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

NANA says Tatts has relaxed retail image requirement for newsagents

NANA, the NSW newsagents association, released this yesterday:

The retail franchise administration group at Tatts Group Lotteries has advised lotteries outlets in NSW and ACT which have a 30 June 2017 deadline to upgrade to the Generation One DigiPOS Retail Image that an across the board extension to 30 November 2017 is now in place. The extension gives Newsagents and other lotteries outlets in NSW and ACT previously due for the upgrade by 30 June 2017 a five-month extension.

If I was a Tatts retailer I’d be frustrated at the moving targets over the course of this project. The moving targets have altered the costs and this could have disadvantaged those who moved earlier.

Also, their decision to put in place a delay now is odd given the heavy handed notices sent out last week.

Maybe Tatts could use the delay to gather evidence of the commercial benefit of their demand retailers install DigiPOS. For the size of the spend retailers deserve more than a hope of a revenue increase. tatts should have evidence from the retailers who have it already. My suspicion is there is no noticeable increase in revenue that justifies the increase cost imposed on small business retailers by Tatts.

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Lotteries

Christmas cards at the counter to drive impulse purchase

IMG_2227 (1)We have a carefully selected range of single Christmas cards at the counter of the shop. Each card has been thoughtfully selected and placed to get a laugh and grab attention in pursuit of impulse purchase.

This is in addition to our larger single and boxed Christmas card range in two locations in the shop.

The dog and cat cards at the front are there to grab attention. In fact, each row of two cards has been very carefully selected to appeal to the customers we most often see at the counter of this specific business.

We have to obsess about moves like this, to make the most of the bonus Christmas traffic.

At the counter we also have boxed cards, money wallets, gift tags, wrapping paper and tape – all a last minute shopper could need.

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Greeting Cards

Socks help broaden the appeal of the business

IMG_0996We have sold more than $4,000 worth of socks in the last month. On top of the revenue from sales, the socks have been a terrific net new traffic driver for the business. Several times I have seen people bring their friends in to show them the socks for a good laugh. Older women particularly like them.

We got into the socks based on observation in retail overseas where we have seen them work with another category of product with which we are having terrific success.

In addition to being a different gift, the socks are a perfect gift to post.

This is another example of a product category through which we can broaden the appeal of the business and play way beyond what people expect from a business selling newspapers and magazines.

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Newsagency management

Employers beware: $20 sick certificates!

IMG_0913It is disappointing seeing Chemist Warehouse promote $20 medical certificates. If they are successful and increase the number issued, the cost of business owners, especially small business owners will be considerable.

I spoke to the pharmacist where I took the photo and they said they take a professional approach. Hmm…

I think it sucks that pharmacists can write absence from work certificates.

All we can do as employers is factor in the cost of sick leave when we budget for the labour costs for our business.

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Newsagency challenges

The Leunig calendar customer

I got a call yesterday morning at 10:05am asking if we had the 2017 Leunig calendar and how many copies we had. By 10:30 the caller had come in and purchased all five remaining copies.

There was a discussion at the counter as they wanted a discount for purchasing all five. Given the slim margin on the product and nature of supply I resisted. We had a chat about the margin on the calendars.

The experience was a reminder of old school newsagency business in that the customer figured they could only get the calendar from a newsagency and that we were protected. It was an opportunity to set the record straight. Try as I did, I could not make the Leunig calendar purchase more valuable though.

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Newsagency management

Leveraging the charities we are supporting

Here is how we have had one of the stands at the front of the store set for the last eight trading days before Christmas. We wanted to ensure shoppers understood the variety of charities we are supporting.

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While not for everyone, my experience is boxed cards sell well when stacked flat like this.

The display is being tidied and topped-up hourly.

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Greeting Cards

Sunday newsagency management tip: track unit sales

Tracking unit sales is vital in comparing year on year performance in product categories where price fluctuate. In a retail newsagency business, for accurate year on year performance comparison, unit sales tracking is vital in newspapers, magazines and cards. Your newsagency software should be tracking unit sales for you.

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Management tip

The Trump factor and magazines

It seems each time US President-elect Donald Trump criticises a newspaper of magazine title, engagement with the title, including subscriptions, increases – as they discovered at Vanity Fair this week. They had their highest number of new subscriptions in a day as a result. Is this a business model for publishers? … criticise the thin-skinned Trump and wait for him to attack you and thereby invite support for you.

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magazines

A different approach to promoting magazines on social media

Screen Shot 2016-12-16 at 10.30.29 PMThis post own Facebook pitches four different music magazines by highlighting the gift of free music with each of the four magazines.

This type of approach is better in my view than promoting the full cover of a magazine. It is the type of marketing other magazine retailers in Australia will not do. Plus, it is free, easy to do and enjoyable.

We need to do more of this.

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magazines

Leveraging bonus gifts with magazines

IMG_2180 (1)We have been thoughtful in placement of the Pacific Magazines impulse purchase unit, placing it on the way to the counter. It is working a treat with magazines being added to the basket on the way to the sales counter. This stand and tactical placement like this has been key to this business trading ahead of the trend on magazine sales with no year on year decline this quarter.

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magazines

People love beautiful things and beautiful things can broaden the appeal of a shop

IMG_2171The manager of one of my stores decided this Christmas they would feature snow globes. The range is beautiful. It lends itself to pitching on social media, to show the business as being different to what people may expect. It is a thrill to see shoppers stop and smile at the beautiful range.

This globe is especially popular as it swirls the ‘snow’ around in an eye catching way. A short video like this works a treat on social media. I shot it using my iPhone and had it loaded in seconds. It is the type of video people like to see on social media.

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marketing

Put Australian Healthy Food on the counter

IMG_1904The current issue of Australian healthy Food with the free Gingerbread folk to eat is a magazine to pitch at the counter as an impulse purchase. It is unique and will draw attention to a title shoppers may otherwise miss.  We are using it to promote on social media too as the free gift is different enough from the usual.

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magazines

Helping to drive Christmas card sales

IMG_2097Christmas counter card sales in this newsagency are up 34% year on year. They have accounted for 27.16% of all card sales in the last 14 days. Besides a good range at the entrance to the store, it is signs like this used in the business that encourage purchase. The message is a reminder about the low cost to send someone a message this Christmas.

To provide context as to the scope of the growth, this is a business doing $1,200 a day in cards alone over the 14 day analysis period.

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Greeting Cards

Pitching the Pacific Magazines promotion

IMG_1884We have supported the Pacific Magazines $65,000 promotion throughout the business – at the counter and in the magazine department with participating titles. While cutting through during Christmas is challenging because of the visual noise this season, we have tried to keep space around the signs less noisy – so the promotion is noticed.

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magazines

Myer leverages the counter

IMG_1957Myer in Melbourne is pitching Nutella at the counter in their bedroom furnishings department. If ever there was a time for retailers to be bold in counter impulse item selections then this is it. Here is Myer pitching something sold on a different floor in their sprawling store. Never promote at the counter what people expect.

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retail

Boosting early Christmas season engagement

IMG_1326In the US, Black Friday, always the Friday after Thanksgiving, is huge for retailers. It goes from the Friday through the weekend. Then there is Cyber Monday, the Monday right after.

The US Black Friday ‘season’ is now entrenched in the UK. But it is yet to gain traction here. We do have an online sale but it’s not big.

I am interested in Black Friday as it is massive in the UK, a place to where the season migrated.

The idea of boosting seasonal sales ahead of when you might traditionally discount for a season is interesting. It is something we have tried a couple of times this year, discounting for one day only quite early in the season. The goal was to gain a buzz, and it did. This worked for a specific location where more than a third of shoppers are not regular, not local. I think that is the key.

Retail today demands thinks be changed up. This is why I think it is important we talk about a different approach to when we use a discount as a promotional mechanism.

We did a one-day Christmas sale early this month. It was a terrific boost. It was not a Black Friday event and I am not proposing this here.

In the UK ten days ago I was surprised at the extent of Black Friday. Here is a gallery of window signs, demonstrating the extent of retailer engagement in the season. I took all these photos in a short period the Saturday and Sunday following Black Friday.

IMG_1227 IMG_1318 IMG_1368 IMG_1193 IMG_1194 IMG_1197 IMG_1204 IMG_1220 IMG_1221 IMG_1225 IMG_1226

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marketing
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