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

Coles double standards exposed in Zoo magazine decision?

The decision by Coles to withdraw Zoo from its shelves is interesting and with considering.

If the decision is a result of pestering because of how Zoo treats women in its photos and stories then maybe the pesterers could turn their attention to the shelves of unhealthy foods that shorten lives and burden the public health system.

If the decision is because the Coles directors do not think Coles fits their values then maybe they could explain how all the bad and unhealthy food they sell fits their values.

Coles can’t make a decision like this and not expect it to be considered against other decisions the company makes.

the values of a supermarket need to be reflected on every shelf and in every transaction. the Zoo decision cannot be considered in isolation.

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Ethics

Beware Facebook survey scam

I received two invitations this week to participate in a Facebook survey and go in the running to win a $100 gift card. This is a scam. Facebook is not running a survey. It is a phishing attempt. My advice: do not respond to the email.

With many newsagents on facebook and actively using the platform it is important you do not allow your account to be hacked. Take care.

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Newsagency management

Leveraging Darth Vader for Father’s Day card sales in the newsagency

IMG_9195 (2)I love this Darth Vader Father’s Day card from Hallmark so much that it is the feature card I am using on social media and in Father’s Day gift displays to draw attention.

With the Star Wars licence huge in the lead up to the new movie,. the timing is perfect.

Folks, this is a card to remove from the card stand. You need to make sure your shoppers see the full card as this is what grabs attention. Indeed, you ought to sell out of this card ahead of all others.

I moved cards around yesterday to ensure this an other Star Wars cards are in prime position as they will attract a shopper we are keen to attract for Father’s Day and other products we are featuring in-store at the moment.

What I am writing about here is a good example of how we can use seasonal opportunities to attract shoppers for more than the season. It is how we can leverage these peak traffic times to help us beyond.

I love that Darth Vader is a dad role model.

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Greeting Cards

Symply Too Good supply model frustrating newsagents

For years, newsagents supported Annette Sym’s Symply Too Good cookbooks, carrying them on the shelves for long periods of time, often barely covering real estate and labour costs – if they were lucky.

This week newsagents received new supply of Symply Too Good cookbook. Many are frustrated with the long on sale, the long period of delayed billing and that there was no opt in, no ability for the newsagent to control the spending of their money.

Some newsagents have noted they received an opt out email with 48 hours to act. If true, the 48 hour response time is ridiculous. Other newsagents have said they received no such email.

Given today’s retail real estate and labour costs, only an opt in process is appropriate. Further, the on-sale ought to be optional from 30 days with no delayed billing. These rules would respect newsagents whereas the model being used now does not.

Magazine space in newsagencies is under more pressure than ever. We all need to cut space and labour costs. This leaves less space for slow performing titles. It means we have no room for long on-sale titles. Publishers need to understand this, they need to respect us.

Footnote: Annette Sym will be unhappy at this post. It is important to unpack the facts from a range of newsagents before responding. For example, with the retail space a magazine pocket takes in a shopping centre newsagency costing anything from $1 to $3 a week, return on space is a key metric. The low margin from magazines and the low volume of niche titles like these demand they be under the spotlight when assessing magazine performance. The numbers themselves have us looking at the performance of the Symply Too Good titles no matter how much we like them.

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Magazine oversupply

Shopkins collector cards popular

IMG_9199If you have stock of the Shopkins collector cards my advice is have them at kid’s level where they can reach them. This will help sales and give you an opportunity to pitch the other Shopkins products you sell.

Shopkins is a rapidly growing brand globally. The best indicator is YouTube video views – in the hundreds of millions. Kids recognise this brand. hence my advice to make the most of the opportunity.

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Trends

More newsagents should hire with a probation period

When hiring a full time employee for a newsagents I encourage newsagents to consider doing so with a documented probation period. This gives you the opportunity to not continue with full time employment should the employee not work out. It offers a framework through which you can deal with a new employee who does not work out.

If you hire a full time employee without a probation period you risk not having access to a mechanism for easily removing someone who quickly turns out to not be ideal for the role.

The Fairwork website has more on this including sample letters. Hiring with a probation period is easy as long as you follow some simple rules.

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Hiring employees

New York Times promoting in Australia

Screen Shot 2015-08-16 at 8.50.04 amI am seeing this ad promoting subscription to the digital edition of The New York Times come up plenty of times on Facebook at the moment. I am surprised at the considerable marketing efforts in Australia from this US publisher. I think it speaks to the extent of disruption faced by newspaper publishers.

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Media disruption

Coles shows their approach to cards off location

IMG_9175Check out the placement of Father’s Day cards off location at a Coles supermarket. This placement is deep inside the store, far away from the card department and the checkout. It is one of two placements of Father’s Day cards in this Coles. It reinforced to me the importance of interrupting shoppers to remind them of what they can purchase in a visit. This is especially important for Father’s Day as it is a season for which purchasing is too often left to the last minute.

Take a look at how you are pitching Father’s Day cards. Are they all in one place or in a couple of locations to make the most of the opportunity? Are you maximising the opportunity of all your traffic?

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Greeting Cards

Happy newsagents feature in video

Benefits for newsagents of being part of a newsagency marketing group include shared optimism about the future and a unity around a differentiating brand. newsXpress last week reflected these in this video created for members to use in showing their locally owned business are part of something bigger:

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Newsagency management

A tip for newsagents on selling more wrapping paper

IMG_9160Weeks ago we started trialling a second location of roll wrap – at the counter. It is working. People are purchasing rolls of wrap on impulse. Convenience is a factor in the success of this as is having a good selection of designs available to attract attention.

It costs nothing to try an idea like this in the newsagency. If you don’t have the slatwall backing like we have to take the hook, place boxes of roll wrap at the counter – it should work just as well as long as shoppers can see the designs.

Investing five minutes or so in this move without spending anything extra on stock you could have a change that drives incremental purchases today.

These are the types of moves we need to obsess in our newsagencies about if we are to achieve the best basket depth possible from each shopper visit.

Sadly, wrap is something too many newsagents leave to their wrap or card supplier to manage. I think this is a mistake. The success or otherwise of wrap in your business is yours to own. Stop leaving this to others to control as it is your business.

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giftwrap

Sunday newsagency challenge: cancel all rep visits for a month

While supplier representatives can be invaluable for your business, they could be hindering your ability as the owner and manager of the business. They could be stopping you from seeing your business differently. There could be too much of them in your business indent enough of you.

My challenge today: Take a break from reps visiting your business. If they have products to pitch, get them to email.

Have a rep free month and see what decisions you make about buying that might otherwise have been made by a rep.

The goal here is for there to be more of you in your business and what you sell. This does not mean less buying from the companies the reps represent.

If you see, say, eight reps a month for 30 to 60 minutes each that is four to eight hours back in your pocket for the month, time you could spend on your business in tasks that reflect more on you than on the rep.

Your major competitors spend less time at the local store level with reps than you. This is a competitive advantage for them.

Suppliers reading this who are frustrated, here is your challenge: come up with processes for more efficient use of newsagent time. Rep visits at the local store level are inefficient.

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Management tip

Sunday newsagency management tip: look for transitional change

With change mission critical to newsagency businesses today it is important we check current revenue by department with that of three years ago. I say three years as that takes you back to 2012, when too many newsagents were not thinking about major change being necessary to the future of their business.

For the purpose of this analysis, do not consider any agency lines such as lotteries, bill payment or parcels. Only look at retail products: cards, magazines, newspapers, stationery, gifts, toys and other products you sell.

Compare revenue, unit sales and percentage of product revenue contributed by department.

Your newsagency software ought to provide this comparison easily. Read through it, think about where you are at today compared to 2012. Think about this in the context of the traffic you are generating. Has your business transitions as much as you expect?

These are important factors to consider, actors I will pick up on later this week.

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Management tip

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: pause your local newspaper advertising

If you advertise in your local newspaper regularly or semi-regularly, my tip today is you pause this spend and redirect the funds to Facebook boosted posts or locally targeted Google advertising.

For a few dollars you can test your ad, gauge the return and up the spend if the results are there. My experience is the Facebook posted ad process and results are far superior than local newspaper advertising. But remember my business is in a busy suburban area where a local newspaper ad is expensive and lost in the relatively full local newspaper.

If you do not advertise in the local newspaper or anywhere else then my tip for you is advertise! If you are not doing anything to attract new traffic to your newsagency you are nuts!

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marketing

In-store radio of no value to the newsagency

It is more than  year since I stopped streaming newsagency specific in-store radio in my business and I do not miss it.

Our sales growth trajectory has been maintained: revenue, basket depth, average sale value, shower visit time and shopper engagement are all up.

We still offer music that shoppers love, just not a newsagency specific station.

I supported in-store radio for years but now I know it is not missed by shoppers and did not contribute to the bottom line it is not something I would go back to.

While every newsagent has to make their own decision on this, I suggest you look at the cost and the tangible benefits you achieve as a result of the investment.

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newsagency marketing

Newsagents need to stop waiting for traditional suppliers to lead

It has been interesting hearing from newsagents and reading comments from other newsagents about the adult colouring phenomenon, especially those complaining about lack of stock from Gotch and Network.

While I welcome the colouring titles from the magazine distributors, the real money is in the specialist books, pencils and erasers we can access from other suppliers.

Informed newsagents were in this space many months ago, late last year even. They are the ones making the most from this. They got in early because of engagement with suppliers outside the traditional newsagency supplier mix.

Newsagents will not find new traffic by relying on traditional suppliers to get them in early on a trend. Traditional suppliers can help but rarely will they lead. I do not mean to be disrespectful to them – they play a role for sure, just not a new traffic leadership role.

We have to be on the front foot, out there looking for new products far are wide away from what has been traditional for us. It can be done as some of us have proven with success with adult colouring from months ago.

This is where the groups play a role. I know from my work with newsXpress what we were doing with adult colouring long ago in terms of product sourcing, training on the phenomenon and go to market strategy. I expect other groups were doing this many months ago as it is what groups do to demonstrate a point of difference over being independent.

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Newsagency management

New cash prize promotion from Pacific Magazines

Screen Shot 2015-08-14 at 6.48.56 amI like that Pacific Magazines is running another cash prize promotion starting next week. History shows the value of a simple promotion with cash prizes., especially if the promotion is specific to our channel. In a centre with two supermarkets and other outlets with magazines it is a welcome point of difference for us.

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magazines

Punishment of a thief caught stealing in the newsagency

We received a letter from the Magistrates Court advising that a person accused of stealing from the business has completed the conditions of their Diversion Plan:

  1. Donation of $100 to Make A Wish.
  2. Continuing counselling.
  3. To be of good behaviour.

While I appreciate the court advising us of this, I would like to know if the Diversion Plan worked over the long term. I’d like a trigger in the court system advising us of any conviction or Diversion Plan in the future.

The impact on any retail business of theft can be considerable and long-term beyond the financial cost of stolen stock or cash. Knowing the system works could help us have more confidence in the system.

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theft

Pitching Father’s Day in the newsagency

IMG_9112This photo shows part of how we have been pitching the start of the Father’s Day season in the newsagency. To the left of this is a display of products that guys purchase and that are part of our everyday range. For the core display you can see we are relying on the cards, gifts and the opportunity that one of our customers will win a Kogan Flat Screen TV to pull traffic.

We are leveraging the prize through promotions outside the business.

The placement is set to attract people to the display and further into the store with the next level and the level behind that. We use a finely tuned floor display placement principle to attract shoppers deeper into the store. This is done through thoughtful placement and creating display structure.

We are competing with aggressive and professional retailers for this and other seasons. It is not enough to stick products on a table with a Father’s Day sign. We need to emotionally connect so shoppers want to spend with us and feel good while doing it. Our emotional connection starts with the LOVE YOUR DAD posters headlining the display – they are a welcome departure from the usual Father’s Day pitch in retail, they are an especially good connection to drive card sales.

The range of products will evolve further next week as the season interest intensifies.

Part of our Father’s Day strategy is to use the increased traffic driven by the season to introduce people to our broader offer. We do this through product placement and our discount voucher program. We show shoppers what else we sell and we financially encourage them to look at what else they could purchase.

This is the value of the major card and gift seasons in a newsagency business – to the opportunity to showcase and leverage the rest of our business. It is why we must look at seasons as being far more valuable than the seasons themselves.

Don’t be put off by the range of cards or gifts in the photo. We have plenty more in-store for Father’s Day. This is a major season for us.

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Gifts

Calendars are our blossoms

IMG_9110As blossoms tell us winter is coming to an end, in newsagencies the arrival of calendars on the shop floor tell us winter is coming to an end. So it is in the newsagency this week with the first 2016 calendars out and selling.

Right now is our opportunity in the spotlight with the major calendar competition weeks away from engaging.

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Calendars
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