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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Online revenue growth for magazine publisher

UK special interest magazine publisher Future reported a 25% year-on-year increase in online advertising revenue for the December quarter yesterday.  Future publishes a range of titles including The Knitter and Simply Knitting.  They also reported weaker retail sales yet strong subscription sales.

Researching the Future announcement online, I saw that it was not all good news.  gamesindustry.biz reports a downturn in the PC gaming market when reporting on Future’s announcement. Future publishes the official PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo magazines plus PC Gamer, PC Zone and Edge.

There are two key aspects of yesterday’s announcement by Future which interest me: the online ad revenue growth and the strength of subscription versus retail sales. While the latter may reflect UK and US model differences over Australia, the shift of advertising online and away from print is a global trend (rush).

There is no doubt we are seeing similar trends here in computer and game based titles.  Sales in this magazine segment have fallen considerably over the last year.  So much so that we have reduced space allocation in our newsagency … another reason newsagents need to have magazine fixturing which can change.

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Media disruption

Including cards in merchandise displays

fhn_val_cards.JPGWe have included greeting cards in our merchandising for Valentine’s Day. With cards such a key purchase, it is logical they are part of the display. Newsagents often leave cards for card fixturing and display gifts only. I think this misses an opportunity. The cards also serve a purpose to signpost the display for customers who may be unsure as to the occasion.

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Greeting Cards

Nice OzLotto boost for the next week

The lack of a division one winner in the OzLotto draw tonight will provide a nice fillip to trade in newsagencies with lottery products over the next week.  The $25 million $30 million up for grabs puts the game on the radar for infrequent lottery customers.  We will step up to the challenge with strong in-store promotion and an extended range of house syndicates.

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Lotteries

A new stationery convenience model

US retail group Office Max has launched a convenience-store type stationery model. Called Ink Paper Scissors by OfficeMax, these store will carry a limited range according a report to Convenience Store / Petroleum magazine:

Inside the new Ink Paper Scissors by OfficeMax stores, customers will find approximately 2,000 of the most popular items in a full-sized OfficeMax store, including ink and toner, paper, pens, pencils, binders, filing supplies, labels, mailing envelopes, shipping supplies and calendar/planners.

This is a model which Australian newsagents in high street situations could consider.  The change from the current traditional newsagency offer would not be that considerable for many newsagents.

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Newsagency challenges

Promoting crosswords and instant scratch tickets

double_crossword.JPGWe are promoting instant scratch tickets and crossword magazines at the counter this week in our Double Your Crossword Fun promotion.  We have used an oversized copy of the $5.00 Intralot crossword scratch ticket as the backdrop for latest issue of Lovatt’s Colossus crossword magazine.

We will change the feature crossword title several times through the week.

We are not offering a special price or a package deal.  The call to action under the headline connects the two products: Buy a crossword scratchie and a crossword magazine.

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magazines

Grazia off the counter at Woolworths

The Australian Financial Review today is reporting that Grazia magazine is being moved from the checkout counter at Woolworths outlets to the regular magazine section.

I like Grazia, it was a welcome launch last year.  However, the weeklies market is volatile at the best of times.  I know some enwsagents who do well with the title and others where sales are very low.  For those newsagents with reasonable Grazia sales, the lower profile at Woolworths is an opportunity.

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magazines

Marketing a brand of newsagency and not the channel

fhn_schoolzone.JPGnewsXpress is being promoted along with other national retail brands in a national TV and radio campaign for the School Zone product.  The recognition of newsXpress in this way by the company behind School Zone is tremendous kudos for newsXpress and for the 160 locations trading under the brand.  It coincides with a TV campaign being run by the group for its Back To School offer.

This latest national media exposure for newXpress, and media exposure for Newspower and Nextra, demonstrates the importance for newsagents to belong to a proactive marketing group.  As these newsagency marketing brands grow and expose themselves more in national media, the generic newsagent shingle will dilute in recognition and value.

While some may say it suits me to publish this view, it is a view being put consistently by shopping centre landlord and by national brands.

Disclosure: I am a Director of newsXpress.

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newsagency marketing

Sunday Mail botches Australia Day promotion

sm_flag.jpgQueensland Newspapers made a heap of noise a week ago about the Australia Day promotion they were running in the Sunday Mail. On the 18th they had a spread on page 3 about the free flag they were giving away on January 25 and listed all the things you would be able to do with the flag. I have been told by a friend that along with their 244 copies of the Sunday Mail yesterday they received 20 flags. While they were able to scrounge another 50 flags from their area manager, it was still not enough. This promotion tarnishes the reputation of newsagents in the eyes of consumers more so than Queensland Newspapers.

Newspaper publishers need to learn that they should not start a promotion unless they have the capacity and commitment to ensure it reaches its full potential.

Queensland Newspapers owns an apology to Sunday Mail readers and newsagents.

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Newsagency challenges

Win a Sunbeam Coffee machine for Valentine’s Day

brew_gift.JPGWe are giving away a Sunbeam Espresso Machine for Valentine’s Day courtesy of the Hallmark alliance program. It is great to have a gift which one of our customers will win – this makes it more accessible than a state or national prize. The gift itself is a good change for Valentine’s Day.  We are promoting the prize in the card department as well as at two positions at the counter.

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Greeting Cards

Lazy newspaper poster from The Age

age_poster_jan26.JPGWhat is the point of sending a poster to be displayed with newspapers if it does not connect with the news? None, I say. This poster sent with The Age today is a waste or paper and would be a waste of my retail real-estate.. We are not displaying it. We are using the space, instead, for a poster for The Australian which connects with the news of the day.

This poster from The Age is lazy.

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Newspapers

Promoting weekly magazines to lottery customers

fhn_weeklies.JPGWe took the opportunity this morning to promote the weekly magazines to the new customers we will see today. Being a public holiday, more than half our customers will not be regulars so we try and make every opportunity work. The display in the photo is what customers pass on the way to our main lottery counter. Woman’s Day and New Idea and other weeklies ought to drive  good easy add-on business.

Regulars here will see that we change this and other key magazine displays two and three times a week. I think it’s what we have to do in retail. Customers become as store blind as we do from the other side of the counter.

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magazines

Free newspaper subscription for French 18yo

French President, Nicolas Sarkozy announced a 600 Euro emergency aid package for French newspapers on friday which included a free one year newspaper subscription for every eighteen year old – to get them reading the newspaper.  A report in The Guardian quotes Sarkozy:

“The habit of reading a daily paper takes root at a very young age.”

While I’d like the commercial benefit of enforced newspaper supply to eighteen year olds, it makes no sense.  I’d be against the Australian Government financially supporting the newspaper subscription model because it is a model which is unfair on newsagents and because the government support would only benefit the publishers.

I would prefer to see more government support for an efficient and open channel for access to reliable news and information.  Here in Australia that means a reliable broadband network and support for professional, independent, journalism.

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Media disruption

Stop the Presses

Stop the Presses is a film which looks at the dramatic change going on inside newsrooms and around newspapers in the United States.  Go to the Stop the Presses website and watch the introductory video.  It is a sobering reminder even here in Australia and so far away from the US that this channel of ours, regardless of its long and proud history, is changing and that, therefore, our businesses must change.

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Media disruption

Everything old is new again

classicmags.JPGIn today’s patchy magazine marketplace, magazines about old things seem to be doing well – from the data I see at least.  Old motorbikes, old trains, old cars, old homes, old trucks.  The magazines I have notcied are pitched around the Classic or Vintage or Period theme.  These titles attract loyal customers as shoppers and browsers.  While there is not much cross over between the segments, I am contemplating a feature display of the classic titles to try and attract mroe customers – since we know from sales they are out there.

Just knowing that the Classic / Vintage / Period interest is so strong in this marketplace is good to help drive decisions.

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magazines

Print magazine reinvents itself online

U.S. News, the US news magazine which competers with Time and Newsweek switched from weely to biweekly and then monthly.  Now, U.S. News is launching a weekly digital edition.   The editor sees this as a good move:

The upside for the readers, he notes, is that they’re only paying for content — and not for the expense of shipping and printing.

Portfolio has more on this.

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magazines

Wonder time magazine shuts in the US

The bad news just keeps on coming for the print publishing business with word that Disney Publishing Worldwide has closed Wondertime, its fledging parenting magazine. Disney cited the challenged economic climate in its decision.

Meadiweek has more on this at their website. There is no news on the future of the Australian edition published by ACP Magazines.  I know I bang on about this but it’s important – newsagents need magazine fixturing which will allow their businesses to evolve as magazines go through a transitional phase. I can’t see any reason for a shopfitter to build magazine fixturing in this marketplace.

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magazines

International standards

I have been involved discussions this week with magazine distribution stakeholders in two overseas countries about magazine supply and related IT standards.  The discussions are providing an excellent insight into how others operate in this space which is complex and frustrating for newsagents here.  In one case they are showing what is possible and in another they are showing what to avoid.

I am surprised at the lack of cross border dialogue between newsagent representatives on these topics.  With newsagent associations working on a code of conduct at the present with magazine distributors, I would have thought that cross border research would be on the agenda.

There is no outcome yet, just good shared information which is helping to guide strategies in a couple of areas.

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magazine distribution

Software support fees

Bernard Zimmermann one of the owners of POS Solutions has slammed a newsagent software company for announcing a significant increase in software support fees.  I agree with Bernard.  Software support coverage should be priced fairly.  This is one reason the 1,500 Tower Systems newsagents are not being hit with the price increases being applied by whichever company Bernard blogs about.

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newsagent software

Promoting Take 5 for Australia Day

t5_aussie.JPGWe created a display promoting the Take 5 Australia Day issue at the counter yesterday.  This is a risk for us because most of our Take 5 sales occur on Wednesday and Thursday – we are going against this trend.

The free Australian flag pin which comes with the magazine qualified Take 5 for this prime space.  We saw a lift yesterday.  The real sales test will be this weekend.

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magazines

What people buy

oldstands.JPGIt is surprising what people want to buy sometimes.  take the stand in the photo.  We used several of these to display Christmas product.  In one of our stores we sold three of these stands after Christmas to very happy customers.  Not that we have them on display – these customers ordered the stands during Christmas selling.  We were happy to sell the stands since the products they were used for will come next year with more stands (if we carry these items).

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retail

Selling pigs on Valentine’s Day, Marketing Tips for newsagents

valentine_pigs.JPGValentine’s Day is a short yet intensive season for Australian newsagents and retailers more generally.  Making the most of the season means planning a multi-faceted attack well in advance.  Here are some left-field marketing tips you could consider to supplement the traditional approach around greeting cards, plush and chocolates.  It is not too late to engage and pushthe boundaries this Valentine’s Day:

  • Heart wall.  Get customers to submit heart themed art.  Stick it all up on a wall.  Have a small prize for the winner.
  • Romance graffiti wall.  Put up a white board or butchers paper have invite customers to write anonymous notes of romance on the wall.
  • Romantic poetry competition.  Invite your customers to submit a romantic poem.  Invite the local school English department to adjudicate.
  • Papier mache heart competition.  Newsagents are the best place to source what you need to be creative at home.  This idea is about creating a worthwhile activity and connecting with the season.  Put them on display and award a prize.
  • Romance vouchers.  Create a sheet of vouchers which could be given with a Valentine’s Day card.  The vouchers could be for a home cooked meal, a back rub or a day at the beach together.  This idea connects with a do-it-yourself approach for the cost conscious.
  • Have good gifts.  Don’t rely just on cards.  Create a good gift offer beyond the usual chocolates, flowers, plush and balloons.  Consider cuff links for men and a gift voucher to a local spa for women.
  • Do some good.  Connect with a local charity and offer donation to them from each Valentine’s Day sale – promote the connection.  Charity cards do well at Christmas so why not Valentine’s Day?

There are plenty of other ideas.  Keep thinking.  The keys are to have fun, engage with your customers and be unique.

Click here to see the tips I published last year.

And the pigs?  They are part of the Valentine’s Day range we have for our Sophie Randall businesses.  They are different and something different is what gift customers like to find.

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marketing tip

Appealing back to school stationery

young_stat.JPGI have been contacted by several newagents about my post on Tuesday about funky looking back to school stationery.  The Spencer Burford range is proving to be very popular with primary and secondary students.  It is well priced and gives newsagents carrying it point of difference over many others in this back to school space.  Newsagents have tended to approach stationery in a conservative way.  This product breaks with that tradition and makes is seem ‘with it’ and connected to today’s BTS consumer – a crucial challenge in retail, today especially.

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Stationery

Optus the stand out for mobile recharge

Optus is the stand out brand in the mobile recharge business in our newsagencies.  In one of our stores it accounts for more than 40% of all recharge product sold – twenty five vouchers last week.

I am tracking this because this is the business we lost for a time when Bill Express and related businesses collapsed last year.  Optus recharge is an important traffic generator.

Some newsagencies I see are still winning lost customers back, others have passed previous numbers.  Optus is the key.  It is a brand consumers know and trust.

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Bill Payment
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