When a newsagency closure could have been avoided
This photo is of an inner suburban shop occupied by a newsagency until a couple of weeks ago. As a newsagency it covered the basics: lottery products, magazines, newspapers, cards and stationery. The business stood for nothing special. It did nothing to stop people shopping at card, gift, Officeworks and lotto shops within walking distance.
The business closed because the owner did not create and run a business which demanded attention from those nearby.
As a result of the closure, people living in this inner city residential area will have to walk fifteen to twenty minutes more to buy a paper or a magazine – or they can walk five minutes to a petrol outlet and get most of what they need.
What could the owner of this business have done to stay open?
They could have been a retailer, offering a point of difference relevant to the local shoppers. In this particular community there are many pet owners but not a pet shop in easy walking distance. The newsagency could have become part pet shop and this alone would have significantly broadened the appeal of the business.
But they did nothing.
Within the traditional newsagency framework they could have offered a broader range of gifts serving the interest of local.
But they did nothing.
They could have offered a stationery delivery service to the many businesses nearby.
But they did nothing.
Any newsagent operating a business which is completely traditional in approach has no future.
Now more than ever you need to be energetically engaged in chasing your own newsagency of the future – otherwise you end up like this business.
Newsagents need to own their situation, as every business owner must. This means managing the business for success rather than guiding its failure through inaction.
While the newsagent who owned this business did close it in an orderly fashion, closure need not have been the outcome – if they applied the same methodical approach the took survival as they did to the closure.
If you think this post is talking down the newsagency channel it is not. This post is a call for newsagents to fight for their future, to make their own success and to note that this starts with you owning your own situation.
Listening to suppliers can help newsagents find success
I was at the Gibson / Unity showroom Melbourne last week and noticed this kangaroo nativity set in one of their Christmas rooms. I equally didn’t think it would sell as I thought it would offend customers (not me). This set has been a top seller as has the koala nativity set!
Thinking about it later, this kangaroo nativity set helps you pitch Christmas themed products to a different shopper to the one looking for traditional Christmas gear. There is a large opportunity out there for non traditional Christmas lines.
We have suppliers to our channel who can guide us based on their own repeat sales data – they can help us not buy based on our barriers.
Sunday newsagency management tip: buy to tell a story
When purchasing a new range of stock for your business, make sure you purchase enough of the range to enable you to tell a story.
Too often I see newsagents purchase less items from a range to save money. This can end up costing more as the small range is no story and the stock does not sell – until you cut the price and quit the stock sometimes for a loss.
Spending more and carrying a more complete range enables you to tell a story, make a bold statement and, often, through this, attract new traffic.
While I understand the need to be careful with spending, being careful does not necessarily mean you should spend less. There are plenty of situations where spending more enables you to achieve more.
A newsagent I know last year got into a new product category for their business. The supplier advice was an opening order of $800. They decided to spend $350. The new range did not sell. A couple of months ago on my advice they topped up the under performing stock with an extra $500 from the same range. They creat6ed a fresh display with more items from the range. In the last two months they have sold more than they did in the six months prior.
When introducing a new range to any retail business you need to do it in a way that gets noticed and through which you can make a statement whoch demonstrates your commitment to the range.
Sunday newsagency marketing tip: pre-sell and beat your competitors
If you carry products that are added to with new launches consider offering pre-sell opportunities where by your customers can lock in orders well in advance of the release of new product. Take a deposit, track their pre-order and let them know the progress of delivery.
This locks your customers in before your competitors get the product on their shop floor.
I class this as a marketing tip as the pre-release pitch is part of marketing – it gives you a reason to reach outside your business and connect with shoppers based on their interests.
We promote pre-release orders with flyers, via social media and by connecting with customers we know the new range will appeal to. Each time we find new shoppers, many of who comment on the value of the service.
Newsagency of the future workshops next week
I will explore changes which will affect us in the next few years, new traffic opportunities and changes newsagents can make today. I will also discuss the magazine supply model and the proposed magazine supply rule changes. Each session is free and open to any newsagent.
- Adelaide. May 18 @ 11am. Rydges South Park, 1 South Terrace Adelaide
- Melbourne. May 19 @ 11am.Best Western Premier Hotel 115, 115 Cotham Road, Kew
- Sydney. May 20 @ 11am. The Boonie Doon Golf Club, Banks Avenue, Pagewood
- Brisbane. May 21 @ 11am.Quality Inn Airport Heritage, 620 Kingsford Smith Drive, Brisbane
You can also book by emailing bookings@towersystems.com.au. There will be more locations including Tas., WA, Cairns and Newcastle.
Australia Post taking a supermarket approach to self service
A government owned Australia Post outlet I see regularly has someone now next to their self-serve units to help take more customers through these than at the counter. Is this is a concerted education campaign to get more shoppers using the self-serve units?
In recent visits I have noticed the line for the human counter is shorter than the line for the self-serve counter.
Supermarkets do this and the result for them has fewer human counters and more self-serve locations.
3D printer partwork interest strong in the newsagency
Our pre-release promotion of the Build Your Own 3D Printer partwork is driving interest. We are promoting this with partworks as well as near a range of items appealing to male shoppers we suspect are the target market for this partwork launch.
We are also using social media to reach outside the business to promote tis title ahead of the launch. I see it as a terrific opportunity.
Even though the title will not be out for three weeks we are making the most of the opportunity today as it is a point of difference for us.
Promoting Aussie magazines and newsagencies
We are promoting four Australian magazines and newsagencies as the places to purchase these and other magazines on my newsagency Facebook page. I have also paid to boost the post – to reach more people.
This promotion is part of a shop local campaign in the newsagency. Shop local means different things to different people. To me, these magazines fit as they are local publications from local companies.
The four magazines I have selected are good and diverse titles with terrific content.
While I get that social media is ideal for promoting our businesses, we can also use it to promote our channel.
Studio Ink cards appealing to a new card shopper
The Studio Ink range of cards from Hallmark is selling very well. Even better – I see it selling to a new card shopper, someone who would often not shop the traditional newsagency card department. Seeing this, we are planning on using Studio Ink as a call out away from the card department to attract new traffic. We will probably do this as a co-location with a range on the wood as well as elsewhere.
Daily newspaper circulation declines
The latest newspaper circulation results reveal all dailies experiencing declines for print. The Fairfax numbers leave me wondering how long they can continue printing a product seven days a week.
Newspapers present a bigger challenge right now for newsagents than magazines. These latest declines are not unexpected given the trends we have seen over recent years.
Weekly magazine circulation declines
Check out the magazine circulation numbers comparing the March quarter with last year. All nine titles with year on year data experienced declines. the declines fall within the data I presented in the recent newsagency sales benchmark report covering the same period. Even considering the declines, most of these titles remain important to us and deserving of our in-store support.
Magazine supply workflow from MediaScope
I like this infographic from MediaScope showing the position of newsagents in the magazine landscape and our uncompetitiveness due to out of date supply rules. It makes a complex issue understandable. It makes the case for fairness for us so we can compete.
MediaScope infographic of the magazine landscape in Australia
MediaScope has produced this terrific infographic on the magazine landscape in Australia. I’ve loaded it here to show how extensive this is and illustrate how the majority of publishers have not been consulted as part of the MPA new magazine supply rules pilot program.
Ignorant commentators come out against the small business instant asset write off in the 2015 federal budget
I write this as the owner of an Australian software company serving several specialist retail channels, as a newsagent and as the owner os a couple of other businesses serving small businesses in Australia.
I am disappointed at some of the commentary about the instant asset write off announced in the federal budget this week. I have heard media commentators call it a tax break, a gift, a hand out, a return to the age of entitlement and a more. I have also heard commentators question whether small business owners will do the right thing and spend the money honestly.
These comments are ignorant, they do not reflect the thinking of small business owners. Small business owners are a passionate breed, usually putting the needs of our businesses ahead of much else in our lives. We don’t engage in tax schemes to avoid paying Australian taxes, we don’t domicile in tax havens to avoid tax, we don’t use visa programs to import workers ahead of Australians.
Most small business owners are too busy in their businesses to even dream of the schemes we read others use.
Small business owners work long hours, usually for below award rate wages – because they love the independence of working for themselves and, yes, the feeling of making a genuine contribution. I happily work a minimum of 80 hour s a week and have done for decades.
Let’s look at what the instant asset write off actually is. Check out this from the federal government’s budget website:
ACCELERATED DEPRECIATION
All small businesses will get an immediate tax deduction for any individual assets they buy costing less than $20,000. (Currently, the threshold sits at $1,000).This $20,000 limit applies to each individual item. Small businesses can apply this $20,000 rule to as many individual items as they wish. These arrangements start from Budget night and continue until the end of June 2017.
There is no extra money, no grant or gift. All that is being done is speeding up the writing off of the expense. The budget measure improves cash flow.
A small business owner wanting to buy a new TV, to take one comment I heard several times, will still have to fund the TV – meaning they will want a business purpose for the TV.
I own a few businesses and while none is eligible for the instant asset write off, they serve small businesses which will be eligible for the instant asset write off.
Based on comments from small business owners to me since the budget, I am confident the instant asset write off is a valuable step needed to get many small business owners thinking about their businesses, considering what investments they could make knowing they get a deduction in the year of purchase and not spread over time.
Yes, I am conflicted as I stand to benefit. I mention this in case it has not been clear up to now. The economy benefits too. Take my POS software company:
- More small business owners like newsagents will purchase our newsagency software.
- Used how we train them, the newsagency software will help the businesses cut costs, increase sales, reduce theft and make better quality business decisions. In short, their businesses will be worth more. I have seen newsagents do this and hire more staff. Others have paid off loans sooner – making more funds available to banks for more lending.
- My software company benefits from more revenue and more customers. More customers = more staff. We benefit, the new staff benefit and the economy benefits.
- The software we sell is Australian. Any support for this is good for the country.
- The tax we pay is higher as a percentage of sales than the big companies in the news recently. Boos us and you boost the economy. You boost us by supporting our customers. You support our customers by encouraging them to invest in their businesses.
To the commentators making noise about a possible surge in TV and car sales, take a moment to think that there are ethical Aussie companies with productivity tools servicing small Aussie businesses – and that together we can deliver measurable economic benefits.
Stop talking us down.
Now, to my politics. I voted Greens at the last election as I thought their small business policy was better than the major parties. I have not voted Liberal for many elections. While this is none of your business, I felt it important to say to show I am not writing this as an ideologue.
We are only as strong as the weakest newsagent
The most common reason newsagents give me for not wanting to be called newsagents is the weakest members of our channel – the stores that have half the lights off, empty shelves, people serving wearing dirty clothes or where the floor is cluttered with junk.
Other indications of weakness are the business practices used. While using an approved computer system to manage magazines has been a requirement for more than ten years, that we still have newsagents labelling magazines manually suggests we have businesses not embracing even basic management requirements.
These weak businesses allow some suppliers and others to exploit our channel.
An after market for magazine posters
Check out this seller on eBay offering old magazine posters as supplied to newsagents from years ago. This New Idea poster from 2007 is offered for $9.00.
Go check your back room now!
Fairfax just staff in regional NSW
Fairfax is cutting 34 journalist jobs from regional newspapers. Click here to see the report from The Guardian.
Supermarkets called to stop selling Zoo magazine
ABC local radio in Sydney today carried a story about Zoo magazine that included calls on Coles and Woolworths to stop selling Zoo. Listen here. Click here to see an opinion piece by Jo Stanley about this.
Unmerchantable product from Network Services
This photo shows the state of one magazine title distributed by Network Services to a newsagent recently. This magazine is unmerchantable: not fit for retail, yet Network Services sent it.
Network is part of Bauer Media and Bauer thinks newsagents need help to manage and display magazines. They ought to tidy their own house first.
No wonder newsagents don’t trust Bauer when they receive products like this.
This Sponge Bob title is a good example of unmerchantable product.
While I expect the company would have an excuse and offer an apology, it happens too often for it to not be the result of poor leadership and poor management in Bauer when it comes to managing the newsagency distribution side of their business.