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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Retail newsagents want newspaper publishers to engage with them

The survey I ran on the weekend produced a not unexpected result from the 93 participants – showing that newsagents do want direct publisher engagement, more commercial focus and a resolution of supply issues – so they can sell more newspapers.

It’s a pity that newspaper publishers don’t share the same goals as newsagents.

You can see more survey results here. I will publish responses to the last question – What marketing initiatives or incentives would you like from newspaper publishers to help you sell more newspapers? – later.

Over to you newspaper publishers. You have a willing retail channel here, one you have neglected to engage with and one which could increase sales of your products.

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Newsagency opportunities

More suppliers looking to the retail newsagency channel

The rate of enquiries I am receiving from manufacturers and importers keen to connect with the newsagency channel has increased this year.

I’d usually hear from a prospective new supplier every three or four weeks.  I’ve had eight enquiries in the last three weeks. Each with very different products, most new to the channel.

The vast majority of new products I hear about would rely on existing traffic to be successful. While this is good in terms of driving shopper efficiency, I am more interested in products that deliver their own, new, traffic to newsagencies. These products (and services) are gold to us and ought to be pursued relentlessly.

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Newsagency management

Scooby Do is another terrific brand to promote

Regulars here will know that I am a fan of brands in retail and in retail newsagencies especially. Brands draw traffic and ease the sales process. My experience is that people who buy known brands worry less about price. This is why we are thrilledto have the new Scooby Do interactive product from Hallmark.

In fact, we are so certain Scooby Do will work so well for us that we have it in two locations, to face the two ken traffic routes in the shop.  We often do this – leveraging the different traffic we see to make sure that key offers are not missed.

The photo shows the counter display. We’re using the screen from hallmark to show the product off running the Hallmark collateral.

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Gifts

Promoting 15 Minute Meals

We are the 15 Minute meals cookbook from Bauer with this aisle end display.

We find that placing the price on the display helps engage shoppers more – but we’re not sure if this is shoppers new to the range. regardless, promoting the price helps in our situation.

I’m not a fan of the free cookbook stuck to the cover of the main product. These stuck on cookbook gifts have been overdone and don’t add value.

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magazines

Is it time newsagents ceased as directors of newsagent-owned enterprises?

Newsagents sit on the boards of various businesses supplying newsagents including stationery wholesalers and associations. While I am sure they discharge their duties to the best of their ability, it is appropriate to consider whether newsagents are the best directors of these business enterprises.

Newsagent owned businesses, and associations conducting commercial activity to newsagents, operate in a commercial world quite different to a newsagency – distribution or retail. This is why I question why newsagents make the best directors.

Directors are usually paid fees for their time. Are they worth it ? Are their decisions adding value to the businesses? Are the boards they sit on performing well? Would they get a gig on the board of a competitor business?

I know from my own experience on the ANF board in 2003/04 that newsagents bring personal baggage to the boardroom table. I saw a lack of commercial savvy and a disinterest in due diligence and transparency.  Bill Express is a perfect example of a bad decision by directors ill-equipped to make the decision. Before I resigned I expressed concern at the excess of the ANF Board meeting bar tab – a 45 minute fight ensued which I lost. They spent more time arguing about this than matters of serious commercial consequence for newsagents.

I have other stories I could share of my own and from others. If only newsagents knew.

Boards ought to be focused on big picture issues, setting direction and holding the employees of the organisations to account. Too often that is not the case, giving the competitors a free kick and wasting member and shareholder funds along the way.

These newsagent owned commercial enterprises collectively turn over well over $100 million a year.

Isn’t it time we populated the boards with quality commercial directors as competitors of these businesses do?

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Ethics

Slam magazine supply shows failure of the magazine supply model

I can’t make sense of the recent supply of Slam basketball magazine at of one of my newsagencies. Indeed, the allocations have been so mishandled that I am left wondering about the future of Gotch. Publishers using the company ought to be equally concerned.

Looking back on the last nine issues, for the first four issues – April 2012 through July 2012 – we received four copies and sold four copies.  Our increased supply to six for the next two issues and we sold 1 and 2 copies respectively. Gotch then switched us to 2 copies for the next two issues and we sold zero. Now, this month, we received nine copies.  We have decided to early return all copies.

All through this we have not altered the placement of the title.  The only explanation I can offer for the shift from selling four copies an issue to one or two is a shift in in shoppers we serve.

The accounts people at Gotch hold me accountable for the level of my indebtedness to them yet they do not give me reasonable leavers with which to control this level of indebtedness. Indeed, it goes the other way with some allocation decisions making them look like a customer using my business as an ATM to prop up their cash position.

Newsagents have been told to adopt best practice IT infrastructure to manage magazines. It is disappointing that the newsagent investment in IT is not being used by the magazine companies to deliver fair and equitable supply.

Magazine publishers need to realise that over and under supply of magazines are harming the performance of the newsagency channel.

Click on the image to see the data backing-up my claims.

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magazine distribution

Great gift fair deals

I caught up with a bunch of newsagents in Sydney last night and loved the stories of buying success at the Sydney Gift Fair and the Home & Giving Fair.  Getting 20% off products that sell well from a supplier you already deal with is excellent. There were plenty of stories like these plus stories of good innovative product.

If you’re chasing gift sales, this has been the event to be at.

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Gifts

A new magazine ideal for foodies

Newsagents with foodies as customers should look at how to shop like a chef. This is a very specialised title from Universal Magazines. It’s only been supplied to the top 50 newsagents in the country in the food category. But others can order it. It’s on sales for three months with delayed billing. The price is $19.95 – I’ve seen the title and it’s worth it. The title is exclusive to the newsagency channel for the first two months.

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magazines

Excellent sales from ‘new’ gift line

I was surprised to discover that the Keep Calm and Carry On styled poster board is to top seller from the new gift / homewares line we introduced ten days ago. I expected it to do okay but not be the best seller because I’ve seen it around.  While the whole range has done well, this particular one has been exceptional. We expected to sell this line through over a month or so and not replace it. The sales in ten days have seen us reorder as we’re confident we can move more. We’re thrilled.

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Gifts

Promoting the iPad mini magbook

We have been promoting The Independent Guide to the iPad Mini magbook placed upright next to / in front of The Age.

We decided on this placement since it’s a title shoppers are not like to be looking for – we need to find them with high traffic location placement.

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magazines

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: break the rules

Newsagencies have been built on more than 100 years of formal and informal rules and regulation. Embedded in many newsagency shopfits are rules about what goes where and how it is displayed. Burnt into our brains are rules about how we handle certain product. Supplier representatives, too, have rules they expect us to follow. All because that is how it’s been done.

Many rules and regulations are nonsense and should be tossed out.

Today’s world dictates that we need to operate our businesses based on rules appropriate to our own businesses.

Here’s a tiny example. After Valentine’s Day we had a space Hallmark card unit. Instead of storing it for the next major season, we placed it at the entrance to our women’s magazine aisle with a selection of cards we felt would appeal to the shopper entering that space.

This off-location placement of the card unit gets the cards seen by people not visiting the shop to purchase cards. That action along will drive some incremental business for us.

It’s a rule broken … for the good of our business.

Footnote: this was one of the points of my post earlier this week about the Westpac Bank branch I saw in Auckland.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: roster for you and not your team

I have written here before about the need for newsagents to look carefully at their roster, to consider carefully the cost to the business of each hour of employment you pay for.

Too often, I see rosters loaded with unnecessary hours. Hours rostered to give friends work. Hours rostered because employees say they need extra help when they don’t. Hours rostered to reduce theft when the theft actually reduced costs less than the cost of the extra hours.

Each hour rostered needs to deliver a measurable return to the business. This return needs to be tracked and the roster adjusted based on the data gathered.

It’s simple: your best sales people work the shop floor, your best organisers work your business operations processes – all for the profit of the business and nothing else.

How would your bottom line look by the end of 2013 if you cut 10% or 15% from your weekly roster today.  In one newsagency I looked at this past week the bottom line saving would be more than $50,000. If they make the recommended changes I am certain the $50,000 will flow through to their bottom line.

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Management tip

Nevada approved online gambling

Nevada has become the first state in the US to approve online gambling and while this is not expected to open online gambling in the US just yet, plenty of people are watching the moves.

Chatter among watchers of the online gaming and offline gaming spaces is that there are governments keen in the US to leverage online gaming as a revenue opportunity. Border challenges are stopping this at the moment.

Once the online gaming business is up and running in the US expect it here – lottery tickets and instant scratch games on your mobile devices. This is the opportunity and challenge with online, borders matter less.

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Lotteries

Promoring InStyle and Oraton gift

We are promoting the latest issue of InStlye magazine and the free Oraton gift with this in-location placement.

We looked at a couple of approaches for promoting this and decided that the two brands – InStyle and Oraton – were the key to promotion. So, instead of using collateral this time, we have gone with the product itself.

As the only magazine promoted above the pockets in the aisle it stands out.

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magazines

A quick survey: could you sell more newspapers if…

I’ve put together a quick survey for retail newsagents about newspapers – how we treat them and what we’d like to help us sell more product. Please click on the link to take the survey – it will only take a minute.

Newspaper publishers are predictable in their promotional activity both with the product and in coupling the product with junk food and other items as the freebie. I’d like to see newspaper publishers more creatively engage with retail newsagents to foster engagement with the product for its inherent value.

Please take the survey and share your thoughts. I will share the results here.

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Newsagency management

What is it with newspaper publishers?

The people at The Newcastle Herald wrote to newsagents at the start of this week announcing a price change from next Monday. They didn’t tell the software companies though. The people who help newsagents with what is significant change were kept in the dark – left to find out by accident.

It’s frustrating that publishers often only think of themselves. Involving others could result in better handling of their product. It’s what partnership is about.

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newsagent software

Starting Easter 2013

This is the start of our Easter 2013 display before we add any eggs or related product.  The display connects with our commitment to and success with plush – a commercially important department (yes, department) for us.

We have some other elements to add – what’s in the photo is a start.

The display was created by two guys in our newsagency business. I mention that to note that anyone can create a display.  Yesterday afternoon, as this was completed, shoppers were walking across the mall to see it – commenting how much they liked it.

The fake grass and picket fence make the display, providing context for the animals corralled.

Just out of the shot on the left is our range of Easter cards.

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Gifts

Who can predict partworks sales?

While the animal farm partwork has been slower than expected, sales of the first issue of the helicopter partwork has been good. However, I suspect sales will face quickly because of the price point and highly specialists nature.

Cake Decorating is the best in recent history. I do wish these things were more predictable so we could manage space and time more effectively.

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partworks

Really News Limited? A Sunday edition of The Weekend Australian?

News Limited is offering a one-off Sunday edition of The Weekend Australian for March 3.

No one thought to ask if it was something newsagents wanted, had the capacity to execute or could technically handle.

No one thought to check if newsagency software, operating to the standards established by News Limited, could handle such a one-off offer.

No one has suggested anyone is paid extra for this News Limited promotion.

So, newsagents, software companies and maybe others gift their time to help News Limited with a promotion of dubious value.

This promotion does not make sense to me at all.

While newspaper publishers need to engage in marketing their products, they ought to listen to the ideas of retailers for driving over the counter sales. Retail newsagents could sell more newspapers if only publishers would listen to them and offer commercially valuable reward for effort.

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Newspapers

Is Big W dishonest in claiming they offer Australia’s lowest prices?

Big W has a catalogue out now in which they are promoting ink under the headline of Australia’s lowest prices. The problem for the company is that all their ink prices are not the lowest prices. Some maybe, but not all, not even half. Within a few minutes of checking competitor prices Big W would see that their prices are not the lowest.

While those of us beating Big W on ink and other prices can complain to the ACCC, history has shown that the corporate watchdog is less that strident in pursuing what I would call false and misleading advertising.

Small businesses, like newsagents, suffer from the marketing spend by national price-focused retailers like Big W. The Big W pitch appears to be built on the premise say something loud and long enough and people will believe it, regardless of whether the statement has any truth to it.

Politicians can show the strength of their commitment to small businesses by supporting us on this type of big business campaign that they beat others on price. It’s cheap, lazy and an affront to the small businesses that can’t afford to show that often times they (we) are actually cheaper.

Every newsagent selling ink should get their hands on the latest Big W catalogue and compare prices. If you are cheaper, tell your customers – through a big poster in-store or in the window and over the counter.

This is just like the recent Officeworks claim. They don’t have the lowest prices everyday despite what they claim.

Newsagents who can prove that Big W’s current ink prices are not the lowest in Australia should complain to the ACCC. Click here for addresses and contact points.

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Ethics

This is a bank?!

I was drawn to this window by the Lego helicopter on the shop floor – I like a good Lego construction. I did not immediately notice it’s a bank.

Yes, it’s a Westpac Bank branch. Amazing. Innovative.

There is a kids play area, a cafe down the back, bright colours and a totally inviting and calming look and feel to the place.

I stood at the window in awe of the redefining of the look and feel of a bank. Whoever came up with this ought to be congratulated. It is stunning  … redefining what I would expect from a bank and leaving me with a story about Westpac.

What I saw Wednesday night has left me wondering what a newsagency could look like if you want to break free from the tradition and restrictions of the past and how consumers perceive us. This is what Westpac has done, they have created a bank that completely plays against what we expect – and thereby made their business more accessible.

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Newsagency management

The New Zealand Herald tabloid size looks good

I got to see The New Zealand Herald tabloid size yesterday for the first time – even though it switched from broadsheet late last year.

The newspaper is better for the move in my view. Not only have they done a good job maintaining the quality feel of the newspaper (this is a title no nasty publisher campaigns or junk stories here) – they have created a fresh, clean, design with a terrific masthead well suited to the size.

I don’t know why broadsheet titles like The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have not moved sooner. From a retail perspective tabloid newspapers are easier top promote and sell.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

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Newspapers

Chips with magazines

Check out the placement of a range of potato chips next to magazines, including women’s fashionntitles, at a bookshop / magazine shop / coffee shop in Auckland.

This is one use of space … but you’d need to sell plenty of chips to pay for the space.

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magazines
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