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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Dealing with the tobacco challenge

With the tough new tobacco laws in New South Wales and similar moves announced or being considered for other states, and overseas, I wonder if this is a category we either quite of more fully embrace.  Tobacco products, for many newsagents, are offered but not well managed.  The new laws in NSW require stronger management or exiting the category – selling tobacco products from one sales point in crazy in a retail business like a newsagency.

From what I can see, newsagents have let these changes come into play without much lobbying or the presentation of an alternative to help the government achieve its goals.

Steven Denham writes about the challenges of changes to tobacco retailing in the UK at his Village Counter Talk blog.  He is championing a campaign along the line of the Canadian We Expect ID campaign.

Newsagent associations in Australia need to become engaged on this issue.   Newsagents need to be come engaged.  Tobacco retailing, if you remain with the category, now requires active management engagement.  Otherwise, you face fines for even the smallest infraction.

If, as I suspect will happen, many newsagents decide to quit the category, they will need a plan on how to use the space and cash quitting will free.  Either way, this is an opportunity for newsagents to lead change rather than react.

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Newsagency challenges

Brilliant marketing idea

Shayne and Roslyn Clarke of newsXpress Cooma showed me a brilliant, cost effective and simple marketing idea.  They sponsor the drink coasters at a local club.  This shows their support for the community and puts their brand in front of plenty of people outside their shop – a few hundred dollars well spent.

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marketing

New magazine cover stars

fhn_jackson_kids.JPGThere has been huge interest in the photos of Michael Jackson’s three children.  Customers buying the latest issues of Who and OK! mention them – more so than any other cover I can recall.  Hearing one such comment yesterday, it felt like a passing of the guard.  If this interest is maintained, Paris, Prince Michael and Prince Michael II will be the next big  global magazine cover stars.

Magazines need new global stars.  We need new global stars to drive interest in the magazines we sell.

While I feel for the kids, I suspect that the Jackson engine understands their value to the family business and will ensure that they do their bit to support the business.

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Ethics

Chasing customers in the newsagency

fhn_newspapers_jackson1.JPGIt may seem like a small deal, but moving our freestanding crossword display to next to our newspaper stand yesterday has resulted in additional sales.  We make small moves like this every day. We see the dance floor, as we call this front part of our shop, as retail in motion, constantly on the move.  It stops us and our customers becoming store-blind.  While it clutters the newspaper offer, this is only for a few days.  We need to take every opportunity to remind our customers of what we have.  The sales results tell us the work and clutter is worth it.

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Newsagency management

Quitting Western Union

We have made a decision to quit offering Western Union in our newsagency.  The margin we make is too slim, the new compliance costs too high and the transactions inefficient for our business.

A key goal in our newsagency, like many, is excellent customer service.  This is a challenge if you have a Western Union transaction for a first time user of the service.  It is difficult to provide the Western Union customer excellent service and the other customers shopping with you at the same time.

The issue was brought into focus during the recent lottery jackpots.  Our efficient handling of high traffic fast transactions was interrupted by slow labour intensive Western Union business.  We had to make a decision about what was right for our business.  Our customers come first and this meant that Western Union had to go.

We have not made the decision lightly.  Indeed, we have been considering this for several months, analysing the data, assessing other business Western Union customers brought to us, taking not of traffic impact.

If the commission we made was better we might have continued to offer the service.

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Customer Service

Promoting the newsagency to passers-by

sophie-newsletter-july-2009.jpgClick here for a copy of the July newsletter for our Sophie Randall gift shops.  We have these available in front of the shops and we mail them to our database.  There is a correlation between what we promote in the newsletter and sales.

I am surprised more newsagents don’t produce newsletters and have them available from the front of the newsagency.  We have excellent traffic – shopping or passing by.  Every opportunity ought to be taken to leverage this.

At Sophie, we buy products in specifically to be promoted through the newsletter.  This month, it is the four books we feature.  These are high margin items for us yet still priced competitively.  We look for deals two months or more out.  They must meet demographic, pricing and margin criteria.

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marketing

Timely Michael Jackson feature in Q magazine

q_magazine.jpgThe latest issue of British music magazine Q which we received today will be a collectors item. Not because it is a tribute to Michael Jackson, as it appears from glancing at the cover, but because the magazine was sent to the printers before Michael Jackson died. Paul Rees, the editor of Q posted a statement online about the unfortunate timing including an apology to anyone offended by the content.   Work on this issue was completed a fortnight ago and it was printed shortly thereafter. When news of Michael Jackson’s death broke in the early hours of Friday morning, it was already being distributed. As such, we have had no opportunity to change any of the editorial content within the issue. Such is the risk inherent in producing a monthly magazine – that events may overtake a story that you are committed to. We could sell ten time our usual supply of this issue of Q.

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magazines

Powerball $30 million jackpot opportunity

fhn_pb_30mil.JPGThe Powerball $30 million jackpot is an excellent opportunity for us to leverage our learnings from the recent OzLotto jackpot.  This is what we are doing in our newsagency – we have made upselling easier, introduced a staff incentive and dressed the store to promote outside the lottery area.  We are certain that these and other changes which worked with OzLotto will work for the Powerball $30 million jackpot.

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Lotteries

Placement of controversial issue of OK!

fhn_jackson_mags1.jpgWe decided to not place OK! from the UK with our other Michael Jackson titles because of the controversy around their use of the last known photo of Michael Jackson on the cover.  This decision by our magazine team this morning is one I respect.  Instead of featuring the title as we might have, we have placed it in its usual position with our range of UK weeklies.

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magazines

Refreshed Michael Jackson tribute magazines

fhn_jackson_mags.jpgWe have refreshed our Michael Jackson tribute magazines offer at the front of our newsagency to incorporate the fresh stock we have received of Time and Rolling Stone and the new issues of Who and OK! Australia.  These tribute magazine continue to sell well in each of our newsagencies.  I expect them to do even better over the weekend – when we sell more of our music related titles.

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magazines

Taking risks in the newsagency

geisha_moneybox.JPGNewsagents are generally risk averse compared to other business owners. I realised yesterday that I take more risks in my non newsagency businesses than in my newsagency, risks which don’t feel risky but are not taken in a newsagency.

I have been thinking about risk taking in newsagencies recently because it is what we need to do to reinvent our businesses. In my own case I have been thinking specifically about the gift department and how safe we play in selecting products. We have had tremendous success with gifts, almost trebling last year’s sales thanks to our choices.

Take the Chubby Geisha money boxes in the photo. We would not stock them as we’d consider that they are too far removed from what we think our gift offer should be. What is odd is that gifts are new to us in this location so we don’t really know how far outside the traditional we can play. We have allowed our own blinkers to restrict what we can achieve.

In my gift shops we are far more adventurous, allowing our customers to tell us what works and what does not work. We experiment more – probably because gifts are central to the business whereas in a newsagency they are often a small department.

Realising how conservative we have been, we are committed to experimenting more and pursuing the boundaries of what we can achieve in terms of product category, style and price point. The only boundaries will be margin and overall feel – we do not want to look like a $2 shop.

We will take more risks, try the Geisha moneyboxes and try other items we have said no to. We’ll have fun funding the new level.

While there are many newsagents taking risks, more of us need to – and share the results.

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Gifts

Rolling Stone Michael Jackson stock available

mj-rolling_stone.jpgACP has advised the avilability of limited floor stock in each state of the Michael Jackson Tribute Issue of Rolling Stone magazine.  Orders need to be placed through Netonline.  They will be processed on a first come first served basis.  There is only limited stock.  Given the value of this title, I’d suggest it is important to take care in ordering only what you know you will sell.  This is an excellent opportunity for newsagents to restate their position as the go to retailer for magazines.

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magazines

Gifts for dad and others

dad_gifts.jpgWe have gone out early with some Father’s Day gifts, items which show a point of difference and which work as gifts for other occasions.  We were able to source these globes at an excellent price so it was a logical decision to place them in our window with other items from our expanded gift range.

Maintaining a gift department beyond seasons is new for us at Forest Hill and so far, it is working a treat with excellent growth and great margin.

All of our gift buying is based on what we know about our customers from card captions, magazines and calendars purchased.

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Gifts

Racing form moves from print to online

The Age will print The Form, its Friday racing guide suppleied free with the newspaper, for the last time tomorrow.  The racing guide is moving to an online-only format.  This follows the trend in the US where guides which have traditionally appeared in newspapers have moved online.  From my perspective, I am happy to see The Form go as it was delivered separately from the newspaper and we needed to allocate additional premium space for no financial return at all.

See The Australian for their coverage of this story.

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Newspapers

The case for early magazine returns #2

fhn_bike_mags1.JPGYesterday, we received Road Rider Cruiser and had no available space for this title.  As happens in newsagencies across the country we have to find space by taking off a title which has not performed as well.  We tool off Australian Road Rider.  This had been on sale for five weeks and while the publisher wanted it left on the shelf for another four, we needed the space.  This problem is not of our making.  Newsagencies have finite space.  Magazine publishers and distributors send stock often without considering the physical space available.  If we find ourselves unable to display the new issue of a title, we prefer to take off an old issue of a title from the same distributor.  In this case, we selected Australian Road Rider as it was from Network Services.

Space allocation is a complex issue to resolve.  Indeed, it will become more so as newsagents reduce the space they allocate to magazines.  Newsagents need to take the initiative to resolve the problem because it is our space at the core of the issue.  If we leave it to publishers and distributors we our business needs will not be put first.

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magazine distribution

The case for early magazine returns #1

fhn_knots_fishing.JPGWe have sold one copy of Fishing Knots & Rigs from Express Publications in seven weeks on sale.  Rather than keep this for another six weeks or so we have cut our losses and returned this title early.  The publisher and distributor would prefer that we don’t early return.  Since they are not funding my real-estate, labour or theft risk, early returning makes sense.  Outside of the early return battle is the issue of the cost of returns.  This publication, like most from express Publications, comes bagged with old magazines.  We have to pay to ship this stock back to the distributor.  The weight of each bag is such that we will spend around $10 shipping these returns back – this is stock we did not order in the first place.

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magazine distribution

Is shoplifting on the rise?

Several of our stores have reported repeat visits from shoplifters this week.  In each case these we recognised from video of prior theft.  When we approached them they left – before security arrived.  maybe it is just us but it feels like there is more theft activity now than six months ago.

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theft

Promoting Hello magazine

fhn_hello_jul09.JPGGiven the high quality Michael Jackson coverage we have located Hello in a more prominent location this week.  I’d expect us to sell out in a couple of days – our sell through for Hello usually hovers at 70%.

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magazines

Too late with Tour de France

fhn_tourdefrance.JPGEither Network Services or Cycle Sport Magazine have been way too late in getting this Tour de France special magazine to newsagents.  Receiving it today as we did, days after the race has started makes selling the title a challenge.  We have this guide on the stand next to our newspapers – the same location from which we sold out of the official program more than a week ago.

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magazines

Kevin Rudd is no Michael Jackson

fhn_jackson_rudd.JPGThe extra copies of the special Michael Jackson issue of Time we were billed for was actually the regular issue featuring Kevin Rudd.  Kevin won’t sell what we could have sold of the Michael Jackson issue.  This is a frustrating mistake from cash-flow and lost sales perspectives.

UPDATE:  This has been fixed – and in time for is to get the extra sales!

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magazines

New digital magazine for online gambling

Jackpot is a new multi-language digital magazine developed by WeClick for the ParadiseCasino brand.  Go to the WeClick website and flick through this innovative digital magazine.  You don’t read this magazine, you experience it and this is exactly what the target reader would like over a printed version of the Jackpot.  While this level of interactivity is not for everyone, it certainly works for this title.

Be sure to look at other titles already developed by WeClick.

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magazines

Promoting FHM in Frankston

frank_fhm.jpgThe latest issue of FHM magazine has given us an excellent opportunity to embrace the column at the front of our newsagency in Frankston.  This display acts like a beacon – it is hard for shoppers walking out of Coles nearby to miss it from outside our newsagency.  I like how the Frankstion team has used height – too often magazine displays are low.  This FHM display was done with the goal of drawing people into our shop – it’s a matter of playing to the marketplace.

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magazines

Free afternoon paper for Perth?

The state government in Western Australia last month put out a tender for the publishing an distribution of a free afternoon commuter newspaper.

Distribution of a Free Commuter Publication on Public Transport Authority Property
Public Transport Authority is seeking proposals from Proponents interested in obtaining rights to distribute a Free Commuter Publication (FCP) on PTA property. This Proposal is not restricting the FCP to a commuter publication form. PTA is open to, and invites proposals for other forms of commuter publications.

Last time they put out such a tender it did not result in a newspaper being launched.

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Newspapers

Competition for New Zealand Post

New Zealand stationery manufacturer Croxley is setting up its own postal service to compete with New Zealand Post.  According to stuff.co.nz, it aims to control about 10 per cent of the NZ$500 million postal market in two to three years. Croxley NZ is owned by United States multinational Office Max.

This move is possible in New Zealand because their postal market was deregulated in 1998.

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Australia Post
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