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

Author: Mark Fletcher

International Sudoku Day opportunity

The Group International Circulation & Trade Marketing Manager at Puzzler in the UK let me know yesterday that this coming Saturday, September 9, is International Sudoku Day.

This is an opportunity for newsagents who would like to engage and pitch their range of sudoku titles. Here is their note to me. I encourage newsagents to read it and consider engaging with the opportunity.

I have followed your Newagency blog for a number of years while working in the NZ, Australian and now UK magazine markets. The information you share across your channels I find can be useful for retailers, distributors and publishers alike – so thank you for the variety!

The article you wrote on the 30th August regarding the placement of crossword and puzzle titles in news agencies got me thinking, and while I’m not sure whether this one is up your alley, I thought I’d share it with you on the off chance.

This Saturday, the 9th September, is International Sudoku Day.

Launched by the World Puzzle Federation in 2013, September 9th is a day each year where we celebrate the Sudoku puzzle.

This date (9/9) is symbolic within Sudoku and was chosen to reflect the 9×9 grid pattern found within each puzzle.

Attached, you’ll find some artwork we’ve done up to help promote International Sudoku Day in the Australian market. Perhaps there would be an opportunity for you to share this with your fellow newsagents?

Please let me know if there is anything further I can provide you with to help mark this great opportunity to boost the sales of Sudoku titles in Australia!

Here is the poster art provided. I plan to use it on Facebook. You can right click on the image to download the full size version.

Remember, the crossword / puzzle category remains strong with magazines, delivering year on year results in Australian newsagencies ahead of most other magazine categories.

6 likes
crosswords

Westfield Southland introduces a new ‘tax’ on small businesses and retail workers

Here is the announcement from Westfield yesterday to business owners and employees at their Southland centre. This move to charge for parking is a tax of retail workers and a tax on small business owners.

For the record, my business there will pay the parking fee for full time staff and those working two shifts or more Monday through Saturday.

11 likes
Newsagency management

Is the Fairfax newspaper distribution fee not as good as it seems?

Distribution newsagents logging in to their account get different information to that which I posted here today I am told.

Click here to access the document Fairfax distribution agents can access. It contains some language differences to the public announcement.

Several distribution newsagents have asked me to post it here as they say it contradicts the public statement. They say they are not that better off and that in real terms they are worse off.

Here is a comment from one newsagent:

I read the Blog item on Fairfax fees and thought others may have a head rush as I did and think that Fairfax had seen the light increasing delivery fees.  We received the notice you posted last week and it wasn’t until I checked the file attached on Fairfax website that  I saw the missing line that shows delivery fees have hardly changed.

I think it is very tricky on Fairfax’s part to have two lots of info.

Here is another.

Not only do they not maintain our fees in line with cost increases, they make every interaction with them harder and more expensive making this latest meagre rise a joke. I should have got out of home delivery years ago. I hate it every day because of moves like this one from Fairfax.

There is no upside in newspaper home delivery. I’ve been saying that for years. Indeed, I outlined in detail my position when I sold by round in 2006 and again six months later.

In researching back on what I have written on this topic, I found a piece from 2005 that remains timely today.

9 likes
Newsagency management

Value add is a better marketing move than discounting

Discounting is lazy marketing, unless it is an end of line discount to move the last of stock you have or unless it is an event related discount.

Everyday discounting is what I am saying is lazy marketing, discounting being done so you can say you are cheaper than other retailers.

I say discounting is lazy as it is easy. It is easy to copy or beat, making it risky.

In my experience, a better approach is to change the conversation, to change how people view a product. You can do this by bundling the product with other items to create a hamper or package that is unique to your business. You can also do it by creating a multi-buy offer of a price for a single or a better price when, say, three are purchased. You could also create something unique in your business as a value-add for the product, something that the customer will appreciate, that they can only get from you.

There are other approaches you could consider too where a product is seen as being a better offer from you even though you are not discounting as such.

My point is, discounting is easy to do and easy to copy. Shoppers buying only on price are not loyal. Add value is some way and you are more likely to be remembered by a shopper.

12 likes
Management tip

Check your GST handling

Ask your accountant to check how you handle GST in your business from the arrival of goods to sales across the counter through to your record keeping.

It is better that you discover and correct any mistake in your handling than it being discovered by the ATO in an audit.

I have seen one newsagency mishandling GST calculations resulting in an overpayment to the ATO in the six figure range.

10 likes
Management tip

Diana cover popular

The Diana covers on Who has been popular. This issue is timely with the anniversary of her passing. We have made the most of the opportunity with the title located in a couple of locations, including one where people who don’t usually purchase Who browse and shop.

5 likes
magazines

Another opportunity to engage in the marriage equality conversation

I am looking forward to reading the Quarterly Essay by Benjamin Law that is to be published in ten days. While I have not read the essay, I am aware of Benjamin Law’s work and respect his thoughtfulness and contribution on many topics of societal interest. His essay, Moral panic 101 Equality, Acceptance and the Safe Schools Scandal, is bound to be controversial, entertaining and provocative. These are all good attributes of any contribution to the timely conversation Australia is having right now.

We can decide how important the topic is in our own businesses with our decision as to where the title is placed. I suspect placement with newspapers would be ideal. It is more likely to be considered for purchase there than, for example, at the counter.

The alternative is to early return or hide the title. That would be sad for a few reasons: this is an Australian publication, it is certain to get media coverage and sales revenue should be a motivator, it contributes to a local conversation, supermarkets won’t have the title. You can use this title to differentiate your business in a small way.

Regardless of your position on the $122M survey later this month, this issue of Quarterly Essay is worth supporting. Remember, we are retailers not censors.

Footnote: this post is not about which way to vote or about the same sex marriage survey that may be conducted later this month, depending on the High Court, it is about placement of a title to maximise the opportunity for the business.

16 likes
magazines

Pitching magazines on social media drives traffic for the newsagency

Facebook is a terrific platform for pitching products that may not be top of mind and products people can purchase as gifts. This is true for magazines, especially niche titles, like train magazines.

The image shows a post I did on Facebook this week pitching train magazines. Without mentioning Father’s Day, it is one of several posts pitching dad friendly magazine titles.

When doing a post like this that is designed to show off a unique and carefully selected range of magazines, I boost it for one day for $2.00. It works a treat. Posts like this have resulted in feet through the door.

4 likes
magazines

Expansion in the newsagency channel

I know of six newsagents who are each advanced in opening additional retail locations, newsagency locations, or their version of newsagency locations at least.

I mention this today as an indication of six different individuals who have food knowledge of our channel and who are confident enough in key parts of the channel and their own business acumen to invest in opening additional locations.

Kudos to them.

This is a good story. It reflects a confidence that has always been there but may not have been as obvious.

Sure, there are businesses under duress and some closing. But here we have new business opening because the newsagents see growth opportunities. These are moves to celebrate as they contradict the narrative of some.

In each case the newsagent has embraces a shop space opportunity made available to them, in true entrepreneurial spirit. Starting from scratch, with a clean slate – the best type of slate of all.

I am interested in the different questions they ask of themselves. For example, if I am going to have magazines, how many different titles do I need? Or, if I am going to have magazines does it really matter if I am only a sub agent?

There are many more questions than these. This is not the space to document them.

I know from my own experience earlier this year that opening a new business is a wonderful experience in terms of the decisions you can make, because of the clean slate, especially if the business does not have any agency requirements such as lotteries. This is where there is real flexibility, starting afresh without any supplier demands. It puts you 100% in control as the retailer rather than as an agent.

From product location to shop look and feel to fitout, you can create something fresh when you have a business with fewer restrictions than the last generation of newsagencies had when they were created. This is even more true if the business is outside a major shopping centre where landlords make some tough demands.

But back to the six who are expanding their businesses. Good on them and well done. This is good news for our channel and good news for the local communities. I am excited to see how far they evolve their own models.

18 likes
Newsagency management

Promoting home and garden magazines in the newsagency

This photo shows most of our home and garden magazine range. We have this located near our crossword titles as both are destination locations for us. While magazine sales are challenged, there are segments where we are seeing good growth. These are the segments we promote and support with good placement.

The layout is fluid, adjusted based on sales data and on covers, for a brilliant cover can easily boost sales.

The key with all this work on magazines is to manage space and time investment in line with the return achieved.

Where we can own a segment compared to a competitor we will invest more because of the broader benefit to our business.

5 likes
magazines

SBS news tonight

SBS is preparing a story they anticipate will run on their TV news tonight that references the newsagency channel. I have been contacted for some background information. I stressed there is plenty of good news in the channel as there are businesses transitioning, finding new traffic through new opportunities.

5 likes
Newsagency management

The ethics of tough competition in small business retail

This is not my story. It is a story about an other newsagent family and how a competitor targeted them, leveraging their marketing in what I think was an unfair action.

The newsagents, with whom I am friends, determined to host an event in their shop for a high-profile brand of products they sell. While they are not the only retailer in their shopping centre with the brand, their approach is unique and bold and goes beyond what is traditional for the brand.

They promoted the event in-store with professional posters as well as online, through boosted Facebook posts. They spent money.

For the party, they organised prizes, specially made tasty treats themed to the product they were promoting, activities and more. It was set up as a terrific and fun family event that aimed to also sell plenty of stock but to also give people an opportunity to engage with the products, to learn and have fun beyond plain shopping.

They were exhausted by the start of the day of the event, having put in plenty of work to dress the shop and create an experience that matched their proactive marketing, but excited for what was to come.

On the morning of the event they discovered a small business competitor in the centre had cut prices of the same products to close to cost, for one day only. They announced this with a hand written sign at the store entrance, capturing traffic heading to the newsagency with the promotion.

While I accept competition is real, this promotion by the competitor to cut prices to almost cost price on the day a fellow retailer in the centre in running a value-add promotion in which they have invested considerably is, in my view, poor form. It goes beyond regular competition.

I think what the other store did is lazy marketing, disrespectful to the competitor and disrespectful to customers who love the brand being promoted.

A smart retailer would have countered with their own event, at a different time, adding value in a variety of ways. Instead, this retailer ran a spoiler sale designed solely to mute the success of the in-store party run by my friends.

There were shoppers who saw the activity for what it was, and said so. Others were happy to get the discount.

Long term, the better retailer will win as this is what shoppers will appreciate – the retailer who understands the brands they sell, who services the collectors of the brands, who offers experiences that are enjoyable beyond price based shopping.

In the meantime, sure, the almost cost price sale had an impact. But no one won. My friends had the success of their event dulled by the competitor’s actions. Any boost the competitor got was money through the register but little in the way of gross profit.

People who shop solely on price are not loyal. For the competitor to keep anyone they won through the almost cost price sale they will have to keep discounting. I can’t see the upside in that.

Retailers in local shopping precincts and in shopping malls have to walk a fine line in handling competition. While I get that all is fair in competition, there are ethical lines one should not cross. I think what the competitor did in this instance is a crossing of an ethical line.

25 likes
Ethics

Promoting crosswords in the newsagency

Crosswords continue to be one of the most valuable magazine categories in newsagencies. On average, they account for between 6% and 8% of magazine revenue. In the latest benchmark study, crossword unit sales are up, ahead of most other categories.

This is an important category for newsagency businesses. It is one where you can beat every other magazine retail channel. My advice is you place it at the front of the magazine department.

Here is the crossword section in one of my stores. While the location gets moved as we tweak magazine locations, the space allocation is consistent.

6 likes
crosswords

Is partwork launch marketing less than it used to be?

Back when Mind Body Spirit first launched in Australia years ago there was a ton of noise in-store and in the media. This latest launch, happening now, is low profile compared. we are doing our bit but without TV driving traffic as it used to I expect sales to be quite low.

We have the launch issue with weeklies, the highest traffic location in-store.

2 likes
magazines

Game of Thrones one of the most bankable brands in 2017

While the latest season of Game of Thrones may have ended its run this week, GoT licenced products are set to be popular right through to Christmas.

Spending on the demographic focus of the business, GoT could be the most popular licence in a shop this year with avid collectors happy to spend big on limited-edition opportunities as well as big piece, high ticket price, items.

Like any major licence, key to leveraging success was locking in products months out from the airing of the latest season, often committing to products without understanding exactly what you were committing to.

While there are other strong licences, such as Star Wars, anything Disney, the Wiggles and more, GoT is a favourite of mine because of collector loyalty to the licence and to businesses that are serious about their commitment to all things GoT.

A challenge in this space is dealing with multiple suppliers and being able to be on early allocation of new product, especially the limited edition product. To achieve this you have to be proactive, often chasing relationships that are unusual for the newsagency channel.

It is certainly exciting being part of a licence franchise for which there is a terrific traffic rush.

7 likes
Newsagency management

Are you ready for Fair Work compliance visits?

Fair Work has been making compliance visits to retail businesses, checking employee and payroll records.

It is important that all employee related records are ignorer. These include rosters, payroll records, payslips given to employees, your injuries register and more.

At the same time, it is worth ensuring your have current employee emergency contact details as well as superannuation records, with records showing up to date superannuation payments.

If any employees work under a specific type of visa, it would be useful to have that as part of their employee records on file, stores securely.

Even if your business is not in a area targeted by Fair Work, now is a good time to self-check your compliance. The fines for non-compliance are considerable.

5 likes
Newsagency management
Trending Articles

Fairfax changes approach to TV Guide, disrespects newsagents

Published on April 20, 2011

What do you think of the Powerball changes?

Published on February 16, 2018

IPS releases new magazine contracts

Published on June 21, 2011