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

Month: January 2018

Advice: retail visual merchandising for blokes

This advice could also be called VM merchandising for people who think they can’t do it. Everyone can do Visual Merchandising! Experience is not necessary.

Visual merchandising is about display products in a way that attracts people to them, to look, touch and feel. It is about displaying products so you sell more.

Sales determine success, and only sales. A pretty display that does not drive sales is a waste of time and space.

A display that wins a supplier prize that does not increase sales is a waste of time and space, despite the supplier award.

Here is my advice on VM for blokes.

  1. Start with a clean space, a flat surface, in a good location.
  2. The best display looks like a pyramid.
  3. Your hero product is at the top of the pyramid.
  4. A seasonal poster hangs above the display or is placed next to it to signpost the display.
  5. Flowing from the hero product down to the base of the display are other products. But not so many that you can’t see what you want people to see.
  6. The display is balanced, even.
  7. A display of gifts always includes cards.
  8. Use coloured paper to highlight certain products. But don’t go for a rainbow.
  9. From a colour perspective, a good display has no more than two core colours as the focus.
  10. Don’t put signs in the display itself unless absolutely necessary.
  11. A display can look untidy and that is okay in some circumstances. For example, a box of Beanie Boos exploding from a box .
  12. Mistakes are okay.
  13. Oh, and don’t treat this as an engineering challenge. Keep it simple and fun! :

Remember, the alternative is no display at all.

A note to others who may be around when someone is doing their first display – we all did our first display once … be gentle.

23 likes
Newsagency management

Bauer shutters Reader Rewards program

Bauer Media has announced the end of the Reader Rewards loyalty program. Here is the announcement from the company:

As part of Bauer Media’s ongoing commitment to continuously provide effective and sustainable support to the newsagency channel we regularly review the range and efficacy of resources we offer.

After reviewing customer feedback as well as the low newsagent participation, Bauer Media has made the strategic decision to close the Reader Rewards loyalty app. The available funds and resources will be diverted into Bauer’s keystone trade development program, Connections with Bauer.

Please note the following closure timeline and details.

·         Reader Rewards will continue operating until Monday 22nd January 2018.

·         From the 22nd January customers will no longer accrue any additional stamps.

·         Customers will have until Wednesday 28th February to redeem any remaining free magazines they have earned.

·         Customers will be notified of the closure via email encouraging them to redeem any remaining stamps they have accrued.

This decision has been carefully made in response to channel feedback and an increased demand for alternative business building resources, such as social media support.  Bauer Media’s ongoing priority is to continue to deliver a host of optimised tools through the Connections with Bauer program in-line with new and exciting developments in the retail landscape.

10 likes
magazines

Are the banks closing accounts of newsagencies with Western Union?

The Australian published a report Friday claiming that banks have ended services to 100 customers (newsagents) offering Western Union services.

The rift between the small business ombudsman and Australia’s largest lenders has widened further, with Kate Carnell set to pursue the big four banks over their decision to end banking services with more than 100 customers ­offering remittance services through Western Union.

As the threat of being ensnared in a legal stoush with anti-money-laundering regulator Austrac continues to loom large, following the explosive suit against Commonwealth Bank late last year, lenders may be too aggressively ending business banking relationships with newsagents who offer Western Union services.

The report in The Australian is the first I had heard of such action being taken. I have searched online and cannot find any other reports.

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Newsagency management

Newsagency management tip: handling charity donation requests

I have written before about the need for policy and process around community group and charity donations. I like the approach of a cafe I visited recently. Every person approaching on behalf of a charity was given a card.

While the cafe is part of a small chain, their approach of bringing structure to handling the request is good. A single local business could easily do the same. Groups expecting you to support them need to show support for your business.

9 likes
Management tip

Pitching Valentine’s Day at the entrance of the newsagency

This photo shows our opening pitch for Valentine’s Day in the newsagency. This is at the main entrance to the business.

I call it the opening pitch as the placement will move twice through the season. We are supplementing this in-store placement with a series of social media posts starting later this week. Social media is playing a big role in our marketing spend this year. We have a budget, which is measured against sales outcomes.

While we will get good traffic for Valentine’s Day card purchases, those who actively promote outside their businesses set themselves up for great success.

2018 is already showing itself to be a year for making our own success.

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Greeting Cards

Good jackpot start to the lottery year

While the OzLotto $40M jackpot went off a couple of days ago, last night Powerball jackbooted with next’s weeks top prize worth $55M. This is a nice start to the year for lottery retailers for we know the best sales growth comes from natural jackpots.

While I don’t have lottery products in the newsagencies I have today, I did for many years at Forest Hill. Our most successful marketing for jackpots was by papering the newspaper stand. This was back ten and more years ago, when newspapers were a valued destination category.

If I had lotteries today, I’d look at by top destination lines outside of lotteries and pitch the jackpot there.

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Lotteries

Pitching Pilot Frixion pens

With tv commercials promotion Frixion pens on high rotation on free to air TV right now, promoting them at the counter or some other high traffic area of the business as well as on social media would help you maximise the opportunity. My only wish is that Pilot offered a file of the video so that newsagents could use to promote the pens more easily.

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Stationery

Good early Valentine’s Day card sales

Several have reported excellent early Valentine’s Day sales. Each went out a day or two after Christmas, replacing Christmas singles. While most Valentine’s sales are in the last week, early display captures those who plan ahead and reminds others you are in this space.

Valentine’s Day is an excellent season for pitching the broader gift range in the business. It for this reason that I suggest newsagents not purchase gifts that are too Valentine’s focussed. Rather, they can buy items that will sell all through the year as well as for this season.

The season is also an opportunity to pitch the business as a card destination. It is important for Valentine’s day cards to be close to other cards, to encourage purchases outside the Valentine’s purchase.

I was in  the US last week and saw plenty of Valentine’s displays. The photo shows the range in a Walgreens store in the midwest, in Winconsin in December 27. The major retailers, like Walgreens, run like clockwork with stores required to take down and put up seasons on a national calendar.

Note their use of the shelf at the top of the card fixture, pitching bags. This is excellent use of the space and drives gift bag purchases.

Newsagency businesses remain a key destination for Valentine;’s Day card purchases. We can leverage this by in-store and out of store promotion, especially out of store.

7 likes
Greeting Cards

Tatts ads running when retailers are closed

A newsagent contacted me this morning about Tatts running ads promoting the OzLotto jackpot after 6pm, when stores are closed. They say this happens often. I agreed to post about it here for others to comment.

From a Tatts prospective this is the right move. For shareholder value, growing online is important.

8 likes
Lotteries

Q4 2017 newsagency benchmark study under way

On January 1 I emailed newsagents inviting their participation in the Q4 newsagency sales benchmark study. The call for data will be open for the next three weeks.

I am reviewing data as it comes in. The dataset already has data from more than thirty newsagencies. More than half the participants so far are new to the study. This is okay in that they provide 2016 data and 207 data, making the year on year comparison useful.

While there is not enough data to draw conclusions for the channel and its sub groups, the results suggest a possible slow down in decline of magazine sales but less than ideal Christmas card results. As I noted, the dataset is small at this point though.

For those interested in the call for participation, here is the email I sent to newsagents January 1:

Q4 2017 NEWSAGENCY SALES BENCHMARK STUDY.
I am preparing a new benchmark study for the newsagency channel to look at the latest sales trends overall and in key product categories for the fourth quarter of 2017. This quarterly newsagency sales performance study will help newsagents see the future based on the data trends. Click here for my last report.

How to participate.

  1. Please run a Monthly Sales Comparison Report for 01/10/2017 – 31/12/2017 compared to 01/10/2016 – 31/12/2016.
  2. Tick the category box. IMPORTANT.
  3. Tick to exclude home delivery and sub agent data.
  4. DO NOT tick the supplier box.
  5. Preview the report on the screen. Save as a PDF and email this to me at mark@towersystems.com.au.
  6. Read the report yourself and see what it shows you about your business.

I will email the results to all participating newsagents and publish the results on theAustralian Newsagency Blog as a service for all newsagents.

My work with this channel goes back to 1981 when I wrote newsagency software to manage newspaper home deliveries. That software evolved into Point of Sale software and has been rewritten as software technology has changed. 

I own and run three newsagencies. Over the years I have had three others. I am a 50% shareholder in and CEO of newsXpress, the newsagency marketing group.

Tower Systems serves 1,750+ newsagents with best practice newsagency software. Overall, Tower Systems serves in excess of 3,500 small business retailers.

Mark Fletcher
M | 0418 321 338

12 likes
Newsagency management

It’s 2018 and News Corp. continues to publish propaganda

This front page of the Herald Sun today is ridiculous. They have given over their front page to an attack on politicians for taking annual leave in January. There is far more important news today. But the Herald Sun pushes real news further into its pages. They prefer to given their front page to telling people what to think.

In my view, this is not a newspaper, it is political trash. sadly, we have to sell it.

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Newspapers
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