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

Month: July 2016

Sunday newsagency challenge: be prepared to walk away

If your lease turns out to be too expensive for your business it is on you. You signed it, you accepted the terms. This is why, during a lease negotiation, you need to be prepared to walk away.

Too often, retailers don’t walk away because they have invested considerably in their business and have not achieved the return they want, thinking that will come when the business is sold.

The reality is you make your most money while running this business. Choose this as your mindset, be prepared to walk away and any lease you ultimately sign will be better for you and the business.

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Newsagency challenges

Sunday newsagency management tip: pitch your business when looking for new hires

IMG_1539The notice in the window of the Scribbler card shop made working there sound appealing. They set the agenda for candidates by saying We need great managers. While you could dismiss the line by saying every retail business needs this, the question is – how often does a retailer pitch for new managers in this way? Not often if my recollection.

The sign also serves as a marketing message. It is visually appealing and confident. I love it.

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Management tip

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: pitch to customers as they leave

IMG_1545This sign seen by shoppers as they leave a Warhammer store is as much about promoting the business as it is appreciating the visit. It fits the business and promotes one of the characters available from the business.

Too often we see signs as signs and as not part of the narrative of the business. Warhammer shows how it is done.

Check your signs for their connection with your narrative.

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marketing

Ryman Stationery sets the benchmark

It is back to school season in the UK and Ryman stores have a consistent pitch. These photos speak to a terrific range, excellent value propositions and professional marketing. The photos ought to inspire newsagents focussed on stationery and newsagent suppliers:

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Stationery

Lottoland unfairly depicts small business newsagents

Watch the latest TVC from Lottoland playing on Australian TV now:

The ad includes an unfair, disparaging even, depiction of a newsagent. They set this up by placing the ad inside what looks like an old-style newsagency, something Australians will recognise.

You can let them know what you think at: support@lottoland.com.au. Here is the email I sent them:

As a small business newsagent and as CEO of newsXpress, the newsagency marketing group representing 220 small business newsagents, shame on you for your portrayal of newsagents in your latest TVC.

You show an out of date business that does not reflect the newsagency of today and the future. You have a newsagent portrayed in the ad in a way to mock us.

Your ad denigrates our channel, those who own the businesses and the thousands of families that rely on our businesses for food on the table and clothing on their backs.

Your ad is unfair as it mocks us, misrepresents us and disrespects the intelligence of Australians.

You owe newsagents an apology.

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Ethics

Learning from a pen specialist

IMG_1627The Penfrined shop in Burlington Arcade in London was a delight to visit. It is a pen lovers haven with products and customs service to match. What fascinated me we hearing how many people purchase pens to add to their collection – rarely to use, mainly to sit in a display cabinet with other pens they have collected.

The Panfriend visit today reminded me people purchase items foe reasons beyond what we retailers expect. The more we know about why people buy what they buy the better we can target out marketing.

Take this pen shop. It can promote itself as a pen shop to people who love and use pens. It can also promote itself as a business selling collectibles and thereby attract those who understand and appreciate collecting including those who collect solely for investment.

Special retail is about diversifying to leverage the maximum shopper traffic for the product category in which you specialise.It is about attracting people to the product category for as many reasons possible.

The other surprise fro Penfriend today was the discover that they offer nib grinding. I had never heard of it. Reading up on it now, the service makes sense for this specialty business.

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Management tip

How to fit more magazines into less space

IMG_1604As newsagents reduce magazine overheads by cutting space, the fanning of titles along the shelves is necessary if you want to offer range.

The photo shows the common approach of newsagents in London. What is interesting is that the number of titles in the businesses does nit appear to be falling as much as is happening in Australia.  I suspect this has to do with our starting position of 1,000 to 1,400 titles a few years ago.

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magazines

Strong interest in secondhand magazines

IMG_1617I talked to a retailer in London today who sells vintage magazines. They are grouped by decade. The magazines form part of a large commitment to vintage products going back to the 1940s. The magazines are all bagged with a backing card for the decade to which they belong. It was encouraging to see the magazines getting a second chance at life.

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magazines

QLD newsagents ought to consider Lottery Agents Queensland instead of the ANF

I urge QLD newsagents to please complete and return the membership application to Lottery Agents Queensland.  LAQ is currently negotiating with Queensland Government officials, including Attorney General Yvette D’Ath, Golden Casket representatives, the shadow attorney general, the Katter party and other stakeholders to ensure a fairer deal for Queensland lottery agents.

Without membership support, LAQ will not have the weight to demand change. LAQ is the ONLY Queensland-based industry representative for lottery agents and holds ACCC authorisation. Without healthy membership, agents will have no voice on Queensland-specific issues.

Without LAQ intervention and representation, agents have no chance of better conditions.

It costs less than $1 a day to support the work of the LAQ. I think this is a good investment compared to investing money in the ANF.

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Lotteries

I think I just experienced the laziest retail sales person ever

I took my £75 worth of purchases to the counter of the specialty retail store in Manchester today. The person behind the counter was sloshed on a stool. I guessed they were doing something so I waited. After a minute or so they slapped their hand flat on the counter in front of them and said over here. I walked around the counter to face them. They rang up the sale while sitting. I only got a receipt and a bag when I asked. They put the bag on top of the purchases on the counter as they were distracted by a mate who called their name. They got off the stool and walked over to the mate and hugged.

I cannot recall a worse customer service experience in retail.

As they rang up the sale I figured they were unable to freely move on their legs. But the dash to their mate proved otherwise. I also thought they may not be a talker but the chat with their mate showed otherwise.

Retail is a people business. For almost everything available in retail shops there are alternative retailers. Customer service is a key differentiator.

If this was my shop there would be no stool behind the counter. I would make it my business to know the quality of service provided and I’d performance manage this person based on the experience today.

This business is relatively small but it is part of a national chain of 20 stores.

My experience tells me the manager of this store is not a good leader, not strong enough to combat laziness, not strong enough on basic retail principles to say no to a stool at the counter.

This experience as a customer reminded me of what bad customer service feels like. It have encouraged me to review leadership and processes back home to ensure our approach is best-practice.

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Newsagency management

Newsagents confronted with privacy requirements by Seven West Media

Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 2.52.16 PMHome delivery newsagents in Western Australia last week received a letter from Seven West Media seeking their commitment to de-identify customer records from customers who lapsed five years or more ago.

This relates to newspaper home delivery data held by WA newsagents for West Australian customers.

To comply, newsagents will need to either manually remove customer records of old customers or have facilities in any software storing customer identifying data.

Besides the costs of compliance, there is a question about the five year age of identifying data and the ATO requirement of seven years for business records. ATO officers can go off-script when conducting an audit.

I have outlined to the Seven West Privacy Officer the challenges the requirement places on newsagents. Further discussions are to follow.

Good reading for newsagents on this topic can be found at the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

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Newsagency challenges

A DIY way to get more impulse purchases of pens with crossword titles

Here is how the manager at one of my stores is leveraging pen and pencil purchases in the newsagency. I love it. They are using a bulldog clip to hold the pen / pencil container to the magazine fixture. Simple, easy.

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Here is a close-up I took to show the shelf connection.

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While this is not rocket science, a newsagent I mentioned this to Monday was surprised so I said I’d share the idea here.

I’d be happy to share other DIY ideas here if you want to send them in.

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magazines

Being connected matters

I am currently on a flight from Melbourne to Manchester via Dubai for a quick business trip. Thanks to in-flight internet access, I will not land at the other end to emails and messages. While it is important to turn off occasionally, it is even more important to be connected so business can continue regardless of where in the world you are.

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Newsagency management

The blurring borders of retail channels

At the AFTA trade show for fishing and outdoors retailers on the Gold Coast on Sunday, my software company’s stand was next to the stand for Gibson, a gift supplier to newsagencies. The adjacency was a reminder of the blurring borders between retail channels.

Gibson has ranges of eyewear that are ideal for fishing and outdoor businesses. They work equally well in newsagencies in some location.

The experience was a reminder of why we are seeing products previously only in one channel appearing in other channels. The same is true for newsagencies as we carry products today that even last year had never been sold in a newsagency business.

I think the blurring of lines between retail businesses is good. It diversifies those businesses engaged and that strengthens them.

I certainly picked up some newsagency-relevant ideas from the AFTA show on the weekend.

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Gifts

Nostalgia sells in the newsagency

IMG_1381I like the Treasures From The Archives title under the AWW brand from Bauer.

I like it because I know nostalgia / vintage sells. I also like it because it connects with serval ranges in other departments in-store.

I’d love to see more one-shots like this one from several publishers – but not all at once. Exclusive to newsagencies though as only we have access to products to pitch with these opportunities.

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magazines

Newsagent exclusive: collectible Olympic pins

Launching Monday August 1, newsagents will be able to offer the first two of four Official Australian Olympic Pins. The pins will be available for $1 each with the purchase of New Idea, Who or That’s Life.

This is a newsagency channel exclusive promotion from Pacific Magazines.

I have a set of the pins. They are terrific quality. They are based on the boxing kangaroo character.

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Newsagents need to support this promotion 100%. All newsagents. Blanket support by our channel will demonstrate to Pacific Magazines and other suppliers the value of our channel.

I will have more to say in a few days about practical ways we can support this opportunity outside what is usual for newsagency businesses. However, start today by teasing the opportunity on Facebook. As this is exclusive it is a perfect opportunity to pitch the pins and the magazines they are purchased with.

I am grateful to Pacific Magazines for providing a set of pins and background information.

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newsagency marketing

Promoting the News Corp. Marvel campaign in the newsagency

IMG_1353 (1)On the Gold Coast yesterday I got to see how The Sunday Mail was using the front page of the newspaper to launch the Marvel promotion. The extraordinary coverage in this and other News Corp. papers for the promotion is is being greeted with cynicism by plenty of customers according to newsagents who contacted me over the weekend. One newsagent quoted a customer: Does Rupert really think a comic promotion will stop us noticing the price hike? Tell him he’s dreaming.

If this feedback is a common experience in newsagencies, News Corp. might be best advised to not time promotions such as this with cover price rises as the two separate activities. Promotions and price rises need not be linked in my view.

Here is the display I saw in one newsagency on the Gold Coast on the weekend. This space commitment is common in newsagencies, considerably more that you see in supermarkets that are part of the promotion.

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In addition to this newspaper stand display, there is this unit outside the entrance to the shop.

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There is no missing the promotion. Prime space out the front of the shop, on the front of store newspaper stand plus at the counter. This promotion is everywhere.

While I think the promotion is terrific in driving incremental newspaper purchases, I do not see how newsagents can make money out of it, not based on the margin from newspapers, not considering the value of the space allocated, the labour involved, the capital invested and the cost of shrinkage.

Considering all I saw in Queensland on the weekend – the freestanding unit out the front of the shop, the dressed up newspaper displays and the counter display – I think the stand outside the front of the store is the most important as this is the traffic driver for the business. Plus it is easily moved and it can take space that is otherwise not used.

But back to the key point I want to make – frustration newsagents are hearing from some customers about the cover price rise. This, tom me, is a challenge to be addressed as price rises will continue.

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Newspaper marketing

Sunday newsagency challenge: test your backup

Take a moment and give the backup of your main business computer to an IT professional to check whether they can restore the backup and to see if it contains everything you need to get up and running. Check with your software company – they should offer this backup check service for free.

Almost once a week I hear of a newsagent losing days, weeks or even months of business data because they did not have a backup or their process was faulty.

Please act, to choose to not be the fool who loses business data.

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Newsagency challenges

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: use a challenge to offer a reward

IMG_1257 (1)The sign I saw at the counter of the coffee shop I was in was simple and to the point.

The message was a challenge and opportunity. If you are not given a receipt, your order is free.

While this is not new marketing, the language they use is more fun than similar signs I have seen.

Dear coffee lover. Look over here. Can you see me? Awesome.

The sign has fun with an important goal for this business – to give a receipt for every transaction. This goal is important where the receipt is used for more than is traditional for a receipt. If the receipt has another marketing message you’d want to get it into the hands of as many as possible – as is the case with this business I visited last week.

I love their approach and that they have turned a business objective into a cool marketing engagement.

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marketing
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