Years ago newsagents would look forward to the budget in the context of additional traffic the budget would deliver on the day after -for newspaper purchases. I suspect tonight is like any other and tomorrow will not deliver a noticeable jump in traffic due to the budget. Comments?
Here’s a brief training video I shot for my software company last week explaining to retail employees how to hand out a discount vouchers. I am sharing it here as it illustrates the importance of getting the pitch to customers right. A brilliant loyalty program pitched poorly can fail. By sharing the video I hope more newsagency employees engage with loyalty offers in the business.
While the video talks about my software, key principles in the video can apply to any over the counter loyalty pitch.
I am finding brief videos like this one work well in training retail employees across a range of retail channels, especially at driving consistent engagement – which is a massive challenge in independent retail.
At a WH Smith store on Sunday I noticed they had packaged the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine with a sweet gift as a Mother’s Day promotion. Some had a pack of Tim Tam biscuits while others has Cadbury Roses chocolates – cell wrapped with a ribbon. I like this approach to making a magazine appealing as a gift for a season such as Mother’s Day.
While there are plenty of challenges being in a in newsagency in shopping mall every so often there is a mall marketing activity that connects with the business at the right time. That is what happened for us last week with this massive Star Wars Lego display. It was placed right outside our entrance. While we don’t have Lego products we have plenty of Star Wars products.
Now if only every promotion connected as this one did.
The January through March quarter was tough for plenty of newsagents. Key traffic categories magazines and newspapers experienced further declines. To balance this, cards and stationery did okay. New traffic areas such as gifts and plush in engages newsagencies did well.
Here are the headline numbers:
It is not possible to declare the performance of the channel as uniform. The gap between those in decline and those growing is greater than ever.
Benchmark results by key departments:
The strong are getting stronger and the weak are getting weaker. There is no geographic or demographic trend to this.
Product mix shift. The shift in product mix I have seen over the last three quarters is continuing. Ranges are expanding as is the average price point. Suppliers ought to take note of this.
I have not included my newsagency in this study as my numbers are outside the average and I did not want them to skew the results. I don’t mean this to sound arrogant.
My numbers all off a good base, are: Cards up 23% with Everyday Counter up 21% and it accounting for 56.09% of all sales, Gifts up 126%, Magazines up 1.8%, Women’s Weeklies magazines (New Idea, Who, Woman’s Day, Famous etc) up 3%, Stationery up 11%, Plush up 4% and accounting for 12.48% of overall sales and Toys up 95%. This business does not have lotteries and does not sell tobacco products.
Traffic is down 2%. Average sale value – up 17%. Average items per sale – up 2%. Overall average GP – up 14%. Each of these measurement points compounds on the other, delivering a very strong result for the business.
This growth is as a result of pursuing what we stand for. This newsagency is in an outer suburban Westfield centre in Melbourne with around 300 stores including majors, a nextra newsagency, two Coles supermarkets, Wild, Typo, several large card shops and twelve gifts shops. Competition is strong.
I include my data for comparison and to show that I walk the walk with newsagents. I put my money where my mouth is.
What we do in this business any newsagent can do. Growth is achievable.
Newsagencies are good businesses to own. It would be wrong to say that the declines reported in this study reflect badly on the future of the channel. I think the results reflect badly on some operators, newsagents not chasing change.
The best type of newsagency to own is the one where you have the most control over what you sell and where you generate traffic for several product categories where average gross profit is 50% or higher.
The most important advice I have for newsagents has not changed: Run your business today as if today is your pay day. Too many newsagents continue to run their businesses as if their pay day is when they sell. This will not happen.
This year on year same-store newsagency sales benchmark study is an analysis of basket data from 151 newsagencies: city and country, shopping centre and high street, banner groups (Newspower, Nextra, newsXpress) and independent. To be included, a newsagency must have been using the industry standard Tower Systems newsagency software for both analysis periods and be compliant with industry data standards.
The current issue of Model Art Australia has the potential to appeal to plenty who don’t even know the title exists. The Doctor Who themed issue looks terrific. The cover shot is excellent. We have placed copies with our range of Doctor Who products is this magazine is what separates from others in the shopping mall with Doctor Who products.
This separates us from other magazine retailers.
Sydney Wedding is a good example of why newsagents need control over magazines. It is think, takes up too much space and is unlikely to sell for us in Melbourne.
Bauer reps say to the ACCC they want to help newsagents be more engaged and more professional with magazines at the same time as they send out this title which will lose money for us.
If I had control I would have said no thanks to this title. I have a good range of wedding magazines and no space for this title. Sending it wasted my time topping it and returning the cover. No I did not give it time on the shelves as there was no space.
Woolworths has had this floor display unit supporting some Bauer titles over the last week – offering a call out for the special edition of Woman’s Day especially. Given the limited shelf life of the special issue I can understand their focus on mass like this.
The first place I look when helping a newsagent address cash-flow issues in the business is the roster. Too often the roster is either done for convenience or for laziness: convenience to reduce owner time in the business or laziness because the roster never changes.
Identifying the daily labour cost in dollars focuses attention. Most newsagents find savings immediately on seeing the daily labour cost.
Every hour saved is a bottom line benefit to the business. While this places more pressure on the owners and or existing staff, the financial benefit is crucial – especially if the business is paying off debt.
If you don’t roster knowing your labour spend by day, work it out. Better still, use roster software which provides this.
FOOTNOTE: Here is the problem with a post like this: it is boring. While rostering to a budget is an important newsagency management task, it is something the majority of newsagents do not do … to their cost.
Passion is powerful in retail. Get a staff member who is passionate about something you sell and sales will benefit. Offer products that connect with the passions of customers and you are certain to see good sales. Passion is powerful.
It is important to look at product selection as a marketing activity. You can define your business and determine who you market to through your product selections.
Take this AC/DC jigsaw. We have people who love AC/DC who now love us even more for sourcing this jigsaw puzzle for them. It is especially timely with the band in the news in recent times.
Following the passions of customers and employees is one way you can explore beyond the traditional for your business.
We had a stunning day yesterday, especially in card sales. A success yesterday and in the lead up to Mother’s Day is the T2 tea set and tea prize one of our customers will will. Available as part of a Hallmark promotion, this prize pack has been popular.
The real test of a shop-drawn prize is the number of people prepared to complete an entry form. The tea set has been one of the most popular prizes we have had on offer.
Footnote: It was a thrill to give first-time and infrequent visitors a voucher on their receipt to bring them back.
Today will be huge for many newsagents as people scramble for Mother’s Day cards and gifts. Have a great trading day and enjoy it.
Since most newsagents carry the Adventure Time magazine (from Gotch) and some have Adventure Time licenced products, I thought I’d share some insights I gained to an unexpected type of shopper who purchases Adventure Time products.
Around a year ago I noticed males – late teens through to mid twenties – purchasing this title. It is those in their twenties which surprised me. It’s a thing, an interest by a group outside what you would consider to be the target age for the title.
Read about this at Hero Complex. There are plenty of similar articles online that explore the fascination among adults for Adventure Time, especially males in their early twenties.
If you are game to go deeper, read a Reddit forum where adult fans talk of their love for Adventure Time. It includes this:
23 here, Simon Petrikov episodes are frightening. I have a grandmother with Alzheimers and I can’t watch those episodes without thinking of her. Holly Jolly Secrets’ Petrikov monologue is probably the most powerful moment of Adventure Time so far.
Take a look at where you have Adventure Time and consider what else you could do to reach more customers. This is an opportunity.
While it can be challenging getting to a deeper understanding of all the magazine we sell, there are many we could achieve more with as a result of a deeper understanding of their appeal.
A newsagent colleague called me yesterday with news the newsagency received Wedding Styling Handbook issue #1 for the fourth time. First time around their received 4 copies and sold all. Two months later they received 5 copies and returned 3. Four months later they received 3 and returned 3. This title was done after the first two go rounds. The newsagency shelves were full. They have an excellent range of wedding titles. How long will Bauer continue to hit this newsagent with extra stock of this title? As you would expect, the newsagent early returned the title.
Check if you have been sent issue #1 of Wedding Styling Handbook. Consider early returning – check your sales data.
Bauer says it wants to do the MPA magazine new supply rule trial to help newsagents. Maybe they should spend their time helping not sending the same issue of this title over and over.
What Bauer has done here makes a mockery of their MPA submission and goes to the distrust newsagents have for them. It makes newsagents less competitive than supermarkets as it takes, time, space and cash which supermarkets do not have to spend.
I like the placement of the stand promoting the James Patterson kids book Middle School next to the newspaper stand at an airport outlet in Melbourne. Patterson has been in town this week – interest should be strong. I know newsagents who would love to have easy access to new book releases.
While independent newsagents can access books, it is challenging to organise for new titles and on good terms.
The ACCC advised yesterday that the MPA is seeking to vary arrangements for the pilot to test magazine supply rule changes.
Click here to see the MPA letter. Click here to see the annexure. This latest correspondence from the MPA does not trial magazine supply changes that enable newsagents to be competitive with others. The concerns raised in my video earlier this week have not been addressed.
This week I am looking five cores of today’s newsagency. I have selected five that relate to every retail newsagency, or should at least. Each core is important because of traffic and that mastering it defines our business in the eyes of these we serve.
Core #5: customer service
Customer service can be the single most important defining differentiator for a local newsagency. It is mission critical. It is also hard work.
Good customer service is a whole of business activity, requiring unrelenting commitment from everyone in the business.
Here are some tips on delivering good customer service:
The purpose of this series is to remind newsagents what sits at the core of today’s newsagency business. And I am talking about today. Tomorrow may be different. Hat we need to do right now is manage for today to achieve the best we can with today’s traffic.
I am not including tobacco and lotteries in this list as not every newsagency has these.
Who did well for us in the royal baby magazine stakes yesterday. Of the four titles competing, Who was the surprising winner as I expected New Idea and Woman’s Day to be the winners. I’d be interested to hear from others how the various royal baby related titles performed.
In Brisbane yesterday I saw Lovatts puzzle titles discounted at the Airport for those purchasing two from their Handy Range from the target range. While I understand price offers like this in a transit location, I don’t like them for the newsagency.
The ANF appears confused about its support for the Rewardle loyalty program saying it is launching the program, then that it is not launching the program and then that it is launching the program. No wonder newsagents shake their heads in despair about this organisation.
Here is the headline of the ANF announcement on April 29:
ANF to launch nationwide rewards system for members
Here is the opening paragraph of the ANF statement from at around lunchtime May 6, 2015:
Re the announcement that the ANF is launching a rewards program Rewardle – this is not correct.
The image above is from an ANF email sent to newsagents later on May 6, 2015 – after the statement that it is not launching reward.
Maybe once the ANF has sorted out its position on Rewardle it could let newsagents know.
To me, this flip flopping is yet another reason for newsagents to stop supporting the ANF. Paying fees to them only encourages them.
The ANF needs to explain its relationship with Rewardle. If it is commercial, if the ANF is making a commission, it ought to disclose this to newsagents.
The ASX website has an announcement from reward (ASX code RXH) indicating that the ANF has entered into a Channel Partnership Agreement. That sounds commercial. the announcement notes that the Rewardle was introduced to the ANF by a leading national publisher. Nothing wrong with that except that this ought to have been disclosed by the ANF if it is committed to transparency – along with details on any payments they ANF is to receive.
I wish I did not have to write this post. I wish the ANF was transparent, did not flip flop and did thoroughly engage products and services before it launches them to newsagents. It’s easy to get it right. It takes poor leadership to get it this wrong.
On Rewardle itself, it will suit some newsagents but not others. Our channel is already awash with loyalty offers such as those funded and run by Bauer Media, John Sands and Hallmark and several other suppliers plush those run within newsagency marketing groups such as Nextra, TLC and newsXpress and then there are the many loyalty offers run by newsagents from the traditional points based programs through to the discount voucher front-end loyalty I have discussed.
Newsagents need to research carefully any loyalty program to ensure its appropriateness to the needs of their businesses. They need to ask whether the proposed program offers the point of difference they want and whether it engages deeply within their business. I do wonder if the ANF has looked at Rewardle carefully and considered all of the alternatives. I suspect not.
If you think I am writing this because I have a competitive offer you would be wrong. What my newsagency software offeres is different to Rewardle – I would not compare them.
This week I am looking five cores of today’s newsagency. I have selected five that relate to every retail newsagency, or should at least. Each core is important because of traffic and that mastering it defines our business in the eyes of these we serve.
Core #4: local community connection
Our local community is important to us and we are important to our local community.
In a survey of newsagents several years ago, the local community connection was considered the most important USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of newsagents. Whether this is true for your business or not, I bet your local community connection is important to you – even if it is not the most important factor.
If your newsagency is not locally connected you may not be seen as local and as locally valuable as could be the case.
Here are my tips on boosting the local connection:
It is one thing to say you are locally connected and another entirely to live a local connection. My advice is for you to take it seriously, to actively engage and to make a difference to your community.
The purpose of this series is to remind newsagents what sits at the core of today’s newsagency business. And I am talking about today. Tomorrow may be different. Hat we need to do right now is manage for today to achieve the best we can with today’s traffic.
I am not including tobacco and lotteries in this list as not every newsagency has these.
While we have a new issue of Woman’s Day and a refreshed New Idea covering the birth of royal baby, UK magazine Hello is also out with its coverage of the birth and the baby. I suspect Hello will be more interesting to some customers. I see many shoppers purchase Hello for royal coverage. It has a reputation for a style and level of coverage on subjects such as this which is spectacular. The difference compared to local product is due to the much bigger audience in the UK where Hello is published.
Being a good newsagent we will promote all royal baby titles together and let our customers decide.
Here is a video I shot Monday this week to explain what I think newsagents need to know about the trial of new magazine supply rules proposed by three magazine publishers. It’s a long video but brings to the view concerns about the facts. Please watch it.
In the video you are provides quotes from documents and links to publicly available documents.
Click here to see the minutes of the ACCC conference as released today by the ACCC.
This week I am looking five cores of today’s newsagency. I have selected five that relate to every retail newsagency, or should at least. Each core is important because of traffic and that mastering it defines our business in the eyes of these we serve.
Core #3: stationery
There was a time when newsagents dominated stationery sales in Australia. This should be the case today as we are the best positioned businesses to serve people buying stationery for home, local businesses and local community groups. We are the best local business selling stationery.
Sure we may be a little more expensive – but our service is more personal, thorough and trusted. Too often we try and compete on price while ignoring the opportunities of our points of difference.
Despite recent sales falls, stationery traffic and revenue remain important in your average newsagency. This is why I say it is a core product category.
I say we can do more to make stationery more valuable. We can do this in a number of ways:
How you approach stationery is one way you define your newsagency in the eyes of those who shop in newsagencies. The more you disconnect from expectations the more you risk not being identified as to what people expect.
The purpose of this series is to remind newsagents what sits at the core of today’s newsagency business. And I am talking about today. Tomorrow may be different. Hat we need to do right now is manage for today to achieve the best we can with today’s traffic.
I am not including tobacco and lotteries in this list as not every newsagency has these.
This photo shows a new approach in a Coles supermarket to newspapers and magazines. This stand is located inside the main door with another near a rear checkout and more magazines located in their traditional magazine department.
This front entrance placement serves the shopper not going deeper into the business, the type of shopper who may usually have purchased these top selling everyday titles from the newsagency a few doors away.
If your newsagency is near a Coles, check whether they have made any changes like this and consider whether you should respond to ensure the relevance of your offer of top selling magazines and newspapers.
While it frustrates me to see what Coles has done here, it is competition – we have to compete more effectively.