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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Can you handle phone orders from your newsagency?

We processed another phone order in the newsagency yesterday, a sale that we got thanks to a Facebook post. The customer lives interstate and was happy for us to post the item for a small handling fee.

Key to being able to handle this type of transaction is being able to take payment over the phone. Some newsagents cannot do this because they have not made arrangements with their EFTPOS provider. It is easy to do and once setup, you have another method of payment that makes over the phone, email and other out of store purchases easy.

My advice is make sure you can handle payments over the phone and then start to use it.

Customers are everywhere today, often not in your shop. The more able you are to serve them when they are ready to purchase the more purchases you will achieve.

The shop is just one location for your business. Think and act beyond this and compete for today’s shopper. It starts with being able to transact with them.

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Newsagency management

Why do newsagents early return magazines and why is cutting space the only option to manage magazine costs?

Australian magazine publishers need to understand that they are all judged by the actions of each other. All it takes is for one publisher to oversupply and there are consequences for others.

I lay the blame with the publisher as they set the print run. This is where what we receive begins. The print run determines what is sent to the distributor to distribute. The distributor may have a contract requiring all copies sent to be distributed.

As newsagents have embraced better IT infrastructure they are better informed. The screen shot below shows the supply and return history for Australian House and Garden. There is no reason the newsagent should have received more stock on the new use. But they did.

I know of newsagents who respond to blatant oversupply by striking back at other titles from the same distributor. I don’t blame them sometimes as they feel helpless to manage cash-flow in any other way.

Take a look at this evidence for Australian House and Garden below from one newsagent for yourself. I am left wondering about the IT infrastructure at Network that allowed this to occur.

Screen Shot 2015-12-07 at 6.27.54 pm

What newsagents want is fair supply, to a level that helps them actually make money from magazines. The supply model in the MPA code of conduct does not have settings to enable this. Unless that is resolved, newsagents will have no alternative to early return and cut magazine space allocation.

If we cannot make money from any product it is not worth stocking and any model that forces us to do so would be unfair.

Publishers need to engage on this issue with thoughtful newsagents. Not the ANF as they have shown themselves to be out of touch, to not know what is appropriate for newsagents.

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Ethics

Now is the time to promote O magazine

IMG_2490With Oprah in Australia, now is the time to make sure you have O The Oprah Magazine in prime position in the newsagency – if you stock it.

I was at the Oprah event at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne last Wednesday. The merchandise stalls were doing amazing business. People were buying bags, books, t-shirts and all sorts of products with Oprah emblazoned on them.

Now is the time to pitch the magazine.

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magazines

Fact check: plain packaging driving down smoking

Academic site The Conversation has published an analysis of the impact of plain packaging on tobacco sales.

This analysis is a must-read for anyone interested in the plain packaging debate as it challenges reports we see in mainstream media saying the plain packaging is failing to impact tobacco sales and use. It is also a must-read fort newsagents thinking about the future of tobacco products in their businesses.

National Accounts data just released show that for the 11 quarter-year periods since March 2013, consumption of tobacco products in aggregate fell an unprecedented 20.8%, while the previous 11 quarters it fell 15.7% and in the 11 before that, only 2.2%.

While I understand retailers, including newsagents, will be concerned about the loss of revenue as a result of falling tobacco sales, it can be replaced. It is not as if pressure to reduce tobacco use is new. For years, there has been no evident upside in tobacco for retailers.

Tobacco companies fight the plain packaging legislation, saying it is not slowing tobacco use, claiming illegal tobacco sales are in the increase. However, customs and other authorities say there is no evidence of this.

To any newsagent who asks my opinion I say: stop selling tobacco. Your business will be healthier and probably better off as a result of the healthier decisions you make. It is better to quit products on your own terms than getting out late in the play and with a cost to the business.

If your newsagency would not survive without tobacco sales – work on your business urgently, introduce new product categories that attract new shopper traffic. If you do not do this, tobacco could/will lead to your closure. Even if you are making good money from tobacco today, working now on a  replacement is vital.

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Newsagency management

News Corp. misses opportunity to promote newsagencies

12311146_10207307716605614_2724801063803196860_nNews Corp. in South Australia has a new promotion, giving away a adult colouring book. The giveaway is okay except that the free book promotes a range a colouring books saying they can be found where all good books are sold. This pitch neglects to note the range can be found at good newsagencies. Given that newsagents are running the promotion for News it would have been told to see the channel mentioned in the promotion. A lost opportunity.

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newsagency marketing

Sunday newsagency challenge: try and sell cards from drawers

Plenty of newsagencies have drawers under card fixtures into which they, or their card merchandiser, place cards for storage. The only card stock that should be in drawers is stock you will take out to sell before the next delivery from your card company.

Do not allow your shop to be a warehouse for greeting cards.

Taking a range down for Christmas or some other season is not smart business as you are left carrying stock that you cannot sell – the last time I checked, customers do not look in drawers when looking for a card.

To card company folks reading this, selling product to newsagents only benefits newsagents when they sell the product. The best supply model is one where inventory is in the shop for the least possible period of time.

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Newsagency challenges

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: enjoy what you sell

What do you sell that you love to engage with yourself? Is there a particular magazine you enjoy reading? A particular pen you like to write with? A calendar you like so much you take it home? A newspaper you start the day with? A range of cards you love to look at and read because they inspire you?

Think about the product you sell that you enjoy and write about it on your business Facebook page and elsewhere.

Personalise your business through connecting what you enjoy with products you sell.

The more connected people feel with you the more they will trust you and trust sits at the heart of every business transaction.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: display to interrupt

IMG_2383This wall of Eclipse gum in a Woolworths supermarket in downtown Sydney is not pretty, nor is it meant to be. It is impactful though. It stops you – well, it stopped me, and that has to be the first goal of any display: to get shoppers to notice, stop and look at the product. That is what I did – before I realised it. The placement worked on me.

The display has been placed in the Woolworths in Sydney to grab your attention. It works.

My retail newsagency management tip today is to display to interrupt. Displays do not have to be pretty to be effective, especially shop floor displays in locations that see plenty of traffic. High traffic locations are better for displays that disrupt – like this Eclipse mints display.

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Management tip

Australians love charity connected products

Customers don’t hesitate to let us know they love charity supporting Christmas cards. Many ask specifically for these, often mentioning charities by name. Having a good range of charity related cards is essential for good Christmas trade.

While newsagents have had access to charity cards for many years, most tend to not engage with the opportunity other than putting product out for purchase.

I have been using my newsagency Facebook page to promote the connection and shoppers have responded well.

Newsagency marketing group newsXpress released a short video promoting the Hallmark Christmas boxed card range and their support for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The video has been provided to newsXpress stores for their use on business Facebook pages and sharing beyond these. It is another way of connecting the Hallmark brand, the NBCF and newsXpress stores.

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Newsagency management

Giving Christmas music a break this year

We have decided to not play Christmas carols in-store this Christmas. Being in a large shopping mall where shoppers are assaulted with Christmas carols in most stores and in the mall itself, we decided to provide an oasis of relief for our customers. Some have noticed and appreciated the move.

While we have Christmas visually reflected in our visual merchandising and products on offer, not broadcasting back-to-back carols makes for a better environment I think.

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Newsagency management

Newsagents reselling old bagged magazines?

I heard of a newsagent who takes out the ‘free’ magazines bagged with others and sells them in a value pack of their own. Products which ought to be trashed, based on the agreement with the supplier or returned if not sold, is being offered by the newsagent for 100% profit. This behaviour impacts on the reputation of all newsagents.

I shake my head sometimes…

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Ethics

This is a perfect magazine cover

IMG_2409I love the cover of the latest issue of Cosmos magazine. It is visually stunning and certain to result in browsing of Cosmos by people not familiar with it. This is the key role of a cover – to get someone engaged with a title. Browsing is essential to impulse purchases.

I think this cover of Cosmos is perfect.

We have placed it next to newspapers.

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magazines

Why Christmas is the right time to make changes in the retail newsagency business

Right now, in the middle of Christmas, is the right time to make changes in a busy newsagency.

While this may sound crazy, it is good advice for one reason – you have very little spare time to allocate to changes. This will guide you to make faster decisions, it will focus you to act.

The types changes I am talking about include: product location in-store, re-allocation of floorspace to one or more departments, bringing in a new supplier, quitting a supplier, completely changing how you use your counter. These changes benefit more from action than planning as action leads to engagement and data from this can guide your finessing of the move.

Making changes through the busy Christmas period will see you be more efficient in your time management. Too often I see decisions and changes over-thought, to the point of losing value for the business. Acting now when you are even more time-poor will force you to decide sooner and act efficiently.

Making changes now can provide you with more options if you are relying on external service providers as most retailers don’t make changes now and the services providers are less busy.

Try it next time you think – I’ll think about that after Christmas or after Back to School. Think about it now. Act now.

In this marketplace where every sale is cherished and where we feel the impact of structural change daily, change is vital to our businesses. Change only occurs when we act. Putting off acting says your business does not need the benefits of change today.

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Newsagency challenges

Promoting That’s Life in the newsagency

IMG_2385The latest issue of That’s Life magazine is ideal for promoting in the newsagency as a suggested add-on purchase thanks to the free Christmas gift tags that come with the magazine. Try it – make the up-sell offer at the counter, make this issue a sell out by offering it to customers who otherwise may have not considered the purchase. Do nothing and your sales will be average.

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magazines

AFR reports Bauer to cease magazine distribution

The Australian Financial Review is today reporting that Bauer Media’s Network Services will cease operations:

German media giant Bauer Media is planning to wind up its Australian distribution business Network Services Company in early 2016 with rival distributor Gordon & Gotch to pick up the job.

I doubt that Gotch will pick up the job. I suspect titles they take on will be as a result of negotiation between Gotch and the publishers involved and not Gotch and the Network Services division.

As this is not an acquisition, I don’t see a role for the ACCC.

I have been aware of talk of this move for the last ten days but have not written about it as it was speculation. Even now, details are thin. We need to let the parties involved work through things before jumping to conclusions.

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magazine distribution

The challenge of lottery products on your business Facebook page

Facebook has strict rules for the promotion of lottery products and the age of people you can promote any products to through your business page if you sell lottery products.

The rules are so onerous that it may be worth not losing lottery products as something you sell.

Imagine you have products that are ideal for 13 – 17 year-olds. If you have lottery products listed as something you sell, your posts will not reach 13 – 17 year olds because of the Facebook age guidelines. You can see the Facebook page term here.

I have seen retailers go from eating none in the 13 – 17 age group to reaching thousands simply by changing the mix of products they sell.

On the east coast, given that Tatts aggressively promotes its products on social media, there is no major loss in my view if you pull back from connecting with the Tatts brand from your business Facebook page.

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Lotteries

Are you running a Christmas sale already?

Screen Shot 2015-12-02 at 12.48.56 pmI was surprised to see a nextra newsagent talking up discounting Christmas gift items on the Today Show today on the Nine Network this morning. Discounting this side of Christmas feels desperate to me.

Maybe I am wrong. What do you think? Of course, they may have bought at a discount, making the discount not a real discount as such.

I set myself up to not discount through offering items that are not easily price compared. This coupled with a genuinely valuable shopper loyalty offer negates the need to discount. Indeed, I am finding it easy to achieve above suggested retail for more unique destination items.

I was pointed to the story by several newsagents surprised at what this newsagent was doing and the margin impact it could have.

The Today show story itself was a nonsense story, not focusing on anything long enough to be of real value. It was kind of click bait but on TV.

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Newsagency management

Using social media to get companies to respond when traditional communication fails

I have had success recently with a bank and a telco by using social media, Twitter actually, to draw their attention to issues when their usual communication channels had failed to work for me.

Without being rude or unreasonable, I reached out to each via Twitter and this resulted in my concerns being put in front of someone who could help.

The outcome in each instance has been terrific – because the companies in each case had a structured approach to social media including monitoring mentions outside usual office hours. This is important as if having tried usual channels first – going out complaining on social media without trying other channels first is unfair.

Footnote: newsagents ought to note the need to respond outside usual hours as this is what people on Facebook and elsewhere expect. Gone are the day of the business being closed when the shop doors are closed.

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Social Media

Believing your own spin can guide you to bad management decisions in your retail newsagency

A newsagent recently had a crack at a supplier about poor performance, saying the supplier was letting them down.

Looking at the sales data, I saw that the products from this supplier are down 5% year on year but the overall transaction count for the business are down 11%. This tells me the supplier is performing above average.

I can’t stress enough the importance of using data to support any claim made about your business, especially when dealing with the supplier.

I was asked to look at the data as the supplier was experiencing good growth in other locations nearby. They wanted to know if the problem in the newsagency in question was their issue or a business-wide issue.

My review of the data indicated a business-wide issue. At first, the newsagent would not accept this. It took a confronting discussion looking at data on their computer system for them to accept that their view was not matched by the evidence.

This was not about winning an argument. Rather, it was about guiding the newsagent to make business decisions based on facts rather than half facts.

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Newsagency management
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