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

Helping get the papers out to customers

Looking at some recent comments here I realised that some newsagents may not understand how engaged the newsagency software companies can be beyond software support. Here is one example from this week.

A newsagent unexpectedly walked away from their business, appointing a liquidator, without notice to anyone including newspaper publishers. The liquidator seized the computers of the business, moving them hundreds of kilometres away, before anyone realised. This was planned, but to the detriment of customers and other stakeholders. On those computers is newspaper home delivery details.

The newspaper publisher cannot serve their customers without access to customer data.

The team at Tower Systems has been working with the publisher to access data files with some assistance from the liquidator. The files have been checked and daily run lists produced. Then the data was loaded to a virtual cloud based instance of the Tower software so data access through Christmas can be provided, to ensure papers continue to be delivered.

It has been a time consuming process but one which has been done as this is what the Tower team do regularly. The work has been done without charge.

All through the focus has been serving the newspaper home delivery customers of the now closed business. While this for sure benefits the publisher, it also benefits the channel as it shows the channel responding to ensure that newsagent customers do not lose out when a newsagent walks away.

This story reflects one of several not obviously software company matters the team at Tower has been dealing with this week, other software companies will have similar stories. Close to half the work of the help desk is outside traditional software assistance.

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Newsagency management

Coles shows how to pitch Christmas in destination retail

Supermarkets are destination shops, shoppers walk in with items they are there that day to purchase. I suspect it is rare people say oh let’s go to the supermarket for a browse. Good supermarket managers leverage destination shopping for valuable impulse purchases.

At my local Coles supermarket they are leveraging destination shopping with key Christmas items capping major aisles. In this photo you can see three such placements: games and two card stands.

We can do the same in our businesses, especially in more traditionally laid out newsagencies that serve destination shoppers. In these types of businesses key destination traffic for papers, magazines, cards and / or lotteries will rarely see products outside their destination category.

Disrupting destination traffic with an appropriate impulse offer is key to maximising the shopper visit opportunity. While the Coles aisle ends are not as disruptive as they could be, they are right for a busy supermarket. In a less busy newsagency you could disrupt the straight line destination shopper, so they have to step around what you want them to see.

While supermarkets are frustrating giant competitors, the actions they take on the shop floor can be instructive to us in small business retail.

My suggestion is to take a look at your shop and look at where Christmas is pitched. Could you increase engagement with a Coles type approach. While there will be plenty here who done;t have the space or where it would not work for other reasons, there are some for whom this approach could work.

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Newsagency management

Asking can I help you is not good shop floor customer service 

There was a time when asking a shopper can I help you? was good customer service. Those days were simpler in retail. 

Today, with competition tougher than ever and shoppers more informed and more powerful than ever, our shop floor engagement has to be different to back when the simple question was good. 

Today, we have to engage with shoppers in more creative and appreciated ways. Get it right and sales will flow. Get is wrong and you will turn shoppers away. 

It is the gift / toy / homewares and related spaces where shop floor engagement is key as that is where our competition is toughest. 

My advice is to develop shop floor shopper engagement tactics that are right for products you have and that you train your team members. Telling them to go talk to customers is not enough. Telling them to say to customers can I help you? is not enough. 

Work on it with team members. Role play.  

Here are some tips that may help.

  • Send a team member to the shop floor with a new product in hand, something you are sure will sell well. It has to me new to the business. Send them out with a simple opening line: Hey take a look at this, we just got it in today and I reckon it is very cool. The best way to work out words you are comfortable with is to start somewhere. 
  • Demonstrate products.
  • Use the products on the shop floor and encourage shoppers to do this with you.
  • Unpack and price on the shop floor.
  • Move products.

Active engagement on the shop floor of any sort with products can drive shopper interest and from this flows sales.

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Newsagency management

New Yorker promoting subscriptions in Australia

The New Yorker is running a sizeable campaign on Facebook inn Australia pitching twelve weeks of the weekly magazine for $6.00.

This is a stunning offer not only because of the price but because of the direct to consumer offer from a US publishing company.

While the title has narrow appeal, at that price the appeal would be broader than usual for it.

If you click sign up you see the offers available. The headline offer is for digital only. However, twelve weeks home delivered for $8.00 is still a sweet offer.

There is no countering this. I anticipate we will see more publishers of overseas niche titles making similar pitches, especially for digital editions.

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Magazine subscriptions

Ink, the Murdoch play

I am grateful for the opportunity to see Ink, a play about the arrival of Rupert Murdoch on London’s Fleet Street in the late 1960s, recently in London.

Ink is terrific theatre as it tells the story not only of Murdoch and his take over and what it means to Fleet Street but also about newspapers and how they are made.

It was fast-paced, funny, engrossing, thoroughly entertaining. From an Aussie perspective, the larrikin element was on show.

The full-house audience at the Duke of York’s Theatre loved it too.

What I enjoyed most was the story of disruption at the heart of the play. Indeed, this line from Murdoch talking about Fleet Street which was, at the time, the heart of newspaper publishing inn the UK: I want to disrupt this street.

It is interesting to me because Murdoch has been a disruptor. However, he quickly follows that with seeking protection. You only have to look at how Foxtel has been handled in Australia to see that.

But back to the play. If Ink comes to Australia seek it out if you love a good story ab0ut newspapers.

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Newspapers

XchangeIT and Gotch too late with title price change information

Disregard for newsagents and the software companies that serve them was on show today with the late announcement by XchangeIT and Gotch this morning of price changes affecting magazines that has been on sale for several hours.

For businesses that bemoan poor tech compliance by newsagents they set a poor example. Their late notice caused stress for some newsagents.

Title Woman’s Day Woman’s Day Woman’s Day Woman’s Day
Issue Description 18 December 1 January 8 January 15 January
Title Code 91135/14236 91135/14236 91135/14236 91135/14236
Issue Code 2140 2150 2160 2170
On Sale Mon – 11/12/17 Mon – 18/12/17 Thu – 28/12/17 Mon – 08/01/18
Cover Price $4.50 $4.99 $4.99 $4.50
Title New Idea New Idea New Idea New Idea
Issue Description 18 December 1 January 8 January 15 January
Title Code 12781 12781 12781 12781
Issue Code 8800 8810 8820 8830
On Sale Mon – 11/12/17 Mon – 18/12/17 Thu – 28/12/17 Mon – 08/01/18
Cover Price $4.50 $4.99 $4.99 $4.50
Title TV Week TV Week TV Week TV Week
Issue Description 16 December 30 December 6 January 19 January
Title Code 91400/91401 91400/91401 91400/91401 91400/91401
Issue Code 2140 2150 2160 2170
On Sale Mon – 11/12/17 Mon – 18/12/17 Thu – 28/12/17 Mon – 08/01/18
Cover Price $4.99 $5.99 $4.99 $4.99
Title NW NW NW NW
Issue Description 11 December 1 January 8 January 15 January
Title Code 91961 91961 91961 91961
Issue Code 2090 2100 2110 2120
On Sale Mon – 11/12/17 Mon – 18/12/17 Thu – 28/12/17 Mon – 08/01/18
WA/FNQ On Sale Thu – 14/12/17 Thu – 21/12/17 Thu – 28/12/17 Thu – 11/01/18
Cover Price $5.20 $5.20 $5.20 $5.20
Title OK OK OK OK
Issue Description 1 January 8 January 15 January 22 January
Title Code 91039 91039 91039 91039
Issue Code 2050 2060 2070 2080
On Sale Thu – 14/12/17 Thu – 28/12/17 Thu – 04/01/18 Thu – 11/01/18
SA/FNQ/TAS On Sale Mon – 18/12/17 Thu – 28/12/17 Mon – 08/01/18 Mon – 15/01/18
Cover Price $4.99 $4.99 $4.99 $4.99
Title Who Who Who Who
Issue Description 18 December 25 December 8 January 15 January
Title Code 88844 88844 88844 88844
Issue Code 7690 7700 7710 7720
On Sale Thu – 14/12/17 Thu – 21/12/17 Thu – 04/01/18 Thu – 11/01/18
WA/SA On Sale Mon – 18/12/17 Thu – 28/12/17 Mon – 08/01/18 Mon – 15/01/18
Cover Price $4.99 $4.99 $4.99 $4.99

 

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Ethics

Keeping the cards fresh key to sales this week

As last-minute shoppers venture out to start their Christmas shopping, keeping the Christmas card offer fresh, tidy and easily shopped is key to card sales success this week. This is especially true in newsagencies as we remain a key destination for key season card shopping.

While these shoppers are frustrating in that they expect the full Christmas range to be available to them in this last week of shopping, they are valuable in that price is less likely to be of concern to them. They tend to be less picky too. Quick decisions by shoppers can be valuable for us retailers.

In one of our stores, to leverage the last-minute shopper, we relocated cards to make shopping easier. We have gone for the three-sided display approach to make it easier for more people to shop at once.

In all stores, we are refreshing the card range from floor stock several times a day and tidying hourly, as I suspect everyone is doing.

Next to the cards and at the counter we have thoughtfully selected impulse purchase gifts for the last-minute shopper, to make it easier for them.

Oh, and we have not forgotten the importance of magazines as Christmas gift. They are part of the story too.

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Newsagency management

Newsagency marketing tip: leveraging passion

One of the easiest ways to attract a new shopper into any retail business is to pitch products that connect with passion(s), theirs or those for whom they purchase gifts. Some passions are easy to spot while others are obscure.

Once you have found products that can tap into a passion, like Kombi vans, the best marketing approach is too pitch outside the business, using social media. I have found a simple post with a good image can be widely shared. better still, I have found it can generate net new traffic for the business.

The success of this marketing approach starts with sourcing products that connect with passions.

Remember, your key target is the shopper buying for the person with the passion.

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marketing

Newsagency managent tip: selecting gifts for the business

Take a look at card sales by caption, work out the percentage of each. Use that percentage breakdown as a guide for the percentage allocation of gifts for those occasions in your gift department.

Too many newsagents buy gifts for seasons. That approach will not help you achieve the gift sales you could achieve.

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Gifts

Christmas 2017 is good already

While we are still nine days out from Christmas, the season this year is already quite different to recent Christmas seasons.

My experience and the experience of folks I have spoken with in a range of situations is that people are shopping sooner and they are spending happily.

Purchases are across the board: cards, ornaments and decorations, gifts as well as everyday items.

One newsagent in regional Queensland contacted me yesterday with the news that their gifts are top 48% off a terrific base and cards are top 12%, also off a good base.

I know of several newsagents who purchased large, expensive, centrepieces for Christmas window displays only to have them purchased by customers in a day or two.

While I don’t want to jinx trading between now and next Saturday, I’d say we are having a good Christmas in retail.

Christmas is a season when the maxim – we make our own success – is true. For this season, making our own success means thoughtful buying, in-store storytelling, in-store basket depth driving tactics, out of store marketing and keeping it fresh, every day. It is hard work, starting from the end of the first quarter. The results are worth it.

What I love them most about Christmas is that we see many new faces and each is an opportunity to pitch a return visit after Christmas. A good Christmas is one step, of many, to a good following year.

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Management tip

Gotch decision on Christmas returns cutoff expected to increase early returns

Gotch has advised newsagents 1pm December 22 is the last date/time for submission of returns for December. I expect this will result in a higher than usual early returns. It is disappointing Gotch is pushing on to small business retailers the burden of the week earlier than usual returns processing cut-off. This is poor customer service.

UPDATE: I have been contacted by newsagents who have received an updated email with a cutoff of December 28. If this applies to everyone it is good news.

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magazine distribution

Good campaign on retail employee abuse

It is good to see the issue of abuse of retail employees by customers get considerable coverage in the last 24 hours. The campaign has grown out of  a survey run by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association. This is good activity by a union.

In our channel, regular abuse is from customers throwing money for a newspaper because they are angry at the prospect of waiting to pay. At the other end of the scale, some newsagency employees have experienced awful physical abuse while others has experience dreadful verbal abuse.

Working in retail can be tough. Especially this time of the year.

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Newsagency management

GNS acquires Satex in SA

The announcement:

GNS acquires Satex, completing its national wholesale footprint

GNS Wholesale (‘GNS’) today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the business and operations of Satex Distributors (‘Satex’) from its owners, Ron Vanderloo and Trevor Green. Operating for over 40 years, Satex is an Adelaide- based wholesaler of of ce products, education and art supplies focussed on the commercial dealer market.

Satex supplies over 250 customers throughout South Australia and the Northern Territory on a daily basis from its approx. 1,200 sqm warehousing and distribution facility in Marleston, South Australia.

The acquisition of Satex enables GNS to better support its customers with a national wholesale footprint, adding cost- effective distribution capability in South Australia and the Northern Territory. GNS’s ownership will also provide a broader and deeper product range and service offering to existing Satex customers. Ron Vanderloo will remain with the business, which will retain the Satex Distributors name, and oversee both the enlarged Adelaide-based operations and the integration of Satex’s business into the GNS group.

Paul Yardley, CEO of GNS Wholesale, said, “I’m pleased to announce the acquisition of Satex, creating a true national wholesaler and bringing a new customer base to GNS. This transaction completes our ability to service accounts nationally and provides suppliers with signi cant ef ciencies. Ron and Trevor have built an excellent business and I’d like to welcome Satex employees to the GNS family.”

Ron Vanderloo, joint owner of Satex, said, “Having owned the business for thirty years, given the consolidation in our market we decided now was the right time for Satex to join a larger group. This transaction protects the future of our business and its employees, and I am excited to be working with GNS to bring new opportunities to customers while retaining all the bene ts of dealing with Satex.”

Terms of the acquisition are con dential and have not been disclosed. The acquisition is expected to take effect on or around 1 January 2018 and will be funded from GNS’ existing cash resources.

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Stationery

Why I don’t take cards off the wood for seasons

I think taking cards off permanent fixtures to make room for seasonal cards is a mistake. If non-seasonal cards are good enough, valuable enough, important enough to be given space on permanent fixtures then they deserve that space all through the year.

People die during seasonal card buying occasions. They get engaged too, and marry. Babies are born. People have birthdays!

You can’t sell cards that are in a drawn.

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Greeting Cards

Typo pitches $1 Christmas cards

Typo has a good range of $1.00 Christmas cards, pitched different to the cheap Christmas cards you see elsewhere.

Given the shoppers Typo typically pitches to, this range could do more to introduce people to buying cards than taking sales from more traditional outlets. That is what I want to think at least.

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Greeting Cards

Peak teacher gift giving season

We are in the middle of the peak end of school year opportunity. This is an interesting season in that there are traditional for teacher gifts parents choose and there are gifts teachers would like. They are quite different.

We have teacher cards pitched at the counter, where they are selling well. Due to space, were have gifts located elsewhere in the business, with appropriate call to action signage. We have also been pitching on social media.

Allied to this is the teacher to student gift giving opportunity. We have had some success offering teachers a bulk deal for a class-size purchase.

All in all the end of school year season is a good opportunity that engaged retailers can leverage. The keys are serving the broad range of opportunities and promoting your position in this space outside the business.

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Gifts

Pitching Hanukkah cards at the counter

We have this Hanukkah card at the counter with Christmas cards from the designer range. These cards are not a top of mind purchase, hence the placement at the counter. The work well as an impulse purchase. They are help speak to the broader appeal of the business.

While Hanukkah isn’t the “Jewish Christmas”, it occurs at a similar time of the year. Having the cards enables shoppers to respect jewish friends at the same time as they share Christmas greetings.

If you see yourself as a card specialist / destination, having Hanukkah cards is important.

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Greeting Cards

Money wasted on these newspaper inserts

I feel for the companies that paid to place inserts in the Herald Sun yesterday. The photo shows the stack of inserts that fell out of the newspaper at a gate at Melbourne Airport. I saw one customer pick up the paper and the inserts dropped out. They picked up a couple of inserts, looked at them, and dropped them back in the pile.

This photo is from one departure gate at Melbourne airport. I suspect the same mess would be at each of the gates.

I suspect there were many inserts dropping out of the Herald Sun yesterday. I wonder if happened because of the number of inserts in the paper compared to the weight of the base newspaper. The inserts appeared to fall easily.

Maybe people are less concerned about inserts when they get a free newspaper. I suspect not given the mess I see fall out and left behind in the newsagency some days.

If I was an advertiser and I saw the mess I’d be raising it with the publisher.

Maybe a newsagent with a security system in-store and with a cameras covering the newspaper stand could fast forward through footage. It could be useful evidence of how shoppers react when inserts fall out.

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Newspapers

The future of online lottery games including instant games

In a report published by Pennsylvania Inquirer, lottery players in that state are soon to get access to online gambling, like we have here through The Lott and other platforms. The report also foreshadows a move to reimagine instant stretch ticket games for the online customer.

The Pennsylvania Lottery hopes to do that by creating “totally new concepts” for the instant-win games offered online. Details about how exactly the games will work are still being figured out. The new games will be similar to some sold in other states, like Michigan, which is considered the most successful iLottery state.

“It’s really meant to just offer a different type of entertainment to a different audience,” Svitko said. “We believe the most responsible way we can grow our sales is to grow by reaching new players in new ways and not just by asking existing players to spend more.”

“We are working feverishly to try to figure all of it out,” he added.

Instant games bring in the most revenue for iLotteries across the country, according to research by Bogus’ group. An analysis showed that in Michigan the iLottery was growing rapidly — reaching $1 million by February 2017 — with retail sales nearing record highs.

In Michigan while they sell lottery tickets online, they are yet to offer instants on phones and tablets. Indeed, when you go to the Michigan lottery website, they make it easy for shopper to find lottery retailers:

Tatts should do this rather than their current approach of all but hiding their retailers.

All it will take is for one lottery provider to nail offering instants on mobile devices for others to follow. As we see from other games on mobile devices, the tech is there today.

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Lotteries

Newsagency management tip: look at your opening hours

It is important to open your retail business in the morning at the right time. The right time the time from which it is financially viable for you to be open.

Historically, newsagencies have opened early … 6am often, 5am in country town locations, even earlier.

Look at your data, track your revenue and gross profit. Consider other tasks that are done in the early hours. It could be that you can trim your hours without any significant negative impact on the business.

Years ago in a newsagency I owned we moved fro a 7am opening to 8am. Some customers complained, saying they would never shop with us again. Few who complained acted on their complaints. We cut labour costs by $150.00 a week. The GP for sales in an average week for that first hour tracked at less than $100.00. The decision made sense.

This is how to look at your opening hours, though the numbers. Even if your decision ultimately is to not change your hours, it is valuable to run the numbers, to make an assessment based in the facts.

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Management tip
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