Using rope to pitch pens
The window display at the Faber Castell flagship store in Frankfurt pitches premium pens using rope:
Displaying papers and magazines in Germany
While in Germany earlier this week for the stationery fair in Frankfurt and the Toy Fair in Nuremberg, I got to se some retail.
Here is the newspaper / magazine display in a local supermarket outside Frankfurt. I like the integration of papers with magazines.
Here is a high street news / tobacco / lottery / convenience business with their key news and magazine offering out the front of the shop.
Ten reasons why Australians should buy cards at their local newsagency and not the supermarket
Next time you want to buy a card , shop your local newsagency first.
Whether looking for a card for birthday, sympathy, thank you, new home, bon voyage or just because, your local newsagency will be better for you than anywhere else.
Here are my ten reasons why shopping for cards at your local newsagency is better than shopping at the supermarket, or elsewhere for that matter.
- Range. Newsagents have a better range of cards than supermarkets. More cards. Better quality. More options for you to consider. Brands you can trust. For occasions often not covered by supermarkets.
- Quality. Newsagents have better quality cards. Some supermarkets have cheap cards, which they charge too much for. Like anything in a supermarket, stock gets picked over. I think cards in a newsagency are cleaner, neater.
- Help. When you want advice on selection, newsagencies have staff who can and will help, willingly. This is fantastic for people who are not sure of what to buy.
- Comfort. No trolleys pushing you or people trying to get past doing their weekly shop. The local newsagency is more relaxed. Take your time. Choose the card that says what you want to say.
- Price. Newsagencies have cards covering a broader price range. You can shop the range depending on the occasion. You have more choice.
- Service. If you cannot find an envelope, need a pen to write on the card or some other help, the service is there in a newsagency. It is less likely to be there in a supermarket.
- Loyalty. Your local newsagency is more likely to offer rewards for your loyalty. Sure, supermarkets may give you points, but what are they worth? Who knows!
- Community support. Your local family run newsagency is more likely to invest more support back into the local community than a supermarket.
- Guy friendly. The local newsagency is a more guy friendly shopping destination than a supermarket.
- It’s good business. Your local newsagency will be a small business, a family business. The money you spend there will have a more direct economic impact than if you spend it with a national supermarket change. Spend to make that difference I say.
Local Aussie newsagencies have excellent ranges of cards, backed by wonderful, knowledgable, personal service.
Next time you want / need to buy a card for someone you care for, go to a newsagency first. Oh, and let them know that you deliberately did this instead of shopping at a supermarket.
Thank you.
News Corp. late in supporting newsagents for Enid Blyton campaign
News Corp. has been late in providing newsagents and some who support newsagents, like software companies, with information vital to the success of the Enid Blyton campaign.
Software companies had to chase News for data to provide to newsagents so their systems could be setup correctly and ready.
No time was provided to newsagents to seek out allied product to supportive campaign. This denies newsagents the opportunity to maximise the potential of the campaign. It also denies newsagents the opportunity to leverage the Enid Blyton campaign to its full potential.
The inaction by News Corp. comes across as selfish at worst, ignorant at best.
Early warning allows engaged newsagents to be data ready and to have allied product, which is displayed well can help drive greater engagement with the newspaper promotion. There are gifts, activity products and other lines that could have been brought in, with which a broader Enid Blyton story could have been told.
News Corp. needs to understand how little value newspapers are to many newsagency businesses now. They should work harder to enable newsagents to transact newspapers more cost effectively and with greater value-add opportunity.
Years ago, News Corp. was better at this stuff.
Australian Gluten Free Life supports newsagents
It is terrific to see newsagents supported on social media by publishers, like the folks at Australian Gluten Free Life have:
Fairfax is updating the online experience for subscribers
This email was sent by Fairfax yesterday to subscribers:
Why you need more than one Valentine’s Day display
Look at the store of any major retailer during a season and you will see multiple pitches for the season, no matter how small the store is.
Even in a store of 100 sq metres you will see a key season pitched in at least three locations. I have seen this in gift shops, card shops and similar.
Each placement is visually connected to the other, but different, an advancement even.
This is on my mind today as I have been talking with a newsagent who says seasonal sales are declining in their business. They do one display per season. While it is is in a good location and looks good it is only one display, there is only one opportunity for people to connect.
By having at least three displays, you reinforce the message, hopefully getting through.
It starts with a bold, signature, statement at the entrance.
This is followed by a secondary display behind, usually at a key traffic destination.
This is followed by a third display placement, at or near the counter, where you can impulse pitch.
We should be growing seasonal sales, not only in cards but gifts too. To achieve this, we have to match and better our competitors. This is why I say for this Valentine’s Day, take a look at your pro motion points in-store. Make your you have at least three, they they connect and that they give you excellent opportunities to pitch to shoppers.
It is easy to look at the declining sales for a season or a promotion and blame the economy, suppliers or other factors. The reality is, it is on us as the retailer. We are responsible for the success or otherwise. It is on us.
Valentine’s Day 2018 is a good opportunity to start. Take a look at what you have done and see how it can be improved for greater success. Ensure all team members are on board. Then, make a similar, layered, pitch on social media.
Know last year’s numbers, so you know what you have to beat this year. Involve all team members in this, in the actual number you are out to beat. Everyone in the business should be invested in achieving this.
For me, multiple displays is a key factor for success and changing the displays as the season unfolds is also important. Multiple displays combat store blindness, which is common among newsagency shoppers.
Oh, and take note, people don’t often look up. In fact, there are plenty who do not even look straight ahead.
A single display does not cut it anymore.
For context, here is how my high street newsagency promoted the recent jigsaw offer fro outside the shop to behind the counter to the counter to inside the front door. It could not be missed, and it worked a treat.
How we pitch Australia Day is challenging
All of us in business want to connect with major holidays, for business and for community connection. It is challenging with holidays meaning different things to different people.
Australia Day is challenging as we learn more of what happened on that day, especially that is marked the start of the systematic reduction of the 700,000 aboriginal population down to 70,000.
Without wanting to enter the politics of change the date, through my newsXpress business and my POS software business we sought to recognise the day in two different ways, away from the usual green and gold and barbie approach.
The reaction to each was terrific. We received some wonderful feedback.
I have written this post in the context of earlier posts about the need for us to evolve how we pitch our businesses. This involves us playing beyond the traditional, giving people other reasons to consider us.
Newsagents need to be prepared for the day daily newspapers close print editions
Regardless of the spin from newspaper publishers, we are approaching the day when capital city and major regional daily newspapers will cease to be published daily.
As the largest single channel retailing print newspapers in Australia, small business newsagents need to be prepared for this, we need to ensure, today, that our businesses can sustain such a move.
This will happen. Daily newspapers will close. The decline in sales is driving it. The decline in advertising revenue makes it unavoidable.
The print model for news has run its race. The costs of printing the product and distributing it to shops and homes is too high.
I appreciate plenty in the newsagency channel will disagree with me or will hope I am wrong. The thing is, there is now downside in business planning on the basis of me being right. This business planning would / should focus on making the business attractive for people who do not visit today and on how to attract those people to the business.
New business and new traffic are key to success in 2018 as fewer people will walk through your front door for traditional newsagency products. So, we need non traditional newsagency products, promoted outside the business, to attract new shoppers.
Acting now, hopefully, long before now, gives you the best opportunity for successful trading through what I think will be a very disruptive couple of years, far more disruptive than the last ten years combined. In disruption we can find opportunity.
However, my call is that you do not wait for a daily newspaper to close. Act now. Rely less, today, on newspaper traffic.
Acting now looks like this:
- Placing newspapers in a lower cost location, away from the entrance and high value real-estate.
- Sourcing new product categories that you do not carry today.
- Pitching the new categories in marketing outside the business.
- Getting the business known as a destination for multiple sought-after categories in your area, categories people would drive at least an hour to shop and purchase.
- Spending less time on what is declining and more time on what could be.
- Doing everything possible to ensure your business does not look traditional.
I appreciate that no one involved with the newsagency channel wants newspapers to close. However, it will happen. The test is whether you have, by then, created a business that will flourish without daily newspaper traffic.
Using social media to reach new customers
POS software can be pretty boring, especially to small business retailers who are passionate about their family and about their specific type of business.
The marketing folks at my newsagency software company, which also develops and sell software for other specialty retail channels, create social media posts to reach out to retailers who might not look at a traditional POS software ad.
I share some of the images here as inspiration as they reflect ways to change how a traditional business might be considered.
There are many tools available today that enable businesses to create visual messages like these. While it takes creativity to come up with the ideas, execution is easier than ever.
Humanise your business with shopper photos
More and more retailers use using photos of shoppers in-store to personalise their businesses. Toms (see photo) is one example. This is something we can do in newsagencies, especially regional / rural newsagencies.
The photos could be of events, customers with purchases, charity engagement, competition winners, local happenings or photos people have brought in that are somehow relevant to the business.
Over the course of a week in the US recently I saw at least fifteen stores with shopper photos like those I have included with this post. I was drawn to look at the photos as were others ion the stores.
I have seen photo walls placed in high profile locations as well as dead space locations. The where can be stored out. Starting somewhere is smart.
A photo wall shows your business as supportive and engaged beyond simply trying to sell stuff. I think there are enough who would appreciate this to make it work the try.
Lottoland pitches shop overseas on Australia Day
Lottoland, the disruptive offshore online lottery betting business, has leveraged Australia Day to pitch the purchase of tickets in US lotteries!
Visiting an Amazon shop for magazines
I am grateful for the opportunity to visit two Amazon shops in the US a couple of weeks ago, one in New York and one in Los Angeles. While I will have more to say about the shops and shopping experience at my newsagency workshops soon, I want to share today what I saw in relation to magazines.
The layout is not that different to what you see elsewhere:
It on a closer look that where you can see the online pitch. The stores exist primarily to facilitate online sales, rather than the other way around.
On the shelves are these signs, too.
This is how they approach the rest of the business. Simple, easily understood messaging. Like everything Amazon does, their approach to magazines is data driven. Their mix of titles is determined by online sales data, in the area surrounding the store. Their size gives them considerable power in their dealings with suppliers.
What Amazon is doing throughout their retail businesses is disruptive in several categories, including magazines. We are yet to see anything like this hit Australia.
Small business newsagents help parents contain back to school costs
Small business newsagents are doing an excellent job serving local families and schools with access to an excellent range of stationery and other supplies at competitive prices for the 2018 back to School season.
Watching TV and reading the newspapers you would not know this as the mainstream media are focussed on big business stories about Back to School as well as stories about this year being more expensive than last – although the actual evidence of this is scant.
Local newsagency businesses give parents the best opportunity to save money and to support their local school community.
While big businesses spend a ton of money advertising they are cheaper, small business newsagents work hard to be competitive, they deliver.
Being competitive is not just about price, it is also about practical support for local schools and families. This support often comes in the form of practical assistance, prizes for competitions and other support. This and other support is often done without self promotion, without beating the chest like we see big businesses do so regularly in the media.
Sure, the percentage of Back to School won by small business newsagents is less years ago, it remains an important part of business for plenty of newsagents and an important service for local communities, especially in rural and regional Australia.
Local schools and parents of kids in schools need to support their local small business newsagencies if they expect to knock on their door looking for support for the school during the year. Custom today is what makes it possible to provide support tomorrow.
Every newsagent needs to be across Gotch product code change
Here is the text of an email from XchangeIT to newsagents yesterday.
Dear Newsagent
From 13th February 2018 you will be receiving DD2s/Files from Gotch, via XchangeIT, that contain their new 10-digit Product Code format (an update from their old 5-digit codes because they are running out of numbers).
To make this change possible, your POS provider has been contacted and they are developing processes to implement the new 10-digit Product Codes and update the product inventory in your POS.
On or before 13th February, please look out for any instructions from your POS provider.
NOTE: If you are not on support with your POS Provider you may have to manually update each Product Code from 5 to 10 digits across all Gotch products.
Between now and approximately 5th February, your POS provider will be preparing for the change, as will XchangeIT and Gotch. We will update you on approximately 29th January as to progress.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please call us on 1300 551 212.
Best regards,
The XchangeIT Team
All the Gotch products codes are remaining the same except they are adding 10000 to the start. The change has been in the works for several months with software companies involved in the discussions.
The change means that products arriving with the new codes will have to be matched to the old code. Engaged software companies will make this easy for customers with the latest software.
All returns data going back after February 13 will need to use the new product codes. Otherwise, returns will be rejected.
The change has come about because of the expansion of the Gotch portfolio moving Network titles in and the introduction of giftware.
Newsagents cannot ignore what is happening here. It is essential that every newsagent is on top of this, following exactly the advice of their software company. If this is not done, credits could be lost.
APRA chasing newsagents for music royalty coverage
APRA AMCOS has been active chasing newsagents since the New Year for fees for playing music, whether streamed, by CD for on radio in-store. There is a letter, usually followed by a call. Based on what some have told me today, the call can become aggressive.
The APRA fee is a cost of business. It is not worth the risk. Pay it and move on, or don’t play any music.
Inspiring retail outpost
The kikki.K outpost in the Qantas terminal at Sydney Airport is terrific, a best-practice example of an outpost.
The outpost uses a small footprint but displays a considerable range of stock and even offers a personalisation service. It is easily shopped and laid out for fast selection, which is important in an outpost situation.
If you are thinking of doing and outpost and are in Sydney, check it out.
Free workshop: Ideas for transforming your newsagency in 2018
Ideas for transforming your newsagency in 2018.
A free management workshop for newsagents.
newsXpress invites newsagents from across Australia to free management workshops. We also offer to fund air travel for newsagents to ensure easy access to this important event.
Hear how newsagents are transforming their businesses, finding new customers, enjoying a new lease on life. We will share case studies from city and country newsagencies.
- See new, exclusive, product that is attracting new shoppers, product you have never seen at a gift fair or trade show before.
- See greeting cards not available in any other newsagency, greeting cards that appeal to shoppers beyond the usual caption range in Australia.
- See the evidence of success of the newsXpress multi-site web strategy that is driving online as well as in-store sales. We will share the latest sales data.
- See the newsXpress P&L – demonstrating transparency.
Here are the only dates in this series. Please tick your selection.
- ADELAIDE: 5th Feb, 10am @ Rydges South Park, 1 South Terrace SA 5000
- SYDNEY: 6th Feb, 10am @ Hilton Sydney, 448 George St Sydney NSW 2000
- BRISBANE: 7th Feb, 10am @ Brisbane Riverview Hotel, Kingsford Smith Dr,
- PERTH: 8th Feb, 10am @ Parmelia Hilton Perth, 14 Miller St Perth WA 6000
- MELBOURNE: 9th Feb, 10am @ Grace Park Hawthorn Club, 6 Hilda Crescent
I am posting this here as I am a director of newsXpress and will be hosting each workshop.
Book by emailing help@newsxpress.com.au or by using the booking form.
If you have any questions, call me – 0418 321 338.
Newsagency management tip: worry less about competitors
I appreciate frustration newsagents and other small business retailers feel when they see products they have had success with make their way into a national chain or a nearby competitor.
In many cases this comes about because the supplier needs more volume than the independent retail channel can provide. Hence the move to mass or more independents.
Most key competitors of independents attract different destination traffic.
For you to make the most of what could be a growing product category, and or licence, you need to become the destination retailer in your area. This takes more than putting product on the shop floor. It involves being the expert, promoting outside the business, hosting events and giving people to place your store top of mind when they think of the product, category or license.
The easy approach is to complain about the actions of the supplier. The better approach is to deny the supplier this consideration by being better from the outset.
Competitors will always be there. Suppliers will always need to more more stock – usually because of manufacturer pressure.
Toys set to be strong in 2018 for newsagents
The toy category is set to be a strong category for newsagents in 2018 with more newsagents taking it on and with more suppliers prepared to sell to our channel than in the past.
Toys today are broader in their appeal than ever before, especially bad games, which experienced double digit growth in 2017.
While a few years ago it seemed that games were in trouble because of digital disruption, they have come into their own thanks to clever invention of new products and recasting of the appeal of some traditional products, such as Monopoly.
Taking on a local toy shop competitor is possible for newsagents. It takes knowledge, focus and commitment. This is especially true if you focus on niche, special interest, opportunities.
As a guide, toy revenue could easily be equal to 50% of your greeting card revenue. I have determined this base benchmark based on data I have seen from more than fifty newsagency businesses.
If you are not in toys, consider it. The right toy product can attract new traffic across several valuable demos.
Locking up the newspapers
I love the irony of newspapers being locked up in this world where newspapers are so freely available.
I took the photo a couple of days ago.
Beware the doom and gloom reporting about Facebook
News outlets and some social media commentators / consultants have been saying the sky is falling following the announcement from Facebook last week of planned changes to their news feed algorithm.
As often the case, plenty has been said about what might be. I think we are better off waiting to see what actually happens, how the algorithm changes actually play out. Once we see those facts those of us who make active, daily, use of Facebook for our businesses can adjust accordingly.
Facebook is a business. It’s sole focus is share price. Share price is driven, in part, by revenue. Revenue is tied back to boosted posts and advertising. Advertisers will spend money if they can make money.
While we need to wait and see, I suspect facebook will ensure it has a healthy revenue model. That benefits those of use who use the platform commercially.
In the meantime, no, the sky is not falling.
Terrific Atlanta gift fair offers insights for independent retailers
I am grateful for the opportunity to visit the Atlanta gift fair this year. It was my fourth year at the event and the most enjoyable so far. In addition to the trade show I was able to sit in on some terrific gift related product and strategy workshops.
There was plenty of new product to see and new initiatives to consider.
This is the major trade show for gift and homewares for the year. It is held in a three tower location with each tower similar in size two the one on the photo.
Many companies have year-long booths for sales people to use. Many of these booths show products as a shopper would see them in retail.
I use the show as an opportunity its to draw inspiration in terms of product range, in-store merchandise rising and retail management practices from way beyond the opportunities for inspiration we see in Australia.
As often the case, there was talk at the trade show about the mood of small business owners. The mood is considered to be optimistic. People were open to buy. This is an advance on the same rate show a year earlier.
I have come away with several new product opportunities as well as what I think will be some good in-store initiatives. Retail competition in the US is considerably greater than in Australia. This challenges small business retailers to do better. That is where I have found good learning opportunities by being at trade shows like this.
The importance of gift retailers is growing in our channel. It is exciting as what constitutes gift continues to evolve.
Some small business newsagents rely too much on accountants for business decisions
While accountants can play a valuable role in business decisions, I see and hear of situations where the accountant has too much of a say.
In one situation recently an accountant told a newsagent they should put tobacco products into their business because all newsagents have cigarettes. This was in a business the accountant’s client had recently purchased, their first and the first newsagency for the accountant.
The previous newsagent had got out of tobacco five years earlier because of falling sales. But here was this accountant telling someone new to the channel and new to retail that they should get into tobacco. They did.
That was almost a year ago. It has not gone well.
The accountant thinks the retailer failed. The retailer thinks so too. This is despite evidence in the business data showing growth elsewhere in the business, where the retailer backed their own instincts.
This is one example. There are plenty in our channel, where accountants have provided advice that is either out of date, not relevant to a transforming newsagency today or plain wrong. And there are plenty of examples where accountants have provided excellent advice to newsagents.
Some decisions are not about the numbers alone. With the extent of change we are confronting, taking a risk beyond what the numbers show will be key to success in a year or two.
It is important to remember it is your money on the line. As the business owner, you have to back yourself. Relying too much on an accountant who is not in the business, who may not have relevant knowledge about your channel, may hold you back. It could head you in an inappropriate direction.
My advice is to by all means listen too your accountant. However, have the data and knowledge to make decisions yourself, and in a timely manner, based on your own evidence. The pace and scope of change today demand this from us in business.
Inside the pencil factory
Pencils are a core product for Australian newsagencies. While they have travelled a significant distance from where began, they remain vital today as new generations buy them in good numbers.
With this in mind, I encourage you to take a moment to read a wonderful article, Inside One of America’s Last Pencil Factories.
In an era of infinite screens, the humble pencil feels revolutionarily direct: It does exactly what it does, when it does it, right in front of you. Pencils eschew digital jujitsu. They are pure analog, absolute presence. They help to rescue us from oblivion.
This article is a beautiful piece of writing about a wonderful factory where they make an item important to us for decades.