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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Day one of a five-day back to basics newsagency management challenge: magazines

This week I am shining a light on five back to basics areas of our newsagency businesses over which we can make a difference for the good of our business and the benefit of our customers.

By back to basics I mean parts of our business that define us and can separate us from others.

Today, I want to challenge how you manage magazines.

Magazines continue to be the single most important newsagency channel wide traffic driver for us. Every newsagent sells magazines.

While we don’t have enough control over supplier, are not given equitable gross profit and are are disadvantaged through the supply model, there are management opportunities available to us that can make magazines more successful.

But first, I want to consider why? Why spend any time on magazines? That’s a question I am often asked by newsagents angry with iover supply, under sipply, poor margin and disrespect from distributors. I understand their frustration and that this feeds into anger.

Magazines are important to us because the range we carry is the only channel-wide point of difference we have. Magazines generate excellent traffic,. Magazines work as impulse purchase item. Many maggazine shoppers are loyal. Magazine sales can informa many other valuable business decisions.

How can you better manage magazines?

  1. Do a relay. This really is the single most important management activity. It should be done once a year. Click here for my advice on how to do a relay in your newsagency.
  2. Several times a week review magazine placement. This is an owner’s responsibility. Give the category your attention.
  3. Have a magazine promotion at the front of the store – as a traffic driver.
  4. Always have one or two impulse purchase friendly magazines placed with your toip selling newspapers.
  5. Engage in co-location for key titles: Better Homes and Gardens with weeklies, crossowrds with weekliues, garden magazines featured to align with major season shifts (spring etc).
  6. Feature magazines that are growing. For exasmple, how do you treat Frankie? It speaks to a young shopper and you can build other sales around it.
  7. Engage with publisher programs: Nexus from Pacific Magazines and Connections from Bauer. Use the services of these porograms to their fullest.
  8. Offer a loyalty program for genbuinely loyal magazine shoppers. Either a points based program or discount vouchers – whatever you offer make sure that it rewards / drives genuine loyalty.
  9. Promote magazines on your receipts.
  10. Respect the category. If you as the leader of the business respect the category your employees will follow.

Magazines are vitally important to newsagents. Ignore tham and you invite shoppers to look elsewhere for their magazines.

The goal of this series of back to basics newsagency management advice is to get you revisiting parts of your business that you may not be paying enough attention to. This should help imporrove basket size, drive traffic and get you better engaged with your newsagency business.

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Management tip

Leveraging newspapers

papersmagsWe have had a good run since Anzac Day promoting the latest Better Homes and Gardens and the My Kitchen Rules Cookbook between our two top selling daily newspapers. Our tiny time and space investment has paid off. We can sell more magazines.

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magazines

US newspaper revenue decline continues

The decline in revenue for newspaper publishers continued as evidenced with the release of the latest data. The revenue challenge has more to do with ad revenue than circulation revenue whereas the cost challenge is more to do with distribution than editorial.

Smart publishers will realise that they could make more money setting their content free from mastheads. I am more likely to purchase news stories than I am to subscribe to a branded news outlet. I suspect that I am not alone.

Focussing on making money from your core competency is a better business plan in my view.

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Media disruption

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: use your touch points

Newsagencies have some of the best retail foot traffic yet too often we fail to leverage that. Here are some very very basic touch points you can use to better connect with shoppers to drive purchases and return visits:

  1. Bags. Make sure they are branded with your brand and contain a sales pitch.
  2. In the bag. Always include a flyer or gift of something that adds value.
  3. Receipts: The top should have your brand logo.
  4. Receipts: Ensure you have an ad or a coupon or an offer on every receipt.
  5. Receipts: If you use a points loyalty system – show how many points on balance.
  6. Receipts: If the customer has purchased an item with a care instructions opportunity – include these on the receipt.
  7. At the counter: always have an easy impulse purchase opportunity. Under $10. With broad appeal.
  8. On your vehicles. Promote your business.

There are many more touch point opportunities. This list is barely a starting point yet many newsagents do not even embrace these … missing opportunities to reinforce the brand and all it stands for.

If you are not happy with how your newsagency is performing – are you doing the things on the list?

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: be a proud owner

Sometimes when on the shop floor of my newsagency customers approach saying do you work here? or something similar. I can understand that since I am often not in uniform as I am only there for a brief visit.

In an instance recently I joked with the customer – work here? I own the joint! She laughed, thankfully. We then had a good discussion about a very specific card caption she thought we should carry. It felt like she talked more because I owned the business.

The interaction got me thinking that we business owners should do more than wear a shirt with our brand and a name badge, we should wear something letting people know we own the business – making ourselves a target … in a good way!

This is a way we can differentiate ourselves from big business competitors. In our newsagencies customers can speak with the owner whereas in competitor businesses they struggle to even get to a manager.

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Management tip

Evidence important in claims of newsagency sales success

Newsagents and suppliers often claim success without providing proof supporting their claim. There have been instances in our channel where newsagents have believed a claim without seeking evidence and gone on to discover that there was ho evidence and that the claim was false.

Everyone wants success. Unfortunately some want it bad enough to spin or lie to get their success – often at the cost of newsagents and others they serve.

Nothing beats the truth, especially the truth in sales data.

As I wrote recently, sales of our everyday counter cards, a card segment that accounts for 56.90% of our overall card sales, are up 17% year on year comparing January through March 2014 with the same period in 2013.

This is an extraordinary result.

Unfortunately, word has reached me that someone is putting it about that the figure is made up.  It’s not made up. I can provide the growth back to source data, data that anyone is welcome to audit.

So, it is true. Our every day (birth through death) counter card sales are up 17% year on year. We did this without a major advertising campaign and off an already good sales base. We also did it without a VIP loyalty points program.

Our success is in part due to our front-end loyalty program, discount vouchers. By giving away under 1% of card revenue we have achieved a stellar year on year increase.

In fact, the growth we have achieved puts us, I think, in the top group of newsagencies in growing card sales.

In someone claims to you that they are achieving extraordinary growth, ask to see the report that shows this. satisfy yourself that the claim they make is true. There are some in our channel who pay little regard to truth and, sadly, newsagents follow and make bad choices as a result.

Data does not lie.

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Ethics

Excellent Cosmopolitan Bride cover

cosmobridecoverI love the cover off the latest issue of Cosmopolitan Bride – it stands out from all the other bride titles we currently have in stock. Whereas other bride titles use a soft pallet, Cosmo Bride has gone for bright … and it works. This is the wedding title you see first in our wedding section.

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magazines

Tapping into Kylie interest

kyliemagsWe have made sure to place TV Week and New Idea Jumbo Puzzler next to each other to leverage the Kylie Minogue covers of each title. This placement sets up to sell both titles together. It’s small moves like this that help us sell more magazines than being average would usually achieve. Supermarkets ands other national retailer outlets would not respond to magazine covers in this way.

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magazines

Maximising gifts with magazines

gfwhWe have made sure to allocate extra space to Women’s Health and Girlfriend to display the excellent gifts with purchase available with the current issue of these titles. the extra space is resulting in a bump in sales and that’s what the gifts are all about. yes they are taking some extra space but the sales are worth it.

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magazines

Staples introducing postal counters in some of its US retail outlets

US stationery giant is introducing US Postal Service sanctioned postal service counters in some of its stationery stores and US postal workers are understandably angry. So far 82 Staples outlets have introduced the counters. Reports claim that the hourly cost of someone on the postal counter goes from around $25 an hour for the US Postal Service worker to $8.50 an hour for the Staples worker.

This is a story to watch on several levels: Stapes in Australia, Australia Post continuing to evolve its model, newsagents looking to expand foot traffic generators and competitors of newsagents looking to broaden their appeal. To explore this story from the US further check out the results of a Google search.

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Australia Post

Fin Review barcode issues

I know some newsagents have received copies of the Weekend Financial Review without a barcode. While this should not be a challenge because of touch screen hot buttons, I thought I’d open a thread here in case anyone wanted to comment.

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Newspapers

How to choose a marketing group for your newsagency

Continuing my week-long series on newsagency marketing groups, today I’ll outline how newsagency marketing groups support the channel beyond the individual businesses the serve.

As with all the advice I have shared in this series, today’s advice is carefully crafted to NOT guide you to choose a specific group but rather to get you to cast your own critical eye over choices available to you. Like any business decision, there are many factors unique to your situation that will and should feed into your decision. My goal is to help you be broad in your focus so more factors are considered.

What I will tell you is that it is important you are part of a group that helps you grow and enjoy your newsagency business.

How do you choose the group that is right for you?

  1. Know what you want. Have a list of what is essential for you in a newsagency marketing group. This list is about you and your business.
  2. Do your research. Meet the people involved. Get all the details in writing. Read as much as you can. Get any special promises documented. Be sure of everything.
  3. Talk to other newsagents. Find out members of the group for yourself – don;t just call who they say. Talk to fellow newsagents and ask for their feedback.
  4. Ask lots of questions. Ask suppliers, your staff, other newsagents and staff from the group themselves why you should choose them. Especially seek out those not aligned with a group for a more untainted view.
  5. Find out how the group makes its money. Is it just out of membership fees or is it from commissions on your purchases. There is nothing wrong with either – transparency is best.
  6. Be sure about the control you have. Understand what you would have control over and what you would not have control over. Ensure you are happy with this.
  7. Check who the group supports. For example, if supporting newsagent affiliated businesses like GNS is important to you ensure the group you are considering does this.
  8. Make the decision when you are ready.

Joining a newsagency marketing group is a long-term decision that should add significant value to your business if you make the righter decision.

As a guide, you ought to expect the decision to be worth at least four times the cost of membership fees in terms of gross profit improvement in the first year.

If you have done your research and made a decision based on this and that meets your needs then you should be in for good times if you embrace all your chosen group has to offer.

Footnote: Regulars here would know I am a shareholder in and Director of newsXpress. Prior to that I was a member of Nextra and a shareholder in my later years with them following a capital raising. Prior to that my newsagency was a member of Newspower.

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Newsagency management

TV interview probing the role of newsagents

I was interviewed yesterday for Channel 31’s Newsline program about print media, newsagency businesses and our place in the community. It was a long interview covering a broad area. It will be interesting to see what ends up going to air.

The program is produced RMIT journalism students for public access TV. It’s terrific seeing uni students so interested in our channel and the role we playing the Australian community.

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Media disruption

Electronic cigarettes to be outlawed

WA Today reports that tobacco laws in NSW could be amended to outlaw electronic cigarettes following a legal test case in WA.

It has always been illegal to sell e-cigarette liquids that contain nicotine under Australian law but in a big development last week, the Supreme Court of Western Australia effectively banned e-cigarettes outright in the state, prosecuting a company, called HeavenlyVapours, which had been selling the dispensers and nicotine-free ”e-juice” through a website.

This is a significant development of which retailers of electronic cigarettes ought to be aware.

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Tobacco sales

How newsagency marketing groups support the broader newsagency channel

Continuing my week-long series on newsagency marketing groups, today I’ll outline how newsagency marketing groups support the channel beyond the individual businesses the serve.

The newsagency channel in Australia is the last great independent small business retail channel in this country. In small towns and in cities our businesses provide a valuable service and a heartfelt connection to something uniquely Australian.

Many of us newsagents claim a local community connection is a vital point of difference for us. Equally, many newsagents rely on being connected to the newsagency channel for support and to leverage their point of difference.

It is likely that every newsagency business in Australia relies on and values being part of the newsagency channel in one way or another – whether we each know this or not.

Marketing groups support the newsagency channel in a range of ways:

  1. Supporting GNS.  GNS is newsagent owned. Groups that support GNS support newsagents and their shareholding in GNS. GNS supports newsagents through its supplier funded marketing of newsagency businesses.
  2. Spending within the channel. Through supporting suppliers who reinvent in newsagency businesses there is a circular flow of cash that comes back to benefit newsagents.
  3. Loving your business. By helping newsagents to fall in love with their businesses by enjoying them more can release optimism from which the business benefits.
  4. Facilitating networking. One of the biggest assets in the newsagency channel is newsagents themselves. By encouraging positive networking a marketing group can help newsagents harness the value and power of friendship, teamwork and collaboration.
  5. Understanding cornerstone products. With one eye on the future, an engaged marketing group can help newsagents ensure they leverage value and support cornerstone products such as newspapers, magazines and greeting cards – three categories for which our channel is known yet which newsagents often neglect to their detriment.
  6. Offering a training path for employees. Our channel is the entry point for many school leavers as well as some returning to the workforce after many years absent. A marketing group can offer a framework through which newsagents can nurture these people to be benefit of the business and the channel more broadly.
  7. Strategic leadership. Through strategic plans, newsagency marketing groups can show newsagents a path along which businesses can walk a path to a viable future in this changing world.
  8. Active representation. Engaged newsagency marketing groups help newsagents in their back rooms with industrial relations advice, lease advice, insurance advice and other business management advice – making businesses stronger and through this the channel stronger.

Beyond supplier deals, seasonal marketing and other more obvious benefits, newsagency marketing groups can bring a considerable value to the newsagency channel that benefits not only member businesses but the wider channel. From this all newsagents benefit.

Footnote: Regulars here would know I am a shareholder in and Director of newsXpress. Prior to that I was a member of Nextra and a shareholder in my later years with them following a capital raising. Prior to that my newsagency was a member of Newspower.

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newsagency marketing

Supermarkets are lazy with magazines

supermagsSupermarkets are lazy when it comes to displaying, promoting and managing magazines. Magazine displays are often untidy, titles inappropriately placed and cover-driven opportunities often ignored – unless the publisher pays for special attention.

This photo shows part of the magazine section in a suburban Coles supermarket. To me, it presents a confusing message to the shopper. The AWW customer is not the Girlfriend customer nor the marie claire customer yet these titles are next to each other. They have took in their display space for better placement yet they make no attempt to fix this.

Australian newsagents do a better job displaying and promoting magazines than supermarkets. We should be proud of our point of difference.

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magazines

Now this is how to leverage a brand

thomasCheck out the aisle-end I saw in an overseas newsagency-bookshop this week promoting the Thomas the Tank Engine brand capping a stand packed with Thomas products. As you’d expect, it attracts kids and shoppers shopping with and for kids. Brilliant!

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Gifts

Loom Bands in more stores

loomgiftCheck out the impressive front window Loom Bands display in a Cosmetics Plus store in Brisbane this week.

Newsagents offering Loom Bands should compare their display with the display as shown in the photo. How do you compere? If this was a shop next to yours, how would you pitch Loom Bands differently?  This display puts my approach until now to shame.

To successfully compete we need to have the best pitch.

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Gifts

How to get the most from your newsagency marketing group

Continuing my week-long series on newsagency marketing groups, today I’ll outline how newsagents can get the most from the group they belong to.

Some newsagents who quit or leave a newsagency marketing group blame the group for not serving their needs – either through lack of services, lack of appropriate supplier deals or poor support. While this will be true in some instances, it could be true in others that the newsagents have not made the most of the opportunities.

The newsagents who make more money from being in a newsagency marketing are those who embrace all the grow has to offer. Here are my suggestions on how to get the most from a newsagency marketing group.

  1. Engage. A good newsagency marketing group will regularly put opportunities in front of you – supplier deals, marketing advice, training, social media suggestions, surveys – engage. If you don’t, you;re not part of the group and not part of the total brand experience.
  2. Communicate. At meetings, speak up. In the group’s online forum, have your say. When your area manager visits, share your thoughts. If you are confronting a business challenge, seek advice.
  3. Network. Go to group meetings, conferences and other marketing group gatherings. Connect with others. The more you get to low people the more you can learn.
  4. Seek challenges. A good newsagency marketing group will show you opportunities and ideas outside what has been traditional for your business. Work hard to NOT be closed-minded to these opportunities. If you are not being challenged as much as y0u want, ask.
  5. Learn. Sometimes, the biggest value of being in a newsagency marketing group can be what you learn – products to place with others, free marketing opportunities, staff training insights, the employee management advice, advice on how to hire and how to fire, when to promote certain items. Seek out these free learning opportunities.
  6. Ask for help. If you are oversupplied with magazines, ask for help. If you are facing a lease challenge, ask for help. If you suspect employee theft, ask for help. If you have an award rate question, ask for help. If you want to build your customer database, ask for help.
  7. Invest. Just joining a newsagency marketing group does not improve your business. You have to invest time, money and focus to achieve a commercial valuable outcome.

Remember, the only reason to join a newsagency marketing group is so the business makes more money and therefore becomes more valuable. What you get form the investment is as much up to you as it is up to the group.

Footnote: Regulars here would know I am a shareholder in and Director of newsXpress. Prior to that I was a member of Nextra and a shareholder in my later years with them following a capital raising. Prior to that my newsagency was a member of Newspower.

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marketing
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