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

Are the banks closing accounts of newsagencies with Western Union?

The Australian published a report Friday claiming that banks have ended services to 100 customers (newsagents) offering Western Union services.

The rift between the small business ombudsman and Australia’s largest lenders has widened further, with Kate Carnell set to pursue the big four banks over their decision to end banking services with more than 100 customers ­offering remittance services through Western Union.

As the threat of being ensnared in a legal stoush with anti-money-laundering regulator Austrac continues to loom large, following the explosive suit against Commonwealth Bank late last year, lenders may be too aggressively ending business banking relationships with newsagents who offer Western Union services.

The report in The Australian is the first I had heard of such action being taken. I have searched online and cannot find any other reports.

12 likes
Newsagency management

Newsagency management tip: handling charity donation requests

I have written before about the need for policy and process around community group and charity donations. I like the approach of a cafe I visited recently. Every person approaching on behalf of a charity was given a card.

While the cafe is part of a small chain, their approach of bringing structure to handling the request is good. A single local business could easily do the same. Groups expecting you to support them need to show support for your business.

9 likes
Management tip

Pitching Valentine’s Day at the entrance of the newsagency

This photo shows our opening pitch for Valentine’s Day in the newsagency. This is at the main entrance to the business.

I call it the opening pitch as the placement will move twice through the season. We are supplementing this in-store placement with a series of social media posts starting later this week. Social media is playing a big role in our marketing spend this year. We have a budget, which is measured against sales outcomes.

While we will get good traffic for Valentine’s Day card purchases, those who actively promote outside their businesses set themselves up for great success.

2018 is already showing itself to be a year for making our own success.

11 likes
Greeting Cards

Good jackpot start to the lottery year

While the OzLotto $40M jackpot went off a couple of days ago, last night Powerball jackbooted with next’s weeks top prize worth $55M. This is a nice start to the year for lottery retailers for we know the best sales growth comes from natural jackpots.

While I don’t have lottery products in the newsagencies I have today, I did for many years at Forest Hill. Our most successful marketing for jackpots was by papering the newspaper stand. This was back ten and more years ago, when newspapers were a valued destination category.

If I had lotteries today, I’d look at by top destination lines outside of lotteries and pitch the jackpot there.

9 likes
Lotteries

Pitching Pilot Frixion pens

With tv commercials promotion Frixion pens on high rotation on free to air TV right now, promoting them at the counter or some other high traffic area of the business as well as on social media would help you maximise the opportunity. My only wish is that Pilot offered a file of the video so that newsagents could use to promote the pens more easily.

6 likes
Stationery

Good early Valentine’s Day card sales

Several have reported excellent early Valentine’s Day sales. Each went out a day or two after Christmas, replacing Christmas singles. While most Valentine’s sales are in the last week, early display captures those who plan ahead and reminds others you are in this space.

Valentine’s Day is an excellent season for pitching the broader gift range in the business. It for this reason that I suggest newsagents not purchase gifts that are too Valentine’s focussed. Rather, they can buy items that will sell all through the year as well as for this season.

The season is also an opportunity to pitch the business as a card destination. It is important for Valentine’s day cards to be close to other cards, to encourage purchases outside the Valentine’s purchase.

I was in  the US last week and saw plenty of Valentine’s displays. The photo shows the range in a Walgreens store in the midwest, in Winconsin in December 27. The major retailers, like Walgreens, run like clockwork with stores required to take down and put up seasons on a national calendar.

Note their use of the shelf at the top of the card fixture, pitching bags. This is excellent use of the space and drives gift bag purchases.

Newsagency businesses remain a key destination for Valentine;’s Day card purchases. We can leverage this by in-store and out of store promotion, especially out of store.

7 likes
Greeting Cards

Tatts ads running when retailers are closed

A newsagent contacted me this morning about Tatts running ads promoting the OzLotto jackpot after 6pm, when stores are closed. They say this happens often. I agreed to post about it here for others to comment.

From a Tatts prospective this is the right move. For shareholder value, growing online is important.

8 likes
Lotteries

Q4 2017 newsagency benchmark study under way

On January 1 I emailed newsagents inviting their participation in the Q4 newsagency sales benchmark study. The call for data will be open for the next three weeks.

I am reviewing data as it comes in. The dataset already has data from more than thirty newsagencies. More than half the participants so far are new to the study. This is okay in that they provide 2016 data and 207 data, making the year on year comparison useful.

While there is not enough data to draw conclusions for the channel and its sub groups, the results suggest a possible slow down in decline of magazine sales but less than ideal Christmas card results. As I noted, the dataset is small at this point though.

For those interested in the call for participation, here is the email I sent to newsagents January 1:

Q4 2017 NEWSAGENCY SALES BENCHMARK STUDY.
I am preparing a new benchmark study for the newsagency channel to look at the latest sales trends overall and in key product categories for the fourth quarter of 2017. This quarterly newsagency sales performance study will help newsagents see the future based on the data trends. Click here for my last report.

How to participate.

  1. Please run a Monthly Sales Comparison Report for 01/10/2017 – 31/12/2017 compared to 01/10/2016 – 31/12/2016.
  2. Tick the category box. IMPORTANT.
  3. Tick to exclude home delivery and sub agent data.
  4. DO NOT tick the supplier box.
  5. Preview the report on the screen. Save as a PDF and email this to me at mark@towersystems.com.au.
  6. Read the report yourself and see what it shows you about your business.

I will email the results to all participating newsagents and publish the results on theAustralian Newsagency Blog as a service for all newsagents.

My work with this channel goes back to 1981 when I wrote newsagency software to manage newspaper home deliveries. That software evolved into Point of Sale software and has been rewritten as software technology has changed. 

I own and run three newsagencies. Over the years I have had three others. I am a 50% shareholder in and CEO of newsXpress, the newsagency marketing group.

Tower Systems serves 1,750+ newsagents with best practice newsagency software. Overall, Tower Systems serves in excess of 3,500 small business retailers.

Mark Fletcher
M | 0418 321 338

12 likes
Newsagency management

It’s 2018 and News Corp. continues to publish propaganda

This front page of the Herald Sun today is ridiculous. They have given over their front page to an attack on politicians for taking annual leave in January. There is far more important news today. But the Herald Sun pushes real news further into its pages. They prefer to given their front page to telling people what to think.

In my view, this is not a newspaper, it is political trash. sadly, we have to sell it.

14 likes
Newspapers

Newsagency management tip: end of year declutter

If you are working this weekend and not in a busy Summer holiday location, things are bound to be quiet. My suggestion is to take the opportunity to declutter.

At this time of year in retail, decluttering to me means quitting a product, category or even department that is not relevant to how you will see your business in 2018.

The departments that could be vulnerable based on data I see from a bunch of businesses:

  1. Everyday confectionery.
  2. Tobacco.
  3. Ink and toner.
  4. Low performing stationery.
  5. Transport tickets.
  6. Newspapers.

It is easy to get data for your business, to be driven by the numbers. By this I mean, look at the GP the target product / category / department is generating, consider the space and labour costs. This process will soon reveal if you should quitting any.

This is a good, practical, project for a quieter trading day.

11 likes
Management tip

Reducing magazine floorspace allocation in the newsagency

We have moved magazines off the floor, to the back wall of this newsagency. While it is the back wall, it is a feature, and easily shopable. It is also not too far from the front of the shop. This magazine wall can be see from outside the shop – this is important to us.

To cover the range of magazine titles we want we have, in some sections we have three titles where we would usually have two, and four sometimes where we would have two.

This move reduces the cost overhead of magazines to the business. This is essential with any product category that is at the low end of product margins in the business.

This latest most is another step in the regular dance of shop floor changes. In this shop, over the last three years, we have changes magazine floorspace allocation six times. Each was considered based on the data and reflecting what we want the business to become.

The days of traditional floorspace allocation based on traditional newsagency layout and operation are over. We are in a world of ever-increasing rent and labour costs, tougher competition from other retailers and tougher competition from online.

The extent and pace of change in our businesses needs to reflect these factors. It also needs to reflect how we pitch our businesses.

In the case of the store I am writing abut here, it identifies as a newsagency. Hence the extent of the magazine offer on the back wall. However, it is clearly a newsagency that is some distance from traditional as the majority of the floorspace is allocated to gifts, collectibles, cards and other high margin lines.

23 likes
magazines

The value of older employees in retail today

Older employees can being terrific value to a retail business that is keen bring change to the business. Young employees cost less and this is a common appeal among retail business owners.

An older employee could bring more value to the business, they could leverage a better return on labour investment for the business. Here are other benefits that can be available depending on the background, skill set and work interest of the older employee:

  • Maturity. An older employee understand work.
  • Appreciation. If they have been to of work for a while they are more likely to appreciate then job and could therefore invest more in it.
  • Experience. An older employee could have experience in a field from which the business can benefit. I am not thin king here about retail experience. rather, they may have business management skills, special interests or experience that you can leverage as you change the business.
  • Flexibility. With less focus on establishing themselves and a social life they could be more available and this could help the roster.
  • Communication. An older employee is more likely to be better with oral communication given they had less tech when they were younger. While this is a rash generalisation, I’d back it to be likely.

When you are looking to fill a vacancy or a new role in the business, consider older person for these and other reasons you can think of. The could bring to the business skills and interest the you can leverage more valuably than the skills and interest of a younger lower cost employee.

Of course, the value of any employee depends on your hiring, training, management and motivation of them.

The post of this post is to suggest that next time you hire you think about an older employee.

Note: The federal government jobactive restart program can help Australian businesses that hire older employees financially:

Restart is a financial incentive of up to $10,000 (GST inclusive) to encourage businesses to hire and retain mature age employees who are 50 years of age and over.

Older employees can bring new insights and energy to a business. The right hire could be just want the business needs to explore new traffic opportunities.

18 likes
Newsagency management

Many businesses closed over the Christmas / New Year break

It is now tradition that many suppliers to retail and newsagency businesses are closed in these days between Christmas and New Year.

With so many in business saying how tough things are, seizing every opportunity possible to serve customers is important.

I know of several suppliers benefiting from being open this week while competitors are closed. The same is true for newsagencies. I know of newsagency businesses that are closed this week – yes, all of this week. That does not make sense to me, especially if they sell lottery products.

In my own case at my newsagencies are open and at my newsagency software company, every day newsagency businesses are open they need access to support. The challenge is that with some suppliers closed you get queries that they should have got.

With online playing such a big role in business today, those with strong online businesses are never really closed. Given that business today is a race to the cash, being always open is necessary.

17 likes
Newsagency management

Notes for school leavers joining the full-time workforce

I have some advice for school leavers joining the full-time workforce:

  1. Learn as much as you can.
  2. If you are not sure of something, ask. Don’t assume.
  3. Work out how to love your job, because if you don’t, working there will not be good for you or the business.
  4. Be as low maintenance as possible. Your employer is not an ATM you can tap every time you feel like sleeping in.
  5. How far you go in a business, and in your career, is up to you. You get out what you put it.
  6. Add value. If you do this a business will want to keep you and that gives you leverage in this job and your next.
  7. Every day, it is up to you.

If you are a business owner and hiring school leavers, step up to the responsibility seriously. You hire them, train them, manage them and determine their value to the business as as the value of the business to them. Oh, and being their friend is not an ideal step to good management.

20 likes
Management tip

Embracing the Boxing Day opportunity

I am embracing the Boxing Day opportunity in my shopping centre based stores today, as I’ve done for years. The keys to leveraging the traffic surge is to:

  • Not look like a newsagency
  • Have bought for the opportunity.
  • Removed Christmas decorations as that season is over.
  • Pitching competitive propositions.

Well managed, it is easy to maintain close to a 50% GP average for non circuits elation product through there Boxing Day sale season.

Like the days leading up to Christmas, the next few days are opportunities to connect with some shoppers who will return.

While I get that most high street and regional businesses are closed, for those os us in centres the next few days are as important as the lead up to Christmas.

7 likes
Newsagency opportunities

If you are open Christmas Day

I love what Shashi and Pallu Patel, the owners of Meet and Deep newsagents in Twickenham are doing for Christmas Day and I love that Twitter enabled me to discover this wonderful story. Read the full report here.

10 likes
Newsagency management

Christmas Eve trade

While I said yesterday would be the biggest day of the year, today will demonstrate the value of Sunday trading for centre based newsagencies. Whereas many high street shops, including newsagencies, will be closed today, those of us in centres will be open. I expect it will be a good trading day, but not and good as yesterday. However, it would be terrific to be wrong.

Part of the work today is to ensure everything is ready for the BOXING DAY SALE that starts December 26. We have bought especially for this, as we do every year. Given the excellent retail conditions we are experiencing right now, I am excited for the sale.

7 likes
Newsagency management

1974

I love this photo that came up in my Twitter feed today. It shows a couple standing out the front of their Seacroft, Leeds, UK newsagent business in 1974.

10 likes
History

The busiest retail day of the year

For those of us with newsagencies in shipping centres today is likely to be the busiest day of the year. It is the day late Christmas shoppers start, the day kids (usually boys) tend to shop and the day early shoppers fill gaps in what they have.

Good luck everyone. I hope today is stunning in business with record-breaking results.

13 likes
Newsagency management

Pitching by magazine brand

Whenever we get magazine titles connected to a single masthead brand we place them together, as we have done with these That’s Life related titles in-store. This proximity placement is the best way to leverage the masthead connection and thereby increase the opportunity of impulse purchase of the one-shots especially.

5 likes
magazines
Trending Articles

Fairfax changes approach to TV Guide, disrespects newsagents

Published on April 20, 2011

What do you think of the Powerball changes?

Published on February 16, 2018

IPS releases new magazine contracts

Published on June 21, 2011