Another US newspaper closes
Ann Arbour News printed its last issue yesterday. While circulation was small, 45,000 daily, the newspaper has a 174 year history. Editor and Publisher has more.
The Australia Post price rise should be blocked
Australia Post is reportedly seeking an increase in the price of delivering a basic letter – from 55 cents to 60 cents. As I blogged here two and a half years ago, the European Union is seeking member countries to end mail monopolies.
The Government ought to thoroughly review the operations of Australia Post, from a policy perspective. This protected, government-owned, organisation ought to come under more scrutiny in terms of charges for its monopoly mail service and its use of this monopoly protected brand to take revenue in non-post areas such as greeting cards, stationery, gifts, calendars and books. They take this revenue, hundreds of millions of dollars a year, from independent small retailers like newsagents through their corporate owned stores.
The previous Government did not have the guts to investigate Australia Post despite solid evidence of the cost to small businesses. Hopefully, the current government will look at the economic cost of shifting revenue from independent retailers to Australia Post.
I hope that the government steps in on the price rise application by Australia Post and takes this and the broader Australia Post issues on board from a policy perspective. I am certain that business owners and many individuals would welcome an opportunity to be heard on the matter.
Promoting the Powerball $80 million jackpot
Since Tattersalls collateral for the Powerball $80 million jackpot will not arrive until tomorrow and there posters were not available from the website, we created our own poster this moning to tide us over. The goal was to grab attention over the next 24 hours. We want to drive sales at the start of the week for Powerball and not rely on the last day as happened with the last draw. To achieve this we will be trying a range of initiatives including enhanced counter pitches, a staff incentive program and fresh in-store displays to pitch our point of difference.
We have also taken time this morning to ensure that we have excellent impulse purchase opportunities for other categories (gifts, books, magazines and art supplies) for the additional traffic which the Powerball $80 million jackpot will generate.
Selling Better Basics food magazine
Better Basics from Pacific magazines under the Better Homes and Gardens brand gets prime position at our counter this weekend because it is will be seen as a new title and is likely to get coverage on TV or radio on the BHG programs this weekend. We received an excellent pack of collateral – making the display easy to create.
Better Homes and Gardens itself sells very well for us over the weekend and we are hopeful that Better Basics repeats this success.
I like brand extensions like this as they are easier to pitch than completely new titles which are unable to leverage an existing brand.
Driving sales of Wheels magazine
We are promoting Wheels magazine on the back of the ACP stand to guys leaving our men’s magazine aisle. Our experience is that Wheels responds well to promotion here – even from a very simple display like this. The key to impulse purchases is that people can easily buy off the display.
Smart Back to School pitch by OfficeMax
US stationery retailer OfficeMax has announced that it will run its Back-to-School for Pennies promotion again this year as part of its back to school strategy. The pitch included in their press release includes this:
For back-to-school season, OfficeMax is lowering its prices on more than 100 items. The promotions will feature competitive deals on school supplies common to most school lists, including 70-page, one-subject notebooks, 24-count crayons, rulers, folders, compasses & protractors. Each week, OfficeMax will feature new “Penny Offers” that will rotate from a single-priced item for one cent to bundled offers such as “Buy one, Get one for one Penny” deals on supplies throughout back-to-school season. Customers can view the weekly specials in OfficeMax’s weekly circular advertisements or on the OfficeMax Weekly Ad page.
OfficeMax provides a one-stop shopping experience for time-pressed parents during back-to-school. From eco-conscious to high-style to budget-friendly, OfficeMax’s back-to-school products enable students to express their personality while doing their best work. In addition, OfficeMax offers computers and technology products, desks and furniture, organization products and printing services for students preparing for back-to-school.
Back to School is big for newsagents, but not huge as it used to be. We struggle to compete with Officeworks, Big W and other majors who buy, price, promote and manage as one. What I especially like in the OfficeMax pitch is their broad appeal from the environment to budget to style. They have all buying triggers covered. The overall pitch is so positive.
We tend to focus on price and ignore our real points of difference are convenience, local community connection (and support), quality and service.
I’d encourage newsagents to take time to look at the OfficeMax back to school pitch. There are opportunities to learn from this in crafting the story for BTS here in Australia – even at the local newsagent level.
Michael Jackson tribute sells well
While interest in Michael Jackson stories in weekly magazines has quickly passed, there remains strong interest in tribute publications – such as Remember the time which we have on display near our newspapers. We will sell out. Hopefully, publishers do not overload us with tribute product as this market will have its limit.
New magazine awards announced
AdNews has announced new magazine awards. This follows the end of the Magazine Publishers of Australia awards. I’d like to see some retail focused categories – voted for by retailers. Awards along the lines of: Best Magazine, Best Retail Support, Best for the Category Publisher, and, Best Over the Counter Word of Mouth Title.
Powerball jackpots to $80 million
Lottery retailers and enjoying a tremendous run with jackpots lately. Tonight, Powerball jackpotted. Next week, division one of Powerball is worth $80 million. OzLotto has jackpotted too and it is worth $15 million on Tuesday. Plus we have the Saturday Lotto superdraw on August 1 for $20 million.
The Powerball $80 million jackpot means the focus of the next seven days shifts. The opportunity is too great to miss. It starts tomorrrow morning with dressing the shop and ensuring that we make the most of lottery traffic as well as converting non-lottery traffic into lottery sales.
The most crucial activity for newsagents with lottery products is to ensure that non-lottery departments benefit from the lottery traffic.
NANA announces deatils of fund to support family of slain newsagent
Click here for a copy of the letter sent yesterday to newsagents in NSW and the ACT about the trust fund established by NANA to support the daughter of the slain newsagents. Please support this – individuals and newsagents reading this blog post.
Magda and Julie Goodwin set Women’s Weekly for good sales
We have the latest issue of Australian Women’s Weekly on display right at the front of the shop to attract passers-by. There is tremendous interest in Magda Subanski’s weight loss journey and the opportunity for excellent sales from this the latest issue of AWW is, in our view, in the first few days. The coverage in this issue of the MasterChef winner will also drive excellent sales. We will maintain AWW in this premium location for at least a full week.
I am often asked by newsagents about displays I feature here and the thinking we put into them. Our decision on this issue of AWW is a good example of our process. We looked at everything which came in today and judged that we would achieve the best sales return from AWW in this location. The other title vying for this space was Better Homes and Gardens. We have this on a separate, BH&G branded, stand – next to our busiest lottery counter. It is well positioned.
The key about deciding what titles to feature and where is to do something – every Monday, Wednesday and Friday – and to learn from the results. Too often, newsagents puy up the posters and that’s it. Sales drive our display decisions, not posters. Our approach takes more time but we win and publishers win.
Counter placement for TV Week works
I was surprised to see that one of our team had placed TV Week on the counter after I left the newsagency on Monday. I am a bit anal about things like this and did not expect a change to be made. I need not have been concerned – in just two days, the placement at the counter resulted in a measurable sales lift for TV Week. Getting an extra few sales of TV Week is an opportunity to remind these customers about our newsagency for the regular purchase.
We can’t place TV Week on the counter every week – nor other titles we want to feature for that matter. However, some titles respond better to this placement than others. This week’s experience suggests to me that TV Week can be added to the list of titles which respond well.
Promoting Dolly to genuine shoppers
We are promoting Dolly magazine, and the free beret and scarf which come with this issue, at the exit of our busiest magazine aisle. This means that mums and teenage girls will see the display – and hopefully purchase the magazine. We also have Dolly on display in the usual location – with teen magazines. While the display is not the usual billboard display publishers like to see, we are certain that it will work and result in excellent sales for the title – because of the magazine traffic in this aisle.
Melbourne Australia’s worst capital city for newspapers
Crikey published a story yesterday about the dearth of newsagencies in Melbourne. It’s true. Melbourne is the worst-serviced capital city in Australia when it comes to newspaper and magazine range. As I commented to the journalist writing the article, I suspect that high rents, poor margins and static retail prices are the key factors in play here.
Christmas in July promotion a hit
The Christmas in July promotion at our Frankston newsagency has been working well for us – driving sales and traffic. We have moved considerable product in the week that this display has been up. It has proved to be an excellent promotion to transition us from the latest Victorian school holidays with and to fill a gap before we start our Father’s Day promotion.
What has helped the promotion is that no other business in our centre or nearby is running anything like this. This Blue Ocean strategy approach is something we newsagents do not do enough of.
The large signs were printed professionally and smaller ones on the table printed in house – using the same artwork. The pitch is very professional. The stock pulled from a number of sources especially for the event.
The display is attracting customers from the mall as well as adding to the baskets of existing customers.
Promoting Men’s Health and Women’s Health
With limited display space available, we are pitching the new issues of Men’s Health and Women’s Health together this week – on an aisle end between our two busiest magazine aisles. Women’s Health is the stronger of the two titles for us.
What we are chasing with this display is customers buying Men’s Health and Women’s Health together.
Newsagents set to raise funds for daughter of slain newsagent
NANA, the Association of newsagents in NSW, will announce tomorrow details of a fund to which newsagents and their customers can contribute to to raise funds to support the daughter of Min Lin and Yun Li Lin, newsagents from Epping in NSW who were slain several days ago along with two of their children and a relative. I will publish details here once they are released by NANA. I hope newsagents across the country get behind this.
Creating new magazines
Check out Printcasting, a website which lets people publish magazines by creating a way to package stories from multiple sources and generate advertising revenue. Anyone can create a “printcast” about their interests or community. Princasting has been developed with funding from Knight Ridder newspaper publishing company.
Want a lottery ticket? Don’t come Monday
There is a supermarket in Victoria that does not open the lottery sales counter on Mondays. Instead, customers are told to go to the newsagency nearby. I can’t imagine that Tattersalls would be happy with this.
Expanding space for sports magazines
We have expanded the space available to sports magazines and achieved this by reducing the space allocated to car magazines. Both moves were based on sales data. We are achieving good growth in running, soccer and bike riding titles and needed more space to display these professionally. We are constantly looking for opportunities to finesse our magazine layout, to keep our offer fresh.
Newsagencies with the same layout today as they had three years or more ago should consider relaying magazines. Customers become as store-blind as retail employees. Change fights that and often results in sales growth as ‘new’ magazines are discovered by browsers.
Cameron Diaz – popular covergirl
Cameron Diaz is on the cover of four magazines this month. I must have been living under a rock – what has she done (or what is she doing) which warrants such attention? This level of coverage dilutes the differences between the titles – to me at least, as someone who does not read these titles. At our Frankston newsagency the team is creating a Cameron feature, to tap into fan interest. I like that idea as it shows a local connection with the product. Supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol outlets will stick with the same old boring corporate preset plan – an miss an opportunity for some fun.
Newsagent and family killed in home attack
Newsagents are mourning the tragic killing of Min Lin, his wife Yun Li Lin and their two sons and another female relative at the weekend. The family owned and operated the Rawson Street Newsagency in Epping Shopping Centre. They have been clients of my software company since they bought the business years ago. Those of us who had contact with them found them to good people to deal with.
I have opened this post for others who may want to comment.
Promoting Healthy Food magazine
Like many newsagents I suspect, we are promoting the latest issue of Healthy Food at the counter and showing off the bag of goodies which comes with the new issue our today. The bag is a brilliant offer. This issue will sell out – as happens every time they offer this size promotion. I am disappointed that there was no marketing collateral to promote the offer.
On the broader issue of promotions like this, our own sales data for Healthy Food shows that there is no measurable flow-on benefit to such a brilliant promotion. Others would need to have a diffeerent experience for this promotion to be repeated annually.
Titles like Dolly and Girlfriend regularly, successfully, use gifts (tip-ons) to drive sales. While tip-ons can be frustrating for newsagents, they can be crucial to driving sales. From what I can see, the key is regularity. With Healthy Food it is once a year.
Promoting Grazia half price special
We are promoting Grazia magazine at the entrance to our main magazine aisle this week. The half-price offer is an opportunity to introduce the title to new readers. This is a strategy which works well for some other titles. While our Grazia sales are low, I’m happy to try promotions like this to grow sales.
As I wrote last week, this location is proving to be a hit for us – we sold 90% of our Good Food allocation in six days.
Newsagents should be aware that in all states except NSW, this issue of Grazia has an incorrect barcode on the cover. Click here for advice for the Tower Newsagent community.
Crossword promotion opportunity
With more newspapers getting out of printing puzzles, there is an opportunity for newsagents to better promote the crossword range.