Promoting Gourmet Traveller
We have been promoting the latest issue of Gourmet Traveller magazine with this aisle end display at the food end of our women’s magazine aisle.
With a couple of copies to go we’re set to sell out.
Connecting with magazine fans
Checkout the Girlfriend magazine Twitter feed and see the buzz they create prior to the launch of the next issue (out today). Reading the posts and feedback you get a feel for a magazine very engaged with its readers. Knowing about this can help us understand the articles of particular interest and to tap into reader passion.
I appreciate we don’t all have time for this type of research … but a few minutes spent online can be illuminating.
Lexmark out of inkjet printer manufacture
Lexmark has announced they are ditching the manufacture of inkjet printers. While this will not kill cartridge sales, it means non upside – not Lexmark ink sales are that strong for newsagents anyway. The Sydney Morning Herald has the story.
More discounted magazines at the airport
Travellers through the Qantas terminal of Sydney airport can get $5 off selected magazines if they purchase their food at a participating food vendor. There is already the ACP buy 3 for $10 deal.
I still think the best magazine promotion is the Magazine Club Card I launched in mid 2004. Buy 11 magazines over 8 weeks and your 12th magazine is free up to the value of $10. This drives shopper loyalty to the business and engagement with the whole of the category. The discount is earned by above-average behaviour.
PMP full year results
Newsagency may find the results for PMP, the owners of Gordon and Gotch, interesting. Gotch revenue for the year was down 13.3% at $358.5M with an EBIT of $1M. They are reporting a 9.8% decline in magazine volume for the year. The outlook for the year is a further decline in magazine volumes. The company is focused on more cost reduction.
Western Australian retailers dealing with Sunday trading
Newsagents I spoke with in Perth on Monday has mixed reviews of Sunday trading which started this past weekend in Western Australia. Some were thrilled with the sales while others were concerned that labour costs would see it loss-making day for them.
While I do wish there was a solution to paying double time on Sundays (we should support Nick Xenophon’s private member’s bill on this) we need to structure our businesses for success.
Sundays are an opportunity, especially in shopping centres and on busy high streets as they bring traffic we would otherwise not see.
- Greet your customers. With so many new faces on a Sunday you need to given them a memorable (in a good way) customer service experience.
- Sunday deals. Consider Sunday only promotions. This shows the business as offering value and leverages the bonus traffic. Promote these outside your business.
- Schedule Sunday work. Ensure there is work for your team if the shop is not busy. Bring forward some weekday work to Sundays.
- Look at your data. Once you have some Sundays under your belt delve into your data and understand what’s different about this day. I often see opportunities not available on other days of the week.
In any market with Sunday trading small and independent retailers like newsagents need to suck it up and embrace the opportunity.
106 2013 One Direction calendars and counting
We have sold 106 of the 2013 One Direction calendars over the last few weeks. At $24.99 each. It helped that we were the only retailer in our region with the calendar for the first few weeks.
We are confident of selling between 200 and 300 of these calendars this calendar season.
The 1D calendar and related products make our newsagency appealing to a young and valuable demographic – and those who buy for them.
Tapping into the 1D fan base is part of our own strategy for building our own newsagency of the future. It’s a strategy focused on several age groups and built around a commitment to brands.
While the $2,648 we have banked so far from the 1D calendar is not enough to retire off, it is welcome revenue too many others have not pursued.
Australian Country a good anchor for country section
The latest issue of Australian Country magazine from Universal Magazines is the anchor title for our country section at the moment. The cover is clean, reaching outside the country category to appeal to other shoppers. I urge newsagents to seek out the title and ensure they are using it as an anchor title. Sales of country titles are surging for us – in part because we have devoted specific space to them close to the busy area of our women’s magazine aisle.
Promoting Woman’s Day bonus offer
We are promoting the Woman’s Day recipes+ bonus offer with promotion in several locations including this one . It’s a good value offer. recipes+ inside Woman’s Day makes the overall package a bit physically unstable. We are countering this by keeping pockets full.
Changes in TV should motivate newsagents to embrace change
There was a time when owning a TV broadcast licence was a licence to print money. As if the many cable competitors and the downloading of TV shows were not enough competition for free to air, the networks are now faced with video on demand.
Check out the story at gigaom about the re-launch of Arrested Development (a brilliant sitcom) on the Netflix VOD platform. This and similar moves with other shows is developing VOD as a platform to compete with the traditional distribution channel.
The reminder for me is that none of us can run our businesses expecting traditional supply channels to work for us in the future. How people buy much of what we sell is changing rapidly … as is happening in TV.
Lotterywest drives community connection for newsagents
It was an honour to speak at the Lotterywest Business Adventure 2012 conference in Perth yesterday. This full day business development event attended by 160 retailers, mainly newsagents, was packed with practical advice and help for building stronger and more relvant retailers.
I was taken by the unique community focus of the Lotterywest pitch. From the official opening by WA Premier Colin Barnett (also minister responsible for Lotterywest) through to other speakers from Lotterywest, the connection with the community was front and centre.
In making grants totalling more than $100 million a year to community groups, Lotterywest encourages retailers to pitch that buying a lottery ticket is helping the community. This fits with the Unique Selling Proposition of many newsagents.
From the home page of the Lotterywest website (click on the image) to in-store collateral to the TV campaigns, Lotterywest actively promotes the important community work being done thanks to the grants it makes of money for community groups.
It’s a powerful message, one that it important to WA newsagents. With the Barnett government committed to continued government ownership of Lotterywest it is a message sure to continue for years to come.
If I was a WA newsagent, I’d build my community connection message around and including this.
The frankie opportunity
As the audits continue to show, frankie is an important magazine for newsagents. We promote it several times through the on-sale and for the rest of the time we have three pockets of the title in our women’s magazine aisle as shown in the photo. Below this we have four more pockets of frankie. It’s very noticeable to anyone entering the aisle.
When we promote the magazine we do it in a billboard fashion on the aisle end as well as tactically at the counter or elsewhere.
Promoting How Your Body Works
Check out the display the creative team at one of my newsagencies has put up for How Your Body Works. It’s bold, eye catching and sure to help us make the most we can from the launch of this partwork.
I love how the stock has been used to create a background for the poster. This is smart visual merchandising.
It’s at the front of the shop attracting browsers from the mall.
Moshi Monster central
Bringing multiple Moshi Moster products together like this continues to be a smart move, driving purchases of multiple products. We are finding this small Moshi Monster display working well at the ticket sales counter. I’d urge newsagents to group Moshi products together.
Timely Internet Security magbook
We are promoting the just released Internet Security magbook with newspapers as well as with our tech magazines.
I suspect the newspaper location will work well as it’s the type of title people with an interest in online security will purchase on impulse. This is not a title people will visit seeking out – hence our placement in a high traffic impulse location.
We need more titles like this, titles that reinforce magazine range as a point of difference. Newsagents will reject special interest titles like this at their peril.
Thanks for feedback on Newsagency of the Future
The Newsagency of the Future video has been up at YouTube for 7 days and it has been viewed more than 370 times. This is way more than I expected. I am thrilled with the feedback from people – newsagents, suppliers and others. There have been plenty of questions from newsagents about their specific situations. I have also received suggestions on other areas to cover.
I have to say I was unsure about taping the the Newsagency of the Future as each session is different, an evolution from the one before. This time I have to stay more on script. But it appears to work. I am thinking about breaking the discussion of the future up into action points and making a video about each.
To see the Newsagency of the Future video click on this link.
We need to talk about magazine subscriptions
Newsagents need to develop a position on the issue of magazine subscriptions.
Of particular concern to me is subscriptions of fringe titles on which we rely to reflect our key point of difference and subscriptions at 40% or more off cover price.
Check out the latest promotion through Groupon to Australians earlier this week pitching magazine titles available through the Zinio digital platform.
Newsagents invest considerably in promoting mastheads and making magazines browsable by shoppers. This investment on our part helps make it possible for publishers to promote subscription offers and in particular digital subscription offers.
As the market changes, especially for titles with a strong digital subscription push, we need to consider our pricing model. I’d see this applying to titles offering steep (>40%) discounts for subscription and digital subscription commitments.
Our shelves and our labour are our resources to manage and price.
Kudos to Sound + Image magazine
Check out the latest issue of Sound+Image magazine and see how one publisher is making the case for independent retailers. Nice!
The full page headed with 10 reasons to buy hi fi at a hi fi shop is a passionate pitch for shopping at a hi fi shop over a chain store and over online shopping. It’s social responsibility in action.
Support from for local, small and independent retailers is welcome. The support in Sound+Image is a reason for newsagents to give the title some time in the spotlight.
Click on the image to see the ad in detail.
In-location promotion of InStyle magazine
This is how we are promoting the latest issue of InStyle magazine from Pacific Magazines.
As the only magazine being promoted in this way in this section – InStyle stands out. You can see shoppers notice it.
These in-location displays work well for us and for the title being features. Okay, it’s not an aisle end but they don’t always drive the sales you want.
This type of in-location display achieves sales and that is what matters.
Sunday marketing tip: names matter
One way a business can show off its commitment to customer service is by referring to customers by their names. Newsagents should urge their team members to do this, to make the personal connection by name when interacting with customers. It subtly reinforces a personal level of service the shoppers will not experience in other shops selling what you sell: supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol outlets.
Sunday rant: K-Mart fails at retail and falls back on price
K-Mart sucks as a retailer in my view. They are not alone, Big-W, Target and a couple of others are as bad. They can’t, don’t and won’t compete on service (despite sometimes advertising they do), the most important differentiator in retail, so they fall back and play on price. They use loss-leaders to pull in shoppers, hoping they purchase other items.
People buying on price are not loyal. If you are cheap today they will shop with you today. If someone else is cheaper tomorrow they will shop with them tomorrow. Discount shoppers are of little genuine value to retailers. They are expensive to attract and easy to lose.
Value is what brings people back. Value from information and customer service … an experience of personal value to the shopper.
Customers who shop with you because of the experience or because you have prodeucts others don’t have are more likely to shop with you again. They are more valuable if you price your goods well.
K-Mark is in my sights today because they are using price to disrupt a great Father’s Day opportunity. They have the 400g Toblerone King Dad Father’s Day gift at $5. Even allowing for a bulk purchase this is still a loss leader for them, a traffic generator. The people behind the product would have to be frustrated as the $5 price point devalues the wonderful product. Brand managers should realise this. Toblerone is a premium product people pay a premium price for because it’s worth it. K-Mart has turned it into any other chocolate bar.
We are sticking with our price plan as attract different shoppers to those you get in a K-Mart store. Also, our merchandising makes the product the hero. In K-Mart it’s a half-assed display, almost disrespectful. Shoppers in our store receive service unlike at K-Mart.
What I would love is suppliers to stand up to the disrespectful price tactics of the Coles and Woolworths groups. They damage respected brands and educate shoppers to not pay a fair price for good products.
Frustrated with All Day Distribution
I can’t get the foreign language newspapers I want in one of my newsagencies. The distribution newsagent refuses to supply me saying it will hurt his retail shop. Who cares? I don’t care that’s for sure. If the newsagent wants to be a distributor he should distribute and not hoard. Some shoppers don’t like going to the shop run by the distributor. Every day we are asked for Chinese newspapers and every day we have to say sorry.
All Day Distribution is a problem here as they continue to reject our request for a direct account.
I don’t like turning away customers.
It’s got to a point where I think we will have to take the matter further about a newspaper distribution system that hinders consumer access to products.
Stuck-on ad covers front page newspaper headline on The Daily Telegraph
Check out the placement of a newspaper subscription ad stuck over part of the headline on page one of The Daily Telegraph today.
I feel for the editorial team. This is shabby treatment of their work.
I feel for the newsagents selling the cookbook series (with two weeks to go) and share their frustration at now competing for a free offer from News Limited.
I wonder how much thinking goes into these things … competing with newsagent retailers, sending mixed messages on a product (cookbooks), sticking an ad on the front page which will be ripped off by frustrated shoppers.
All very disappointing.
Promoting to EFTPOS shoppers
We have copied an idea from a colleague and are promoting a product at each EFTPOS terminal on the counter. With EFTPOS users looking at the terminal, products we promote here are likely to be noticed. The key will be to choose items easily purchased on impulse.
I like this new promotional space and can think of plenty of impulse purchase items I’d like to promote here – for customers to notice when they are processing their credit card.
Promoting products at key customer touch points can drive basket depth.
Right now we are promoting The Blob, a clever iPhone, sat. nav. and iPad stand being sold exclusively through newsXpress.
SA Gardens taps into local interest
SA Gardens is selling well from what I am told. It’s a garden magazine for and about South Australian gardens and gardeners.
SA Gardens taps into the interest in local stories. We know from independent local newspapers that people like to read stories about people and happenings closer to home.
I’m told newsagents give it prime positioning because of the local interest and the feeling of supporting the state. Makes sense.
SA Gardens is distributed by IPS.