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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Australia Post foot traffic decline due to migration to digital

In the Australia Post Annual report for the 2013 year (yes, I’m months late reading this), the organisation reports a 4.5% decline in retail foot traffic. They attribute this to consumers migrating to digital (online) channels for products and or service they would have access in an Australia Post retail outlet.

This year we experienced a decline of 4.5 per cent in retail foot traffic due to the challenging retail environment and the continuing shift of consumers to digital channels.

While the annual report offers no specific data, I expect a chunk of the decline in traffic is due to a decline in over the counter bill payment. There is no upside in over the counter bill payment in my view.

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Australia Post

How to leverage the Disney opportunity in your newsagency

1966302_668998653158097_1883793295_oI love how one of my newsagency team members created this display to leverage the launch of the Disney partwork series – with product from several suppliers.  With Disney products also being advertised heavily by Woolworths, smart newsagents can trade of this heightened awareness and the partworks advertising and attract new traffic and sell a range of excellent high margin products.

How do we make more money of magazines? By being a smart and commercially attuned retailer.

The photo shows the display on the lease line facing into the mall. It is attracting people who do not usually shop in this business.

If your newsagency is experiencing declining traffic and sales consider this approach to what you are doing with the new Disney part series.

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newsagency marketing

Dealing with how you feel about your newsagency

Further to my post Tuesday about mental health in a newsagency I want to draw your attention to some tips I shared on May 6, 2012 on how to like / love your newsagency again.

I know from my own conversations with newsagents that there are many unhappy newsagency business owners. Their unhappiness can manifest in anger and frustration toward those not responsible for creating the unhappiness. This becomes unproductive for everyone.

I’m concerned at the hours we lose in our channel every day to misplaced anger.

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Newsagency management

Newsagency management tip: What’s your song?

What’s the song you play when things really get to you and you’re just about ready to give up? You know, the song that takes you to a better place – maybe some nostalgic or somewhere you dream to be. The song that helps you process, deal with and or forget what appears to be a road block in front of you. The song that helps you creatively. The song that makes you smile.

In theatre they often have a song for the production that blares through the empty theatre prior to opening the doors to the public. I have seen it used is to ‘cleanse’ the theatre, reset the cast and backstage crew and focus everyone on the production.

This song of yours can help in business – if you’re not using it already. Use it to inspire you and to help you look at challenges differently.

I was talking with someone about this recently and they said they didn’t have a song. They actually did and didn’t realise that it was the song.

I have a few songs including: Orinoco Flow from Enya and Hungry Town from Big Pig’s Bonk album to help with creativity; Dirty Boulevard from Lou Reed, Things Can Only Get better from D:Ream and Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire when working on business plans.

I have the songs I really like on my phone, laptop and iPad. If I need to shut out the world they are nearby for comfort and inspiration. If I don’t answer your call it could be because I have the ear plugs in.

What are your songs?

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Management tip

New-wave gift stores challenge on hours & price

openinghoursDaiso is a Japanese gift store. Some would label it a discount store but it’s not – yes, the items are cheap but the price reflects the quality and the impulse-purchase type shopper they attract. What’s interesting about the model is the opening hours. One store I saw a couple of days ago is open to 9pm Monday to Thursday and to 10pm Friday and Saturday. Their Melbourne CBD store is open to 9pm Monday through Saturday.

Seeing these extended hours for Daiso is a reminder that trading hours is an important point of difference. There was a time when newsagencies were open almost the longest hours of any retailer. That’s not true with more newsagency businesses trading as retail only.

In a world where people are always shopping and where the traditional work day is a thing of the past, considering trading hours is something we will have to face.

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Gifts

If you want to stock The Saturday Paper

Here is communication from IPS on how to get The Satruday Paper in your newsagency:

After the successful launch edition of The Saturday Paper (TSP), IPS have been inundated with calls from retailers requesting additional supply.

To assist retailers IPSonline www.ipsonline.net.au has been opened up so allocations can be adjusted to avoid sell outs and ensure sub agents are supplied with suitable quantities.

Newsagents can also call the customer service number on 1800 606 477 or email customerservice@publicationsolutions.com.au

Based on sales last week I;d urge newsagents to ensure they stock the title and keep in on sale through the week. Co-locate at the counter.

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Newspapers

Reporting the sale of Wild Cards & Gifts

SmartCompany reported on the sale of Wild Cards & Gifts to WH Smith two days ago. The report contains some insights that will interest newsagents:

WH Smith plans to continue to operate the Wild Cards & Gifts brand under its existing name but Boyle says the UK-based retailer plans to grow the business further.

“The intention, as I understand it, is to maintain the brand in terms of what the customer sees and to look at the way the business is supplied, the marketing and the support structure of the group,” Boyle says.

“[Wild Cards & Gifts] is going to grow through profit improvement programs that WH Smith has planned from increased critical mass and being part of a worldwide network.”

What a WH Smith owned Wild shop looks like remains to be seen.

Later in the piece, Lawrence Boyle, one of the founders of Wild, takes a swipe:

“We have removed our main competition from the market place through that time, Kenny’s Cardiology, it’s a business model based in the 80s that is no longer relevant.”

Hmmm … Kenny’s is still around – much smaller, but still around.

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Newsagency challenges

Confronting mental health issues in your newsagency

As employers, as retailers and as small business owners, mental health issues are often not far away from a newsagent. Sometimes we don’t know it while other times it’s obvious and on show for all to see. How we confront mental health challenges is important for us, our business and those presenting with issues.

Beyond Blue has published Business In Mind, a useful resource for small businesses on issues relating to mental health in the workplace. This is a good starting point for learning more. In the resource there are links to other resources that can help.

Finding mental health resources for small business owners dealing with mental health issues is not as easy as it is finding resources for managing the workplace for better mental health. It’s tough running any business and sometimes things can feel overwhelming. This is where networking can help as a first step, talking with others.

Newsagents and other small business owners feeling challenges within themselves need to treat themselves as employees and use the resources available. To this end, starting points suggested on various sites include:

Doing better with mental health matters in small business starts with understanding. That’s where the Beyond Blue resource is helpful.

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Newsagency management

Brands key to attracting shoppers and cracking the price misconception

jasnor-sesameAt the NZ Gift Fair in Auckland on the weekend I visited the Jasnor stand and saw this slat-wall plan-o-gram approach to displaying the Sesame Street range of plush. For newsagents who don’t have a floor display unit, this wall unit is an excellent alternative as it leverages the profile of the Sesame Street characters to drive shopper engagement.

Mega brands like Sesame Street can separate us apart, they can promote our businesses as relevant. They can also help us combat ignorance on price as it is rare you would see a retailer discount licenced product except in a short-life catalogue special.

Whereas cheap plush is cheap in discount and department stores, licenced plush is more likely to be the same or close to the same price everywhere. It’s a bonus if you can buy better than usual.

I’ve been selling the Sesame Street range from Jasnor for many years and expect to carry it for years to come.

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Plush

Making the most of Disney Cakes & Sweets

1660453_667909906600305_814276627_nWe are leveraging the launch of the Disney Cakes & Sweets partworks with placement with Disney products from four or five other suppliers ofDisney Liucenced products including plush, homewares, cards, wrap and gifts lines.

The advertised partwork launch brings the traffic and the other items are the icing and cherry on the cake.

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Gifts

Stationers supply spamming newsagents?

stationers-supply-spamyesterday I received more than ten emails from Stationers Supply about the VANA trade display later this week. This was after I requested several times they stop. I’m not a customer of theirs and will not be at the event.

I’d be curious if other newsagents were spammed too.

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Stationery

Bauer takes prime magazine space in Coles

magswincolesThe front-of-store magazine display at an inner suburban Melbourne Coles outlet was turned into a Bauer promotion yesterday. Titles from Pacific Magazines and other competitor publishers have been removed and the space used for Bauer titles and their Access All Areas promotion. The display itself was moved a metre back from an excellent position and turned 90 degrees – to a location where it will not be as successful as people need to now look back on entering the store to see it. Placement is everything.

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magazines

Poor support for new Sovereign of the Seas partwork

margpartwseasWhile we are actively promoting Sovereign of the Seas with prime placement in-store, we could have done more had the publisher and distributor provided better support. At the very lease a floor display unit should have been provided to help us disrupt traffic with the opportunity. We’re only making 25% GP so it is reasonable to expect the publisher to invest.

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partworks

Promoting the newspaper at the counter

paper-counterI’m in Auckland checking our their Gift Fair and for some meetings and noticed this in a cafe / magazine / book shop early this morning.

Displaying the full front page at the counter is a good way to promote the newspaper. While not appropriate for all newsagencies, it could work in some.

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Newspapers

Building a wall of winners to promote the value of shopping in our newsagency

winnerWe take a photo every time a customer wins a prize in our newsagency. This latest winner collected a latest model tablet computer as part of our supplier-funded brand-name ink promotion. The winners are usually happy to pose with their prize.

The photo is important to us as it adds to the pitch we can make about the value of shopping with us.

Competitions like this where one of our customers wins something of value provide us with another way to promote our value proposition over competitors. The photo lets us leverage the value of the prize long after it has been collected.

The more we promote prizes like this and deals for ink and similar everyday product the more we fight back against the perception that newsagencies are expensive.

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newsagency marketing

Removing Puzzler marketing collateral

magspuzzlerwinI took down the unrequested marketing collateral promoting Puzzler titles for several reasons: they grossly over-supply titles and copies of titles, they did not ask permission, the competition pulls focus from a far more important campaign, I’ve early returned most of their products.

The people behind Puzzler need to sort out their distribution strategy and work more closely with newsagents if they want better treatment. Running a competition with a car as a prize is not how you go about getting newsagents to support your products. No, this starts with ranging a reasonable number of titles and supplying reasonable quantities of each title – something Puzzler has not done in the last year, aded and abetted by Network Services.

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magazines

Supanews website claims 47,000 transactions

The Supanews website I wrote about in December claims to have completed more than 47,000 transaction since its launch.

The website itself is effectively a front for other sites – passing transactions to other providers for magazine subscriptions, lottery products and stationery. The site does not, as the promoters claim, replicate a traditional newsagency.

Supanews has claimed to its franchisees that it does not own or operate the site. I investigated this and am not sure. I traced control of the site to an accounting practice in Hong Kong that offers a service registering and running shelf companies for others.

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Newsagency

Comparing Saturday newspapers

Having read all four Saturday newspapers in Melbourne – The Weekend Australian, The Saturday Age, The Saturday Herald Sun and The Saturday Paper – the value of competition is obvious. The three existing Saturday newspapers responded to the arrival of The Saturday Paper by rejigging their offers. The move of The Age to tabloid format is the most significant response – though they will say it was happening regardless.

This weekend, Melbourne is better served by its newspapers as a result of competition. I hope it keeps up.

Now, to the products themselves. I’m not going to comment on The Weekend Australian as it is more a propaganda sheet than newspaper – the media section on Monday is excellent and the weekend magazine insert is excellent … the rest is of little interest to me. Nor will I comment on The Saturday Herald Sun as more fluff than news … yes, it is the best selling newspaper in town.

The Saturday Age looks and feels different in part because of the format change and in part because they are feeling the pressure of the new kid on the block for than others.  The Age is thicker, heavier, feeling like it has more substance. Much of its bulk, however, comes from ads – you certainly notice these when you scan it next to The Saturday Paper which has less advertising, what feels like more meatier stories and is printed on better stock. In fact, this page by page comparison reveals a disruption by smaller format display advertising that reflects a real difference between the two products.

While it is considerably smaller, The Saturday Paper looks and feels more substantial to those who buy a newspaper for stories. This is an important point since this is why we buy newspapers today. The days of purchasing a newspaper on Saturday for car, job and real-estate advertising are over. If you are buying a paper on a Saturday for the classified advertising you’re getting to market too late. So, comparing stories how we must compare these products. The first edition of The Saturday Paper is a terrific start. I appreciate the space given to fully explore stories. I would like to read more voices on a broader selection of issues – as the newspaper develops.

I expect that we will see Fairfax tune its Saturday products in response to The Saturday Paper – just as the new newspaper will tune and adjust as it finds its feet. They will respond to consumer interest in a newspaper because of its stories by focussing more on stories. While they say they do this today, I expect they will find ways to feature stories more through design changes.

A newspaper purchase is not the habit it once was. Now, more than ever, the stories in a newspaper will drive sales. The new competition encourages this.

Yes, print newspapers are alive and competing. Good times.

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Media disruption

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: look at your business as a whole

Today’s newsagency business is more likely to be broad in its focus, serving a wide age group and carrying products that range from convenience through to destination gifts. Today’s newsagency is a mini department store.

When was the last time you looked at your business as a whole, the last time you marketed your business as a whole?

Often, our suppliers want us to work our business through their category. They want our time spent on their products and products from suppliers in their category. They want us to support promotions that drive interest in their category or their specific products. Some encourage and guide our focus and behaviour by giving us easy promotions to run, promotions that serve them and probably not the whole of our business.

Look in your average newsagency today and there are probably eight or ten supplier driven competitions. They all want attention, display space and over the counter promotion. Where is the voice of our newsagency in this?  Our business gets lost, we cannot keep up with the marketing spend of our suppliers. In the end, their brands win while our brand fades.

I don’t blame suppliers who do this: who encourage, guide, pressure and bribe us to focus on their products more than the whole of our business. But I wish more would work with us on a whole of business marketing and management commitment. Some do but not enough.

I applaud those suppliers who do help us promote and manage the whole of our business – but not enough of them do this. The Pacific Magazines Nexus program is a good example of this – they have given us a professional email and txt marketing platform we can use for anything.

Newsagents need to do better at marketing  the whole of our business. We need people shopping with us for us and not because a supplier promotes their products. We need to look at how we market the whole of our business and develop a plan to address this – for ourselves ahead of what some suppliers may want.

The newsagencies struggling today are more likely to be the ones leaving it up to their suppliers to attract shoppers through their doors. This is not a business plan, this is not good marketing for a newsagency business.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: how to assess and reduce your magazine range

magwallWhat report can I use to get magazine distributors to reduce my supply? This question (or versions of it) is a common question I am asked by newsagents – usually by someone downsizing their shop or struggling with magazine oversupply and / or other business challenges.

In some respects, given the push model used by the two major magazine distributors, Gordon & Gotch and Network Services, no report will help newsagents get more equitable magazine supply or a supply trimmed to suit a smaller size shop. This is best achieved by writing to each distributor, making your case and then taking action through mediation or legally if they ignore you.  While this route – letter followed by legal – is one ignored by most newsagents, it is the approach most likely to work.

If you do want to understand your situation, the Magazine Sell through Rates Report or the MPA Magazine Performance Report or the Title Performance Report will give you clarity on your sell through and the trend in your business. While you can use your software to immediately early return under-performing titles, the best action really is to get the distributor engaged.

If you really want to go hardcore on yourself you can run the Magazine Cash Flow report. Have medication at the ready as this report will show you what you make or lose on any given title after taking into account retail real-estate and labour. But this report is not for the feint-hearted as it will usually show that 65% or more of the titles you carry are loss-making. Like I said, not for the feint-hearted.

If you want to reduce your magazine supply here is my management advice recommendation: write to the distributor in question, make your business case (reduced floorspace allocation for magazines / oversupply), given them seven days to respond. If there is no response or if, over time, there is no change in behaviour, take action – start with your local Small Business Commissioner and ask for mediation. It’s not expensive and shows them you are serious about addressing the issue.

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magazines

Placement of The Saturday Paper

saturdaypaper2We placed our main supply of The Saturday Paper yesterday between our two top selling daily newspapers and this is where we will keen stock until at least the middle of the week. Our counter promotion will come down Monday morning. I mention this newspaper positioning as I was in a newsagency late yesterday where they had The Saturday Paper with their news magazines. This is the wrong placement for the title.

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Newspapers

Unnecessary barcode and poor placement

barcodeblockoutCheck out how one newsagent barcoded The Saturday Paper. There is no reason to barcode this title since it already has a barcode. Even more important – it was a mistake to place the barcode over part of the masthead – this makes noticing the title more difficult. This is poor management by the newsagent – they should have processes in place to set when barcoding is necessary and to ensure stickers are placed to not hinder sales.

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Newsagency management
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