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

Author: Mark Fletcher

The changing newspaper model – selling club membership ahead of news

timespushNowhere are the changes in the news distribution model more apparent than in The Times in the UK today.

Across a two-page spread the publisher makes the case for migrating consumers from print to digital. Today’s ad is not the first.

Central to the pitch is that it is about much more than news. It’s about belonging to a club with exclusive benefits and having access to the content you want updated live without the need to wait for the old delivery method to catch up.

Newsagents who wonder about the future of print ought to look at this ad carefully. It is a newspaper publisher making a pitch that is directly competitive to all involved in print newspaper distribution and sales. This is the publisher investing in their future.

If you look at the membership benefits and how they are pitched, the news itself is secondary. What an extraordinary shift!

Newspaper publishers are trying similar offers in Australia but they do not feel as structured and clear in focus as is this offer from The Times.

We must run our newsagency businesses with zero reliance on print newspapers and make the most of them every day we have them.

Click on the image to see the ad in detail.

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Media disruption

Pushing newspaper readers online

mesonlineThe Times here in the UK today has a double page ad promoting online over digital. The comparison table makes the case for the value in a £6 for the digital package versus a £10 spend for the print product. The irony is the use of the print product to push people from it.

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Media disruption

Standing out in the crowded macaron space

macaronsMacarons are everywhere these days. These once hard to find tasty treats are being sold in many different businesses. This is why I liked the retailer I saw in London yesterday – they created a retail space that made the product the hero, that made their macarons have a sense of difference over the macarons you could find elsewhere. The gold cave fit out sets high expectations.

If our business is average in its layout and look shoppers will expect an average experience. If, on the other hand it is different and we own the difference, shoppers will expect a different experience, one they are more likely to remember.

This is crucial in retail today.

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retail

Newspaper / water promotion abused at WH Smith

lazypromoI witnessed first-hand the abuse of a newspaper / bottled water promotion at a WH Smith outlet in London yesterday. The customer in front of me wanted to purchase a bottle of water and some other items. The sales person said if they purchased the Daily Telegraph the water was free. The customer didn’t ant The Daily Telegraph. The staff member scanned the newspaper and set it aside – making the water free. I purchased the copy of the newspaper already scanned as I wanted water too. From an audit perspective I wonder if that’s two sales or one – as there was only one reader.

All these games being used to drive newspaper sales dilute the value of the newspaper and thereby dilute the value of advertising.

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Newspapers

A gift shop for guys

malegiftshopMenKind is a network of more than forty gift shops catering to male shoppers and those who buy for males. Their range is a mixture of funks, tech and sports. Close to half the stock I saw is available from suppliers in Australia. While many Aussie newsagents say it’s hard to source gifts for males MenKind is a business that is doing it well and packaging it in a smart way.

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Gifts

Plenty of discount magazines

cheapmagsThere is no shortage of bagged discount magazines in the UK. I wonder if the publishers can pull back from this. In not, if the titles are consistently discounted, then it’s no discount at all.

I’d rather sell a premium product people want for the product itself than as time filler that’s cheap.

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magazines

Newsagent wellbeing survey – how are you doing?

I have created a six-question newsagent wellbeing survey to gather information about how you see yourself and to get newsagents thinking about their personal wellbeing. Please click here to take the survey. I’ll publish the results here some time next week. The purpose of the survey is as much about you thinking about these things as it is about sharing your thoughts.

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Newsagency management

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: blow bubbles out the front of your shop

bubblesOutside Hamleys toy shop on Regent Street in London yesterday a guy stoop on a podium making bubbles. He did this with a smile and some pizzaz for ten minutes and went back inside the shop to another location to demonstrate something else they sell in-store.

I am sure some people entered the shop because of the bubbles.

There are plenty of things newsagents sell that could be demonstrated in this way. We could bounce super balls, play with kinetic sand, squeeze goo, build jigsaws, doodle on a white board, doodle on a massive pad, sing along to sound cards, hug a bear.

If you don’t have products you could demonstrate as effectively as the bubbles, source them. Choose products specifically to enable you to play out the front of your shop. Choose products that speak to how you want people to view your newsagency.

If you do decide to demonstrate products out the front of your shop, make sure that the in-store experience will meet expectations set by what people see out the front.

I loved what I saw at Hamleys yesterday. The theatre out the front of the store was matched by plenty more inside.

Footnote: I decided last week to write about being interactive with what we sell. The Hamleys experience offered a perfect photo opportunity to illustrate my point.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: disappear from your business

What would happen in your newsagency business if you didn’t turn up for work for a day or a few days?  I appreciate that for many newsagents the shop would not open as they run the business alone or almost alone. My question is for the others, the newsagents who are not rostered on as rust but who turn up each day to run the business.

What would happen if you disappeared without planning or notice for a few days? Would the business continue to function? Would it miss you?

If your business would miss you if you disappeared for a few days you have a problem. Your newsagency should have processes and policies in place that allow it to operate as you would like without you being there.

I think the newsagency channel has too many managers. I am certain we have more than our competitors. Petrol, convenience, supermarkets, department stores and other corporate retailers a lower ratio of in-store senior management cost per $100,000 in sales revenue than your average newsagency. For our higher investment in in-store management we have less to show for it.

Put in place in your business structures and processes so that the business runs well with you attuning a few hours a week.  Use the free time to push the business way beyond where it is at today.

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Management tip

Electronic cigarettes big in the UK

eciglondonThe presence of electronic cigarettes in retail in the UK is big, very big, compared to Australia. There are specialist retailers like the VIP outlet in the photo as well as placement of e-digs in existing retailers. Plus there is plenty being spent on outdoor advertising and sport sponsorships – amid controversy. Tighter restrictions on electronic cigarettes in Australia currently reduce the value of this level of investment. What has surprised me the most in the UK is the stand alone e-cog retail businesses. I wonder if that is more about education as this stage of the product’s life.

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Tobacco sales

Exclusive pricing for magazines in the UK

magsxcltescoIn the UK over the last couple of days I have seen several examples of exclusive pricing of magazines for supermarkets. In the photo are two examples: InStyle and Cosmopolitan – the mini version in each case. The publishers have printed on the cover EXCLUSIVE TO TESCO. This is disappointing to see as it’s a hard position from which to retreat. It also does not make sense for publishers have favourite retail channels.

Kind of related: the Tesco share price has fallen to an 11 year low on the back of poor performance. Investment sage Warren Buffet was moved to say his investment in the company was a huge mistake.

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magazines

Newsagent wellbeing survey

I have created a six-question newsagent wellbeing survey to gather information about how you see yourself and to get newsagents thinking about their personal wellbeing. Please click here to take the survey. I’ll publish the results here some time next week.

I know of some newsagents who feel trapped in their businesses and unable to make the right choices for their personal wellbeing. There are other newsagents, though, in similar circumstances with little time and limited resources who do take better care of themselves.

The purpose of the survey is as much about you thinking about these things as it is about sharing your thoughts.

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Newsagency management

A wonderful newsagency customer service story

A shopper on Friday wanted a copy of Vogue US. As we had sold our, our team member pointed the shopper to the Nextra store in the centre. Half an hour later the shopper returned, thanking our team member for the advice even though they did not have the title. She purchased Vogue Australia from us in appreciation of the assistance.

It’s terrific when a customer lets you know your help has been appreciated.

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Customer Service

Promoting Better Homes and Gardens Puzzle Book

bhgpuzzleWe are promoting the Better Homes and Gardens Puzzle Book with multiple locations including this placement next to Better Homes and Gardens and next to our weekly titles. Next to weeklies is an especially good location for crossword titles in any newsagency. I’d recommend newsagents check where they have the title.

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magazines

If only we could leverage the James Hird story

There has to be a weekly magazine cover story in the James Hird / Essendon supplements story/saga. This is the kind of thing The Bulletin would have covered and we would have used it to drive incremental sales. Come on Aussie weekly magazine publishers – find an angle and use it. Even a one-shot promising never before published details. This is a topic that’s crying out to drive magazine sales in Victoria and probably elsewhere.

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magazines

A single drop of long on-sale magazine titles not appreciated by newsagents

magspaceWith more and more newsagents reducing space allocated to magazines newsagencies are no longer geared to warehouse stock sent to last through a long on-sale. Whereas in the past holding bundles of stock for three months was acceptable, today it is not.

Technology should be used to apply product based on sales through the on-sale. Publishers will say this is not viable for them.

My message to publishers is that the model of supplying to us stock to hold for three months through an on-sale is not viable for us even if all supplied product will eventually sell. Today’s efficient newsagency does not have the luxury of the space required.

I am more likely to cut off long on-sale titles supplied in this way.

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magazine distribution

What’s your price for A2 cardboard?

lincraftcardIn a Lincraft store in Sydney earlier this week I noticed they sell their A2 cardboard for $2.49. This is in a business which promotes itself as being a discount outlet offering good value.

I’m sure there are Lincraft shoppers who would say that the same product in a newsagency would be more expensive when, in fact, most newsagents would have exactly the same product at a lower price.

My questions today is what is your price for A2 cardboard? Anyone asking me is told $2.20 is a fair price for a quality product. depending on your location and other overheads you could go higher as I know a couple of newsagents do.

The difference between newsagency businesses and Lincraft is that we do not promote ourselves as being a discount business. If shoppers are to believe the marketing of the two types of businesses we should be more expensive. But we are not.

So, should we price to meet shopper expectations? If we did this with the cardboard and other products we’d increase our prices, make more money and probably not lose any sales.

Newsagents who price low to show they are competitive are often giving away margin unnecessarily in my view. try it out with your cardboard. Raise your prices 10% and see what happens over three months. If unit sales are the same, raise them again.

There are some items people purchase from you because of convenience. These are the items which will carry a higher price. When pricing them, think about it as subsidising other items off of which you do not make what you want.

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Newsagency management

Appeal to foodies with Feast

foodiemagsFeast magazine continues to receive excellent support on SBS, making it a food title of interest – thanks to consistent promotion on each issue. We use it as a title to appeal to real foodies and those interested in the food journey. We make sure the full cover is on show and place the title with food magazines as well as featuring it with newspapers or at the counter. It responded to these off-location placements.

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magazines

Why we should support Slam Skateboarding

slammagSlam Skateboarding yesterday sent this tweet to its 24,400 followers on Twitter – naming newsagents as the place to purchase the latest issue which is on sale today. If you’re on Twitter, re-tweet their tweet. On your business facebook page promote this issue with the image they have used. In your magazine rack – make this the hero title of the section. They support us – we support them.

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magazines

The smoke and mirrors of Victorian Government’s Small Business Day

smallbusdayvicThis Saturday, October 4, is Small Business Day in Victoria. Yipee – I can hear you cheering from here. We Victorians are being hounded with TV ads telling us to shop in and support small businesses.

I am sure there are some in the current government who will point to this as support for small business. Such a claim would be disappointing and not the full story.

The best way any government helps any constituency is through policy as reflected in actions of the state legislature through to the actions of government departments as directed by their ministers.

The current Victorian government, like its predecessor, has presided over a period of almost no useful support for small business.

Take Myki, the public transport ticketing system. The current and last government saw small businesses sidelined in the sale of Myki tickets. Whereas previously newsagents were the key retail outlets offering these tickets for low but reasonable margin, since the launch of Myki 7-Eleven is the prime partner. This is small business policy in action.

Next time a Victorian politician claims they support small business, ask them how in legislation and department actions, ask them for evidence. I struggle to think of any.

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Newsagency challenges
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