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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Must read: The Demographic Cliff: How To Survive And Prosper During The Great Deflation Of 2014-2019 by Harry S. Dent

the-demographic-cliff-how-to-survive-and-prosper-during-the-great-deflation-of-2014-2019I’ve just finished reading The Demographic Cliff: How To Survive And Prosper During The Great Deflation Of 2014-2019 by Harry S. Dent.

To take in a book like this you need to trust the author. While Dent has his critics, he has an excellent track record of success in predicting economic  trends. The book itself is heavy with evidence supporting his prediction. It is hard to find a hole in the foundation he lays.

Whether you believe all the data Dent provides or not does not matter to the part of the book that is most relevant to business owners including small business owners like newsagents. In the chapter Business Strategies for the Winter Season, Dent provides wise advice that is relevant to all of us. He lays out what is important for us to focus on, what we must get right in our businesses.  Each step, decision and strategy he proposes can work for us regardless of whether The Great Deflation occurs or not. This is the chapter I copies onto A4 so I could make notes and refer to it over time.

Many times I have written on this blog that we need to run our businesses as if the toughest competitor ever has opened next to our newsagency. It is hard getting in the headspace of a hypothetical situation. In The Demographic Cliff: How To Survive And Prosper During The Great Deflation Of 2014-2019, Dent provides statistics and other evidence as a means for getting into a headspace where we can see a possible / likely future – with a view to acting now to be stronger through the challenges.

If there was a newsagents book club, I’d propose this be our next book for discussion. Anyone in any leadership role with / for newsagents – such as association directors – should read this book.

If you plan to read this book, be sure to purchase an Australian published copy as it contains an introduction written especially for Australians. This was an excellent part of the book.

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Newsagency challenges

Night Owl evolving the convenience store of the future

Convenience World reports the Night Owl convenience store group is refining its model to chase growth as part of a broader push by several c-store operators to expand and refine. The latest Night Owl store reflecting next steps in their future model is in Townsville:

“The concept of the convenience outlet has evolved and customers can find everything from basic groceries to confectionery and snacks and a wide range of ready-made meals,” he said. “The store-of-the-future concept is about providing a one-stop shop for customers’ needs.”

The 162sqm store is open 24 hours and features an extensive foodservice offering including grab-and-go healthy options such as wraps, Turkish breads and toasted sandwiches, and ready-made meal solutions. Over the coming months, the store offer will expand to include innovations such as a ‘Fun Wall’ offering gelato, confectionery and frozen drinks that can be mixed together.

An in-store ‘Owl Café’ with seating overlooking Flinders Street will also open eventually, offering a range of sweet treats such as donuts, cakes and danishes and its own brand of ‘Hooting Good’ coffee.

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Newsagency challenges

ACCC set to authorise VANA to negotiate with Tatts and Intralot

The ACCC announced Thursday that it proposes to authorise VANA to negotiate with Tatts and Intralot on behalf of its members.

The proposed ten year authorisation covers collective negotiations with Tattersall’s Sweeps Pty Ltd (Tatts), Intralot Australia Pty Ltd (Intralot) and any other public lottery provider who may become licensed to operate a public lottery in Victoria in the future.

VANA represents around 460 newsagents in Victoria, many of which are lottery agents selling Tatts and Intralot products. At present, Tatts and Intralot are the only licenced lottery providers in Victoria. Both have exclusive licences to operate until 2016.

“Collective negotiation can allow members of a collective bargaining group to have more effective input into contracts and deliver agreements that are better tailored to their needs,” ACCC Commissioner Jill Walker said.

The ACCC has previously authorised the Lottery Agents Association of Victoria to collectively bargain with Tatts and Intralot on behalf of its members, as well as similar collective bargaining arrangements in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Tasmania.

As with these previous authorisations, the ACCC is not proposing to authorise VANA to collective negotiate on issues relating to the impact on existing lottery agents when new lottery agents are proposed, due to concerns that this may raise barriers to entry for new lottery agents.

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Lotteries

We need to look for stationery that sells outside the stationery department

postitbagOne way retailers Smiggle and Typo are driving traffic and sales success with stationery is by pitching stationery outside of the usual approach for pitching stationery. They are doing this through innovative packaging and product selection whereby everyday items look more appealing that much of what newsagents have in their everyday stationery department. They focus on stationery as a fashion more than functional purpose.

I was reminded of the opportunity of pitching stationery in a newsagency outside the stationery department when I met with some folks from 3M yesterday.  Among a terrific range of products (available from GNS) that I saw was this handbag post-it note dispenser. While the majority of newsagents have post-it notes on their shelves, few have this and other fashion and fun post-it note dispensers.

Our narrow buying of stationery, buying as if we were buying for the 1980s and 1990s shopper, misses opportunities for us. Here is 3M, a relatively boring (sorry guys) consumer products firm offering more fashion oriented versions of traditional products that enable us ti pitch stationery as gifts and too few in our channel embrace the opportunity.

Let’s make stationery fun. This starts with us buying better. We can do this by talking more with suppliers and seeking out fun and fashion related stationery products – for seasons and through the year.

Stationery sales are challenged in many newsagencies and we have only ourselves to blame since we do the buying, merchandising and promotion. Let’s stop letting Smiggle, Typo and others win by buying better.

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Newsagency opportunities

Oversupply of Franchising magazine has to be a mistake Network Services

magsfranchisingI feel for the newsagent who had their supply of Franchising magazine bumped from one copy an issue to eleven copies of the latest issue – on the back of zero sales for each of the last eight issues. Click on the image to see for yourself.

I’m sure that this bump from one copy to eleven copies is a mistake by Network Services. The challenge is the cost to the newsagent. The time it will take to resolve, the frustration and, if it was a full copy return, the freight cost.  If it’s a topped return then pity the publisher having their product topped and trashed because of a supply mistake.

With Networking having all the data it needs mistakes like this should not happen. Indeed, this newssgent should not be down to get any stock of this title given its long-term zero sales in this business.

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Magazine oversupply

H&M wraps up Vogue

voguehmWhile the ribbon around Vogue magazine holding a tag promoting the arrival of H&M in Australia is sure to raise awareness of the new store, it will frustrate the many shoppers who want to browse Vogue. Browsing is important to magazine sales – just check out the magazine browsers at any newsagency almost any time of the day.

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magazines

Found! Old Partworks

partworkslostOverseas earlier this week I found a large bookshop with plenty of old issues of partworks including these Treasures of the Earth priced at A$5 a copy. I could have bought up and satisfied some customers seeking back orders.

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partworks

Newspaper publishers should work together to help the category

It is frustrating that Fairfax and News often work against each other in their support of newsagents with collateral and fixtures. Where both company have local capital city dailies they target different shoppers – so there is no reason to block working together.

I’d like to see both publishers invest in a small footprint movable acrylic stand that we could use to place newspapers in different locations.  This week it could be at the front of the newsagency and next week adjacent to the counter.

A stand holding the dailies and room for high volume foreign language titles would help newsagents promote newspapers. It could also provide n alternative to retail only newsagents placing newspapers at the back of the shop as is being done more today.

I say to publishers – get over competing with each other and compete for eyeball attention by investing in something that helps you, newsagents and your advertisers.

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Uncategorized

Newsagency marketing tip: be the local news outlet

This is an old-world approach to driving the relevance of your business. It’s also a repeat with a twist on the idea of a noticeboard in-store that I have written about many times before.

Setup a news-themed noticeboard. Local stories only. Weddings. Passings. Featuring a community group some weeks. Done well, this becomes a living newspaper.

The idea is for you to have a place where interested locals can post and read local content. While local newspapers have dominated this space, their model is changing too and I see an opportunity in some areas for newsagents to engage and be a local news ‘publisher’.

The noticeboard could equally be your Facebook page. The key is that your brand is associated as the source people trust and go to.

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Management tip

A different looking Easter Egg

mseggsCheck out one of the different Easter Eggs I saw yesterday at a Marks & Spencer store. This ‘egg’ is targeted at a younger person, broadening the appeal of the season opportunity in UK retailer Marks & Spencer.  Very clever.

Easter is under-done by some newsagents. It can be a growth season. Cards, gifts, chocolate, plush – it’s a season to push as anyone of any age can be your customer or someone being purchased for by our customer.

The idea of playing outside stereotypical product, as is being done with these headphone eggs, really appeals to me.

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Gifts

Be careful how much you rely on Facebook to promote your business

Sam Biddle, writing at Valleywag, raises questions about the viability of Facebook as a marketing platform for business, saying the company could be about to make businesses pay.

Will Oremus writing for Slate and republished in Australia by Fairfax, picks up on the story and explores further the place of facebook in promoting businesses and others who want to be heard. It all makes for interesting reading, especially if you question the long term role of Facebook in your business marketing plan.

I published my own thoughts about Facebook over a year ago. While I use the platform for business, I am not relying on it.

As with any investment – of time, space or money – do your research, be frugal and cut your losses if it’s not playing out as you need.

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marketing

Newsagency marketing tip: Improving customer service

feedbackGood customer service is facilitated with open communication with customers. A great way to hear what retail customers think is through a feedback book. While a facebook page, Twitter and other online platforms can provide feedback channels, a book in the shop can provide a more immediate opportunity.

A customer feedback book can also give pleasure to the customer and to you. It can develop into a keepsake about your business.

The photo is from a page in a customer feedback book in a coffee shop I was in two days ago: cute and happy drawings. While it’s not necessarily practical feedback, it is useful to the business owners and staff in that this is what a customer left for them.

Whether it is a noticeboard, a whiteboard or a book, giving customers an opportunity for feedback in-store could be a point of difference your customers appreciate while at the same time giving you information to improve your offering.

While many who shop in a newsagency are in a rush, more of our customers are spending longer as our shops transition from the old newsagency model to something more attuned to today. More customers will have more time to leave feedback and we have more products that could encourage feedback.

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Customer Service

Reusing a supplier stand can confuse newsagency shoppers

chupstandI was intrigued by the tins of Chupa Chups on the stand I noticed in a shop (not a newsagency) yesterday. On closer inspection I discovered that they were tins of shortbread biscuits on a Chupa Chup branded stand. The message was confusing.

If I was this retailer and I no longer had access to the Chupa Chup product for this stand and I wanted to reuse the stand – at the very least I’d remove the Chupa Chup branding.

Too often small business retailers including newsagents use stands for products they were not intended for. Take magazines in our channel, I often see Pacific titles in Bauer supplied stands and Bauer titles in Pacific supplied stands. Such misplacement of stock harms our suppliers and us.

We need to be more diligent about supplier supplied branded stand use. Suppliers spend money promoting our brand and if we work against this is dilutes what we can gain from their investment.

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Ethics

Report published by News Corp. says newsagents will be gone in five years

Michael McQueen, writing for news.com.au in a report published this morning says, among other things, newsagents will be gone in five years:

Newsagencies were once a gold-plated business. They had a bulletproof revenue model centring on the exclusive rights to distribute and sell the magazines and newspapers we all purchased on a daily basis. Then came 1999 — the year of deregulation. From this point onwards, newsagents no longer enjoyed the protected market they once did and business began to get tough.

Today, newsagents have one remaining cash cow — lotteries. With increasing noise from governments that lotto could also be deregulated in the coming few years just as it has in other countries, this may be the last nail in the coffin.

It is entirely likely that the only newsagents still standing in five years time will be those who have diversified to the point where their business model is almost unrecognisable by today’s standards.

I have written here many times over many years about this – the need for diversification, the need for new traffic generating products and services as well as the danger in relying on a single product or service like lotteries.

The stronger newsagent retailers are more likely to not have lotteries as they do not have the considerable labour, space and capital demands that come with this.

I know of newsagency businesses today that are growing. Maybe News could publish some reports about these.

I am optimistic, not out of desire but out of what I see some doing. Our channel will continue to shrink but those remaining and those entering will be stronger and more successful.

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Newsagency challenges

Gifts for the frankie shopper

gorjussThis Gorjuss range from Artique appeals to the younger frankie magazine reader. We’re using it to attract possible frankie customers and to be purchased by a destination frankie shopper.

Gorjuss is out of the UK. It has achieved extraordinary commercial success.  The keys for the brand to work in a newsagency are to have a broad range of products and that they are displayed to leverage the brand. The floor display unit from Artique helps us do this.

I am mentioning Gorjuss today as an example of how gifts and magazines can speak to the same shopper and support each other. That’s our goal for this new brand to our newsagency.

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Gifts

How to use plush and known brands to drive newsagency traffic

kxbrandsFollowing my recent post about Hubbed, newsagency software company POS Solutions responded on their blog in a welcome addition to the discussion. In their post they said they did not believe plush was a destination product.  As a retailer, I say their claim is not supported by the facts. Plush can be a destination product. I have one store achieving $80,000 in sales a year, much of this from people deliberately coming to our shop for their purchase.

Click on this recent photo of the front of my newsagency for a high res version and look right to left.  This is what you see – it’s how we attract shoppers to my newsagency and how we pitch our business as a destination business:

  1. Beanie Kids are often purchased by collectors. Many of our Beanie Kids shoppers come to our centre and to our shop to purchases these from us.
  2. Beanie Boos. More than half our sales are to collectors who come to us as their destination. Wh know from our own data.
  3. Disney Princess. An international brand attracting traffic and once in-store and with a first purchase made they come back and these subsequent visits are destination purchases.
  4. AFL (on the far left). Well, we’re in Melbourne and it’s AFL season. We are known for our Beanie Kids, Hallmark cards and other AFL products.

But there is one more important point to this discussion about plush and destination business: You have to work at making products destination purchases. You do this with an excellent range of known-brand product, well-located and regularly refreshed with new lines.

You also give your customers a reason to come back for a destination purchase. This is where our discount vouchers work wonderfully for us. Every time you bring a shopper back to purchase another item in their collection is a mother link in the chain connecting them with your business.

I accept plush isn’t for everyone. All I am recounting here are stories from my own newsagency business.

Oh, two other things I love about plush: people buying plush items are happy and the products themselves are great to hug!

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Management tip

US retail giant Walmart enters the convenience store space

Walmart has opened its first convenience store / petrol (gas) station in the US – as reported by Liberty Voice.

This move by Walmart is not new from an Australian context with the moves here already by Coles and Woolworths. What we are seeing in Australia now is further evolution of the petrol and convenience models by the supermarkets.

Newsagents playing in the convenience and agency business space need to watch the supermarket businesses. Coles has lotteries sorted out. I expect they will want to add more agency business, to drive even more traffic. In these P&C outlets they can deliver a more personal experience than in their supermarkets.

Newsagents can’t ignore these developments in Australia and overseas. They/we need to consider them in the context of our own business planning.

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Newsagency challenges

Newsagents – 4WD fans love this magazine!

mag4wdtouringThe publisher of 4WD Touring Australia magazine sent me several issues to take a look at. I shared these with friends in to four-wheel driving. Each of them said they love the magazine and asked where they could get it. This is an excellent special interest magazine. I encourage newsagents to stock it.

I’ve not been asked to say this – I’m saying it because I mean it … this is an excellent magazine.

The Facebook page has over 7,000 likes and it’s growing. Connecting with the 4WD community can open not only magazine sales but also gift and other product sale opportunities. It’s all about understanding the customer and the more clear their interests the better for us in terms of product socking decisions.

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magazines

Hubbed versus Australia Post price comparison inaccurate

I’m told the price comparison published under the namers of Hubbed and POS Solutions to newsagents last week contains wrong pricing for Australia Post. Here is the correct pricing from an Australia Post LPO this morning:

  1. 3 kg Parcel Post satchel from Aust Post is $13.40 compared to $13.95
  2. 5kg Parcel Post satchel from Aust Post is $16.70 compared to $16.95
  3. 3kg Express satchel from Aust Post is $14.80 compared to $14.95
  4. 5kg Express post satchel from Aust Post is $23.60 compared to $23.95.
  5. You also get a discount of buying in packs of 10 from Aust Post.

This pricing came into effect two weeks ago.

UPDATE: (23:29) Another contributor here has advised that the Australia Post price above does not include a signature on receipt whereas the Hubbed price does. (You can see this in their comments).

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Australia Post

A story of wonderful customer service from a newsagency employee

Here is an inspirational email received by a colleague newsagent a couple of days ago.   This is customer service!

Dear Sir/Madam

I visited your store this morning to purchase The Australian newspaper and to submit X-Lotto tickets for tonight’s X-Lotto. I was greeted and served by your staff member, Louise.

Louise was extremely helpful in explaining to me that the Winners Circle card had expired and that the completed tickets were no longer able to be used and handed me some new X-Lotto forms to be filled out. She aptly renewed my card and provided me a membership change of detail form.

Whilst I was completing the new forms with my chosen X-Lotto numbers, I listened to Louise as she interacted with other customers. She was friendly, respectful and courteous, a rarity in today’s society where customer service does not seem to be an important factor in so many small businesses.

My Husband and I are passionate about customer service and having been in small business ourselves understand the importance in customer retention and staff members play such an important role, congratulations on choosing such an appropriate young individual to represent your organisation.

We would like to use our experience with Louise in a case study for our business which is targeted at guiding small businesses at taking an inward look at how they meet the expectation of their most-important aspect, their customer.

Please pass on our gratitude to Louise for her exceptional customer service.

Great customer service begins at the top of any business. Louise deserves kudos for excellent customer service. Her managers also deserve kudos for excellent management.

In our businesses we are only as good as our weakest link. Good customer service is results from good management. Poor customer service results from poor management.

From the top down we need to make our businesses deliver more Louise experiences so more of us get emails like this.

Thank you Louise for your great service that lead to this inspiring story.

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Customer loyalty

A successful counter line for your newsagency

angelflamesA single pocket of Angel Flames candles at the counter can add valuable margin dollars to a purchase. We have done this many times over many years and each time we bring out the Angel Flames we get a terrific result. The pack is small, you could find room in any counter situation. The purchase opportunities are many. While the most obvious is a purchase with a greeting card or a gift, we have newspaper and magazine customers buying a pack or two on impulse.

Where we place product matters as much as keeping the offer fresh. This is why we don’t keep the candles at the counter all the time.

Check with your usual party goods supplier for these or similar products. Placed in the right spot, they can be tremendously valuable for your business. Customers will be thrilled – that’s a reaction I often see.

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Gifts

Newspaper covers-up lead story

telecoverupThis is one of the worst cases of newspaper editorial cover-up I have seen. The Sunday Telegraph in Sydney yesterday had an ad for Quickflix stuck over the front page headline. So much for news selling newspapers. Shocking. Shameful. I wonder how the editorial team feel.

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Uncategorized

Newsagency social responsibility tip: help job hunters

With unemployment on the rise, think about how you can help people looking for work.

Consider offering discount copying and discount faxing for those looking for work. Get known as they place they can come to copy and send resumes. Show yourself off as a business person seeking to genuinely help those looking for work.

Promote the service, welcoming job hunters with open arms. Show them you care. Let your Facebook and Twitter followers know. Your goal has to be to get job hunters talking about your service. Be generous in your giving.

I first pitched this idea to newsagents twenty years ago in my book, Marketing Your Newsagency.

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Customer loyalty

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: wear what you sell

This could be a brilliant or really crazy idea. Have a day where everyone working in the shop wears an article of clothing made from what you sell. For example, a shirt made from crepe paper or jewellery made from paper-clips or a hat from cardboard or a dress made from greeting cards (thinking of the Catherine Martin Amex dress).

The idea of this idea is to get you and your team thinking about what you sell differently and then to get your customers thinking about it differently.  I’d expect that by engaging in this idea you come up with other ways to better connect with what you sell and through this to grow your business.

Like any marketing idea – HAVE FUN!

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: quarterly P&L recommended

Too often newsagents get their accounts done annually, long after the end of the financial year. My recommendation is that you get your accounts done quarterly within a few weeks of the end of each quarter as this provides visibility of potential issues with theft and other business challenges.

With accounting systems today and the ability to automatically feed data from your newsagency software getting accounts done is not as complex as it once might have been. Talk to your accountant about streamlining your process so that you have better information on which to base your business planning and decisions.

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Management tip
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