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

Author: Mark Fletcher

A Christmas Eve slap from ACP Magazines

Just a few minutes ago, out the front of my newsXpress Watergardens newsagency, an ACP Magazines magshop representative was calling out at the top of their lungs:

Last minute Christmas gift ideas, Magshop, we are here to help

This was easily heard by shoppers in my newsagency and those in the mall in front of my newsagency. The ACP Magshop representative is promoting the ACP Magshop outpost in the centre, like the ACP Magshop outpost Knox City.

Thanks ACP.  Merry Christmas.

As out store manager said who called to let me know – after all the support we provide for magazines, all the work we do, they come to us to steal our customers.

The team at the newsagency has every right to be upset and despondent about this.

I cherish supplier relationships which are mutually respectful.  Actions speak louder than words.

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magazine distribution

A Sunday Times first – to publish Christmas Day

It is interesting that New International’s Sunday Times is to publish first the first time ever on a Christmas Day.  however, this will be a digital only edition and it will be free … promoting their iPad and Android Apps. Smart move given the number of devices likely to be given as Christmas gifts.

The other aspect of the move which is interesting is that they are offering a digital only publication for a title which has such a long tradition in print. Some say this is a sign of the times.

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Media disruption

The Age rip off yesterday

The Age yesterday was $2.70, the usual price for a Saturday. But the paper was not the usual Saturday newspaper. I don’t understand why they didn’t publish a Friday newspaper, leave today’s at $2.70 and let it be the bumper to run through Christmas.

I was in a supermarket yesterday and asked one of the checkout staff about the $2.70 price as they had the paper for sale at the checkout. Their comment was priceless: “yeah, dumb if you ask me but it’s The Age”. Maybe they missed the memo.

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Newspapers

The dark newsagency in a busy shopping centre

Newsagents in shopping centres need to fully embrace the centre hours and opportunities.  I mention this because I’ve heard from a couple of people this week who have visited shopping centres for late night Christmas trading and have found the newsagency in each centre closed.  This was early in the evening.

A dark newsagency in a busy centre with all other retailers around open sends a bad message not just about the business but the channel more widely.

I can understanding closing an hour early if the shop and centre are completely dead, but three or four hours early is not good.

I appreciate that there is a cost with being open such long hours. But we know this when we go into chopping centres.

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Newsagency management

Promoting National Geographic

Thanks to a comment here by h, I moved copies of the latest National Geographic magazine from its usual location to our newspaper stand. I appreciate the tip and agree that the cover story about the King James Bible is sure to drive some impulse purchases. I am excited to see what happens … it’s always good to see a sales lift from a cover on a title like National Geographic.

Thanks h for sharing the idea.

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magazines

Promoting the Australian Women’s Weekly

We are promoting the latest issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly with this display at the entrance to our women’s magazine aisle.

The last issue of AWW did very well for us, with just one copy left to return. We saw more sales of this issue of AWW right through the on-sale even to the last day. We usually see sales more or less stop by week three.

The cover shot for this issue will be a challenge for the more traditional AWW reader.  The magazine is clearly chasing a younger than traditional audience. I may be wrong (and hope I am) but I suspect that the cover and display will generate some complaints.

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magazines

Breathtaking snow globe theft

Check out this video of someone walking into the reception area of my newsagency software company earlier this week and stealing two snow globes from our reception desk.  The video is a lesson in the ease with which some people execute theft.  It teaches us something about vigilance.

Untitled from mark fletcher on Vimeo.

They chose their time well as the reception desk was unattended only momentarily.

Stealing snow globes? What’s the world coming to!

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theft

Top five events affecting newsagents in 2011

I was asked by mediaweek magazine to reflect on what I thought were the top five events affecting newsagents this year. It was tough because 2011  has been a big year.  I tried to write thinking of the audience for the magazine – people in the media, publishers, distributors.  Click here to see what I wrote.

While there are plenty of other events and changes this year which should be recorded, I needed to stay within the brief. I am happy with my final list.

I appreciate the opportunity by mediaweek for newsagents to be represented in the magazine in this way.

I’d be interest in comments from other newsagents on the big events this year as they see them.

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magazine distribution

Unwarranted increase in Quilts & More magazine supply

Gordon and Gotch has once again showed their skill at magazine distribution by increasing our supply of Quilts & More magazine by 50%, two copies, with the latest issue. Any reasonable assessment of our sales history (click on the image to see this) indicates that an increase in supply is not warranted. All I can think is that Gotch wanted to place the stock somewhere and not in their warehouse.

The CEO of Gotch claims that the company does not oversupply newsagents. Here is one more example of oversupply. Sure it is only small, two copies. Multiply this across hundreds, if not thousands, of newsagents and you get a feel for the impact it could have, the cost it could impose, on newsagents.

Gotch says we have control through early returns and their website.  This is not true. Control would be me having absolute control over all titles and quantities and nothing being supplied outside of this. Gotch refuses to give newsagents this level of control yet they use it as a defence to the ACCC and the like to hit back at complaints such as the one I am making on this blog.

In 2012 we need to focus our attention on this behaviour as it is financially harming the entire newsagency channel and costing us millions of dollars.

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magazine distribution

Free Boxing Day sale collateral for newsagents

The creative team at my newsagency software company Tower Systems has produced a couple of posters for newsagents to use in promoting Boxing Day Sales this year.  Click here for the blue poster and here for the red poster.  Have a great sale!

Our plan in my own newsagencies is to stick with tradition and run a box Boxing Day Sale.  We have planned for this and are set to offer some excellent deals.

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newsagency marketing

Promoting Inside Cricket magazine

We are promote g the latest issue of Inside Cricket with prime positioning with our sports magazines plus this placement at the counter – next to where we sell cricket tickets. While it’s not been a massive title for us, we are hoping that the good media coverage for the big bash form of the game will help drive interest from new fans. This is why we are happy to give the title some space in this prime and valuable position.

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magazines

Promoting Time person of the year

We are promoting the Time magazine person of the year cover with excellent placement showing off the full cover.  We have this in our news section.  It will also get a run next to newspapers for a couple of days.  While I support the choice by Time I am not sure how commercial the cover will be.  We’re giving it our best shot.

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magazines

Getting access to extra magazine stock the BIG issue

One of the most common requests for help I get from newsagents at the moment relates to sourcing additional magazine stock. By the time I get the query they have already tried ordering through the distributor website and or calling their call centre. Newsagents are losing sales by not being able to get extra stock. This means that some in our channel are not being properly resourced with access to backup inventory with which to achieve their full potential for some titles.

Some go and purchase stock from supermarkets. While this hurst sales data it protects them from losing customers. I can understand newsagents taking this action.

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magazine distribution

What’s the deal with overseas magazine prices?

Further to my post earlier this week about Easy Food, I decided to check the Australian dollar pricing for some other overseas titles.  The pricing for Hornby Magazine represents the average.  £3.55 converts to A$11.95.  While high for a £ to A$ conversion, this is about the norm.  It makes me wonder, again, why Easy Food sells for A$3.99 when the UK price is £2.80.  Something doesn’t make sense here.  It makes me wonder if Easy Food is being dumped in Australia.

Click on the image to see the covers (and prices) in detail.

There is considerable talk among some magazine publishers about dumping of overseas magazines in Australia.  People I have spoken with fell it is happening but have no evidence.  I wonder if looking at cover price could provide some evidence when considered along with an assessment of a title and whether consumer interest in the segment is already well satisfied with existing titles.

I am concerned that newsagencies are being used as dumping grounds for some overseas titles and that this reducing sales of Australian magazines from publishers who are more likely to support our channel.

Magazine distributors are the key here.  When I have discussed it with them they say dumping is not happening.  For certainty I would like more than just a statement that it is not happening.  I’d like to see a through investigation so that we get to a provable truth.

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magazine distribution

Were you swamped with crossword titles yesterday?

I heard from several newsagents yesterday who reported that they received an increase in crossword titles from Gordon & Gotch.  On one case, titles were sent which had been explicitly cancelled by the newsagent some time ago as they did not sell.  All of the titles were from overseas.

Magazine distributors need to understand that newsagents have finite space. Sending new titles without discussion with the newsagent will often lead to the titles not being displayed and wasting newsagent time and money … and not helping the publisher.

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magazine distribution

Promoting Burke’s Backyard at the counter

Check out the display promoting the latest issue of Burke’s Backyard created by the VM genius Renee at my Watergardens newsagency.  I love how it appears to wrap itself around the counter.  It is certainly more visible than would be the case of we just put the magazine at the counter.  This display also demonstrates the value of choosing background colours to promote a cover or a poster from the publisher.

I am confident that the visual power of the display will drive an excellent sales result for us an ACP Magazines.

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magazines

Promoting Australasian Dirt Bike

I love the look of the latest issue of Australasian Dirt Bike.  The monochrome cover cuts through against the colour from nearby magazines.  We are leveraging this by giving the title double the usual space. This makes it more noticeable and will hopefully drive additional sales for us.

While only a small move, this is the sort of move we relish as it relies on what we bring to the table, it leverages the point of difference available to every newsagent.

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magazines

Why are we getting Hustler magazine now?

Somebody or some system at Gordon & Gotch has decided we should start receiving Hustler magazine. The first issue arrived in-store yesterday. We returned it yesterday as well. This is not a title which could be sent. It’s not a title we want to have in our newsagency. We can understand others would. However, we feel that it does not reflect what we consider appropriate in this particular location.  It is appalling that Gotch would send the title without consultation. I recall years ago that a representative of Gotch told me that they would not send pornography without express permission of the newsagent.

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magazine distribution

Promoting Dr Who Christmas magazine

We are promoting the Doctor Who Christmas themed issue.  It’s a bit late though.  For this to work as a Christmas purchase we should have had the title in-store more than a week ago rather than yesterday. It’s an express delivery after all.

The placement with newspapers is proof of us giving the title the best shot – it’s not something people will necessarily look for, hence our high traffic placement.

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magazines

Blog outage today

Access to this blog has been challenging today following sustained external technical problems which started at around 6:30 this morning and continued for some hours.  I apologise about this.  I am expecting to know more when our server provider in Sydney comes back with a thorough technical report.

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About us

One food magazine title we don’t need

Easy Food is a good example of a magazine which we do not need on our shelves. There is nothing special about the content. The only redeeming feature is the cheap price. At $3.99 it feels too cheap, almost as if the title is being dumped on the Australian market.  What I have no evidence of dumping, this is what it feels like when you consider the look and feel of the physical product and the low cover price.

I am not sure how they get to a price of A$3.99 when the UK price is £2.80. Maybe this is an indication of dumping.

This overseas title is taking space from and competing with Australian titles which I would prefer to support.

While I am pleased that Gotch has reduced us from seven copies to four, this is still too manning my view. We should not get this title at all. The space saved could be used better displaying food magazines for which we are achieving growth and off of which we earn a healthier margin.

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magazine distribution

Christmas gift card for newsagents

My newsagency software company, Tower Systems, is sending newsagents who do not use the Tower newsagency software a $500 gift card for use with purchasing the system.

Besides the practical value of the $500 discount, the professionally designed and manufactured gift card shows off the quality and type of gift cards many newsagents are now using in their businesses.

The same plastic card stock is also used by plenty of newsagents for customer loyalty cards.  On the back is a barcode linking to unique customer details. The loyalty cards are used for accruing loyalty points, rewarding frequent shoppers and delivering access to other benefits.

If you are not one of the 1,760 newsagents with the Tower newsagency software and you’d like a $500 gift card to help you purchase the system, please let me know at mark@towersystems.com.au.

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newsagent software

Mindfood Christmas sells Mindfood

We will sell out of the latest issue of Mindfood magazine … more so because of the Christmas cookbook on the back of the magazine than the main magazine itself.

We gambled and placed Mindfood back to front in with our food magazines, in our Christmas cooking display. This is where it has sold so well from.  Sales have been better than if we had left Mindfood in the usual location for the title based on recent history. While we expected a lift, we did not expect this result.

This experience with Mindfood is interesting to me on a couple of fronts:

  • Publishers can use special interest and seasonal features on the back of a magazine to introduce their title to new shoppers. This not only drives immediate sales but it also augurs well for future sales of the title.  I can think of plenty of seasonal opportunities for titles which could drive sales.
  • Newsagents need to look at every magazine which comes in and play to its strengths. Thanks to our team noticing the Christmas cookbook on the back of Mindfood has delivered sales we would not have otherwise achieved.  Yes, this is hard work. It plays to us as magazine specialists and delivers certain incremental business.

Our magazine sales continue to power ahead in the lead up to Christmas.  Unit sales are currently tracking at more than 30% up.

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magazines
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