We’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.
I 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.
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.
This 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.
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.
Newsagents 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.
I 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?
I 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.
Some 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.
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:
The 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.
Further to my post a couple of days ago about welcoming magazine readers in my newsagency, I have been thinking about businesses where the try before you buy approach is vital to their success:
Another version of try before you buy is the money back guarantee where you can get a product at home and use it and then return for a refund if it’s not what you want.
Opening your doors to a shop where products are on the shelves and not locked away is an invitation for customers to interact with what you sell. This is what our newsagency businesses are and should be like.
The browsing experience in a newsagency is different to supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol outlets. We ought to embrace this rather than shutting it down.
This image shows year on year magazines sales performance for one of my newsagencies for the April through June quarter in 2014 compared to 2013.
I am publishing the data here as proof of the sales growth we are achieving. This is necessary to counter a comment reportedly made by a magazine publisher recently that they did not believe our figures.
The data in this report will stand up to any scrutiny.
I suspect the publisher’s representative has been trying to discredit my claims of significant year on year sales growth because it does not fit a narrative that suites their business need.
What we are doing in this business is nothing special other than focussing on promoting the whole of the business and managing magazines with genuine care.
All the moves I make in relation to magazines are covered here for others to see and consider for their own business.
Magazines are important to this business and all newsagencies. Sure they are challenged. But we can grow sales if we engage creatively and with a view to our local customers. The most effective tactics and those from within your business.
Newsagents have been sent packs of products to sell to raise funds for Daffodil Day with a request we put them at the counter – the most expensive and sought after location in store. Many newsagents have removed high margin products from the counter to support the fund raising for a good cause.
Unfortunately, the Cancer Council does not recognise newsagents for their valuable support. They thank Gordon & Gotch, the distributor of the fund raising products to us but not the newsagency channel of retailers promoting the event.
It’s disappointing since Coles gets a big rap and the cost to us is probably greater than what Coles is doing.
I am keeping the survey for you to record details of magazine oversupply open for a while. List specific details, by title, details of recent oversupply experiences. Data needs to be in a specific format with one line per title. Here’s he survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JCHT3H8 You can response more than once if you have more oversupply experiences.
It’s an art attracting shoppers to any retail business let alone to an Australian newsagency where the old-school shingle encourages wrong assumptions and out of date expectations about the business and the products it sells.
I prefer to play down the shingle and attract shoppers based on product placed specifically for that purpose.
The knitting sand we have been selling this year has been excellent for attracting shoppers who might otherwise not have shopped the newsagency. The photo shows one group playing with the sand last Saturday. In a half hour period this sand was played with by these boys, a couple well into their 70s, a mum and her daughter and a thirty-something guy.
Some purchased, some didn’t. Some wandered into the shop beyond the sand after being attracted to the business. As some played, others with them came across to see what they were doing. This is where the sand works a treat for us – luring people from the mall who then step further into the business.
The sand acts as our shingle to these shoppers. It sets an expectation of what to find inside. In this case, it’s more valuable than the shingle itself as it has less boundaries than a business brand or a dingle like newsagency.
It’s a thrill when people browsing the shop express surprise that they are in a newsagency.
We have to do more of this, much more. The old school newsagency of papers, magazines, stationery, cards and lottery products is over. That model does not work for us, the landlord or our suppliers. The successful newsagencies today are those playing outside the old-school model, those attracting shoppers for non-traditional reasons – like to purchase sand.
It is an art attracting new shoppers. There are few rules and many challenges. The key is to be out there trying, outside the boundaries of the old-school shingle.
Customers, mainly guys, who collect Phantom comics are valuable to us. They are loyal not only to the title but also to the shop. Every few visits, when they have a need, they purchase something other than the next issue of the Phantom magazine. Indeed, the Phantom magazine shopper is an ideal habit-based shopper, one we need to cultivate.
The biggest challenge, however, is consistent supply. The distributor did not have us down to get this Phantom Replica Series No. 2 even though our Phantom sales are strong. Some glitch apparently. There are too many of these ‘glitches’. It’s frustrating as it makes us look bad to Phantom collectors. At least Phantom collectors are forgiving is you are late getting stock.
There is continued strong interest in the Military Watches partwork. The coverage of World War 1 related stories heading into next year’s anniversary are part of the reason. We promote the title so it’s seen by people who will purchase on impulse.
Comparing buy prices with a newsagent recently we discovered two different wholesale prices for the same item. The comparison came about because they said a supplier gave them 15% off wholesale while I am getting 10% off wholesale for the same item.
I pay $10.80 at a 10% discount off wholesale while the other newsagent pays $11.22 after a 15% discount. Both prices are ex GST as the wholesale is ex GST.
The 15% is off an inflated wholesale. I’d say its is inflated to enable them to be told they are getting 15% discount.
This is no discount at all.
Where you are offered a discount, make sure it is off a verifiable (preferably published) wholesale price that applies to everyone. A discount off an inflated wholesale price does not help your business.
Footnote: beware of those who argue against this as they could use smoke and mirrors to defend you being charged more in real terms.
I have created a survey for you to record details of magazine oversupply. List specific details, by title, details of recent oversupply experiences. Data needs to be in a specific format with one line per title. Here’s he survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JCHT3H8 You can response more than once if you have more oversupply experiences.
It’s usually guys who sit on the floor of the newsagency to read magazines or crouch in aisles to read magazines.
On the weekend I noticed a lady crouched down looking through our cross-stitch magazine titles. It made me smile.
I like seeing customers engage with magazines like this. I’m happy for them to read. I’m happy for them to sit and read. If I had more roomI’d have a reading couch or stools.
Most readers purchase a magazine or two. Those who don’t purchase don’t harm the business. I’m happy for them to be in the store.
Compared to supermarkets, convenience and petrol outlets, newsagencies offer the best magazine browsing experience. It’s a point of difference more of us should embrace.
Check out the editorial in the issue of Sneaky magazine we received last week to sell with 100% gross profit. It explains why the free magazine is now available for purchase through out channel – because people could not get access to a free copy.
Given the unique nature of the title it would be helpful for newsagents to be provided better information on the customer and what else they could purchase.
We have another stand-out issue of Frankie magazine on the shelves of newsagencies. Its soft blue cover is a stand out in the sea of colour in the magazine department – making it the title you notice first in a busy aisle.
Frankie is one of the most important titles we carry because of the shoppers it attracts.
I have created a new one-question survey on magazine over supply. I’d like you to list specific details, by title, details of recent oversupply experiences. I am keen for the data to be in a specific format with one line per title. Here’s he survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JCHT3H8
Back in the 1970s a-thins were all the rage. It’s when walk-a-thons took off in Australia. Then there were swim-a-thins, spell-a-thins, read-a-thins … all to raise money for charities.
Why not stage an a-thin at your shop or in your shop window? Choose something that connects to your business, something fun but with social and community engagement at its core. Connect with a local community group for participants and this will get them promoting the event for you.
Here are some suggestions:
Where there are some logistical challenges to these types of events – such as them running for longer than your usual opening hours – they can be a lot of fun and get people thinking about your business differently and that is the key.