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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Some newsagents are making excellent moves

It’s been a thrill this week to meet plenty of newsagents attending the first of the Newsagency of the Future workshops for 2013. I say thrill because I have noticed a change of mood. Whereas in past years there would be more attendees with a mindset of doom and gloom, this year I am meeting more newsagents who are either embracing change or who are preparing to embrace change.

I love to hear newsagents talking about playing outside the traditional newsagency square and exploring how far they can take their business.

One couple I spoke with are innovating in terms of products while another is building a café into their newsagency. This is all great stuff, exciting.

I’ll share more on the innovation I see and hear about when people are happy for more to be shared. In the meantime, this first week is drawing to a close with more good news than I expected to hear.

The image is the first slide in my presentation. It’s a photo I took at the Hong Kong Gift fair a couple of weeks ago. I use it to talk about complacency in the newsagency channel. Some of the newsagents I have spoken with this week are the opposite of complacent. As I said, it’s exciting.

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Newsagency management

Is this the oddest part series?

The Everything is Mathematical partworks was released in newsagencies this week. It’s an odd title, certainly not your usual part series. Beyond the limited appeal of the content, the retail package itself is dull, uninteresting. It does not led itself to retail display. This mar be a part series we kill off early given it drags us down and we’re not about to spend more than we should making it look good.

The comments from a team member in one of my newsagencies are insightful:

It’s a strange partwork in the sense of … who would want this? My first guess would be VCE teachers or students as the content is far too advanced to be placed with our kids magazines. I’ve placed it near Business, Science and I.T and we’ve sold the one since Monday.

I’ve checked out the website they promote on the front of part 1 – this is another reason to maybe ditch the title … no promotion of newsagents at all.  I don;t mind being used to promote their model but they should pay me more than a few cents to do this.

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magazine distribution

Launching DIRECTIONER – the world’s first One Direction magazine

We are promoting DIRECTIONER – a new magazine dedicated to covering all things One Direction.

We’re not sure how this title will go since 1D titles have tanked this year and it is still a while before the group tours here – September 2013.

Concerns aside, we will give DIRECTIONER a crack as it is new has has a more current look that other 1D products. I think the free DVD is a bonus we can promote around.

I am keen to see if we can leverage sales of One Direction product this year or to learn if this group has passed its use by date in a retail sense.

We are also promoting the availability of the title using social media (Facebook and Twitter) – in another test to gauge current interest in spending money on 1D titles.

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magazines

NANA misstates tobacco regulation situation

NANA sent out an email Friday last week saying The Federal Government has introduced a new tobacco standard (called the Competition and Consumer (Tobacco) Information Standard 2011) which will come into effect on 1 December 2013. This statement is not accurate.

As the explanatory statement accompanying the legislation notes, The Standard commences on 1 January 2012, with full implementation from
1 December 2012. The ‘new’ standard was introduced well over a year ago.

NANA’s email agitates around what it says a “new” standard. There is no new standard. The requirement to blend in tobacco packs with new images is not new. It will occur annually.  Newsagents using a just in time approach to inventory management will find that they have the new images in time.  There is a four month cross over period of the old and new pack images.

It is time consuming to manage pack changes in line with the requirements of the legislation – but plain packaging is all part of the government / community commitment to reduce smoking in Australia.

While I understand NANA lobbying to make wholesalers responsible for package compliance, retailers are the last line in ensuring compliance, the public face. I think retailers have to suck it up. I guess that’s easy for me to say – I don’t sell tobacco products in my newsagencies.

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Tobacco sales

Data shows how the Take 5 cash promotion works

This graph shows how the Take 5 campaign cash promotion worked for from Wednesday through to Sunday. The black line shows sales for the week and the red is the average achieved for the previous three weeks.  The graph shows that for the first five days sales were ahead of average.  I am particularly interested in the sales growth achieved Friday and Saturday.

While we did promote this issue more than usual, I am certain that it is the cash promotion that drove sales.

We get hit with different promotions every week and it is hard to give each time in the spotlight. This is one reason I took the time to see the sales impact of this promotion. I plan to do it for more promotions, to build a better knowledge based about the promotions that work and those that don’t work.

I’d encourage other newsagents to do the same. Data provides us the best guidance for what we do in our businesses.

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Newsagency challenges

Terrific pitch for office milk delivery

I love the professional and enticing promotion I received by email, from The Milk Box offering milk delivery to the office. Their pitch was simple and enticing. It makes using them to get milk for the office easy.

I mention this today to show newsagents keen to win office supply business how others pursue promoting to businesses. What The Milk Box is doing is best practice in my view.  I love it.  I particularly love their headline pitch:

Let us do all the hard work.
Office Milk deliveries made easy.

They understand what’s important in organising office staff amenities. Their pitch is a lesson for newsagents chasing the same buyers.

The Milk Box is part of the same business behind the successful The Fruit Box.

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marketing

Feast marketing promotes newsagents

It’s always terrific seeing TV advertising promoting newsagents as a go to retailer for a product. I caught an ad on SBS promoting Feast. newsagents are specifically promoted as one of two retail channels offering the magazine – the other is supermarkets. The ad I saw last night was a reminder to get this latest issue of Feast out beyond food and in front of more shoppers in this first week of the on-sale.

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magazines

Travellers taking fewer of the free newspapers?

The stacks of free newspapers in Qantas Clubs used to be taken quickly with often none left by mid morning.  Over the last year I have noticed more left through the day. Then, yesterday, I noticed in Sydney that early in the evening they had a stack of newspapers placed near the escalator – as you head to your plane. This is a new move, suggesting a challenge to give away all the free newspapers they are allocated.

This is no surprise to those who have migrated to accessing news through their phone or some other mobile device. Paper based news is old and the medium redundant.

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Newspapers

It’s good that the lottery jackpots were won

The last thing newsagencies with lotteries would have wanted this week is a Powerball and / or OzLotto jackpot.

Besides concern that major lottery jackpots redirect cash from product purchases to lottery ticket purchases, there is the impact on the shop floor. Stretched newsagents direct labour to serving lottery customers and away from working the shop fllor. Suppliers, too, are impacted by being turned away as there is no time for appointment.

So, in this week vital to Mother’s Day sales, I reckon many newsagents with lotteries would be relieved that the jackpots went off last week.

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Lotteries

Who knew owls were popular?

We have a range of own related gift lines, more than in the photo. that are popular with our customers. It’s interesting tapping into opportunities like this, around interests such as owls. It’s arise but when you see something work it’s exciting and eye-opening.

We judge success on how quickly we turn a range. For gifts we have a high turn expectation, more than, for example, stationery.

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Gifts

Newsagents worse off with Optus?

Newsagents have been advised new commission rates following the elimination of jenlist as the distributor on behalf of Optus to newsaagnets. rahtre than Optus sharing the benefits of the elimination of a middleman, newsagents have been stung based on correspondence from the company.

Commission on phone sales remains the same but recharge has gone from 8% to 6% for standard recharge.

Anyone complaining to Optus was told to wait for an announcement form the company in a few weeks – curiously timed to come after we’re expected to sign up with the company.

I don’t plan on signing anything until there is clarity from Optus on margin.  Right now we have anything but clarity.

The Business development manager at Optus who is responsible for our channel is busy meeting the associations. I have suggested he would be better off working with newsagents and with marketing groups which have commercial relationships with newsagents.

Right now, Optus is on the back foot taking the business over from Jenlist. They have big shoes to fill and newsagents rightly expect to have a more lucrative arrangement with Optus cutting its costs.

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Newsagent suppliers

Great advice from a customer

One of our Mollie Makes customers suggested other titles to us from the same publisher. She assured me that if we had these as well more of her friends would get them from us.  So, we have sourced three extra titles and let the customer know. It’s small steps like this that build sales outside of the high volume titles and deliver more committed magazine shoppers.

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magazines

Nightlights at the counter break with tradition

We are promoting a cool range of nightlights in our gift department as well as at the counter. besides being a bit of fun, these lights are a point of difference in terms of what shoppers expect to see in a newsagency – especially at the counter.

Our goal is to break free from tradition when it comes to counter lines. Our experience is that people notice non traditional items more.

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Gifts

Newsagency of the Future series started

The free Newsagency of the Future workshop series has started.  Over 2 hours I’ll outline options, explain why newsagents must act today and share insights from those who are acting. The locations are:

  • TODAY: Sydney @ 11am Bonnie Doon Golf Club  (free parking)
  • May 8 Adelaide @ 11am Chifley on South Terrace
  • May 9 Melbourne @ 11am Kooyong Tennis Club  (free parking)
  • May 10 @ 10am Perth Country Comfort Inter City Hotel  (free parking)
  • May 20 @ 11am Canberra Rydges Canberra Capital Hill, Cnr Canberra Ave & National Circuit Forrest ACT 2603 Parking: Onsite parking available $10.00 flat rate
  • May 21 @ 11am Newcastle Crowne Plaza Newcastle, Cnr Merewether St & Wharf Rd Newcastle NSW 2300 Parking: Valet parking $28.00 per day subject to availability or free street parking.
  • May 22 @ 11am Albury Hotel On Olive, 579 Olive St Albury NSW 2640 Parking: Free parking
  • May 23 @ 10am Geelong Four Points By Sheraton Geelong; 10-14 Eastern Beach Rd Geelong VIC 3220 Parking: Cunningham Pier 3min walk to venue $7.00 per day
  • May 24 @ 11am Hobart Mercure Hotel Hobart, 156 Bathurst St, Hobart TAS 7000 Parking: Onsite underground parking available at a cost of $1.00 per hour.
  • May 28 @ 10am Gold Coast Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort & Spa, 158 Ferny Ave Surfers Paradise QLD 4217 Parking: Free Onsite parking available
  • May 29 @ 11am Cairns Pullman Cairns International, 17 Abbott St Cairns QLD 4870 Parking: Valet Parking $20.00 per day or free street parking
  • May 30 @ 10am Darwin Mantra Pandanas, 43 Knuckey St Darwin NT 0814 Parking: Onsite parking $15.00 Per day

Click here to book online or email bookings@towersystems.com.au. This session is open to all newsagents and suppliers.

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newsagency of the future

Disconnect between newspaper publishers and retail newsagents

The frustration among some retail only newsagents re the price rise from News Limited on Saturday could have been avoided has the company established direct communication with these retailers. Without geting in the way of the day to day distribution relationship between distribution newsagents and retail newsagents, a publisher / retailer relationship could help the newsagents and their customers.

Had I not received direct advice form News, at least one of my newsagencies would not have known about the price rise – the distribution newsagent is as appalling with such things as with allocation.

Other benefits could flow from such a direct relationship – like working together on retail customer loyalty programs that lock these customers into a more regular purchase of the newspaper.

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Newspaper distribution

Hallmark Signature range a hit for Mother’s Day

We have seen excellent sales of the Hallmark Signature range of greeting cards for Mother’s Day. This range is separately branded, thereby helping draw attention to Signature cards we have in-store as part of our everyday card range.

So far we’re on a par with Mother’s Day last year for cards and way ahead with gifts.  This is in part due to a broader range of gists for the season this year. We’re aiming for a strong finish to the season.

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Greeting Cards

One Direction versus The Wanted

We are tapping into the competition (faux or real) between One Direction an,d The Wanted with placement of magazines with the boy bands on the covers. We;re yet to see sales of any boy band related titles kick off this year to even close to the volumes of last year with One Direction.

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magazines

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: count the business cards you go through

I was in Queenstown in New Zealand recently and used taxis several times. Just abut every time, the taxi driver gave me their card and told be how much they or their partner would love to take me back to the hotel out of town. By the end of the couple of days I had a collection of cards. The experience reminded me of the importance of business cards and of asking for business.

One way to check your progress on promoting your business by handing out business cards is by counting them. Set a weekly goal and engage your whole team to have out the cards.  You could even have an offer or at least a pitch for your business on the cards. Tell people why you’d like them to shop at your shop.

The Queenstown taxi drivers hand out cards because they know it works. it could work as well for newsagencies.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: compare suppliers

Use your newsagency software to compare suppliers. This is easy to create a report. I do it for my newsagencies, especially for magazines and gifts.

For magazines I compare like for like titles: Woman’s Day and New Idea, Take 5 and That’s Life etc. This quickly identifies if one title is performing differently to a direct competitor.

For gifts I compare everything from one supplier with everything from another. I look at space allocation and investment in inventory. The comparison can help me decide which supplier to focus on.

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marketing tip

Newsagent frustration at lack of price change notice

Retail only newsagents expressed frustration and anger yesterday at the lack of notice on the price change to the Herald Sun and the Daily Telegraph. I heard from half a dozen retail only agents who had not been told.

At one of my shops one customer said this was the last time they’s buy the Herald Sun on a Saturday because of the price rise. It won’t be. This is the same customer who complains if they have to wait behind even one customer to pay for the paper and says they’ll never be back.

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Newspapers

Better Homes the weekend promotion

This latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens is selling very well so we’re pushing even harder with it the only title between our two major daily newspapers. Usually, we’d have two titles here but we stripped it back in the hope of even better sales for BHG.

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magazines

Woolworths shows what a poor corporate citizen it is & why schools should support local independent retailers

Check out the story from the ABC two days ago about Woolworths a decision to give a local school supplies to the value of $2,700 as a reward for diving spending of $460,000 by people connected with the school community.

Woolworths was not going to reward the school because of an issue with the claim by the school.

I m shocked that Woolworths is so stingy. I am sure that had local independent retailers been delivered more $460,000 in sales by people connected with the school these businesses would have rewarded the school to a much higher value.

The newsagent who brought this to my attention is offering a reward of $1 for each $20 spent. The Woolworths reward equals $1 for each $170 spent.

This is the difference between big business and small business. To me it looks like the Woolworths campaign is a promotion for them more so than a fund raiser for the school whereas in small business, campaigns connected with local schools and community groups are usually more about them than the retailer.

Schools and community groups should support small business newsagents and other retailers and expect to do better than the paltry sum from Woolworths.

It frustrates me that we in small business do more as a percentage of revenue for our local communities than big business yet are recognised less. Do we do it for recognition? Ultimately, yes for it is this recognition that drives sales and its sales that are vital to supporting local groups.

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Ethics

Doorstops a hit for Mother’s Day

On a hunch we sourced an extensive range of doorstops, more than twenty styles / designs, for Mother’s Day and for our gift department through winter. On the shop floor for less that a week, the doorstops are selling a treat. We have traditional styles like the two in the photo as well as owls and other animals.

We’ve had success with doorstops before and, curiously, that was during the colder months too.

What I’ve found is having a broad range is key. The choice is appreciated. It can also lead to a second purchase or a word of mouth recommendation to a friend. We have also found that offering doorstops themed in other interests – cats, dogs, retro – also works.

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Gifts

Promoting Symply Too Good To Be True 7

We’re promoting Simply Too Good To be True 7, the latest cookbook and health guide from Annette Sym with this aisle end display as well as a range of all the titles in with our food titles.

The Symply brand is strong in newsagencies and it responds well to promotion like this. I’d urge newsagents to get behind issue #7 as publicity is in full swing.

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magazines
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