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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper goes half price for February

As part of their Doombusters Campaign, the Gold Coast Bulletin is offering their Monday to Friday editions for half price. The consumer needs to clip a coupon and present this to the newsagent the next day to get the paper at half price. The newsagent has to collect the coupons and submit them to the Gold Coast Bulletin to be reimbursed for the discount.

While I am all for innovative marketing around newspapers, this campaign is administratively messy. It also, for a whole month, educates consumers that the newspaper is worth 50 cents and not the usual dollar.  It will be interesting to see if this remains a February only deal.  It will also be interesting to see if there is any counter offer – maybe not because of the Gold Coast location.

The newspaper publisher has not advised the QNF, the state association, of the campaign. Nor have they let the software companies know – those responsible for back end infrastructure to make the process financially accurate, efficient and easy for newsagents.

I am glad that this is a newsagent only offer but am frustrated at how it has been communicated and is proposed to be managed.  To have the details released one working day prior to implementation is nuts.  It feels desperate.

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Newsagency challenges

Promoting weekly magazines to lottery customers (part 2)

fhn_weekly_mags.JPGFurther to my blog post from earlier this week, we refreshed our display of magazines on the approach to our main lottery counter. We have reduced space for the main weeklies and introduced a broader range of titles more likely to appeal to our weekend customers.

The mix you see in the photo today is different to what we would have for next weekend.

While there is a risk that a display like this at the front of the newsagency reduces traffic further into the store, I am certain that it attraacts people walking pact who might otherwise not have entered.

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magazines

Sarah Palin fails at the register too

sarah_palin_magazine.JPGWe returned the three copies originally supplied of the Sarah Palin magazine (Historical Collectors Edition) today.  Beyond Sarah being old news (for now), the $21.50 price point and the challenge of where to display the special interest title meant it would fail in all but the most specialist of newsagencies.  We gave it a shot for a month and took it off the shelf today three weeks early.

Thankfully, none were stolen.

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magazines

Suppliers welcome at newsagency management workshop

5ways.jpgSeveral newsagent suppliers have asked if they can alos attend the 5 WAYS TO KICK START YOUR NEWSAGENCY workshop which starts on February 9.  The answer is yes!  The ore we talk collectively about growing our newsagencies the better.  So, suppliers are welco.e  that said, we will start closing off registrations for this free workshop early next week.   All newsagents are welcome regardless of the marketing group to which you belong or the software you use. This session is about neither – it is about providing you with practical business building initiatives you can implement today. Click here to download the flyer with dates and booking details.

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newsagency marketing

Valentines crossword tip

lovatts_valentines.JPGNewsagents with a Valentine’s Day display should grab copies of the latest issue of Lovatts BIG Crossword magazine and place this appropriately in the display.  The Valentine’s Day themed cover is bright and sure to be noticed – it is certainly too good and too topical to leave languishing in the crossword section while you’re busy pushing Valentine’s Day.

Bringing magazine product into a seasonal display such as this is important because it reminds the irregular customers who visit for Valentine’s Day (and other seasons) that you see other categories of products too.

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crosswords

Keeping your newsagency computer running in the heat

We published advice to Tower Newsagents tonight on helping newsagent computer systems survive the heatwave which others who visit here may find useful:

  1. Ensure there is good ventilation. Clear out unnecessary papers and other junk crammed around the hardware.
  2. If the computer is in a very hot place and is acting in an unstable way, consider training a small fan to circulate air. Do not remove the cover because most boxes are designed for optimum airflow over important components with the cover on.
  3. Place something under the case to lift it off the ground or shelf (but keep it stable) to improve airflow.
  4. Reduce internal dust. Turn everything off, unplug the computer box, remove the cover, blow out dust, place the cover back on.
  5. You will have more water around for drinking – be careful. Computers do not like to drink.
  6. Don’t have too many devices running off the one socket.
  7. Use a battery backup to deliver clean power in the event of a blackout or power spike. We sell these.

The heat problem is compounded in some situations by a considerable build up of dust in the computers.  Some preventative measures would have stopped this in most cases.

Stay cool everyone…

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Newsagency challenges

Charging to access the newsagency channel

I spoke with a potential new supplier to the newsagency channel yesterday and they claimed that an organisation (not a marketing group) representing newsagents they spoke with asked for six figure sum to access the newsagency channel.  For the six figures they would endorse the new product and circulate promotional provided by the supplier.

Any organisation charging a fee to access newsagents has an obligation to disclose an access or any other fee associated with newsagents.

Those representing newsagents must ensure that the maximum margin possible from every transaction is left at the newsagency counter and not in an office or chunky pay packet in an office somewhere.

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Newsagency challenges

Brand confusion on Super Food

superfood_expensive.JPGI was surprised to see the Super Food Ideas Simply Summer cookbook selling for more than the Super Food Ideas magazine.  $4.95 vs $2.90.  Super Food is a brand which has built a following on a price based offer.

This latest cookbook does not pitch a price based offer and, I suspect, will not connect with the same consumers as the magazine.

That said, we are being inundated with these small format cookbooks at the moment.  All the usual publishers have new titles out plus we are getting stock from publishers not usually in this space.

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magazines

Framing the newsagency window

fhn_framing_window.JPGWe use the one window we have at our Forest Hill store to promote seasons and offers in store.  Click on the photo to see a larger version of how we have framed our window in the lead up to Valentine’s Day.  While the main product display is not in the window itself, the framing is designed to bring into focus that we are in the season.  The window display itself will change over the next few days as we get closed to the main sales week for the season.

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newsagency marketing

Selling Women’s Weekly with newspapers

aww_strong_papers.JPGThe small stand in the photo with the latest issue of Australian Women’s Weekly has worked a treat this week.  We are having to top it up daily.  We sold 57% of our AWW allocation in 7 days, in part due to the small stand with our newspapers.  It is terrific when a simple action like this works so well.

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magazines

The Mexican wave of major brand discounting

In the home stretch of the Back To School sale season it seems that everyone is selling Reflex paper at a discount. The best price I have seen is $4.75 a ream. Reflex is the best known copy paper in Australia, it is a brand consumers trust. Given this respected position, why does the brand need to be treated poorly with such massive discounting?

I understand that retailers use Reflex as a loss leader. They are only able to do this because their supplier supports these efforts. The more they support such steep discounts the more national retail brands will demand the deals necessary to match the price.

This is why Reflex is cheap at one national retail chain and then another and then another. It is like major liquor brands – the discount moves around retail chains like a Mexican wave.

We have not played the Reflex price game for several years and are better off as a result. We have Reflex at a fair price with a fair margin given the stock and floor space investment. Our Reflex offer is around convenience.

We use a lesser known brand as our price point paper offer. This offers us a better margin than trying to match Big W, Australia Post, Officeworks and others on Reflex price. It also offers us a point of difference.

By refusing to join the Mexican wave of discounting respected market leading brands, we are respecting these brands and all they stand for, our business and our customers by pricing product based on true value.

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retail

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
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