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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Glasgow newsagent killed in religiously prejudiced attack

The news of the fatal attack on newsagent Asad Shah following his posting of an Easter message on social media is shocking. UK news outlets are providing comprehensive coverage.

Take a moment to think of the Shah family and their grief.

Australian newsagents are as ethnically diverse as our UK colleagues. Inside and outside our channel, sadly, prejudices can be seen. We ought to resist this and call out those who ignorantly attack based on ethnicity, religion or sexuality.

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Social responsibility

Making the most of Easter in the newsagency

12776740_956239031150139_1035868510_oThere is no doubt about the value of going out early with a broad range of Easter product pays off, especially for higher-end items people plan to purchase or LayBy over time.

My experience is that grandparents especially like to shop early for something special beyond the eggs and usual Easter fare you see in so many other stores. This is taken into account in developing the displays and positioning product. I have found a good way to encourage grandparents and regulars is to move the Easter display through the season.

The more you interrupt traffic flow the better.

Easter is a season that should be growing in our channel regardless of the more commercial and chocolate focussed retailers out there.

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Newsagency management

Cat cards are cute – in the newsagency

I am often asked how to promote everyday greeting cards on Facebook. Here is one example of something I did recently as part of a series of themed posts about cards to like. The post was simple, engaging and speaking to a popular interest. Here is exactly how it looked. It took me less than a minute:

Screen Shot 2016-03-23 at 9.15.29 pm

This type of marketing of cards and the business on social media, not only Facebook, is easy. I urge all newsagents to try it.

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Greeting Cards

Enjoy the day off

Most newsagents will get tomorrow off. Have a good break even if you find your mind on the business even when you are away from it.

Happy Easter whatever the season means to and for you.

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Uncategorized

Issues with the Hubbed $250 rebate?

A newsagent advised me of delays in getting the $250 a month rebate from Hubbed. Despite contact many times the issue was unresolved, until yesterday. The time the newsagent had to spend chasing Hubbed was considerable. I agreed to raise the issue here to see if anyone else is challenged with Hubbed.

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Hubbed

Great networking event for small business newsagents

newsXpress held the first of two national conferences for 2016 on Tuesday in Melbourne, at the MCG. 135 newsXpress members attended as well as plenty of suppliers. The conference itself followed a full day at the Toy Fair being briefed by suppliers and leveraging group buying.

While I am a Director of newsXpress and sure to speak positively about the experience, I want to take a moment to speak about newsXpress members. Their optimism is wonderful. Their engagement is pursuing new traffic and above-average gross profit is exemplary.

Retailers from businesses large and small, in the city and country, on the high street and in shopping centres, they all mixed and engaged in a series of business sessions focused back on their businesses. I want to note again the optimism at the heart of every session, every discussion.

Magazines were part of the discussion too thanks to a terrific Pacific Magazines presentation that included terrific marketing initiatives.

The mood of the room reminded me of the Barack Obama slogan from 2008 of Yes We Can. Hearing newsagents explain to newsagents about how to embrace change, the fun they will have, the success they can have, is always a thrill.

I talked with several people who have recently joined and their common comment was they had no idea what the group really did. They mentioned that it was completely different to what was expected. Having been with Newspower for years and a shareholder in Nextra prior to being involved with newsXpress, I wanted to be part of something that was different.

There is no one group for the newsagency channel nor should there be. Competition is important and healthy. To me, the most important factor is that newsagents in a group and those running a group work hard and 100% together on common goals for shared mutual benefit.

Here are some photos from the conference itself and the dinner at Bamboo House Tuesday night. The whole event was free to newsXpress members thanks to supplier funding. All interstate travellers received financial assistance for flights and hotels.

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marketing

Another perfect local product

IMG_7707Further to my post below. While it does not work in regional and rural towns, the local editions of Monopoly are a treat for businesses in the cities covered – not only for local shoppers but also as gifts for visitors when they arrive or leave. Sometimes we have to show and tell customers what to buy and why as not all its,ms are purchased for one reason.

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Gifts

Personalised products a smart move for rural and regional newsagencies

IMG_7786One way to maximise visitors in town and in your shop is to have products that connect them with being there. Whereas for ages postcards were the best local item, there is now a broad range of products: bags, stubby holders, magnets, hoodies, singlets, thongs, rulers, pens, pads and, yes, delicious and locally branded chocolate.

The more unique the better, especially if the products feel locally made – whether they are or not is not the point.

Nothing says you are a local business better than if you have products with the name of the town. Even locals will love this when looking for products to send to friends of to give to guests who may be staying with them.

Sourcing products that bear the name of the town of the region is a terrific way to position your newsagency as not only being locally connected but also supporting the town or the area. It shows you as being a proud local.

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marketing

Newsagent humour on Twitter

IMG_4036This tweet on Twitter three days ago is hilarious. It’s from someone in the UK and referring to the experience there.

My question for convenience focussed newsagents – do you sell chia seeds? If you do, how well do they sell?

The tweet gave me a good laugh as I hope it does for you.

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Fun

Melbourne Toy Fair an excellent opportunity for newsagents

IMG_7768The Melbourne Toy Fair has been terrific again this year. Finishing today mid afternoon, the attendee mix has been varied: toy retailers, gift retailers, newsagent retailers and more. The supplier mix exhibiting has been equally diverse covering toy, hobby, collectible, art, gift, game and other products. This is a valuable trade show for retailers and for suppliers and especially valuable for newsagents looking for an educational event that can open them prospective new shoppers.

Many suppliers use the show to educate retailers about new shopper traffic opportunities. This is part of what makes the Toy Fair and important event, far better than any single channel specific event.

With the walls between specialty retail channels crumbling, it is more important than ever for newsagents and other specialty retailers to look beyond what is traditional for their channel. This also means looking at what appears to be traditional product through fresh eyes. For example, with one supplier you are confronted by model kits and may dismiss them as an out of date product whereas what you make appeals to a niche interest making them saleable not as model kits but as collector items in that niche. I hope this makes sense.

Sometimes it is only when you dig deep with a supplier and discover a back story opportunity that you can unlock a value from a range that otherwise may have been missing for you.

If you are dismissing the toy fair because of the word toy in the title you’d be missing an opportunity. This event was about far more than toys.

I was at the fair for my software company Tower Systems on the weekend and on Monday with a group of 100 newsXpress members who had group appointments with various suppliers – who blocked off their stands for the group. The group, moving as a group, through the fair caused plenty of discussion among exhibitors and attendees. It demonstrated the value of working as a group. It certainly focusses the minds of suppliers when they have 100 retailers on their stand all interested in the same mix of products.

This is the fourth toy fair newsXpress has done as a group with suppliers closing off stands to other retailers for set appointments. It is being repeated each year because of the commercial success for the retailers and the suppliers.

There is no doubt that toy and related product is a growth category.

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Newsagency management

We ought to support Cryptic Crosswords and other Puzzle People titles

20160319_071355I love the note from the editor of Cryptic Crosswords. It explains that while they have withdrawn from subscriptions, the title is still available in newsagents.

We ought to support Cryptic Crosswords and other titles from Puzzle People. This is a local Victorian published magazine that helps us pitch a point of difference to other magazine retailers.

The editor is supporting the newsagency channel. We should support them.

Go and grab copies of the latest issue:

  • Place it between your two top selling weekly magazines.
  • Place it on the counter as a featured magazine.
  • Talk about it on your business Facebook page – mention it is an Aussie title. Posts like this can add to the narrative that yours is a local business supporting local (Aussie) publishers.
  • Remind staff to recommend it if people ask for a crossword title.
  • Thank the editor for their support: info@puzzlepeople.com.au.
  • If you don’t stock the title, request it from Gotch.

Let’s get behind this magazine and help it enjoy a bright future and through it promote a difference between our businesses and other magazine retailers.

This is an opportunity for us to do good for us and another independent small Australian business.

Take a moment to check out their website to understand their pitch: All first-time publications Products of our compilers’ minds. They are NOT computer produced! Founded in 1989, at a time when imported puzzles dominated the local market, Puzzle People identified the need for a high-quality, locally compiled product, published on a regular and reliable schedule.

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crosswords

The House of Wellness is not a gift with purchase

IMG_7682Newsagents were paid by News Corp. to hand out the 100 page The House of Wellness magazine with newspapers last week. The compensation did not cover the cost of the service. The product itself was pitched as a “gift with purchase”.

I looked through the magazine on the weekend. This is no gift. It’s an advertising catalogue with articles promoting advertisers. While I am not the target consumer, I found little value in the publication.

Any supplier wanting newsagents to promote a gift with purchase ought to ensure the gift is a genuine gift – rather than an extension of their advertising platform for which newsagents are poorly paid to distribute.

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Newspapers

Sunday newsagency management tip: target competitors

Knowing your competitors is vital for any business that wants to grow. Often, competitors can be more than the obvious. For example, to a growing and changing newsagency, competitors could be local toy, gift and other shops.

With growing newsagency businesses reliant on new traffic outside of what is traditional for our channel, it is vital we take a broad view when contemplating who our competitors are. This broad view will help inform our competitive positioning.

Tough as it is, we have to look at businesses near ours we can take customers from. It is business after all.

The most valuable competitive options available to us today are those where we target single category businesses are they are more likely to be weak. Our diverse traffic mix is a strength. We need to play to this through this period of transition as we diversify the appeal of our businesses.

Yes, competition is tough, brutal. How hard you fight, how hard you compete, depends on how much you want a future for your business.

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Management tip

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: how many is too many

Stand at the entrance to your business and count the marketing messages confronting shoppers as they enter?

How many do you have?

Pare back. Choose two, maybe three, messages you want to land with shoppers. Make sure they pop. Do this by removing altogether or muting all other messages.

Too many newsagencies are so visually noisy no message lands.

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marketing

Beacon branding: using magazine mastheads to draw attention to magazines in the newsagency

IMG_7662Years ago, displaying a magazine as shown in the photo was called a waterfall. Now, if it is the only title in a section like this, it is called beacon branding. This is where you use a single brand to draw attention to a magazine title, where the title itself signposts part of the magazine department.

Beacon branding is a best-practice approach to magazine displays in a newsagency where time is invested to arrest the decline in magazine sales.

The keys to successful beacon branding are to not overdo it with more than one per major section of the magazine department, choose the right titles to beacon brand and to change each title regularly – weekly.

The days of the old waterfall display are over with the cost of the retail space higher than ever and the total magazine floorspace allocation being cut. This means we have to make tougher decisions about space allocation. Beacon branding is more special and considered as a result. I think this helps raise effectiveness of the approach.

Once you work out how to do beacon branding in your business it becomes part of your weekly magazine management approach. Done well, it can differentiate your business from the supermarkets that are out to take magazine revenue from you.

It is easy to be frustrated with magazines, the low margin and supply challenges. My advice is to not focus on this. rather, focus on opportunities for growth. beacon branding is one such opportunity.

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magazines

What is your take on the Fairfax strike?

Fairfax journalists working for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review are on strike until Monday.

What do newsagents think about this?

My view is businesses need the freedom to make staffing decisions regardless of whether the decisions are right or wrong. So I support Fairfax management doing what they think is right. As a news consumer, however, I am drawn to sources I trust. Today, I trust Fairfax less because of losses from their editorial team. While I still trust them more than any News Corp. outlet, they are heading to a point where they are not in my top five go to news outlets.

At the heart of the issue is that people are not prepared to pay for the quality of journalism Australia needs. This will be realised in a time of crisis, when a scandal is uncovered that would have been discovered sooner had we had a strong fourth estate.

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Newspapers

The ANF demands secrecy on its member Facebook group

Late to the party, the ANF recently established a private Facebook group for members. They allow posts from newsagents on the group unmoderated. They do not advise suppliers who are bagged out, they do not offer a right of reply.

This is bad form from an industry association as there appears to be no verification as to the honesty of claims critical of a supplier. However, the ANF has a track record for a lack of due diligence so their disengagement on the accuracy of supplier claims on the forums should not surprise.

The ANF appears to be more concerned about the secrecy of the forum. I say this based on this post recently by ANF CEO Alf Maccioni:

We’re thrilled at the way members are all assisting and supporting each other within this private members group—this groups exists as a safe and protected means for our members to consult each other and work together to grow your businesses. The majority of interactions are positive and beneficial to all members, we have however been made aware of at least 2 occasions where confidential information shared within this group has been passed on to outsiders. As this is a private group, please respect each other and treat everything you read within this group as confidential information. Continual breaches of trust will only result in lower levels of interaction and support from your peers. Meanwhile if we do discover who has passed on information in regards to any post from this page we will delete that user.

Alf is someone who, in my opinion, does not like consultation, debate or cooperation. He prefers to write a letter and say you are wrong on a topic but not engage in any discussion through which he might discover he is wrong.

This was evident through MPA magazine supply trial discussion. I challenged Alf to discuss the issues publicly. He ignored the multiple requests – even though the result would have been more informed members. It was as if he was scared that he might be found to be wrong.

To me, the approach of the ANF in relation to this page that allows ignorant and even false claims to be published is of itself a breach of trust.

I think the ANF obsession with secrecy is misplaced. I think it does not serve newsagents not newsagency suppliers with this obsession with secrecy.

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Ethics

Fairfax cuts editorial jobs, Coles cuts print advertising, newsagents cut print media space

It is a tough day for print media with the news that Fairfax is cutting 120 editorial jobs. Related, Coles has dramatically cut newspaper and magazine advertising. The mUmBRELLA report includes this:

Year-on-year, Nielsen estimates Coles Supermarkets has gone from spending around $100,000-$200,000 per week in January and February of 2015 to below $50,000 every week this year, except in the week leading up to Australia Day.

Smart newsagents are reducing space for magazines and newspapers – sometimes cutting titles other times fitting the same titles into less space to reduce operational overheads.

Without a doubt these are challenging times. Focussing on the cost base is important for if you don’t and the decline continues, the cost as a percentage of revenue increases at an alarming rate.

From a newsagent perspective, the biggest cost base is usually real estate. This is why magazine departments are moving, shrinking and being used more efficiently in well run businesses.

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Media disruption

Offended customers damage Spirit humour cards

12834499_961543323953043_180694993_nI have two or three customers who come into the newsagency and damage selected cards on the Spirit humour stand that offend them. Damage ranges from ripping to cutting. While I have others who turn the card around so the rear is showing, it is the deliberate damaging of stock that offends me the most.

This is a crime. I’d love to catch the offender and ask how they reconcile their wilful damaging of stock against their ‘offence’ at the image or words on the cards they have cut or ripped.

While I have encountered this plenty of times over the years, my business has recently been subjected to intensive complaints to the landlord about the cards and the landlord has forcefully relayed the shopper concerns. This coupled with more wilful damage is draining.

These zealots frustrate me. While we live in a country where we have freedom of expression, they are using physical damage and relentless complaints about my business to force me to live by their rules.

If I capture a video or image of them acting I will not hesitate to report it to the police.

While a small number of customers are offended by these cards, the vast majority are not offended. Indeed, sales are excellent. This is the site that matters. Better still, laughter from people shopping the stand tell us the range provides good entertainment for shoppers.

While I am expressing frustration here, we do not plan to reduce our commitment to the Spirit humour range. It is to valuable to us.

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Ethics
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