The Herald Sun today has content about crosswords, brain teasers. The editorial folk promoted it on the front page of the newspaper. The advertising folk, however, took money to cover up the editorial content, for an ad for an over 50s living business. They should carve out space for ads on the front page and not cover up editorial.
Kudos to the folks at Simson for being out early, yesterday, with same sex engagement and marriage cards. They have a terrific range that is already being pitched to retailers. Beyond the good news at the imminent removal of discrimination, new marketplaces have opened and opportunities cities for our businesses will abound.
ALNA released this statement yesterday on lottery betting:
Ban on betting on Australian lotteries a step in the right direction
New ban demonstrates the problem with synthetic lotteries and the need to protect consumers and small business.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Australia, 15 November 2017: A ban on betting on the outcome of Australian-based lotteries is a positive move in addressing the problem of synthetic lotteries and its threat to consumer protections and ethical conduct, according to the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association. The Association is continuing its call for the Federal Government, in coordination with State Governments, to legislate against any operation of synthetic lotteries in Australia.
The move by the NT Attorney-General Natasha Fyles to ban bookmakers licensed in the Northern Territory from accepting bets on the outcomes of Australian-based lotteries, demonstrates that there is a serious problem with synthetic lotteries.
There is still a need for Federal Government intervention, in coordination with the states, to protect consumers and the Australian businesses that contribute to our economy.
Adam Joy, CEO of the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association (ALNA) said, “We are pleased that the Federal Government and State Governments, in particular, WA, NSW and Tasmania, have worked together to address this issue and to deliver this important first step towards an overall ban.
Consumers will still be bombarded with potentially misleading advertisements for these risky betting products that are lacking certainty around payout figures. And they will still be lured into profiting a highly unethical business, including at the expense of news and lottery agents.”
The Federal Interactive Gambling Act makes it illegal to have online scratchies and online pokies, and it should also ban online betting on lottery outcomes.
“The facts are that Lottoland is under pressure because it has chosen to operate as an online bookmaker that poses as a lottery, outside of the much tighter regulations, consumer protections, and higher taxes that official regulated lotteries adhere to.
“It has attracted criticism because it allows consumers to be misled in a number of ways, and the bookmaker uses concerning tactics to attempt to hijack customers from news and lottery agents.
Synthetic lotteries are a matter of national concern, and this decisive action is a positive step towards the urgent action needed to address lotto betting in Australia,” continued Mr Joy.
– ENDS –
What is the difference between Lottoland and official regulated lotteries:
Lottoland is a wagering website that sends bets overseas, with customers betting on the outcome of lotteries. More colloquially known as lotto bets (synthetic/fake lotteries), these online-only bookmakers are different to official regulated lottery draws.
They do not offer tickets in a draw, rather they draw from regulated lottery businesses and offer bets on lottery outcomes, relying on complex insurance linked securities to pay any winners (there has only been one million-dollar prize recipient, compared to official lottery’s 253 millionaires in 2016).
I often hear stories of challenges for small business retailers caused by local council streetscape and other works. Usually, the stories do not make the local newspaper. The Morning Bulletin in Rockhampton has recently published a story about the tough challenges cause by works in Mount Morgan, 45 minutes out of Rocky. It is worth a read.
Take a close look look at this ad that appeared on Facebook yesterday. It appears to be pitching a $41 million Tuesday lotto game. What it was actually pitching was a bet of the numbers selected by the OzLotto game.
If you click on the link it takes you to the Lottoland page where you can place a bet on the outcome of the lottery. This is why I question whether the ad as shown on Facebook is misleading.
At the very lease the text should say: You could win a prize by betting on the outcome of the numbers drawn in Tuesday’s OzLotto jackpot. But, of course, that exposes their product for what it is, a bet, not a lottery ticket.
This Pacific Magazines value-add purchase supporting several of its titles and exclusive to newsagents in the nexus marketing program is terrific. It will sell out.
There are multiple layers to the promotion we can leverage to maximise the opportunity, beyond the usual magazine focus.
There is a counter unit for pitching the amazing value Model Co. make-up products. This can bounce people to the magazine.
The there is the excellent social media collateral that is ready to use, making pitching the offer on our social media pages, something we can do in seconds rather than minutes.
The folks at Pacific have put a lot of thought into the campaign, giving us an offer that is compelling and supporting g it with materials we can leverage to make it work for us.
This is much better than asking for an aisle-end display that only leverages in-store traffic. this is the type offer that we can use to bring in new traffic or shoppers who do not shop with us frequently.
It is especially useful where one competes with supermarkets, as they will not have this offer.
I have dived right in, promoting this on Facebook and in-store, making the most of it at every touchpoint possible. I don’t often do this anymore with magzines. This offer, however, is different, well worth promoting. I want to sell out, early.
Click here to access a comprehensive article by John Turnbull and published by Independent Australia about Lottoland. It is a good read. be sure to scroll down to the comments.
A colleague asked me to pose a question here, related to the photo below of a shopper docket from Woolworths. Why do we continue to sell newspapers?
There is no doubt that print is not a model for the future distribution of access to news or long form journalism. The only barrier to its closure today is the lack of a viable alternative mad revenue model for the publishing companies.
That said, plenty have transitioned to digital, some with good success.
These deals like at Woolworths are all about slowing the sales decline, to bowler ad value in the print product.
When photographing products for use on social media, photograph to a story. Ic you do this you will achieve better engagement. The best story brings together multiple items in a single shot. Here is a good example. My text for this photo would be Happy Monday or Inspiring or Desktop support or Portable inspiration.
If you create and sell hampers in your retail business, use your software top track what is in each hamper and create a barcode unique to the hamper. This enables easy tracking of each individual item sold as well as the hamper sale. This is vital for tracking the performance of the hamper side of your business.
The software will also allow you to reverse any hampers made, retreating the hamper data back to the single items that made it up, should it not sell.
Some days, customer stories brighten the mood in the shop, and at the sales counter especially. I love it when people tell you why they are buying a particular product, especially if you were unsure as to who the customer for the product might be. This direct customer feedback can help you sell more of the item through more informed targeting.
This desk name plate is a good example. It is funny, very in-your-face. I have seen it bought several times now and in each case the reason was shared, and inn each case the shopper was different. The feedback has been useful in guiding social media posts designed to help connect with others with a similar need or interest.
While customer stories at the counter can take time and interrupt workflow, they can also provide valuable shopper feedback, which you can convert to revenue down the track.
The challenge is how to engage with shoppers in a time efficient way at the counter. It takes practice as you don’t want them to feel you are not interested.
For the record, I saw this name plate purchased by a wife for her husband, by a son for his mum and by a work colleague to leave secretly on the desk of their boss. The last story was especially intriguing. They say they will back with a report on how its was received.
Gotch, not content with its broken magazine distribution business, has branched out into supplying gift related product to newsagents. Some of the products have suggested retail prices that are higher than supplier suggested retail, giving an inaccurate impression of margin.
XchangeIT has sent out a invoice file from Gotch for this new gift product venture that is riddled with errors. The experts at XchangeIT were clueless about the file they sent. They had not checked it.
An expert at my newsagency software company checked the file and listed for XchangeIT the problems in the data from Gotch that they sent through their facility. This was done because XchangeIT people were too lazy to do they work they should have done.
XchangeIT take a big stick to newsagents on compliance yet appear to accept no responsibility for their own lack of compliance.
XchangeIT has one job. They failed.
Gotch should have one job – distributing magazines based on what will certainly sell. They fail weekly.
People in both companies will be angry that I am writing this, they will have their excuses. In my opinion, the excuses will be baseless.
If Gotch has the time and money for a new venture they have the time and money to stop gross oversupply and to stop the distribution errors that cost newsagents a ton of money.
If XchangeIT can send out a data file riddled with errors and that they have not tested they have no right penalising newsagents on their compliance.
Tatts has issued three shift deadline extensions in recent weeks. Here is one announcement from a week ago:
You were initially required to have the Generation One DigiPOS Retail Image installed at your Outlet by 30 November 2017, however an extension has been granted to 30 November 2018.
Here is an announcement from yesterday:
An email was sent to you on Friday 3 November 2017 stating the requirement to have the Generation One DigiPOS Retail Image installed in your outlet by 30 November 2017 had been extended to 30 November 2018. This was incorrect.
The extension has been granted to 30 June 2018. We apologise for any confusion this may have caused.
In addition to the timing changes, there are changes to the actual look to be installed. This is sure to leave a mixture of looks out there, making a mockery of their pursuit of a consistent corporate image.
It still bothers me that they call this a DigiPOS Retail Image. It’s not. there is the image and then there is the digital marketing platform. Two different things with the latter being new capex for which tatts is yet to provide any business case and for which any business that has undertaken the works is yet to provide evidence of commercially viable revenue increase.
This post relates to my more beef about Tatts – the capex they demand of retailers in this world where there is undeniable migration of lottery purchases to online. Tatts need to migrate purchases online, I get that. They should, in retail, contain costs for small business retailers and require them in the context of over the counter only and not online.
The personalised Christmas ornaments released by newsXpress through its stores have been selling very well.
What is most interesting is that 90% of all the many names ordered are unusual names, names you would not see on any named product stands released by traditional name product suppliers.
Shoppers have been happy to pay up front and return to collect their personalised baubles once made.
This is incremental sticky business. I label it sticky because it causes a return visit and because it gets the shopper thinking about what other personalised items the store can source. This is a big question for people with family and friends with unusual names.
These baubles are an example of one way we can make our own success, literally. They are something the majors do not and will not do. The margin is excellent. The simple counter pitch is effective.
At the back end, the whole process is tech driven with no paperwork involved. A purpose built website is used by the engaged retailers. This also facilitates useful data analysis, to better inform other developments in this personalised space.
This personalised bauble initiative is part of a larger piece of work in this space being driven by newsXpress for its members, as part of an overall new traffic campaign.
Here is a message from a newsagent in a business that installed the Tatts required digital marketing platform.
Since we installed the Tatts demanded technology sales have declined. Syndicate sales especially have fallen.
Yesterday, we were stuck with 6 syndicates worth more than $120.
Since the refit, syndicate sales have cost us around $1,000.
Before the refit, we sold out.
This is a direct result of the refit, we previously maybe had to be an odd share rarely… our syndicates are usually sold out well before.
There solution to this problem when we raised it with them was to print out more posters and stick up!!!
After their amazing refit, we still have to print out posters which clearly are ineffective too!
If this was me I;d explore a class action as tatts demanded I invest in their technology with the promise from them it would increase sales.
Tatts has demanded retailers install digital marketing screens at the counter, without a business case but with the claim sales will increase. Experience is showing no such increase for the stores forced to install the screens so far.
I stood at a counter yesterday and filmed for a minute, longer than most customers wait, to see the pitch. here it is.
This is a failure by Tatts in my opinion, for which many newsagents who have installed the screens so far are paying dearly.
If I was forced to install the screens by Tatts and if they were not delivering any benefit I would lodge a claim for compensation. Such a claim would include with state claims tribunals, state and federal small business commissioners / ombudsmen as well as with the ACCC through the Franchise Code of Conduct process. I would be seeking financial relief from Tatts. I would also talk with a legal firm that specialises in class action.
Note: I added the music to the video to mask shop noises.
What do you permit employees to do at the counter? I ask this today following a discussion with a colleague newsagent recently about rules for employees at the counter and the decision to let an employee go.
Here are the rules I have for employees at the counter:
What are your rules?
Have you sacked any0one for non-compliance?
The Age today slices away at Lottoland.
The company does not tell us what this percentage is but only 16 per cent of its revenue is from this source. The vast majority of the revenue it recognises is actually just a reimbursement of costs incurred “generating stakes on behalf of EU Lotto Limited”.
In other words, the revenue number appears to be as synthetic as its lottery service.
Burn.
Coles supermarkets are ahead of many in small business retail in pitching reusable bags at the checkout. Take a look at thew photo and see the $2.00 bags they have placed at each checkout I the Coles outlets have seen in the last few days.
This is a smart move. It pitches the Coles business as concerned for the environment and on thee front foot in terms of reusable bags.
We can do this too thanks to plenty of suppliers offering access to low-cost quality reusable bags.
Select bags that look good, that appeal of what people like, place them at the counter, like Coles, and don’t seek to make too much money on them.
I think you will do better selling non-branded bags than branded as people will expect branded bags to come at no cost with purchases. I tapped to agree with that.
Here are numbers released by Facebook at their latest results announcement overnight. The numbers reinforce why the Facebook community is valuable for small business retailers to leverage.
• Daily active users (DAUs) – DAUs were 1.37 billion on average for September 2017, an increase of 16% year-over-year.
• Monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 2.07 billion as of September 30, 2017, an increase of 16% year-over-year.
• Advertising revenue for three months ending September 30 jumped 49% YOY to $10.14b.
• Mobile advertising revenue – Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 88% of advertising revenue for the third quarter of 2017, up from approximately 84% of advertising revenue in the third quarter of 2016.
• Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures for the third quarter of 2017 were $1.76b.
• Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $38.29b at the end of the third quarter of 2017.
• Headcount – Headcount was 23,165 as of September 30, 2017, an increase of 47% year-over-year.
[All figures US$]
Source: Mediaweek.
