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

Author: Mark Fletcher

If you rip cash out of your newsagency…

The ATO is targeting small businesses in a clamp down on the cash economy according to media reports over the weekend and today.

Using a range of tools and benchmarks, the ATO plans to make the point that those ripping cash out undetected will be detected.

In the 1990s newsagents were in target of the ATO because of a reported systematic approach to under reporting tax. There was a meeting at the ATO office in Box Hill where AFP, SRO, ATO and other government departments were represented in an investigation of the systematic approach. While nothing public came of that meeting, the activity engaged in appeared to disappear for a time. That’s what happens when there is public awareness around an investigation.

I was not a target of the 1990s investigation. My involvement was to bring people to the room who could explain how other software could be used to commit tax fraud.

If you take cash out of your business be aware that the ATO has a range of means through which to detect this. The likelihood of being caught is greater today than in the 1990s.

17 likes
Ethics

Products can be more important than the newsagency shingle in attracting shoppers

bigwatchThese oversize watches, standing a metre tall, have worked a treat attracting shoppers, getting them thinking of the business differently than would be usual for a newsagency shingle.

The watches are a perfect example of the value of using products as a shingle with which to attract shoppers than the shingle itself.

People smile when they see the watches. Kids drag their parents in.

The shingle Newsagent or Newsagency is burdened by history and the performance of others whereas these oversized watches represent fun and get people in without the bias or expectation of the shingle.

Sometimes, what we stock and how and where we place it can me more important than the name of the business stuck above our front door.

These big watches say something about the newsagency that could not be easily pitched in marketing.

Smart buying and good merchandising are activities we need to view as an extension of our business marketing.

8 likes
Fun

Some newsagency customers frustrated with bonus DVD coupon

misseddvdWhile I understand the purpose of the bonus DVD coupon in the Sunday Herald Sun yesterday, the coupons is only of value if there are stocks of the DVDs in circulation. I felt for the customer who said they have been to ten newsagencies that morning, four were closed, looking for the one DBD they had missed in the series. There’s got to be a better supply model. It starts with retail newsagents having absolute control over their supply through a direct relationship with the publisher.

It’s terrific that this is a newsagency focussed promotion. Let’s work on the back end to make it work better for newsagents and customers in the future – to maximise sales.

11 likes
Newspapers

Dreadful promotion of homes+ by Coles

coleshomesplusBauer Media better not be paying Coles a premium to promote the launch issue of homes+ magazine. On the weekend I noticed this floor display unit placed at the checkout which is locked and used a clutter storage space in a busy inner city Coles location. It’s probably the worst location in this particular Coles supermarket.

5 likes
Competition

Promoting Doctor Who partwork

drwholaunchWith Doctor Who media coverage and social media interest at fever pitch we are making the most of the first issue of the Doctor Who partwork with placement in the aisle where Doctor Who titles are usually located. We are also pitching this launch issue in two other locations.

This launch is helping with and benefiting from all our other Doctor Who products.

4 likes
magazines

The easy to merchandise gift with purchase

magsgfgiftThe pendant Peppermayo pendant with the latest issue of Girlfriend magazine is the ideal gift with purchase. It does not challenge space or make the pocket look untidy, it’s an ideal gift for those buying the title and it’s placed to enhance rather than detract from the cover. we have this issue in a couple of locations to leverage it.

5 likes
magazines

Men’s Health ideal for Father’s Day

manshfdayWe have Men’s Health magazine being pitched with Father’s Day cards by placing the Win a $5000 Shopping Spree stand next to our Father’s day card display at the front of the newsagency. the placement is worth more than this as magazine shoppers notice the Father’s Day cards as much as card shoppers notice the magazines.

2 likes
Gifts

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: embrace seasonal opportunities

fdseasonMajor seasons provide newsagents with excellent marketing opportunities.

Take Father’s Day. I’m told that more than 50% of Father’s Day cards will be purchased in newsagencies.

Our success with Father’s Day will depend on how we promote the opportunity inside and outside our businesses, the gifts we offer for add-on purchases and how we leverage the Father’s Day traffic for other purchases.

Your Father’s Day sales should be up this year on last. I’d suggest a 5% increase is reasonable. Hopefully, it will be considerably more.

While some newsagents will act more like agents and and probably have an average or worse year, others have been actively and aggressively promoting the season with a broader range of products than last year – chasing double digit growth. These latter newsagents are retailers.

With this season we will get new customers in our business and return visits from infrequent shoppers. Give them a reason to spend more this visit, give them a reason to come back, get their details for future marketing, show them yours is not a traditional newsagency they only visit for major seasons.

This Father’s Day season and other major seasons like it are an opportunity to reset how people see your newsagency. Embrace it. Use this season as a key marketing activity for your business.  However, you need to back it up with a genuinely different, exciting and memorable experience – one that works for you long beyond the season itself.

12 likes
marketing

Sunday newsagency management advice: manage customer accounts with care

The local newsagency is one of the few businesses where a customer can open an account without providing a personal guarantee or going through any form of credit check.

Too often I see newsagency businesses where there is little or no management of these accounts. Here are my suggestions for best practice customer account management:

  1. Have all customers complete an account application form with verified address details.
  2. Get from all account customers a copy of their driver’s licence showing their address. Keep this on file.
  3. If they are making a regular purchase, ask their first few transactions to be paid for at the time of purchase as good faith.
  4. If they are making a special order, request either a deposit or full up front payment if you are unable to return the goods they have requested.
  5. Request all orders be in writing so you have evidence of the order.
  6. Include an invoice with all goods supplied.
  7. Provide a statement monthly with your trading terms clearly indicated.
  8. Know what money you make on everything – accounts cost money and this needs to be considered if you are also giving an account customer a discount.

Tight account management sends a message to your customers and your employees about th professionalism of the business. The more professional you are the less likely anyone will steal from you.

9 likes
Management tip

Promote Time magazine with your weeklies

magstimewilliamsWe have placed this week’s Time magazine with the weeklies because of the Robin Williams cover story. Those most likely to purchase this issue on impulse would not go looking for it elsewhere in the magazine department – hence our tactical placement.

Tactical placement of a magazine title based on the cover story is the single most effective way to achieve incremental sales – more so than the billboards type display publishers prefer.

1 likes
magazines

Promoting The Saturday Paper and other circ. products to drive traffic

fossatpaperToday we are promoting The Saturday Paper on the lease line, facing into the mall along with the Herald Sun, the new Doctor Who partworks and the latest Better Homes and Gardens.

I setup the display to leverage interest in the Robin Williams story in The Saturday Paper. It’s a different take on a major story. I figured the poster is what would attract people. I then selected other products for the stand based on what a Saturday shopper could purchase.

This is not a permanent front of store display – just for this weekend. We change the front of our newsagency weekly.

4 likes
newsagency marketing

Beware of paying for likes, friends and links

With more newsagents relying on Google, Facebook, Twitter and other search engine and social media platforms to drive traffic, there his a temptation to get attention, numbers and followers by paying a service to achieve this for you. My advice – don’t! Paid for eyeballs are of no benefit to your business.

Paid for links to drive traffic to your blog or business website will be seen what what they are. Google and others will mark you down and your competitors will see how desperate you are to get attention.

The most important likes, friends, visits and links you can get are those achieved naturally and because of the good content you provide.

5 likes
Ethics

Newsagents infuriated by IPS supply of colouring books

ipscolourFairfax owned IPS has made a dreadful decision to scale out colouring books to newsagents. We can source similar quality colouring book products which will carry a 50% and more gross profit so there is no commercial sense for us to sell these titles on magazine margins.

IPS management is not responding. They need to as there are newsagents saying this move is the straw that has broken their back and they are planning on closing their IPS account.

Colouring books? Seriously?

The person who agreed to this ought to be put on notice.

To the supplier using IPS to distribute colouring books to newsagents: stop! We have excellent sources of supply of colouring books that enable jus to make 50% and more.

Using the magazine scale our model for poor margin product is wrong. Stop it.

23 likes
magazine distribution

Inside Out magazine still cheap at Coles

cheapinsideoutIf every newsagents needed a reason to quit Inside Out magazine it is the continued discounting being run for the title at Coles. Given how Coles operates this has to be a publisher initiative. The Exclusive to Coles bookmark in each copy tells shoppers to not purchase the title elsewhere so why should we stock it?

I don’t understand the ethics nor the social responsibility of this move. It seems dumb to me that a publisher deliberately and for the long term prices a magazine in Coles at 26% less that the price of the title elsewhere and less that we are charged for the title.

There is no sense in stocking a title that is priced in such a way as to make my business look expensive.

17 likes
Ethics

Leveraging Doctor Who interest

omagsWe’re embracing interest this week in all things Doctor Who with collectibles on show as well as Doctor Who titles next to the Doctor Who partwork which launched Monday. Doctor Who fans spend money on their passion the TV show and the brand more generally.

2 likes
magazines

People want newspapers to focus on news and not on character assassination

isthisnewsI am sure plenty of customers in NSW will complain about the front cover of The Daily Telegraph today and question whether it’s news to trash Jodhi Meares as this story does.

People want news.  They want stories that matter, stories about their state and town about life as it affects them. People do not want trash for the sake of trash.

Newsagents will get people returning to buy a newspaper that focuses on news.

Yes, Jodhi Meares has been found guilty of drink driving – in a court and she has been sentenced. And, yes, the story is of public interest. However, it is not a front page story and certainly not a story as published this morning. Dreadful.

Publishers ought to focus on news that really matters, stories that rely on the ethics and integrity journalists claim is core to their profession.

17 likes
Newspapers

What’s next for WH Smith in Australia

Having purchased Wild Cards & Gifts and Kenny’s Cardiology in quick succession it’s reasonable to ask what’s next for UK retailer WH Smith in Australia.

While the majority of their UK experience is in high street and mass transit location newsagency and newsagency like businesses, there focus up to now has been on card and gift. While Wild and Kenny’s provide WH Smith with retail outlets for their home brand gift and social stationery lines, they do not play to the strengths of the business and, I suspect, they do not provide WH Smith the critical mass they need for operational efficiency.

While there are plenty of stories around about their next move in Australia there are no facts. One story put to me was that I’ve had discussions with them.  I have not.

3 likes
newsagency of the future

How 7-Eleven tries to make more from commuters

c-upsellThis photo shows how 7-Eleven in Victoria is currently trying to make more money from public transport users – people who top up their myki card. Tic Tacs are $2 with any myki top-up.

Woolworths has 24g Tic Tacs for $1.60. Coles has them at $1.75. Hmm … $2.00 does not seem like a good deal. But I guess it is when you consider the convenience style pricing of 7-Eleven.

Officeworks has them for $2.29.

The promotion shows that good marketing is about perception more so than the actual value of an offer.

What is most interesting to me about the display is the pitch itself, that it looks like a compelling offer and is placed right at the location where shoppers would purchase their myki top-up.

3 likes
Convenience retail

Yes, we can sell more newspapers

The Future Forum in Sydney today has the wrong people talking about the future of print. Newsagents could present this forum with excellent ideas on how to grow over the counter sales of the print product.

Too many newsagents sell out prior to midday and publishers no longer respond to sell puts and looming sell outs in a timely fashion.

Publishers cut supply to newsagents yet increase supply to nearby supermarkets yet it is newsagents who are more likely to proactively engage in the product.

Publishers run promotions, like the Attenborough DVDs, and get supply wrong, leaving customers disgruntled.

Publishers chase expensive home delivery customers, lavishing discounts and gifts on them yet offer no reward to retail newsagents for growth they can achieve.

I have written about this many times here, here, here, here, here and here. If publishers listened to and worked with newsagents they would sell more newspapers. My question is: do they want this?

For decades I have pitched ideas to publishers. While I accept that they have the right to choose how they invest in their product, the results are not good. I am certain that a modest investment could achieve a far better result than their tired campaigns achieve over the long term for their challenged product.

I want to sell more newspapers as do other retail newsagents. This alignment with what should be a core desire of publishers has been a hitherto missed opportunity in Australia.

22 likes
Newspapers

Think carefully when you price products

wrongpriceNewsagents often bemoan that plenty of what they sell is at a fixed price: magazines, newspapers, cards. Yet I often see examples of newsagents not making the most of appropriately pricing the products over which they do have control.

A newsagency I visited earlier this week had a plush item priced at $33.00. If they really thought stye could get $33.00 for the item they should price it at $34.99 as there is little or no apperceived difference between the two prices.

$33.00 is a nothing price. It’s like having a bet each way. Either price it at $29.99 or $34.99 but not $33.00.

Whether you choose $29.99 or $34.99 depends on the price the product can hold, whether you run a loyalty program and how good your merchandising is.

Think about pricing. Take your time. Experiment. Price with clarity, respecting pricing psychology and making the most for your business over the long term that you can.

16 likes
Newsagency management

Free marijuana

dopeI received this bag containing 8g of high-grade marijuana at my office yesterday. There was return address, no note, no Thank You card … just the bag of dope inside three carefully packed layers of sealed bags and inside a prepaid post bag. It was addressed to the office.

With a street value of around $80.00 it’s either an expensive prank, a mistake or some other game. I delivered it to the local police to be on the safe side.

What’s the craziest thing you have been sent to your business?

10 likes
Ethics

Another deep discount for The Age by Fairfax

agediscountI received another email from Fairfax offering a six month subscription at a discount of 50% off the usual digital access price. The biggest discount is for digital only access – that’s 50%. If you select the seven-day print and digital offer for six months the discount is only 20%.

Fairfax is pushing digital first. Is this because digital is their future? With their mastheads experiencing double-digit declines in sales in the latest audit, again, it’s no wonder they are so focussed on the lower distribution cost model of digital. It makes sense.

$7.50 a month for six months! If it wasn’t so easy to get free access to their stories I’d probably consider this offer.

7 likes
Media disruption

Free homes+ magazine launch

conhonesplusSome newsagents have access to the free stock of the launch issue of the homes+ title from Bauer as part of a promotion by the company supporting its Reader Rewards Bauer title related loyalty program.

I’m not doing it as I don’t run Reader Rewards.

I think homes+ will struggle as it is entering a well-served segment with strong titles. In my case of have to cut a title to fit it in. If only I could have such control over space allocation with certainty.

2 likes
magazines

Crikey publishes News Corp Aussie newspaper financial info

Crikey has today published hitherto unknown information about the performance of the News Corp. Australian newspaper business. The numbers are sobering for a publishing business that invests considerably in criticising rival Fairfax for poor performance:

Crikey can reveal that, amid a forest of negative brackets, revenue from News Corp’s Australian newspapers fell 14% to $1.9 billion in 2012-13, with circulation revenue dropping 5% and advertising revenue falling 18%, while operating income fell 67% to $94 million.

Foxtel and realestate.com.au are key the Australian business, apparently effectively propping up loss-making print businesses.

The profit drop in newspapers was only partly offset by growth in other operations like REA Group and Fox Sports, with total operating income falling 38% to $221 million. After income from investments including Foxtel, the group recorded a total profit before interest or tax of $367 million, down 28%.

I expect there will be a backlash against Crikey from News about this reporting.

Newsagents see the financial pressures News must be under through subscription deals and deals with supermarkets where newspapers are being bundled for free with supermarket spends above a set figure.

Updates:

14 likes
Newspapers

How does the ACCC set its priorities?

mbeerThe ACCC chairman has been all over the media this week touting a victory over Maggie Beer and what the ACCC says is misleading labelling.

I don’t see how any shopper considering purchasing Maggie Beer products could have been misled. The products are conceived and developed in Maggie Beer’s kitchen in the Barossa Valley. That alone makes the labelling accurate in my view. There is no claim the products are made there.

What a waste of public money.

It surprises me that the ACCC has time and money for this yet no time or money to investigate newsagent claims that they are treated so differently by magazine distributors that it holds back our ability to be competitive against the supermarket duopoly.

Complaints I have heard of being made to the ACCC about this are met with sorry we’re not pursuing the complaint, consider civil action if you think the treatment is unfair from the ACCC. If they researched such complaints thoroughly, they would discover a magazine supply model that gives the supermarket duopoly an extraordinary competitive advantage that could ultimately disadvantage consumers.

Shame on you ACCC.

The image is from the story on the ABC website.

18 likes
Ethics
Trending Articles

Fairfax changes approach to TV Guide, disrespects newsagents

Published on April 20, 2011

What do you think of the Powerball changes?

Published on February 16, 2018

IPS releases new magazine contracts

Published on June 21, 2011