I like that Pacific Magazines is running another cash prize promotion starting next week. History shows the value of a simple promotion with cash prizes., especially if the promotion is specific to our channel. In a centre with two supermarkets and other outlets with magazines it is a welcome point of difference for us.
We received a letter from the Magistrates Court advising that a person accused of stealing from the business has completed the conditions of their Diversion Plan:
While I appreciate the court advising us of this, I would like to know if the Diversion Plan worked over the long term. I’d like a trigger in the court system advising us of any conviction or Diversion Plan in the future.
The impact on any retail business of theft can be considerable and long-term beyond the financial cost of stolen stock or cash. Knowing the system works could help us have more confidence in the system.
This photo shows part of how we have been pitching the start of the Father’s Day season in the newsagency. To the left of this is a display of products that guys purchase and that are part of our everyday range. For the core display you can see we are relying on the cards, gifts and the opportunity that one of our customers will win a Kogan Flat Screen TV to pull traffic.
We are leveraging the prize through promotions outside the business.
The placement is set to attract people to the display and further into the store with the next level and the level behind that. We use a finely tuned floor display placement principle to attract shoppers deeper into the store. This is done through thoughtful placement and creating display structure.
We are competing with aggressive and professional retailers for this and other seasons. It is not enough to stick products on a table with a Father’s Day sign. We need to emotionally connect so shoppers want to spend with us and feel good while doing it. Our emotional connection starts with the LOVE YOUR DAD posters headlining the display – they are a welcome departure from the usual Father’s Day pitch in retail, they are an especially good connection to drive card sales.
The range of products will evolve further next week as the season interest intensifies.
Part of our Father’s Day strategy is to use the increased traffic driven by the season to introduce people to our broader offer. We do this through product placement and our discount voucher program. We show shoppers what else we sell and we financially encourage them to look at what else they could purchase.
This is the value of the major card and gift seasons in a newsagency business – to the opportunity to showcase and leverage the rest of our business. It is why we must look at seasons as being far more valuable than the seasons themselves.
Don’t be put off by the range of cards or gifts in the photo. We have plenty more in-store for Father’s Day. This is a major season for us.
As blossoms tell us winter is coming to an end, in newsagencies the arrival of calendars on the shop floor tell us winter is coming to an end. So it is in the newsagency this week with the first 2016 calendars out and selling.
Right now is our opportunity in the spotlight with the major calendar competition weeks away from engaging.
The latest issue of Marie Claire, the 20th anniversary issue, has been an extraordinary success delivering not only good sales but driving traffic with people coming specifically to purchase the title.
The buzz around this issue has been terrific, refreshing not only the title but the category as well. Well done Pacific Magazines.
I was in a newsagency in Sydney yesterday with plenty of the most popular adult colouring titles. They were selling well. They were also attracting shoppers to the business from in the centre.
At another newsagency, they are out of stock of the most popular titles because they did not order enough. They were too cautious even though previous shipments had sold out.
The newsagent who backed their instincts has the stock and is reaping the rewards while the cautious newsagent is not making what they could have made.
Many newsagents have grown up in a world where suppliers order for them. In the growth categories today we have to do this for ourselves. We need to develop strong inventory management and reordering skills. We need to back ourselves as the newsagent I visited yesterday has. Sure, there is a risk. However, the rewards could be greater.
There are plenty of resources in our channel in the marketing groups and in supplier businesses where we can tap into advice on such ordering. That is exactly what the newsagent I visited yesterday. Indeed, his business is flourishing because of a series of bold decisions across several product categories, some of which he has not offered previously. But it is in the adult colouring space where his entrepreneurial skill is on show and the financial rewards, thousands of dollars in good margin revenue, are being banked.
We cannot be timid in our businesses, not if we want to grow revenue and profitability. Our best future will be found by us reaching outside what is traditional for newsagency businesses and acting in ways that are not traditional for newsagents. That is what excited me yesterday – seeing a newsagency and a newsagent energised and changing transformation.
These comments tie in with my thoughts about newsagency businesses and the convenience model. It is a model adjacent to a newsagency business model, a model requiring only small change.
Pursuing a broader retail model away from convenience and the traditional newsagency is tough hard work – and you need to buy with confidence. However, this is where the rewards are greater. It is also where we have a better opportunity to create a business that is genuinely different in our area.
For years newsagents have tolerated some gift and stationery suppliers who do not provide electronic invoices. Newsagents are moo demanding than a few years ago when it comes to transacting electronically.
Suppliers who do not provide electronic invoices are already losing business. One today told me it was too expensive. I wonder how expensive they will think it is when they realise the business they have lost.
More and more newsagents refuse to be held back by out of date processes.
I have made a submission through Touch to transurban pitching for an increase in commission for newsagents from the current 55 cent transaction fee. I was invited to make the submission following several emails to management on behalf of newsagents.
Here is part of what I wrote:
Newsagents pay around $23.00 an hour for employees in their businesses plus on-costs of around 15%, making an hourly labour cost of $26.45.
A Citylink top up transaction takes up to two minutes, resulting in a labour cost of 84 cents. Even if my estimate up up to two minutes is out by 50%, the cost is 42.41 cents.
On top of the labour cost is costs covering retail tenancy, IT infrastructure, insurance and other business overheads.
Then, there is the cost of transactions themselves, banking costs for cash and bank fees for electronic payment methods.
These are all factors impacting the cost of doing business, the cost of offering the Transurban top up service.
Finally, there is the opportunity cost. This is a consideration in a newsagency that has transitioned from the old-school loss-making agency model to the new style retail focused model. In the former the average overall business GP is 28% whereas in the latter the average overall GP is 45%. However, in the latter model you spend more time with customers selling items priced at $200.00 and more.
Hopefully my submission gets the attention of decision makers in Transurban and that they at least explore the commission they pay.
Newsagents deserve fair compensation for their efforts. The 55 cent compensation is not fair in my view.
Why my bigger picture view remains that our future is not in agency lines, I do understand many newsagents rely on these. hence my support for a better deal for them through representations such as these to Transurban.
Darrell Lea Dad’s Bags aren’t open like they used to be. In the bag all the goodies are in a sealed plastic bag. I’ve not had darrell Lea for a few years but I recall customers used to like checking the items in the bags. Not they have to pull out the plastic bag. I doubt it will hurt sales, just makes the Dad’s Bags little more big business than small business.
Magazine distributor Gordon and Gotch took to Twitter yesterday promoting a competition encouraging entries explaining why people like one of the magazines listed. Up for grabs is a Spotify premium subscription.
I like the competition and the special interest music magazines it promotes. While not a big deal, I wish Gotch helped newsagents promote this via own social media.
Competitions on social media are a great way to find new shoppers.
Years ago if Network Services sent a magazine with a wrong barcode they would contact newsagency software companies as they are usually the first port of call if there is a problem. Not any more. Network sent a notice to newsagents and this eventually made its way to the software companies. Poor customer service from Network.
The ANF promoted Hubbed parcel service claims 680 newsagent locations on their website.
Our marketplace of some 680 newsagents Australia-wide, coupled with great partners, delivers the best parcel, retail and lifestyle shopping experiences for the consumer.
Using the Find My Newsagent facility on their website you are taken to a map showing locations with Hubbed. Counting the locations listed gets to 238 locations: QLD: 65; NSW: 72; VIC: 17; TAS 21; NT 2; SA 19; WA 40; ACT 2. Even allowing for a miscount based on the map, the claim of 680 newsagent locations does not appear to be matched by the data published by Hubbed.
This matters as newsagents are promoted to get on board with Hubbed in part because of the ‘size’ of their network.
With major political parties now aligned on the expenses issue and suggesting there is nothing for us to see or worry about, we ought to remind them what life is like in the real world.
Small businesses, like newsagents, face onerous regulation. We are subject to unexpected policing and audits that add to our operational costs.
Small business newsagents face audit by the ATO for PAYG, FBT and other taxes, audit by State revenue over payroll tax, in-store audit by consumer affairs looking for unsafe products, council by-lays inspectors looking for the food licence, ASIC chasing our annual returns, and being tested in undercover operations for selling tobacco to underage shoppers – to name a few.
Our politicians face no such audits or overheads unless one of their number is caught out as has happened recently. They are out of touch with the real world.
At the very least our politicians ought to face the risk of an unexpected audit by an independent body at any time. Such an audit should look not only at their expenses but their level of genuine service of local constituents as well as other KPIs that measure their service to the community. This could give them a dose of reality that is sadly lacking in Canberra.
I had reason recently to write to my personal and business local members as well as the Treasurer on a serious time-sensitive matter. Only by local member, Adam Bandt responded. Josh Frydenberg and Joe Hockey remain missing in action whereas Bandt’ actively and fully engaged.
At a shop recently, an employee serving me started talking to a colleague next to them in a language other than English. It was disconcerting and got me thinking what I would like. I think it is important any conversation among staff in a retail business is in the language of the country in which the business transacts.
Price checking of stationery at a nearby Coles on the weekend I discovered they have unknown brand packaging tape at close to double our price. But your would not know. It is only when you check the length of the role you see how expensive Coles is. Our roles are 50 metres in length while the Coles tape is 25 metres. A simple price check will make Coles look cheaper. But they are not.
This is the type of information we have to share with all working in our newsagency businesses. We should also share the price comparison on social media.
Coles is expensive when it comes to stationery. Check for yourselves – not just tape but other stationery items too. Once you have the facts in your area start talking about it.
There is no sense to the 300% increase in supply of Shop Till You Drop magazine. I look back at the sales history back to July last year and this latest allocation beggars belief. I can’t see why Bauer has done this. What a waste.
A consequence of magazine publishers and distributors failing to address the poor financial return from magazines for small business newsagents is a reduction in space allocation in newsagencies for magazines.
In real terms we make less today than five years ago yet the cost to us of magazines has increased between 5% and 10% year on year through this time.
Whereas in the past magazine departments took up a third of floor space, today the space allocation is 25% and less – meaning fewer pockets and no spare space.
The problem is exacerbated by magazines in so many more outlets than newsagents. No wonder we are tight on space. We have to be!
Magazine publishers and distributors need to stop sending us new titles without checking. Many of us have no space for them and have to remove an existing title if a new title is to be given space.
This happened recently with two new titles from Universal Magazines: Beach & Bayside Homes and Kitchen Inspirations. We did remove two titles.
It is ridiculous that in this age of technology the publishers and distributors do not have in place a system to know for certain space availability in our stores. It is like they prefer to be ignorant as this enables them to send us magazines we do not have space to display.
Check out the magazine a friend found in a bag with the copy of Gourmet Traveller they purchased from Woolworths last week. We can tell from the sticker left on by Bauer that the magazine is a return from a newsagent. The newsagent would have paid to return the copy of Belle that failed to sell for them so Bauer could make the gift to the Woolworths customer. Nuts.
The counter units promoting the Daffodil Day fund raising products at Coles are branded Coles. Is there nothing the supermarket duopoly does not want to own?
I don’t know why the Cancer Council would agree to this – unless money is involved.
Take a look at what your customers see in the wall behind the counter when you are serving them. What does it say about your business? Does it drive sales? Does it recast your business in their eyes? My challenge today is for you to use the counter to reflect how you see your business. Stop using it to pander to history. Stop leaving it be a memorial to laziness. Use the wall to make a bold statement.
The photo shows what is on the wall at my shop right now: high margin branded product including several limited edition lines from this range.
If a staff member has created a poor display, left the shop untidy or done something else wrong that is easily captured by photo, take a BEFORE photo, tis it and take an AFTER photo.
Place both photos on a noticeboard in the back room and explain the difference. Be clear why you want the look of the AFTER photo and what it means for the business.
Sometimes telling someone to do something will not be as well understood as if you show them with the type of photo example I suggest here.
Setup a wall in your shop or in front of your shop and invite locals to tell local stories in words and pictures. Be cool, call it your local graffiti wall of local stories.
Besides telling local stories, the idea connects your business in a bold way with drawing and colouring and this can play into your sales or pencil, markers, erasers and adult colouring art therapy products.
This is a feel-good activity for the community and your shop. It will help encourage optimism in your business and among those who participate.
The photo is from a graffiti wall I saw at a public event in Sydney yesterday. I walked past several times – it was busy with people of all ages drawing, writing and looking.
Be sure to have a sign that gives your wall context.
Today I immersing myself in a fan-focussed event that is far removed from the world I live and work in. It’s an attempt at immersion in the niche world of one group of customers important to my business. I am going to try and understand them better and to find out what else they like that I do not sell today.
The better we understand our customers and those who could be our customers the better we can serve them.
I encourage newsagent sot promote the latest issue of Gluten Free Life on their Facebook pages and elsewhere as this will drive sales. I did this a few weeks ago and know for sure additional traffic was generated for the business. When posting on facebook, write about coeliac disease as a gluten free diet is the only treatment.
Thoughtful promotion like this that can drive extra traffic for you and make a magazine more valuable that the 25% GP.