usually for kids but those over 70 will have a different recollection of the season from when they were kids. Cater to them with a hunt in your shop for tasty eggs.
- Respect the season. Easter means different things to different people. Respect this outside of the fun you may have. Be sure about your greeting and that it is appropriate. Maybe include a nice message on your receipts.
- Do good. Collect for something during the season. Given the animal themes, maybe a local animal shelter.
- Invite a wall of stories. If you have a wall available, cover it with paper and invite your customers to write or draw what Easter means to them. this makes the season more interactive.
- Give away eggs. Freely and with a smile! Contact Chocolate Gems, they have excellent counter packs of eggs you can buy in bulk. They taste delicious and make for ideal counter giveaways.
Easter is considered by many to be a small season. I see it as big and full of opportunity and primed for fun in the newsagency.
Sunday newsagency management tip: consider how you backup your data
A newsagent recently experienced a major computer malfunction and required access to a backup to load recent data onto the new computer. They did not have a backup as they said it was taking too long every day so they stopped doing it a year earlier.
Now, thanks to cloud based services, continuous local backup drives and other devices there are many options. There is no excuse for not backing up.
My management advice today is to check that you are backing up and that it is working. If time is an issue, enquire about services that eliminate the need for your time.
Survey: how can newsagent suppliers help you improve your business?
Please take a moment to complete a single question survey: how you think newsagent suppliers can help you improve your business. You can answer as often as you want.
I’ve kept it free form so as to not restrict your responses. If you are writing about a specific category, please start with it … for example: Magazines: or Newspapers:.
While how you respond is up to you, I suggest you keep responses to categories and not specific suppliers.
Your responses will form part of the round-table newsagent supplier forums next week.
58 newsagent suppliers book for supplier forum
53 newsagent suppliers have booked so far to participate in the forums I have organised for next week to discuss how they can help newsagents navigate to a brighter future. Click here to download a booking form. I’d love to see more suppliers participating – and newsagents too. Book here: Melbourne. March 17, 9am. Best Western, Kew. Sydney. March 18, 9am. Bonnie Doon Golf Club. Brisbane, March 19. 9am. River View Hotel.
The attendee mix is a good correction of old and new suppliers.
Customers love cheeky cards and bags
Customers love cheeky product – they react well in-store and this gives a good vibe to the shop. We are hearing this a bit with the cheekier bags from Hallmark. I heard a customer say I could use a bit of that with a nod of her head to kids in tow. Interactions like this can open to conversations and conversations can lead to sales. It’s why I like having products people talk about. Chatter around and about products drives sales.
We are making the most of these bags and similar cheeky products with them on show so the full message is seen.
Top selling Easter product shows newsagents how to grow business
We have sold 84 of this rabbit from our Easter display, putting us on track to get to between 120 and 150 for the season. The success of the rabbit plays beyond its sales though: it attracts shoppers to the business who browse and purchase other items. In the basket data I can see the rabbit sold with magazines, cards and other items. Some of these items would not have been purchased has the rabbit not attracted shoppers.
The success of this one item is a good example of how we can play outside what is traditional for newsagents. This is a branded collectible rabbit which can get kids onto collecting more from the range. Collector kids will bring in parents who will purchase other items.
Full displays drive sales in the newsagency
Stack em high watch em fly is what retailers are encouraged to do to drive sales. For many product categories in newsagencies today it is true – a full display works best, much better than a half-full display which can hamper sales.
I encourage newsagents to maintain full magazine displays as I think they work better than half full displays. It is worth the time investment to shuffle placement or to compact placement so a display looks full. A full display will deliver a better result for you than a less than full display. A full display shows your business as alive.
I was in a newsagency recently where they had 30% more magazine space than they needed so they spaced out titles as they had nothing to sue the space for. After some shuffling we introduced other products to the magazine fixtures and compressed magazines so the part of the display for them looked full. The result is a more visually compelling magazine offer.
I encourage newsagents to look at their magazine displays and adjust where necessary to make them look full, appealing and like they will satisfy shoppers. I think full displays pay a role in good magazine results in my store.
Another day in the newsagency and more examples of magazine oversupply
It is tiresome writing posts to document the appalling behaviour of a magazine distributor for knowingly oversupplying a magazine at a level which is unjustified in the sales data the distributor has. A check of our sales of Farms & Farm Machinery indicates what we should get one copy of this title yet network sends us three. They’d say we should get two because we occasionally sell one but I’d say one is okay as selling out occasionally is fine. Sending three makes a mockery of the distribution model as it wastes our cash, space and time.
This behaviour by Network is not socially responsible is it disadvantages newsagents.
I was in a newsagency a few days ago where their sell through is well under 50%. That is appalling. Shame on Gotch and Network for condemning this business to such extraordinary waste of space, time and cash.
Selling on average a single copy makes Farms & Farm Machinery loss making for us. The $1.875 in gross profit from the single copy. Each magazine pocket costs around $7.50 a month as its portion of the lease cost. The numbers alone tell me to put something else into the pocket to try and either make a profit or less of a loss. However, the magazine distribution model does not give me the ability to do this. It gives our competitors the ability to do this but not us.
Be sure to show off the value-add with That’s Life
I encourage newsagents to have the full cover of That’s Life on show to get value of the No Sugar Diet free booklet. With sugar being in the news,this free booklet is timely and should help drive extra sales of That’s Life. If you put the magazine in a traditional magazine fixture you’ll not show off the free booklet.
British parliament votes to embrace plain packaging of cigarettes
The British parliament has today voted to adopt plain packaging of cigarettes similar to what has been adopted in Australia.
I’ve met plenty of UK newsagents who rely on tobacco sales in their businesses. One told me it accounted for 75% of revenue.
This move is a reminder to run our businesses such that we do not rely on one single supplier or category for the existence of our business.
On the health front, tobacco sales in Australia continue to fall.
How the federal government can save millions for small businesses on Superannuation compliance costs
Superannuation payments are expensive for small businesses to administer. The time spent managing the accounts, making payments to various funds, responding to funds and responding to individual queries costs time, often time a small business owner pays for on an hourly basis with an accountant or bookkeeper.
My suggestion is that instead of employers paying direct to the funds nominated by employees, we make one lump sum payment at the time of payroll or PAYG or GST payment to a government agency which then disburses to the funds as per the direction of the employees. I see the agency as a clearing house, run on a tight budget with all transactions done electronically.
Setup right, the clearing house agency could reduce the time spent by the Tax Office on Superannuation compliance. In the ATO they look for a default or crime which may have occurred but for which they have no evidence. My clearing house idea would provide immediate visibility of missed deadlines and thereby offer savings to government overhead – as well as to business operators. While I am no economist, I expect the government could fund the clearing house out of ATO savings.
The clearing house would make it easier for employees as they would have one place to go to track super and thereby, be less likely to lose track of funds.
My suggested approach would save considerable time in small businesses not only on the payments front but also on dealing with compliance challenges. For example, I have heard of businesses spending thousands on super audits only to have no problem found. Such audits would be eliminated and that money saved for the victim small business owner.
I expect superannuation funds would benefit from the clearing house approach as they would have one place to go to check information they currently seek out from businesses across the country.
The only downside to the proposal is that business owners could not delay making super payments. The benefits outweigh the cost in my view.
Newsagent specialist in National Geographic titles
In a newsagency in Sydney yesterday I saw an amazing range of National Geographic titles on display – I;ve never seen so many in one place before. I was told they are popular gifts for people visiting the local hospital. The display was a reminder of the extraordinary diversity in our channel as I’d be lucky to have one of these titles at any time and to sell one or two copies of such a title.
While thinking about this newsagency, while they do early return, they do not do so aggressively. Their current sell through rate performance is at under 50%. That is, more than half the magazines they are sent do not sell. What a waste of paper and time. Shame on magazine distributors for permitting such a costly failure n this small business.
The UK Mother’s Day card opportunity
One way we can demonstrate greeting card specialisation is support for minor seasons like UK Mother’s Day which is this Sunday. Card companies help us with products but we need to opt-in to ensure we have the offer.
Newsagents who don’t closely manage cards miss the opportunity and risk not being considered the go to card specialist.
A video for newsagents doing it tough
I have received several calls this week from newsagents in particularly tough situations. Each was different yet each could have benefited from earlier engagement. While not every challenge can be resolved, I think we need to be better at confronting them.
Here’s a video I shot yesterday to briefly explore this further.