What does Bauer media need to do?
What does Bauer Media need to do to become a real force again? is a must-read article for newsagents and others interested in print media businesses in Australia by Miranda Ward and published by mUmBRELLA.
Pitching products for impulse purchase at the newsagency counter
I love the way this gift and card shop in the US handles an impulse purchase pitch at the counter. It makes good use of space between two customer serving locations, using what would otherwise be dead space. It pitches products easily purchased by those close to the counter.
I think it is important the unit is curved. That makes it easier to navigate, easier to shop and less visually harsh in my view.
It is the type of unit that could be made and pushed up against the counter without being built-in, without costing too much money.
Many newsagency counters I see are old school, pitching a product mix that has not changed in years, achieving little in the way of impulse purchases at the counter, most likely not contributing appropriately for the premium space allocated.
The approach shown in the photo shows how one retailer has created new space to achieve a better financial return from expensive counter space. I think it is worth a try.
My advice to any newsagent considering something like this is – don;t use a shopfitter and their shares are likely to be considerably higher than if you purchased the item from a cheap furniture place or had a local hippie knock something up.
Spend as little as possible to trial this or any other similar future idea you have for your business.
Would you ‘sell’ The Freeman Journal?
I have been contacted by the publishers of a soon to launch publication, The Freeman Journal, seeking expressions of interest in receiving copies for free, which can be sold.
Click here to see a mock up. [I removed this because of the comments you can read below.] There is more information at their website.
While this title is not for me, I thought I would share it here for others to consider.
Here is the note from the publisher:
My name is Jack Freeman and I am the director of a luxury online and a soon to be released quarterly distributed print publication The Freeman Journal. With an elite and targeted audience of high net worth individuals, aspirational luxury consumers and frequent travellers.
Thus we were contacting you as we are in the coming months releasing our first quarterly edition and were looking to send free editions to Newsagents across Australia to which may be sold on behalf of agents entirely.
Let me know if interested to participate. I have attached our Media Kit and Mock Up First Edition.
Newspaper front page headlines deemed useless
This morning’s Daily Telegraph shows, once again, how irrelevant newspaper headlines are deemed y newspaper publishers in promoting their product.
It surprises me they treat promotion of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here with more respect than they do what the editorial team considers to be the main news story of the day – our country’s treatment of babies held in the asylum system. Those making such decisions ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Cheap Valentine’s Day cards at Woolworths
The stand of $3 Valentine’s Day cards at Woolworths that I saw yesterday was in the high traffic ground floor entrance location of the Sydney CBD business while the higher priced Valentine’s Day cards were in the second floor card department. While I get that supermarkets are interested in what they say is a ‘value’ pitch, it is not, in my view, value in that the cards look and feel cheap compared to the regular priced cards.
Unfortunately, I suspect we will see more and more of these ‘value’ pitches the greeting card category this year and beyond. It is an overseas trend retailers here will not want to ignore.
There are too many ‘value’ models in the UK and US for Australia to not be confronted by this phenomenon. It is only a matter of time before it hits here. I have looked at two of the models in detail may have more to say about them soon.
Large capacity printers set to impact ink sales
In Sydney yesterday it seemed to me that every second bus I passed was advertising large capacity printers from Epson. The signs promoted a two year life for the ink provided with the printer. Epson is not alone in pushing this model.
Newsagents with considerable ink sales need to be aware of the trend and to factor this into their business planning.
Timing on the closure of Network Services
Click here to download communication from Network services for newsagents on the timing of the closure of the business. I share it here with permission.
The processes outlined by the company are clear cut. Achieving a refund of any money owed requires newsagents to provide bank details. The way things go with this channel there will be newsagents who ignore this request and then complain they have not received a refund.
Please follow the advice in the Network document.
Hallmark at Melbourne Gift Fair
The Hallmark stand at the Melbourne Gift Fair at the weekend was designed to inspire retailers to consider alternative ways of displaying cards outside the usual card department approach. It was a stand unlike anything you would have seen from a mainstream card company in Australia previously.
There are some nutters out there
I feel for Allan and Stella Wickham, the owners of newsXpress Eli Waters, the business where the winning ticket in the $70M Powerball jackpot was purchased. I feel for them because they are attracting nutters from around the country, people approaching them because they think they got a great payout as a percentage of the $70M . They are also being approached to get them to put people in touch with the winners.
People have requests for a share of the money for charities and all sorts of crazy plans.
It does not help when Allan and Stella say they did not get a percentage or they cannot connect with the winner for private reasons. People persist. Even today, weeks after the win.
While it would be easy to laugh off the interruptions, they are so considerable that they get in the way of everyday business.
So, I feel for Allan and Stella – and any other newsagent hit by similar circumstances. However, the $70M prize is a record for a single winner.
In 2007 by newsagency at Forest Hill sold a $11M winning ticket in Powerball. It was a house syndicate we created. There were plenty who were sure we had a share in the syndicate so there was that to deal with as well as the nuttiness of some of the syndicate members who wanted their share the next day even though we had to wait the two weeks and then pass the month through our account – yes that is the way Tatts did it then.
While I like the model I have seen in some overseas locations of the selling business getting a small percentage of a major jackpot, it would bring with it problems beyond the nutters newsagents selling winning tickets have to face today.
What I still don’t promote Inside Out magazine in the newsagency
Since News Corp. continues to favour Coles with pricing of $6.00 for Inside Out magazine I see no reason to promote the more expensive newsagency version priced at $8.20. This long-term campaign by News disrespects newsagents and shows the desire of News Corp. to switch shoppers from our small business channel to the giant Coles.
The reach of newsagency brands on Facebook
With the Facebook user community continuing to grow – 1.5b monthly users in Q4 2015 – it is a vitally important place to promote your business and the brand under which you trade. Promoting on Facebook is an easy way to reach people outside your business to attract them in. It is also an easy marketing platform through which to track engagement results including demographic information.
Here are numbers from this morning of people who like or follow the corporate page of the newsagency banner groups:
- newsXpress – 12,060.
- Nextra – 8,545.
- The Lucky Charm – 2,086.
- Newspower – 4.
These numbers are important as they speak to the base community easily reached by each of the groups when promoting offers and opportunities available in member businesses.
The numbers themselves need to be considered a springboard as plenty of Facebook users share posts they like to friends who, in turn, can share to their friends. In one recent promotion for which I have data the ripple effect reached an additional 15,000 people.
Note: I could only find one Newspower national page and it had not been updated since August last year. If anyone is aware of another page please let me know.
News Corp. promotion favours supermarkets over newsagents
The TV commercial from News Corp’s Herald Sun promoting the Dr Seuss book series lists three supermarkets by brand yet lists newsagents as, well, newsagents. The folks at News ought to respect brands newsagents trade under more than this. Their failure to list the brands demonstrates a preference for the supermarket brands in my view.
Here is a photo from the TVC – listing the supermarkets.
Slick looking stationery department
This photo shows part of the stationery department of a store I visited in Nuremberg last week. I am sharing it as it represents a different approach to stationery layout compared to what we see in newsagencies and other stationery retailers in Australia.
I like the consistent fixture colour and that it does not detract from the product itself. I also like the lower height units at the front and their use for uplifting products, to draw the shopper into the department.
I draw plenty of inspiration from this photo.
Newsagencies in Germany
I was in Germany for four days last week on business and got to see a range of newsagency and related businesses. I saw two types of businesses: small, almost kiosk like in size, shops with around 50 magazine titles and convenience lines; and, large format stores in high traffic locations like railway stations and shopping malls or precincts.
Based on what I saw, Germans love their magazines and newspapers.
The photo below is from the entrance to a shop in Munich. I saw this same type of entrance in several shops. I like that it is open, easy to see around the whole shop.
Here is the entrance to another shop. The same approach: a low profile display unit for volume titles in the entrance.
Here is the entrance to another magazine shop in Munich.
Here is the extraordinary range in the kids magazine section in a magazine shop in Nuremberg railway station:
TV and related titles:
Weeklies from a Munich store.
Crossword titles from a Munich store.
Newspapers in a the business in the Nuremberg railway station.
Looking a plenty of retail in Germany, magazines are not as readily available in Germany as in Australia but most of the shops that do sell them have an extraordinary range of titles. The bigger shops have more than double the magazine range we have. This stands to reason with the German population more than three times that of Australia.
I do wonder if the size of the range of magazines in the bigger stores is a function of there being fewer such stores.
I picked up plenty over the course of the week, not only in relation to magazines but in other product categories important to us.
Another poorly managed newspaper promotion from APN
Newsagents were given three days notice about a promotion by APN’s. The email promoting promotion of a complex Scratch and Win competition was sent at the close of business Wednesday.
Sending an email late on Wednesday results in a lower readership.
When will they learn that promotions need to be simple. The process they are imposing on newsagents is cumbersome and time consuming.
Newsagents were not given an opportunity to opt out. With barely two days notice APN promoted the participating newsagents 0 without any other communication with those newsagents.
Promotions like this, that do little to drive sustained revenue growth, are a tax on the limited time resources of newsagents.
It is also frustrating that the prize pushes people to fuel outlets and not back to newsagencies.
Overall, this appears to a poorly considered and poorly executed promotion with little regard for newsagents and the time required of them to execute.
Newspaper publishers need to be smarter if they want to run promotions that genuinely serve the needs of their products and retail newsagents.
Sunday newsagency challenge: say hello
For at least three hours this week stand at or near the entrance of your business and say hello to all who enter and thank people as they leave. Choose the busiest three hours.
Look for insights you might otherwise have missed had you not done this. Hopefully, these insights help you run a better business.
While this tip is aimed at the owners of the business, any team member acting as a greeter will reduce the opportunity for theft and increase the level of personal service provided shoppers and, thought this, overall revenue.
Sunday newsagency marketing tip: paint your nails
Paint your nails in a colour that is meaningful to you. It could be your sport team colours, the local school colours or colours with some other personal significance such as supporting a charity (as has happened previously).
If you usually have painted nails, what you do for this exercise must be noticeably different.
The goal is to get people talking, to raise awareness of the ‘thing’ you have painted your nails for. Hopefully, it is community group or charity that will benefit from you talking about them
The painted nails, especially for guys, ought to act like a speed hump, they ought to get people taking notice.
Sunday newsagency management tip: look at your security footage
When was the last time you looked at video captured by your security cameras? Most time I see retailers do this it is to look for something specific. My tip today is to look without a specific goal. Play it on fast forward and be open to learning things about your business that you have missed.
Every time I do this with retailers we see things they did not expect. It could be employee behavior, shopper behavior or a realisation about hot-sports in the business.
A half hour fast forwarding through vision can be enlightening.
US magazine publisher cuts 40 jobs
US magazine publisher Rodale has cut 40 jobs. I mention this to note that Australian magazine publishers and distributors are not alone facing the challenges of disruption and to offer another example of changes we can expect in 2016.
Everywhere I look I see too many magazine titles chasing a declining interest in print. The only solution as I see it is fewer titles. Fewer magazine publishers would allow publishers to get a larger piece of the pie. However, that is unlikely to happen in the short to medium term.
Are you going to the Melbourne Gift Fair?
The Melbourne Gift Fair this weekend is the first of the year. It is a small fair with a reputation for nothing that new given the major fairs overseas releasing new products are happening around now. While I’ll attend the fair, if it is like last year I do not expect to discover too many opportunities I am not across.
I would be interested to hear if others are attending.
Adelaide Advertiser thanks newsagents
Newsagents in South Australia were sent this letter by from News Corp’s Adelaide Advertiser yesterday. It is a thank you for support for promotional activity.
While the letter is good and, I am sure, appreciated by newsagents, there is more to consider here beyond the commission made from selling promotional products. remember, these promotions are designed to serve sales of newspapers.
From the Advertiser and all outposts of News Corp. I would like to see data provided by News on the benefit to newsagents beyond the sale of promotional items. Here is my question: Did the promotional items generate sustained new sales of the supported newspapers or is it only revenue from the promotional products on which newsagents can count?
This question is important given the paltry margin on promotional items offered in most states. The case put by all publishers in such situations is the real profit is from a sales boost beyond the promotion. So, it would be good to see this data – what over the counter sales boost did the promotions generate?
I do note that in South Australia, newsagents receive the best commission for promotional products. Kudos to the local news Corp. office for this.
Why IPS closes its call centre at 3pm
I had contact with IPS management yesterday about why they were closed after 3pm. Looking at a year of call data they found that less than five calls a week come in after 3pm. They decided to cut hours and thereby reduce labour costs.
The only reason I discovered this is because a newsagent complained to me. While I understand labour is a high cost to any business, customer service is important, especially when it comes to niche magazine titles only available in newsagencies.
One way any company can reduce labour hours is to improve online services, to enable those who might call to resolve any issue online through a smart website. This is something IPS ought to act on.
A newsagency customer speaks out about poor customer service
Ash Long emailed me yesterday with this story of poor customer service by his local newsagent. I share it here with his permission:
I like that the Australian Newsagency Blog has news of new avenues where businesses can be grown and profits maximised.
But I wonder if sometimes a reminder is needed that newsagents must not neglect their core business. As a newspaper publisher, I spend about $250 per week on papers and magazines at the local newsagency. I do not seek discounts, I do not receive loyalty rewards. I pay by cash, as I have done over the past 22 years.
It has been drummed in to me at this blog for newsagents to promote their ‘putaway’ service. So, when I had to be away interstate last weekend, I asked the counter-staff woman to please put aside the Thursday-Sunday editions of the Herald Sun and The Age, and that I would return in the following week to pay and retrieve the papers.
It wasn’t done. The counter staff said the newsagent counter-manded their efforts, and returned the papers, so my request was unfulfilled. Not a big deal, you might say. Only 8 newspapers. But those issues were important to me. I was only trying to be a good and loyal customer. The newsagent did not let me know of his decision. I have left a message for him, but he still has not called with an explanation (or an apology).
I feel disrespected as a customer. I feel that the newsagent should no longer have my $1000-a-month purchases. I feel that I should take my business elsewhere. He does not know his customers, and he has neglected his main game.
Whether we like it or now, the newsagency shingle binds all businesses that trade under it. Poor service by one can reflect poorly on all newsagents in the eyes of the customer experiencing poor service.
We are in challenged businesses with some of our core products suffering from severe disruption. Add to this the challenges of the economy, more focused competitors and myriad other factors and you have tough circumstances for many newsagency businesses. Why, therefore, would you treat a long-term customer in this way.
If the story as shared is accurate there is no excuse I can think of. A regular customer offering to spend money for little or no effort is to be respected and served well.
I am sure there are plenty of newsagents who would love Ash Long’s business.
Why we newsagents need to keep our eye on JB HiFi when it comes to greeting cards
Late in 2015 JB HiFi retail outlets started selling greeting cards. They put in a carefully selected range sourced from Hallmark. Their hip looking purpose built card units have seen are usually placed in a high traffic location, near to the counter.
The THREE FOR $10 offer is compelling. The range carefully targeted at the typical JB shopper.
My understanding is that JB management made the decision to offer a selection of cards and then looked for a supplier. They designed the display unit internally and set their own pricing.
When I first saw the display in-store two months ago I was impressed with the range. It looked different, fresh. Then I realised we have access to all these cards – yet we display them in a more traditional (boring?) way that does not allow them to be realised as being as hip or on-trend as they appear in this purpose designed fixture from JB.
Here is an electronics and entertainment retailer stepping into our space and doing it well. It will be interesting to see how cards perform for them. My guess is they will do well as the stand appeals to their shopper demo. If they are successful, it will be a combination of range curation, fixture design and shop floor placement.
We can do this folks. We can create a secondary display of cards that reaches a shopper not entering our businesses to purchase cards. We can full the stand with a selection as carefully chosen as the range from JB. And, we can fund the price point – there is enough margin in cards to do this, especially if we achieve genuine incremental revenue.
While some will be angry about the JB move, the smarter response would be to engage with cards in a fresh way, like JB has, to make a pitch that reaches those shopping with us who do not purchase cards already. We can do this.
We are in a highly disrupted marketplace where the boundaries of speciality retail channels are more blurred than ever, where retailers are chasing revenue to achieve the deepest basket possible from the traffic they achieve in-store.
So, instead of being angry or frustrated about this move, think about what you can do to create similar opportunities in your newsagency.
It’s on you. This is not a supplier challenge to resolve. No, it is your challenge because it is your newsagency.
For too long we have approached greeting cards in the same boring way. Too many newsagents have stood by watching sales remain flat or decline. Our mediocrity has allowed others to enter the space. We should have been so on top of our game, so innovative, that competitors did not risk investing in cards.
That is irrelevant now. JB is here and others are coming. We need to be more focussed than ever on our card offer. We need to be innovative beyond our own imagination.