Even though the Bruce Jenner interview has not aired in Australia, it has received plenty of media coverage and is being discussed considerably online. We have had Who prominently displayed and this has resulted in incremental business for us. It’s not too late for you to do this.
Fairfax trashed a terrific ANZAC themed cover for The Sunday Age only to ruin it with a post-it note ad promoting subscriptions stuck over part of the image. Shame on them for trashing otherwise good ANZAC coverage.
The only reason to stick these ads on the paper is to convert shoppers to digital and, possibly, home delivery.
Standing in front of your newsagency or at the entrance to the shop, how many messages are you pitching to your customers? Do these messages contradict each other? Are the messages connected in any way? Could your customers be confused?
How we dress our shops is one of our most important marketing activities. From product placement to displays to price offers to posters to traffic pathways … how we dress our shop is a vital marketing activity.
The photo is from one of several Bath & Body Works shops I visited in the US a couple of weeks ago. Their messaging was clear and co-ordinated. This is somewhat easier for them as a relatively narrow category retailer. In today’s newsagency this is challenging as we are more general in the categories we pitch.
Greeting card, magazine and stationery products are colourful in themselves. we tend to enhance this with signage and other collateral supporting each, adding to the colour volume. Next we pepper the store with posters, displays and signs. No wonder some promotions do not cut through – shoppers cannot see them for all the visual noise.
I think a less is more approach is appropriate. Cut back on your noise. Be clear and focussed in your messaging. Provide a visually calmer shopping experience to encourage your shoppers to enjoy your space more.
Look at the messages you controlling those in front of your shop or just inside your doors. Count the different messages. Cut back and track the impact this makes.
Visual noise for the sake of noise is not a good strategy.
Early returning of magazines is the returning to the distributor of titles prior to their recall date. While you can use your newsagency software to suggest early return numbers the day of receipt of the stock, my advice if space permits is you undertake this activity from the shop floor – giving all stock and opportunity to perform.
Here are my tips for early returns:
Those who say newsagents should not early return are ignorant of the costs of magazine space and the factors in today’s newsagents which make early returning an essential tool of professional newsagency management.
We have some copies of the latest issue of Diabetic Living placed with newsapapers and it is working. This is a title people will purchase on impulse. I figured next to newspapers makes sense to leverage that opportunity.
Had some comments today about the poor taste of the cover of Zoo magazine. I suspect the couple who complained sought the magazine out specifically to make the complaint. I agreed with them – they were happy with that.
I am thinking of newsagents touched by war today. While ANZAC Day commemorates a horror, it is also a day for reflection on other battles in pursuit of what we hold dear.
I have heard newsagents talk of family loss through war and how this affected the business. I offer this post today as a placement for people to share their stories.
I hate hearing about avoidable employee theft in a newsagency. While not all employee theft is avoidable, plenty is. This typically happens in a newsagency where record keeping is not as good as it could be, where all cash brought into the business is not completely balanced against goods sold.
Every cent of revenue in a newsagency ought to be recorded in the newsagency software at the time of the sale and this ought to be balanced back through the P&L to cost of goods, back to supplier invoices or records.
Take lotteries, all instant tickets and online sales ought to be reconciled to lottery sales in the software. The revenue ought to match. If it does;t you have a problem.
Ir is not acceptable to say it is too hard to balance. It is easy to balance when you have people who are committed to serving the business and those who own it.
Too often, business owners who find it too hard to balance later discover theft for which they only have themselves to blame.
In my trip to the US a week ago I saw several more lottery product kiosks. I have now seen these in five different states and in a variety of situations including in-store in supermarkets and convenience stores as well as in public areas in transit locations.
The unit in the photo sells lottery tickets as well as scratch tickets. While there is a warning about customers needing to be 18 or older, there is no mechanism as far as I could see to properly monitor or check the age of customers. I am surprised by this given the influence conservatives have over governments in the US.
These lottery kiosks and the expanding use of Apps to sell lottery products in Australia present a greater risk to newsagent lottery revenue than whether supermarket chains sell lottery products through their petrol outlets.
The ACCC conference to consider a trial of new magazine supply rules held yesterday in response to a request I submitted on behalf of newsXpress was well attended. Major magazine publishers attended along with the MPA, lawyers, the ANF, VANA and NANA, several newsagents and a rep from POS Solutions.
While the main conference room was at the ACCC offices in Sydney, there were video links to Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Darwin. There were six newsXpress newsagents who participated from five states and four independent newsagents. Nextra, The Lucky Charm, Supanews and Newspower were not represented.
This conference was a first for our channel. I cannot recall newsagents ever having this type of opportunity to speak directly to the ACCC on the issue of the magazine supply model or to confront magazine publishers and distributors directly on the damage to newsagency businesses of the magazine supply model.
I applaud those newsagents who participated. Our channel is full of people who complain and lacking people prepared to act rather than complain. Participating yesterday meant a day out of the business and being put in a situation which, for some, was confronting as you are face to face with suppliers which historically have done more to harm our channel than most others.
It is disappointing that associations presenting newsagents have failed to achieve this previously. Newsagents participating yesterday demonstrated that they can speak confidently and personally about the matter without getting too bogged down in minutia.
The conference went for two hours with around half in attendance speaking on the proposed magazine supply rule changes.
As I had requested the conference I was invited to make an opening statement. Click here to see the submission I made on behalf of newsXpress – my opening statement was a summary of this submission. I encourage all newsagents to read this as it summarises the concerns I have with the proposed magazine supply rule changes. Also read the MPA submission to which I was responding.
MPA and Bauer Media representatives at the conference said that the concerns raised were ill-founded in that newsagents would have control over supply and would be able to undertake early returns. My response was that if this is the case then why is it not reflected in the proposed supply rules put to the ACCC for its consideration.
There is a disconnect between what the MPA stated at the conference and what is in its submission to the ACCC for the magazine supply trial. I hope the ACCC considers this. It is covered by my submission to the ACCC.
There was considerable discussion about the failure of the magazine distributors to use the sales data provided by newsagents to set supply figures. In discussing data, a Bauer representative commented that there were many newsagency software packages, inferring working with them was difficult. I pointed out that they, Bauer, played a direct role in approving each newsagency software package for us.
Several newsagents challenged the ANF endorsement of the proposed new supply rule trial and that there had been no consultation. To this, the ANF CEO said there had been consultation citing an article in National Newsagent and a mention in an email to its members.
Had the ANF done its job it would have hosted national meetings where any newsagent could comment on the proposed trial. Indeed, the MPA could have organised such consultation. Instead, it relied on casual discussions with a select group of people and the submitted to the ACCC that it had consulted widely with all stakeholders.
I was given an opportunity toward the end of the ACCC conference to revisit some points made by others. At this time I asked the MPA if they had sought to understand what newsagents who are growing magazine sales had done/ The MPA representative said they had not and that it was not part of this trial.
My view is that this trial is about researching efficiency gain opportunities for magazine distributors and publishers. Those goals are wrapped up to look like there is a benefit for newsagents.
The new magazine supply model outlined by the MPA in their submission to the ACCC does not provide newsagents with any significant benefits, it will not make us more competitive, it will not stop oversupply, it will not make magazines more profitable for us, it will not stop newsagents reducing their commitment to magazines.
If the MPA did research newsagents who are growing magazine sales they would discover learnings which would be of more commercial benefit to the newsagency channel and magazine publishers.
Yesterday’s conference was another step in the process of consideration by the ACCC of the application by the MPA for authorisation for a trial of new magazine supply rules. The ACCC will consider yesterday’s conference, written submissions including the one I linked to above and any other submissions between now and mid May.
This is a vitally important matter for newsagents. If you have an opinion about the magazine supply model you need for magazines to be viable in your newsagency, I urge you to read the MPA application, my submission and consider engaging yourself. The more newsagents who engage the better regardless of your position.
There were some good discussions outside the ACCC meeting which gave me confidence that newsagents have got attention on this matter. Discussions over the next couple of weeks will demonstrate if progress can be made outside of the framework of what has been put to the ACCC on this.
We have a cute range of dogs at the counter on offer for pulse purchase. We have done this before with terrific success. The value is more than sales revenue – they are noticed by kids and adults, bringing a smile to many faces. Who can say no to an adorable dog?
I’m not sure when this happened: Ikea is in the social stationery business in a big way with colour-themed ranges. Their offer is a bit like Smiggle for a slightly older than Smuggle age group. Their n’store display and packaging is identical to what we can see in Coles right now for similar products.
Officeworks has changed its parcel delivery service and rebranded it Mailman.
The photo shows a Mailman kiosk in a Sydney Officeworks outlet. The Mailman website makes using the service look easy. The website and the kiosk combined encourage a feeling of trust and this is important in any parcel service.
Newsagents offering parcel services should research Mailman so they can be aware of this competitor and how it compares to their own offer. Look at the pricing, logistics and infrastructure.
Check out this video by Officeworks about Mailman.
Check out this video by someone not connected with Officeworks about Mailman.
It looks like Officeworks has invested considerably in Mailman, ensuring it is a force to be reckoned with.
In a Woolworths supermarket in Sydney yesterday I saw odd placement of Mother’s Day cards. Next to a high-end Papyrus card on the left they have cheap price-focused cards while on the right is an large expensive ($12.95) card. I saw this in several places on the stand.
Newsagents supporting the high-end Papyrus products with thoughtful displays commensurate with the quality of that brand ought to be frustrated to see how it is being treated here at this Woolworths.
Too often suppliers ask (some even demand) newsagents treat their brand a certain way, with respect, while allowing supermarkets or other mass retailers get away with disrespect of the same product from the brand. This does not make sense to me.
A brand requiring a certain level or quality of treatment by newsagents ought to receive the same level of treatment in other retail outlets.
This stand in use in a news and convenience outlet at Adelaide airport is terrific. It uses four sides and four strips between each side. It carries plenty of product ideal for this location: newspapers, drinks, snack food and some magazines. It also has a digital screen promoting products available in store.
Newsagents in the convenience space might like this stand.
Like many newsagents we have kept premium pens off the shop floor for fear of theft. Recently, we moved them to next to our everyday pen display. Sales have increased as a result. We think this has occurred because people have had easier access to browse the range and because they see pens they might have otherwise missed.
Our first additional sales were almost immediately on making the move. We were thrilled.
Sure, we are concerned about the prospect of increased theft. However, we have more expensive items on the shop floor elsewhere in the business and spot checks indicate product heft is not a big issue for us. We will monitor the situation and move if necessary.
The space behind the counter has been given over the product which lends itself more to this location placement.
The moves I am writing about here are part of the never-ending dance today’s newsagency business needs to give shoppers a fresh experience and to provide us with opportunities to explore new product categories in spaces previously occupied in the old set-and-forget approach to newsagency management.
While our main Mother’s Day card display in on the lease line facing out into the shopping mall, we have placed a selection of Mother’s Day cards on a stand facing shoppers as they leave our main magazine aisle.
I think it is important we place a range of Mother’s Day cards deep in the business, away from the main Mother’s Day offer and facing non a non greeting card traffic thoroughfare. I think it is from this type of location we are more likely to make the pitch to the shopper who has not visited to purchase a Mother’s Day card.
I encourage newsagents to check their placement of Mother’s Day cards. See if you can drive impulse purchases with this secondary location approach.
Fairfax yesterday covered up editorial content on page one of the Australian Financial Review newspaper with a post-it type as promoting a subscription deal. It is sad that Fairfax covers up stories with advertising, especially house ads.
It has been a tough day for many newsagents in NSW affected by the shocking weather in Sydney and up the coast. I’ve seen photos of dreadful damage in-store and on the streets (rivers) in front. What is wonderful is the cheerfulness of newsagents in the face of very challenging situations. The resilience in our channel is a strength.
My thoughts are with those experiencing a tough time as a result of the harsh weather.
Newsagents in Queensland received an email advising GNS is closed Monday for an Anzac Day holiday – even though it is not a public holiday. It turns out the day off was negotiated at the time of an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.
Small business newsagents and other retailers operating a Westpac banking agency within in their retail business heard in a phone hookup with Westpac yesterday that they are to lose their agency business.
Westpac has contracted with Australia Post to take over local Westpac agency operations.
This is a blow to these locally owned newsagencies and other small retail businesses. Losing this vital revenue is challenge enough, that they are losing it to a government agency is leading to anger. In several cases I have heard of the Westpac agency is moving to a government owned Post Office and not a LPO.
I am not affected in my newsagencies. If I was, I’d advise my customers that Westpac is putting profit ahead of small business and if it was being taken by a government owned Post Office I’d note that the federal government is is putting their profit ahead of good small business policy.
Newsagents in rural and regional situations are more affected than in the city as this is where Westpac agencies are more likely to be located.
In the phone hook-up, Westpac advised that retailers would have around a year an a half to adjust prior to losing an agency. One newsagent I heard from yesterday advised that in their case they have have been given just four months.
Westpac has advised of an ex-gratia payment to facilitate a make-good in the stores losing the agency. However, from what I understand, the amount mentioned is considerably less than what such make-good would reasonably cost in many situations.
Different newsagents affected by this move will have different reactions. I am writing about it today to give people a place to comment an to bring public attention to the Westpac / Australia Post deal.
Anyone affected and unhappy with the Westpac proposal could take the matter up with a local disputes tribunal list VCAT or QCAT. They could also seek mediation through their local Small Business Commissioner.
Promoting the Star Wars Itty Bittys from Hallmark with the Star Wars part series is a no brainer move to us even though on first glance you could say they appeal to different shoppers. Our experience is they appeal to the same shopper. A guy who collects all things Star Wars will happily add the Hallmark Itty Bitty plush to his collection.
Rolling Stone and MOJO next to each other will perform much better than away thanks to the Madonna cover story on each. Investing time to get placement right drives better sales. We can encourage shoppers to purchase more than they intended.
We are promoting the new Win a Car competition from Pacific Magazines in three locations at the moment including on the lease line facing into the mall and this placement in our women’s magazine aisle. This popular competition drives sales and entries.
Since it is not running in supermarkets I encourage newsagents to get behind the new Win a Car competition from Pacific Magazines.
Be Your Own Boss on SBS2 is an excellent program for anyone in business to watch. I rate it as better than Shark Tank and other reality shows where investors seek funds. It is more practical and offering more valuable business insights to the viewer.
This show is particularly relevant to newsagents as they reinvent their businesses.
Produced by the BBC, this is a TV program I highly recommend. It’s available on SBS on demand.