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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Extraordinary breach of confidentiality by PMP’s Gordon & Gotch

Gordon and Gotch, the magazine distribution business owned by public company PMP today breached the confidentiality of many newsagents by disclosing email addresses of all small business newsagencies that it claims are in arrears with their accounts.

I was sent a copy of the email by several newsagents and the email list appears to be different – making it hard to see the extent of the security breach by the company. The lists, in the wrong hands, could be detrimental.

I have reached out to senior management of Gotch, a lawyer who fights for justice and a shareholder activist.

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Ethics

Post Christmas sales are not for amateurs – we need rules of etiquette for shopping mall shopping

The pre and post Christmas rush, crush and tumble in shopping centres is enough to test the nerves of even the most hardened retailer and most experienced shopper. It’s the shopping amateurs who make it difficult, the people who shop less than ten times a year who slow us down and detract from our experience. yet it’s these people we crave as they spend big when bedazzled by the bright lights of Christmas retail.

What to do? How to deal with these retail amateurs?

Here are my rant and rules for amateur shoppers and the busy retail season generally. Feel free to add more – it’s therapeutic.

  1. You are not alone. The shopping mall is a shared place, not your private dream factory. Be awake and aware. You are not alone!
  2. Shop with a purpose, always have a destination. Dawdling through the centre blocks those of us on a mission.
  3. Keep to the left. This is Australia people! Follow the road rules.
  4. Faster walkers, keep to the right.
  5. Imagine there is a line in the middle of the mall. The people on the other side of the line (double yellow lines in fact) are walking in the other direction. Yes, just like on the road. Get it?
  6. If three, four or more are walking together, walk behind each other not across. The blockage created while you talk to each other ruins shopping for the crowd swelling behind you.
  7. I like that couples hold hands but be considerate when the centre is packed, let people separate you from your loved-one for a second while they pass. Your loved-one won;t run away!
  8. Shopping centres should have a foot traffic lane for people who work there – so they can avoid the slower shoppers.
  9. Walk in a straight line. If you want to cross the mall, indicate, look left and right – DO NOT JUST DART OUT IN FRONT OF SOMEONE CARRYING MORE THAN IS HUMANLY POSSIBLE AND CAUSING THEM TO FALL.
  10. Know how much your purchase will be if you are buying five items or less and have the money ready to go.
  11. No, don’t lick your fingers and then fondle your $5, $10, $20 and $50 notes with your saliva enriched fingers. You might as well spit on my hands.
  12. Towels and other cloth items in retail shops are not there for your use. People want to buy them and use them. I know that might seem strange but it is how the world works.
  13. When I advise that your credit /eftpos card has been declined it means it has been declined and you should try for another method of payment. I am not your bank, I did not decline your payment.
  14. If you want to use your loyalty card in a store, have it ready – don’t wait to be asked and than cause the people behind yo to wait while you go through your pathetic I know it’s here somewhere routine. It’s not funny.
  15. Shower before shopping. Please.
  16. Clean your teeth before shopping. I don’t need to know what you had for dinner last night.
  17. Do your hair. You’re shopping. This is meant to be relaxing and entertaining. Messy hair is scary and it can be a habitat for nasty things.
  18. Wear shoes. Okay, yes, it is Australia where shoes are, apparently, optional and, yes, it is summer, except in Melbourne where Crown Casino runs a book on the weather season of the day, but shoes are important. They stop you shedding your DNA everywhere. Plus they stop you getting hurt when I step on your toes.
  19. Don’t talk to me with food in your mouth.
  20. Cover your mouth when you cough.
  21. Turn away from me when you sneeze.
  22. Yes I know you like to wear a g-string and yes, I agree, it’s pretty. No need to flaunt it by bending over at every opportunity in-store and out in the mall.
  23. Over-buffed muscle-mary guys: I get it that you work out and have an amazing body as a result. yeah, it’s a shrine of beauty. But, hey, cover up. You can look in the mirror at the gym and at home all you like.
  24. No, guys, scratching yourself, inside your shorts is not okay – especially when going commando.
  25. No uncles, grandfathers and friends, it is not okay to show young boys the girls of Zoo as part of their education.
  26. No, it’s not okay to put your empty drink container on the shelf in my store and leave it there.
  27. The food court is for eating food. Get it? Food court. My shop is not part of the food court.
  28. My shop is not a public toilet. If your kid urinates, clean it up yourself.
  29. No, you cannot change your baby on the floor of my show and NO YOU CANNOT GIVE ME THE USED NAPPY FOR ME TO PUT IN THE BIN!
  30. If you ride into my shop on your ride on scooter I expect you to have the driving skills to get yourself out.
  31. Of course it is your fault if your overloaded shopping trolley knocks over a display. It was your choice to bring it into the shop. be responsible people!
  32. Yes, you do need to pay for the wine glass that just happened to fall out of your hand while you fed yourself chips from the tub in your other hand.
  33. No you can’t use my phone to call your wife to come and pick you up.
  34. This is not a babysitting service. Your kids are your responsibility. That’s what parenting is about.
  35. I really don’t know if she will like it. If you ask me in my shop I will always say yes. I want the sale.
  36. I don’t care what they charge, our price is our price based on what we buy it for. Yes, I know they sold out. How is that my problem?
  37. No, you don’t need a bag for the newspaper.
  38. Open your eyes. This is a newsagency, not centre management.
  39. That smile I have while you search your purse to give me exact change down to the five cent coin is fake. I hate that you do that. It’s not as if five cent coins are being phased out yet. You will get more. Giving me the one in your purse will bring you only fleeting relief.
  40. No you can’t photocopy a recipe in the food magazine.
  41. Bratty children are not cute. Be the parent.
  42. Newspaper customers, wait to pay if we’re busy. It’s rude to throw money at us and leave. You wouldn’t do it at a supermarket.
  43. I love that you’re talking to a friend on the phone but, hey, I need to talk to you to complete the sale – if you don’t mind.

Car parking, well that’s a whole separate topic.

Before you think I am a bitter and hate-filled retailer in need of retirement … while there are some truths in what I’ve written, it’s mainly in fun … oh, and therapeutic.

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Fun

What a day! Boxing day success in the newsagency

Boxing Day customers are the best! They are full of Christmas cheer and they are thrilled to bag bargains. Average basket value today was excellent with most people buying five or more items. Boxed cards lead in popularity followed by Christmas decorations.

Our decision to offer everyday plush at 25% off worked a treat with excellent results for that category. We offered this discount for one day only as a bonus for those out shopping on Boxing Day and in the knowledge that introducing shoppers to our plush range will bring them back.

These are deliberate moves we made – to achieve short-term and medium-term business outcomes. We approached today not only to move stock but to introduce our business to people who may not have shopped with us previously.

A bonus was the add-on purchases of magazines and greeting cards – we’re ahead of a usual Thursday.

Success in a newsagency business in 2014 will rely more on decisions taken by the management of the business than ever before.

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newsagency marketing

Christmas is over, let the sales begin!

For some retail newsagents today, Christmas is over. They will either be at their shops by now or heading in to be ready for the Boxing Day Sale.

For those of us in a shopping centre with major tenants embracing the Boxing Day Sale opportunity, today and the next few days could be huge. Indeed, for some I expect it will be bigger than Christmas.

We have bought stock especially for the sale starting today. We are able to offer this at a substantial (30% to 50% off retail) and still make over 50% gross profit. This is the key to making these sales work.

We’re not advertising externally except through a customer email campaign which went out yesterday. Being in a  centre, we can rely on their marketing and the marketing of the majors to bring in the shoppers. Our job is to get them into our shop and buying.

The shop floor is being reconfigured this morning to sale mode: gone are the Christmas displays. This is all about moving product so value is the key. We are using several discount points to attract shoppers – Christmas cards and wrap – 50% off; Christmas specific gifts – 50% off; other gifts – 25% off; plush (today only) – 25% off; calendars – 30% off and several super-special lines we want to move vast volumes of – 50% off.

We would not usually discount calendars yet but with sales barely the same as last year we want to quit the category as we need the floor space for faster moving lines.

Every customer will have a reason to come back thanks to the discount vouchers they will get on their receipts. We’re out to retail some of the new shoppers we will see and get more $$$ from the out of town shoppers visiting our area.

We will ensure that people walking past don’t see us as a traditional newsagency. We will be a fully engaged part of the Boxing Day sale phenomenon. While the first day is vitally important, the event will run ten days to two weeks. We have stock that will enable us to engage for the duration.

If this year is like previous years we will see benefits for non-discounted categories like magazines and everyday greeting cards.

Our sales target is to match our December 1 – December 24 year on year overall growth of 10%.

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Newsagency management

A very busy lead up to Christmas

With the last sale completed and the shop all packed up for at least one day off, many newsagents will be reflecting tonight on a strong pre-Christmas season.

Early indications are of good year on year growth for city, country, high street and shopping centre newsagencies – especially in the last two weeks.  Christmas cards have been very strong as have been gifts. Magazines have benefited too with sales up year on year in more than half the stores I have seen data from.

Several newsagents I have spoken with have declared that sales are back to the good old days. While I don’t think that will every happen – as we have moved on from what a newsagency used to be – I am more certain than ever that we make our own success as much as we make our own failure.

It’s been a thrill this Christmas to see experimental product moves succeed and an opportunity to learn from those that have not succeeded.

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Newsagency management

Customers love the Hallmark countdown

countdownI saw a kid getting their photo taken next to the Hallmark Christmas countdown we have out the front of the newsagency today. Especially in the last week the countdown works a treat at signposting cards and providing interactivity with younger shoppers.

Hallmark does this well and have done for many years.

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Greeting Cards

It’s like we’re in a foreign land sometimes

We’re seeing many out of state shoppers with people on the move for their Christmas holidays. It’s fun watching and listening to them. Often I pick up tips, especially the things they like. These non-regular customers are a delight.

On the weekend a mum and her 10+ daughter were shopping with us and asked to buy an instant scratch ticket. I said we don’t have them. What newsagency doesn’t have lottery tickets? the mum asked. I explained there was a kiosk nearby. What’s a kiosk? the mum asked. The young girl pulled away from a surprised mum and ran to a group waiting outside yelling they don’t have lottery tickets they don’t have lottery tickets. I stood there looking for the hidden camera.

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Newsagency challenges

This perfect impulse line brings out disgusting behaviour at the counter

ringplasticThese small plastic rings that light up sell easily at the counter. Kids eyes light up when they see them. They are a perfect counter line.

Two days ago a male customer in his late seventies was belittling his female companion, aged in her late thirties. I heard him snap get over here – that’s when I noticed them. At the counter while the he bought a card, she noticed the rings.

It’s what happened next that shocked me. After completing the card transaction he asked how much the plastic rings were, I told him and he bought one. The lady put a ring on her finger and beamed a wide smile. The guy turned to me over his shoulder as he walked behind his partner and said: that’ll keep her quiet as he rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows.

You see some awful things in retail some days.

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Gifts

Shock as Network Services is guilty of magazine oversupply again!

magsnetwv8V8X Supercar magazine failed the last time we had it in 2011. Network Services responded to the failure supplying the title to us recently as a volume three times the failed 2011 supply.

This scale out by Network doesn’t many any sense.

The Bauer controlled Network expects newsagents to pay their accounts on time yet they do not provide newsagents with reasonable levers with which to control their level of indebtedness. Network misbehaves on a daily basis, lumbering our businesses with unreasonable debt and insufficient tools with which to mitigate the situation. 

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magazine distribution

A bagged magazine I don’t mind

magspfspecialI don’t mind that the latest People’s Friend special is bagged because it won’t hurt sales whatsoever. This is not a magazine that is browsed. I watch people who buy magazines and those buying this title pick it up and come to the counter.

I also like that it’s bagged with two gifts that are appropriate to the People’s Friend reader – a diary and a pen. The $11.99 price won’t hurt sales.

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Bagged magazines

Promoting AWW

magsawwjan2014We are promoting the latest issue of AWW, out yesterday, with newspapers as well as in the usual location. We are chasing as many early sales as possible to try and get above our mediocre sell through of under 50%. With a decay curve that sees 85% of sales in the first week and with this first week being disrupted, we have a lot of stock to shift in a few broken up days.

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magazines

Lucky Elephants lucky for us

lucky-elephantWe put a display unit of Lucky Elephants with Christmas gifts late last week. In 24 hours we had sold almost all of them. We expected them to sell but not so quickly. It’s a good ‘problem’ to encounter and a reminder that retail is about constantly trying new products, especially products you would not buy yourself.

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Fun

Christmas highlights a flaw in the old approach to shopper loyalty

With Christmas holiday migration under way we are seeing more shoppers from interstate. I was in a newsagency on the weekend and was delayed by an altercation between a sales person and someone from interstate arguing about getting VIP points for a $100+ purchase. The shopper argued that if the business was happy to give points they should get the discount because they would not be back in the shop.

The next customer in line, the customer before me, was given the pitch about signing up for the loyalty program and they had questions.

Efficiency in handling transactions at the counter is vital at Christmas. Treating all customers the same is also vital, this includes ensuring that all customers have access to the same deals.

The same day I shopped this other newsagency I served a customer in my newsagency who received a $3.00 discount voucher from a purchase of boxed cards. She commented that she was from Sydney and wouldn’t be back.I suggested she could spend it right away.  Ten minutes later she purchased close to $100 worth of our Christmas chocolates. You got me she said with a smile. Yes, we did.

While I understand the value of building a view of shopper loyalty, I am getting more economic value from the more immediate and more easily understood discount vouchers.

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Newsagency management

The Australian pokes at Bauer Media

Mark Day writing in The Australian recently criticised Bauer Media for repurposing overseas content and making it appear that a story which occurred in the UK actually occurred in Australia, in Redfern. Mumbrella first wrote about this. Their report is detailed and fascinating.

Bauer Media’s real life magazine Take 5 has been accused of misleading its readers after suggesting the story of a British “crooked copper” who used the police database to access information about women in order to sleep with them, actually occurred in Australia.

The magazine implies to readers the offences took place in NSW.

The German-owned publisher – which has been increasing the amount of syndicated international copy it uses – claims the change was a typographical error. Bauer claims that the location of “Redruth, Cornwall” was accidentally changed to “Redfern, NSW” because the names were similar.

While I wouldn’t regard Take 5 as a credible news title, what happened here is a new low.

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Ethics

Tapping into the fear of online security

magsanonymousWe are promoting the How to Stay Anonymous Online magbook in a couple of places to try and tap into growing anxiousness relating to online security. With more people quitting Facebook and this being covered (somewhat gleefully) by mainstream media, it’s a good time for this title – hence our shining a spotlight on it.

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magazines

Price matching demands frustrating

pricematchA customer yesterday wanted to buy the Melway street directory but they wanted us to match the K-mart price. K-Mart had sold out. Our price was $4.00 more. I explained we don’t match prices but we do have a discount voucher opportunity in place for $$ off her next purchase. She rolled her eyes.

It turns out K-Mart had sold out and this was the last Christmas gift she had to purchase. While I could have discounted, I resisted because I don;t want to get caught up in the price matching game. She bought the street directory and then two boxes of cards in a second purchase.

I think price matching marketing is lazy. It can also be deceptive. Good retailers will offer a competitive price for their product / service offering. Poor retailers will say we’ll match and then either sell product you cannot easily compare and or discount to ride off the traffic generated by the marketing of others.

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Newsagency management

Australia Post missing in action for Christmas shoppers

postagestampsGovernment owned Australia Post outlets in a couple of shopping centres I visited yesterday were closed, leaving last minute stamp customers having to go to newsagencies for stamps. In one of my stores we only had full price stamps. One customer ripped into us about this – what kind of newsagency are you where you don’t sell Christmas stamps? The kind that offers stamps as a courtesy service when the post office is closed is what I wanted to say. Instead I gave off a lame smile and a shrug of ym shoulders. The customer grumbled their way out of the shop. I was pretty happy when a customer after them looked behind them and said Grinch.

Government owned post offices should have been open yesterday.

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Australia Post

Your Garden works as an impulse opportunity

magsygxmasI put Your Garden in this impulse purchase location on the weekend and shoppers bought the title. I rate this free standing single title floor unit as the most effective I have used in a newsagency. Choose the right title, place the unit in the right location and you can achieve better sales than if you were to do a display on a power end. Being tactical can drive magazine sales.

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magazines

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: use t-shirts to promote your business & have fun

tshirt-magazineloverOne thing Australian shoppers think about Australian newsagency businesses is that we don’t change. One way to push back on this perception and to help your team enjoy the business more is to provide a refresh of staff uniforms. For a couple of weeks get people wearing a different t-shirt, for example. You could go with something fairly traditional like in the example I have created or go crazy with a t-shirt like: A grown man can never have too many soft toys.

Choose a caption that promotes part of your business in a fresh way. Your people also get to wear something different to work. Plus you are promoting your business in a fresh way – that may get it more noticed.

The keys are: be really out there with what you put on the t-shirt, everyone must be involved, have fun, target a specific business outcome, and, most important: get everyone in the business on side before you pay for the t-shirts to be printed. Remember, at its core, this is a business marketing idea.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management advice: lead by being present

The strength of and value derived from the team working in your newsagency will depend on the leadership you provide. The best leadership you can provide in small business retail is being present with team members, working alongside them, giving them opportunities to learn from you.

Too often newsagents try and lead their businesses from the back room. Too often I see an old-school structure when a small business works better with a flat structure.

The best way to communicate how you want something done is to show it being done. The best way to share your vision is to work at implementing it alongside team members. The best way to show the level of customer service you want is for you to deliver it. The best way to show how you want your team members treated is for you to treat them this way.

Being present and working your business with your team offers excellent opportunities to good leaders.

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Management tip

A magazine store within a store

magsdeptstoreIn Manila last week I took a good look at this magazine store within a store at the Landmark department store at Makati. It offered more titles than your average newsagency – 1,000 I would say. Most were older issues, making me wonder if they purchased returns in bulk. All titles were bagged, blocking browsing.

I like how they displayed the magazine titles. Someone with a special interest could browse these racks, meaning the vendor could drive a space efficiency level far greater than Australian newsagents get with traditional and even the more recent magazine fixturing. With floorspace our largest single cost we need to be looking at all display options – including what I saw last week.

Click on the image for a large version. be sure to look at the counter at the front – it’s like the operator built a fortress for themselves.

1 likes
magazines

Retail shoppers love a more complete story

xmas-storyWe’ve received terrific feedback from shoppers this Christmas for promotions offering a range of common-themed hospitality related products – like this Christmas range with bags, mugs, placemats, serving platters and the like.

We keep common-themed products together so the complete story can be told. This drives sales. While I understand this is basic retail management, I mention it as there are many newsagents new to retail.

we do the same with brands. For example, we have all Peppa Pig product together: plush, stationery, books and magazines. Online does this well and we need to get better at it.

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visual merchandising
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