I am frustrated we were sent ten copies of Sugar Smart Express Diet from Gotch. It’s a book. I can get similar books at 50% margin. Better still, I can control what I get. Shame on Gotch for wasting my time and money with this title – what an abuse of newsagents.
Place a selection of wrap at the counter and expect to sell more wrap. People purchasing and car and / or gift need to wrap or package it somehow. Give them options at the counter for the impulse purchase and they take it … easy extra margin dollars in a sale.
If the ANF wants newsagents to support them as an industry association they need to retreat for commercial activity. Yesterday, the ANF sent out an email to newsagents promoting Hubbed. The communication has no disclosure as to commercial arrangements between Hubbed and the ANF.
A while back, following an outcry from newsagents, the ANF said it no longer had shares in Hubbed.
The marketing material sent yesterday was sent by the ANF, is copyrighted by the ANF and the contact address is the ANF address. This suggests a commercial relationship between the ANF and Hubbed.
If there is a commercial relationship newsagents need to know about it so they can make an assessment of what the ANF says regarding Hubbed compared to other services the ANF may not cover at all in its various communication platforms with newsagents.
Newsagents interested in Hubbed may want to start with questions about what appears to have been a restructure of the business last year.
My personal view is that industry associations ought to focus on being associations rather than engaging in commercial activity.
For the record I have no commercial relationship with any service competing with Hubbed.
How can we trust politicians from the major parties who constantly lecture us in business and individuals about fiscal responsibility yet who ignore their own advice when spending on themselves?
The travel and personal entitlements stories of the last few weeks serve to reveal to us what appalling leadership we have in Canberra.
Their explanations demonstrate how out of touch they are. Their selfishness is breathtaking, only surpassed by their lack of ethics.
As a small business owner I look at the spending by a politician on a trip in the context of the tax I pay and how hard all in my business have worked to make those funds available. This is why the $5K helicopter ride to Geelong, the $12K business class trip for kids to Uluru and the hundreds of thousands spent on wasteful study trips overseas disgust me.
Here we are in small business and in our homes being lectured by parliamentarians of all colours about working hard, paying our taxes and being less of a burden on government while those lecturing us engage in a orgy of spending.
We cannot trust them, not any of them from the major parties. They have no perspective grounded in the reality of the everyday taxpayer.
I think we need to overhaul our parliamentary representation. For what it’s worth, her is what i would like to see:
Politicians love to talk about public service. While the words sound wonderful, the compensation they receive make their ‘service’ about the paycheque, perks and jobs from mates in the future. It’s a massive scam and we voters let it happen.
Sure they work hard but so do many small business owners.
I know newsagents working 100 hours a week for under $40,000 a year and who battle the government because of poor small business practices mandated by out of date politicians. Such a newsagent is making a more valuable public service contribution than any politician.
Our current batch of politicians on both sides from to top down disgust me. They are ignorant, out of touch and selfish. We nee urgent wholesale change.
Here is our current adult colouring art therapy offer at the front of the newsagency. The display in the photo is one of three locations where we have similar product.
We have served this niche for almost all 2015. It’s been highly profitable.
We are discussing our exit since many retailers nearby are now in the space including discount variety, majors, gift shops and newsagencies.
Like any popular fad, the keys to profitability are knowing when to get in, when to get out and the best range to offer when the fad is at its peak.
Planning is key. I worry that newsagents getting in now will be left with stock. My advice is to be careful.
Our buying focus has been on popular items as well as fringe items, to ensure the specialist nature of our focus. The value of having less mainstream titles has been good in-store and good through our social media engagement. It’s all about point of difference.
The most important factor in retail success has been interactivity in-store.
We have the Better Homes and Gardens Colour Me title here with newspapers, next to girls mag like Frankie as well as with our adult colouring department. This is an easy impulse purchase opportunity – as long as we make it easy for shoppers who will purchase but may not know the title exists. This title is an excellent opportunity for newsagents.
The foreign student scam impacting Australia Post in the news yesterday is a reminder about employer obligations. While I am not aware of student scams, I have heard reports of people working in newsagencies being paid cash in hand at a lower than award rate so they do not breach their student visa. It is important employee arrangements will stand scrutiny.
Epson has announced a range of printers that do not require cartridge replacement. Check out the Wired story for a good tech report. The Australian report – Epson kills printer ink cartridge with new containers – cuts to the chase for retailers selling cartridges.
This will not hurt cartridge retailers overnight but it will impact on ink sales as Epson will not be alone in offering printers that do not require cartridge replacement.
I have been sent the first three issues of Art Therapy, the partwork set to be launched in September – being distributed by Gordon and Gotch.
The launch and accompanying TV advertising will refresh interest in this space and, I suspect propel interest through to Christmas.
Smart newsagents will ensure they have good stock of books, pencils, pens, erasers and other products to sell to this shopper as the opportunity is considerable outside the magazine space. The partwork launch is an excellent opportunity for us.
Gotch took to social media to promote two new art therapy / adult colouring titles that arrive in-store tomorrow. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, some newsagents in the UK have more than twenty of these titles. We are saturated with product in this space.
What is your position on a chatty newsagency employee?
On the one hand, we want employees to chat to customers, to make them feel welcome and to engage with their shopping experience. On the other hand, we don’t want chatting to get in the way of work or to be intrusive on the shopping experience.
Employees need to remember their pay is funded by the money the business makes. Making money ought to be their top priority.
Employers need to remember that a friendly shop can help people spend more.
It is a fine line we all walk.
The first step is to talk about any problem. Sometimes bringing it into the open changes behaviour.
The draft Workplace Relations Framework report from the Productivity Commission is a good start for considering structural change to help boost economic activity in Australia.
What we need next is a respectful debate involving all stakeholders rather. Unfortunately, already, on social media and in mainstream media we are seeing unions and employer groups sticking to their corners and not respectfully exploring changes that could benefit the broader economy.
The draft report offers an endorsement of workplace reforms by Labor while at the same time putting the topic of weekend penalty rates on the table for discussion.
In terms of weekend penalty rates and Sunday rates in particular, the current rates make us uncompetitive and hold back employment opportunities in my view. I’d like Sunday rates to match Saturday. That said, I’d like to discuss this in a calm and respectful way.
Newsagents with an opinion on this ought to attend an upcoming public hearing or make a submission by September 18.
Dun & Brasdreet’s latest Business Expectations Survey reports sales expectations highest since 2003.
Sales expectations have rebounded sharply, reaching their highest level for more than a decade in a strong signal the business community has a more optimistic outlook for Q4 2015.
In marked contrast to the preceding period, Dun & Bradstreet’s latest Business Expectations Survey reveals the Sales Expectations Index for the fourth quarter surged to 40.8 points, up from 28.6 points last quarter and the highest level recorded since the fourth quarter of 2003. Some 48 per cent of companies surveyed expect to see an increase in sales in the fourth quarter of 2015.
While representing the views of the corporate sector, optimism there permeates into small businesses, boosting the optimism we have for the future. This survey is good news.
On stands and in common spaces there are plenty of good examples of low cost displays and merchandising at the Gift fair in Melbourne.
This use of pallets for creating a noticeboard and display table could work in many businesses.
Gone are the days of spending more than we should on refitting shops. Instead, it is fashionable to repurpose old furniture and other items for retail display.
Freight has been a hot topic on the floor of the Melbourne gift fair over the weekend with penalty of retailers including newsagents saying they should not have to pay freight.
The reality is: whether you are charged for freight or not you pay for it.
Your suppliers need to make money as do you. They choose to locate their businesses where they do as you choose the location of yours.
It is easy to demand freight free. It is equally easy to source products that do not have a clear or suggested retail price – thereby enabling you to set a retail price to cover freight.
The low Australian dollar, higher freight charges and higher importation charges are behind more suppliers reviewing freight arrangements. Many suppliers I know are not passing on the full impact of the low dollar compared to where it sat a year ago so to pressure them on freight places a further burden on them.
The lines between retail channels continue to blur as retailers pursue traffic and revenue in a crowded and competitive marketplace.
Supermarkets are not alone in reaching into the product categories of other channels to make their businesses more successful. Pharmacies have been doing this for years as have proactive newsagents.
The gift fair on at the moment in this has demonstrated how much previously defined retail channels cross over into others. On gift and homewares stands I have seen owners of gift shops, jewellers, garden centres, newsagencies and general online businesses.
Gifts are the ultimate board offering, working well in a variety of retail channels. Newsagents need to consider this as they expand their gift offerings as they need to ensure they are in a highly competitive category with obvious and not so obvious competitors.
This presents a significant challenge to many newsagents who enter the gift space for a point of difference. It is why you need to be careful about suppliers you use, to ensure that your investment is not challenged by the same products being placed in a supply business nearby.
Several suppliers at the fair told me of independent retailers asking if they supplied this group or that group. In one particular instance the supplier mentioned that a no meant the retailer walked off the stand. Groups in several retail channels work hard to keep their supplier relationships secret for this reason.
Tatts has been active on social media promoting Set for Life and from what I can see on Twitter they are promoting buying direct from them, online. WA newsagents will be happy Lotterywest are not doing a Tatts.
If I was a Tatts retailer and under pressure from the company to promote the game I would be frustrated at the lack of support for the retail network.
A couple of newsagents I saw on the weekend asked me to open a post here where newsagents can comment on how the BBC earth promotion from News Corp. is performing.
I love the floor display unit for the Justice League figurines. It is strong, dramatic and perfectly branded. The products did not sell. Price point was an issue. I think this is because it is licenced product and from Schleich – a premium brand.
Performance demanded we quit the range. We dropped price to $9.99 and immediately the products started selling. Customers love the characters and everything else about the Justice League range including the new price point.
The space we freed was more important than holding out to possibly make margin on the stock.
Quitting underperforming stock has to be done without emotion and at a price point that meets the needs of the business.
While I don’t have lotteries in my newsagencies, I have been helping a few newsagents engage with Set for Life to make the most of the launch opportunity. This is important regardless of Tatts also offering it online.
Here are my tips for launching this new game in your business:
It is not too late to go big and loud in promoting Set for Life as it will take some time to build interest in the new product. It is essential you do more than sell the game across the counter.
Several newsagents have mentioned to me recently that they like that the new Tatts Set for Life game is only available in Tatts outlets.
Be aware that Set for Life is available online and through the mobile App. To lottery customers this will make sense.
It’s been a thrill to catch up with many happy newsagents at the Gift Fair. I have seen plenty of smiles and optimism and heard of money being spent on new product categories through which they are changing their businesses.
This is easy. Take a spare stand, fill it with a range of cards that appeal to a shopper you struggle to get into the business, put it on the lease line so passers-by can see it and watch to see if the stand attracts people. If the stand does not work, change the cards and keep doing this until you see people who would not usually shop with you stop and take a look.
Look at the photo how one of the people in my newsagency set this up. The branding at the top and bottom are key to making a strong and professional statement.
Don’t assume that having a card department is all you need to do to get people to consider purchasing cards from you.
A retailer last week told me that they enter inventory into their shop computer system when they move it from the garage at home to the shop. They explained they purchase products at a discount by buying in bulk and don;t consider them part of the shop’s stock until it is at the shop.
Their approach means this business does not have accurate reporting on stock turn, return on investment and aged sock performance. I6 means they are ill-informed when it comes to making buying decisions.
Buying because of a special deal for bulk could be false economy. You will rarely know unless you carefully track your stock.
Partwork launches provide us the best opportunity to drive traffic yet many newsagents ignore this, preferring to complain about the margin rather than considering the value of the bigger picture. Most partwork launches in Australian are supported with a high rotation TV ad, often on free to in prime time. Here is how we leverage these:
A comprehensive co-ordinated approach is key to enjoying the most success possible from apart works launch.
With hundreds of thousands spent on a launch it makes sense to me that we ride the back of this to drive traffic with the goal of that new traffic seeing what else we sell.