Lotterywest is hosting a one-day business conference in Perth on September 2. I was at this event last year and found it to be excellent for newsagents. The agenda for this year’s event looks excellent. I’d encourage all WA newsagents selling lotteries to book to attend if they have not already.
Newsagents are about to receive a new Peppa Pig partwork – for which stock is very limited by the way. The partwork is arriving when promotion of the Peppa Pig Treasure Hunt stage show is in full swing. As I have written here a few times recently, we’re ding well with Peppa Pig activity packs and plush – selling through three or four times in a few months. So far this year the brand is worth several thousand dollars in revenue to us.
The stage show and partwork will keep this brand working a treat through Christmas and beyond. Newsagents should check with suppliers for any Peppa Pig related product they have.
We have the David Marr Power Trip Rudd v. Abbott book next to our newspapers. This is perfect placement and perfect timing for the book – delivering nice extra margin dollars when purchased on impulse by a newspaper shopper. This is a good example of paying attention to what we sell and locating product for maximum advantage. The book appeals to people who support either politician.
Here’s how we have been promoting the latest copy of Zoo. The simple yet clever use the the collateral by our team lifts promotion from the shelf so that all those shopping this area of magazines can see it. It’s been the only featured title in this part of our magazine department. I’m posting the picture in response to emails I received following my magazine sales video. People wanted examples of in-location displays.
The price reduction and the provision of a counter display unit have worked for famous if my newsagencies are anything to go off. Sales are by between 10% and 100%.
We’re building our range of art related magazines as part of our focus on growing special interest titles. Vault is a new title for us. It’s an impressive looking magazine. We have it as our hero title in this segment at the moment.
Further to my post yesterday about our growth in magazine sales here is a brief video I shot late yesterday where I explore the sales results, explain how we achieved this and call on all newsagents to embrace the category.
I am concerned that newsagents are giving up on magazines. This would be a mistake. With good management and hard work newsagents in almost any situation ought to e able to grow magazine sales – despite the best efforts of some distributors and publishers to make our channel less competitive.
Footnote: this is the first video I’ve shot with a new lapel mic. The sound quality is much better.
While I was surprised we were sent copies of NFM New Farm Machinery as farm titles don’t work for us I was even more surprised the publisher bagged the magazine. Someone needs to tell them about the concept of browsing and how it helps sell magazines, especially new magazines. The folks at Bauer should know better.
The clear liquid mounted to the latest issue of Vogue makes it stand out on the shelves. It’s different to the usual cover-mounts of skin cream and lotion. Kudos to everyone behind this … it looks very cool. Hopefully sales kick as a result.
Ten days ago I wrote about a new display of plush, dogs, at the counter. We’ve sold more than 75% of the stock in ten days, achieving an excellent return on the space and inventory investments. We have more dogs coming in. Once they’re almost done we will change things p with a different offer – maybe plush, maybe not.
The other point about this is that $24.95 items work for us at the counter!
Shame on those at the News Corp. owned Herald Sun for covering the face of one of the accused in the Oklahoma shooting of Melbourne baseballer Chris Lane with a stuck-on ad for home delivery of the newspaper.
The ad distracts from a tragic story with a local Melbourne connection. That they would do this shows disrespect for the news and the feelings of the victim’s family and the broader community. There is no excuse.
Is News Corp. the face of evil?
A check of year on year sales at one of my newsagencies shows that we’re achieving 10% year on year unit sales growth for magazines and even more at some category, segment and title levels.
Woman’s Day sales are up 6%, New Idea up 15%, Who 31%, Take 5 up 7%, TV Week up 7.8%, AWW up 4.5% and craft overall up 40% off a good base. While magazine sales are challenged for many, things are working well for us. Here is what we do to drive magazine sales:
I don’t mean to sound big-headed but to me it’s these initiatives publishers should be promoting to newsagents. Our channel can grow magazine sales if we all engage in the kind of activity noted above.
The most important reward any newsagent can win is sales growth. We all must chase this for magazines as this product category continues to be very important to our businesses despite the sales declines reported in many newsagencies.
I’d be happy to help any newsagent address magazine sales challenges.
I heard from several Queensland newsagents yesterday saying they would close as a result of the change in the bank account sweep by Tatts which took effect yesterday. Pretty dramatic stuff for what at first glance appears to be a simple payment day change.
The timing of the change appears to be the issue: a drawdown by Tatts Friday and again today, a super and tax hit this month, magazine accounts due this week and other suppliers chasing money more aggressively.
Given the timing of cash hits in August, Tatts would have been better advised make the change next month and maybe in a more phased way.
The next few days will show if the concerns of some has followed through with business closures.
We’re pitching the P!NK one-shot with our weeklies and above our weeklies to tap into interest in the performer while her national tour is top of mind. We figured this placement with weeklies was better for us than with music titles where a title like this would usually be located.
We’re promoting the latest issue of Men’s Health magazine with this aisle end display in our men’s magazine area. We’ll promote it for a week here and then feature it in-location. Men’s Health is the top selling magazine in the men’s health / fitness / sports section so giving it premium space makes commercial sense.
Several newsagents have sent me the Preferred Agent Terms and Conditions for Hubbed for comment. It appears to be their contract. In each case they asked me to look at the contract because of concerns about what happened years ago with the ANF endorsed and promoted Bill Express.
While I have business questions about the Hubbed offer are questions I have about the contract:
While I am no expert, it seems to me that newsagents signing up for Hubbed will need to seek written permission to continue to offer Touch or ePay products as well as to offer Parcel Point or N Parcel. I would also be concerned about the future business opportunities that Hubbed may deny me from taking on given the tight no compete obligations in the contract.
More complete assessment of the Hubbed offer can only be undertaken in-conjunction with reading the finance agreement which I have not seen nor have newsagents I have spoken with.
It is not my intention to attack Hubbed. Rather, I have sought to document the concerns I would have with the Preferred Agent Terms and Conditions for Hubbed if they were presented to me for consideration. I’d like to think the ANF has read the contract with the same intent as me.
Hubbed may have answers that satisfy newsagents on these and other points. As with any contract newsagents are presented to sign, read it all carefully and ask questions about anything which concerns you or you do not understand. Get the answers in writing.
We have added a small riser to the That’s Life Puzzler on the Go display unit so we could add a second title. Puzzler on the Go is working well in this second location with That’s Life so it’s natural we’d want to try the same for a second of the That’s Life puzzle titles.
Our crossword sales are up 5% year on year – showing we can grow magazine sales by managing the category.
Respected Australian TV anchor Dr. Armin Wolf has written for Forbes about when the last German newspaper will cease printing. 2034 is the date Wolf focuses on as it’s the date journalism professor Klaus Meier predicted a while back.
The article is interesting because it’s not doom and gloom. No, it’s a look at news itself and how it finds platforms relevant to its purpose.
Newspapers were not invented to be printed on paper. For about 200 years, they were just a particularly efficient way to distribute written “up to date”-information. If there are new technical possibilities that do the same better, they will prevail. Stone tablets vanished because new media emerged that could store information more efficiently. The same will happen to printed daily news.
Pacific Magazines has responded to the 14.4% decline in sales of Famous with a cut in the cover price from $4.20 to $3.95.
They are supporting the new price point with counter display units in newsagencies. I’m using this in each of my stores this week to promote the price drop and to chase impulse purchases.
Being above $4.00 was always going to be a challenge in a market where a weekly magazine is more of a discretionary purchase today than a few years ago. The newsagency sales data I see shows that weekly magazines are the items most often purchased with a discount voucher or a free magazine voucher.
Australia Post is rolling out these bill payment (and other services) kiosks in a move that cements their position as the bill payment network. The kiosks handle payment by cash, credit card and debit card. They do this without needing to go to the counter.
This kiosk roll out further dilutes the already small bill payment opportunity in newsagencies.
Despite not selling out since March and with an average sell through of under 50%, someone or some broken system or process within Bauer has decided we need more stock of their discounted magazine packs. It makes me wonder if Bauer has an allocations problem.
Click on the image and see the sales history for yourself.
Our supply should have been reduced, not increased. My preference is that I not get these discount packs at all as they send the wrong message. Shoppers have opportunities for discounts through a more whole of business approach. This serves my needs more than the Bauer enforced discount pack over which I have no control and in fact have to find another pocket to display.
But if I have to take this stuff then get the allocation right please!
Some in Bauer will complain that I am complaining unfairly. The data speaks for itself.
We are promoting the new Marvel Fact Files partwork with this aisle end display where we are using one of the Marvel cardboard cut-outs we sell in-store. This is a perfect combination of products from two suppliers working well together.
We’re seeing good sales, like we do of most partworks we receive. So far this month partworks have accounted for more than 20% of all magazine unit sales for us.
The GNS Market Fair in Melbourne this weekend was among the best organised I have seen and I’ve been at every one since GNS started them. There was a good mix of product and services suppliers, the floorplan was good and the GNS stand itself was the hero stand it needs to be.
Attendance was softer than suppliers needed to justify the expense. I think the various gift fairs as well as newsagency marketing group conferences with their own trade shows attached pull focus from the GNS fair that we the only fair for newsagents for so many years.
I talked with a few people about a national trade show on one weekend tied in with other events to encourage participation. I think this idea could work with the support of the marketing groups.
GNS applied a margin to all retail products sold at the fair. I expect some suppliers to lobby GNS about this as it’s not what you see at other trade shows. For example, a supplier at the gift fair which attracts 20,000+ retailers pays for the space and furniture with no surcharge on turnover.
Newsagents attend these fairs for a deal and not a penalty.
Newsagency businesses are local businesses. This is how shoppers see them and how many newsagents see them.
How locally connected is your newsagency? Here are four (fresh I hope) ideas you could consider to show off a local connection. This collection of ideas is all about things you could do that are newsworthy for the local newspaper or local radio station:
While none of these ideas is about you selling product, each does better connect your shop with your local community and that is vital, especially for high-street newsagencies where the traffic you see is what you generate as opposed to larger shopping centre newsagencies which rely on the centre to generate traffic.
We all make our own success.
I visited a newsagency yesterday to purchase a stationery item and when I approached the counter with the item I wanted, around two minutes after I entered the shop, the person sitting on a stool at the counter was startled.
I didn’t see you come in they said. That’s because you were too busy on your phone you lazy sod is what I should have said instead of just smiling. I paid, they gave me change and that was it. I turned back to check as I exited and they were on their phone again. The whole time they did not leave the stool.
The person who served me be would be in their early twenties and earning over $21 an hour to work. In the US this person would be lucky to be on $8 an hour and for this they would most certainly provide a much better experience.
This newsagency is in a busy high-street situation. Shops all around are open. The cafe next door was full. Trade could be good in the newsagency if they engaged with the opportunity on the street.
I don’t know the owner of this business but I’ll make contact to let them know my experience. If only this employee would do what they are paid to do … to work the shop floor, make the shopping experience more enjoyable and tidy the front of the shop so it connects with people on the street.
The employee I encountered is around the age of most people I noticed on the street. They could be more help to the business than sitting on the stool taking money and putting it in a drawer.
A business is a product of its leadership.
I am certain anyone could visit one of my shops at any time and have an experience that’s not as good as I would want. the challenge for us as retailers and leaders is to be clear in what we expect. We also need to hire for success and have a process for addressing shortcomings we hear about.