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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Disruption to continue with iPad mini

People online who know are talking about the imminent launch by Apple of the iPad Mini, a smaller version of their tablet computer. AllThingsDigital nominates October 23 as the date. Where there are already many mini tablets in the marketplace, a launch from SApple into this space would significantly lift consumer engagement because, well, because it’s Apple.

Not that we need reminding but here goes … how, when and where people access what they used to access anything in print is changing before our eyes. We newsagents need to catch up and get ahead of the curve. If our business models rely too much on print products for traffic and sales we will fade away. We need shoppers visiting for and purchasing other items.

While chasing growth in sales of print products, like magazines and newspapers, is important, it is not the same today as it was, say, three years ago. The performance of the whole business is more important than ever.

Newsagents keep wondering about the newsagency of the future and what it will be like. That question is redundant. The future is happening in front of us with each of these announcements.

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Media disruption

It’s hard to setup a Green stationery department in Australia

I am a few weeks out from opening a new newsagency and wanted to only offer green stationery – as a point of difference. This is proving to be a challenge. Even though our stationery department will be small with barely 800 SKUs, we can’t get this many with green – recycled and or carbon neutral – stationery items. In the US this would be much easier.

Ideas anyone?

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Stationery

Big W disrespects quality calendars

Big W is showing that price beats customer service and any other reasonable value proposition by discounting quality brand-name calendars by 35% months out from the New Year.  While I understand that discounting is the point of difference for Big W, they don’t apply a similar discount to some of the junk they sell – cheap products from overseas on which they can whack a terrific margin and still offer them at an apparent discount.

Suppliers should see this – that Big W discount, from what I can tell at least, brand name products more so than it’s own stuff. I guess this is because consumers can;t easily price compare their own stuff.

The way for us to compete with this predatory pricing – and that’s what it is with 35% of 2013 calendars this time of the year from such a big retailer – is to leverage a point of difference. Those newsagents directly affected by this Big W move need to promote calendars in a competitive way: a package deal, a competition with each calendar bought going in the running, a buy this and get that deal or a discount coupon given with each calendar purchased.

Another way to compete is on range – check out the Big W range in the store near you and focus on your range point of difference. This is our approach. calendar sales already this year are up 15% on this time last year and we’re not discounting. We will not discount prior to the start of 2013.

It might be worthwhile complaining to the ACCC about the Big W calendar pricing too.

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Calendars

Promoting Dolly

We are promoting the latest issue of Dolly with this high-profile aisle-end display as well as placement of the title in the usual location – right near an attention-grabbing One Direction product placement. The main display will be up for a week as there is plenty of demand on limited display space right now.

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magazines

No surprise as MasterChef magazine closed

NewsLifeMedia has shutdown MasterChef magazine as a monthly title according to The Australian this morning, switching to special themed issues when the TV show is back on.

As I have noted here previously, the magazine did not leverage the TV brand as it could have. Then, they devalued the product by widely giving it away.

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magazines

Where do we draw the line with Australia Post?

Check out Stephen King’s excellent post at Core Economics about plans for Australia Post to enter the broadband sales market. He ends the piece with two excellent questions:

So Australia Post’s internet venture signals two things. It is time to rethink how the govenrment provides ‘basic mail’ to remote Australia. And it is time to rethink the boundaries for what government-owned businesses can do with our money.

A common theme of my posts here about Australia Post is that it trades outside its remit as outlined in the Act under which it operates. Every day newsagents see Australia Post government-owned corporate operate outside what is permitted. When challenged, politicians of both sides ignore complaints – they want the profits that flow.

Government owned business should only be able to conduct business in areas not already covered by commercial enterprises and which require government assistance to reach the population. The government should not be able to get into station, ink and gifts competing with family owned small business newsagents.

This is not a new argument. I doubt the politicians will listen. Australia Post is too well connected. I have been writing about this issue for seven years and have personally lobbied many politicians on it from John Howard down. Until politicians feel there are votes in it, the issue will not be addressed.

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Australia Post

Promoting the green stationery

I saw this while overseas yesterday, a Treehugger I Was A Newspaper Pencil. The packaging and the display unit this and associated product was in had a clear pitch around recycling newspapers.

The packaging has more details about what makes up the product. It also claims that some of the proceeds from the sale of the pencils goes to replanting of indigenous trees in China.

As I have noted before, playing in the recycled product / environmental product space is something we can do well – better than major retailers. It’s certainly something I would like to see newsagent suppliers more engaged with.

In an ideal newsagency all the stationery items I sell would be green: carbon neutral and, where possible, made from recycled materials. What a marketing message that would be.

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Environment

Promoting Sharpie markers as hip to drive sales

Check out the ad for Sharpie markers in a recent issue of the excellent (and local) Acclaim magazine. Acclaim is a hip title, targeting males from teens to mid / late twenties. The magazine advertisement for Sharpie markers has been created to fit perfectly into the magazine and appeal to the target Acclaim reader. This is smart, a win for publisher and a win for advertiser which being relevant to the consumer.

This ad is a reminder for us that some products we treat in a conservative (boring) way can have a broader appeal if we connect them in a more thoughtful (targeted) way. for example, what if we did a Sharpie display in-store using a skateboard as shown in the Sharpie ad? Even better, what is Sharpie used this theme in other media and we times our in-store engagement to leverage that additional media coverage.

This is what I am talking about – suppliers working with newsagents to educate us and open us to opportunities to promote products in a way that better connects with the target consumer. Anything we can do to make stationery more appealing has to be good for our businesses, especially if it makes us more relevant to younger shoppers.

On Acclaim, check out their website – it’s a terrific magazine.

On the Sharpie range, check out their website – it has excellent product information retail team members should know.

Click on the image for a larger version of the ad in Acclaim.

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Newsagency opportunities

Blackhawk VISA cards suspended

Touch Networks has advised that effective immediately, the sale of Blackhawk supplied VISA cards has been suspended due to fraudulent activity. Here is the announcement:

Blackhawk VISA gift cards have been suspended
Due to some recent fraudulent activity Touch Networks has suspended all Blackhawk VISA gift cards until further notice.

This means that any VISA gift card that has been sent to you from Blackhawk cannot be activated for sale.

What to do with VISA gift cards:
DO NOT THROW OUT YOUR VISA GIFT CARDS!

Touch Networks is working with Blackhawk to find a solution to remove fraudulent risk from both businesses.

Touch Networks will contact Touch Merchants in the next 7 business days to confirm if these VISA gift cards will be re-enabled through your Touch enabled device.

In the meantime, please REMOVE ALL VISA GIFT CARDS ON DISPLAY and place them in a secure location.

Touch Networks sincerely apologises for the inconvenience this is causing your business.

We hope you can appreciate our position and we are using best endeavours to resolve this serious issue ASAP.

If you have any questions regarding this, please email support@touchnetworks.com.au

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Ethics

ANF to establish a branch in WA, severs ties with WAANA

In an not unexpected move, the ANF has terminated its relationship with WAANA, the state newsagent association inWestern Australia.

WAANA has been struggling financially since it lost its brokerage business. regulars here would know that I think it is time newsagents had one single association to ensure a single and consistent approach to national issues. Such a move nationally could considerably cut the cost of newsagent association representation. It could also remove local politics which has dogged state associations for decades.

The WA move is not part of any national push. Here is the information released yesterday by ANF CEO Alf Maccioni.

Since becoming the CEO of the ANF my core focus has been unity to ensure that all newsagents benefit from the strength of national representation. The ANF has been working closely with QNF, NANA, VANA, and the ANF Branches to share our resources, ideas and address the changes that are happening in our industry to create a better future for all.

In WA, we have had a number of challenges working with WANA.

The ANF Board has decided after extensive debate that we can best serve the newsagents of Western Australia by re-establishing a WA Branch. I want to stress how difficult a decision this has been to decide to go back into WA, but our ultimate aim is, and will always be, to assist the Newsagents nationally and locally.

We have sent WANA a termination letter today acknowledging their repudiation of the agreement through non-payment.

We have been in close contact with all Association CEO’s and Chairs including WANA over the last 6 months to attempt alternate resolutions without success.

Adam, Colin and I are heading over to WA to meet with the relevant industry partners and newsagents. We want to explain our actions to them all face to face. We will be recruiting a WA membership manager who will be located at the GNS office. This person will report directly to Colin and Colin will be visiting WA on a regular basis ensuring that the agents concerns are met.

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Newsagent representation

Halloween as a general sales season in retail

In the US and some Asian countries Halloween has evolved into a general retail sales season. I saw evidence of this yesterday when I an email from an overseas company with a ‘deal’ on headphones under the banner of a HALLOWEEN SALE – even though the items had nothing to do with Halloween. It noticed the email because of the headline

My first reaction was what?! – how are these headphone connected to Halloween. Then I realised that it didn’t matter. Sometimes a seasonal promotion does not have to directly connect with the season other than the time of the year.  Indeed, some retailers embrace Halloween with sales like: Prices so low you’ll be scared!

So, while many Australian retailers roll their eyes at Halloween, the alternative is to embrace the opportunity … to do with it … and to explore how to use it to get attention for your shop and products. We are not doing this in my newsagencies this year but it is part of the plan for 2013.

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retail

One Direction series continues good business

The sales from the Girlfriend branded One Direction part series from Pacific Magazines continue to be strong as the series rolls on. We are working hard in-stroe to drive sales with promotion at the front of the business, promoting on a column half-way in and promotion with teen girl and entertainment titles.  We have a social media campaign pitching our business as the go-to retailer in the eastern suburbs for One Direction.

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magazines

Promoting Empire magazine

We are promoting the latest issue of Empire magazine in a couple of locations including away fro the usual place for entertainment related titles. This is essential for entrainment titles where sales can fluctuate wildly.

The cover feature of this issue of Empire, Dredd is a movie receiving good reviews but lower than expected box office sales. People into science fiction films tell me it is much anticipated in Australia.

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magazines

Blackhawk gift cards application freeze

Due to Christmas workload, Blackhawk, the people behind giftcards sold in newsagencies for many Australian retailers, has advised that they will not process any new sale applications between: 28th October 2012 and the week commencing 14th January 2013.

While I think this is nuts and very old school, Blackhawk is the biggest branded giftcard supplier in the world – what they say goes.

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Ugh!

What’s the best way for newsagents to tap into digital platforms?

This is a question I hear often from newsagents – they want to connect somehow with e-books and digital magazine subscriptions.

The easiest way I see today to tap into this consumer is to sell tablet computers and smartphones. Hands down this is the easiest and fastest way to be more relevant to the consumer accessing newspaper, magazine and book type content through a mobile device. However, it takes investment in inventory, display space and staff training – especially given the businesses you are competing with.

There are newsagents connecting to this technology opportunity through store-within-a-store concepts and others simply offering the devices for sale. But most newsagents are not playing in this space.

Jenlist is the best company to talk with here – they know the space well and offer a good selection of gear.  No, this isn’t an ad – they don’t know I am publishing this recommendation.

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Newsagency management

Promoting Crikey! magazine

We are giving Crikey! magazine a shot in the spotlight at the moment with this placement above our weeklies. This simple move will dramatically increase the eyeballs passing across the title and thereby hopefully lift sales.

We often find a simple move like this, undertaken in a minute or so, can get us a couple of additional copies sold. This supports my position that we newsagents can grow magazine sales – with a bit of extra effort in-store.

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magazines

Feast magazine loved by food lovers

Feast magazine continues to attract good sales in the food category. While some high-profile titles are struggling this year in my stores, Feast is performing well. I think this is because the magazine is a faithful to its roots – the SBS Food Safari program.

Our sales are probably helped by good support for the title in prime position in with food titles. We also co-locate where and when we can through the on-sale.

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magazines

Are we scared of supermarkets?

I have heard of several newsagents who have decided to not run Halloween this year because of the strong engagement in the season by a nearby supermarket – usually a Coles or Woolworths – last year.

Rather than seeking out Halloween product not sold in the supermarkets, the newsagents I have heard from and or about appear to have given up. We have to fight for business, every day. Yes, it’s hard work. But we must. We can’t let the supermarkets win because of fear!

I have seen the Halloween offers at Coles and Woolworths. They are focused on candy – with some terrific displays – and a limited range of cheap Halloween items like witches hats and some make up items. Neither has what I’d consider to be a full Halloween line. Indeed, I see plenty of opportunities not competing with them.

With several supermarkets near my newsagencies this is what we are doing – focusing on products they don’t have. We’re happy with the results so far – good early sales.

The glitter pumpkins in the photo are the hero of Halloween so far. They attract attention. They work at home or in the office. They take Halloween to a new level – they also make it more accessible. Once we realised this we ordered heaps more. Selling out early in the season is a great reason to get more stock and see how far we can go.

I understand how frustrating it is when a major competes in a season you used to have to yourself. It’s not a reason to give up though. We are retailers, small business retailers, newsagents – just about the toughest type of retailers out there given what we have put up with.

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Newsagency management

The interesting debate around Alan Jones

The Australian Financial Review today has a fascinating article about the Alan Jones story through the context of old media versus new media. I am particularly interested to see that advertisers don’t consider advertising as an endorsement of the performer their ads are connected with. My take is: welcome to the new consumer empowered world. Social media gives people more power and the Jones story is showing how the power can be harnessed.

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Social responsibility

Beanie Kid Christmas floor unit working well

I love the floor unit for the Christmas Beanie Kid range. Shopper reaction is that it’s not too early to have this on the newsagency shop floor – I thought it might have been given that we are full up with halloween, diaries and calendars and only have 135 sq m to play with. We have the unit placed to interrupt flow and it’s working a treat – it’s part of our basket building work to drive basket depth.

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visual merchandising

Autumn is for cooking

We are embracing the arrival of Autumn in Melbourne (on some days) as an opportunity to get our Australian Women’s Weekly cookbooks out from their usual location and in front of more shoppers. We have a selection of the most popular titles placed next to the cake decorating partwork – both of which are next to our photocopier.

Just about every shopper approaching our sales counter passes this position – more than the shoppers who would get to where the cookbooks are usually located.

We try and bring a selection of these cookbooks out into front of shop locations at least four times a year.

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magazines

Promoting 2013 magazine related diaries

Like a lot of newsagents, we place diaries published under a magazine brand with the magazine and in the category appropriate. We also locate stock of these diaries in our diary department. While the co-location works well, it is this placement with magazines that drives early in the season sales.

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Diaries

Using Arnie to promote Men’s Fitness

With all the media coverage given to Arnold Schwarzenegger over the last week it made sense to us to give this issue of Men’s Fitness full cover display treatment. Newsagents should check where they are their copy – make sure the full cover can be seen. If we had the space we would give this issue of Men’s Fitness a shot with newspapers as I am sure it would sell there … that space is in high demand at the moment.

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magazines
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