Check where you have Soap Extra as the cover story on the 30th anniversary of Neighbours is topical. It’s the type of story people who don’t usually purchase a TV magazine could purchase one. We have it in the spotlight this week.
The British parliament has today voted to adopt plain packaging of cigarettes similar to what has been adopted in Australia.
I’ve met plenty of UK newsagents who rely on tobacco sales in their businesses. One told me it accounted for 75% of revenue.
This move is a reminder to run our businesses such that we do not rely on one single supplier or category for the existence of our business.
On the health front, tobacco sales in Australia continue to fall.
Superannuation payments are expensive for small businesses to administer. The time spent managing the accounts, making payments to various funds, responding to funds and responding to individual queries costs time, often time a small business owner pays for on an hourly basis with an accountant or bookkeeper.
My suggestion is that instead of employers paying direct to the funds nominated by employees, we make one lump sum payment at the time of payroll or PAYG or GST payment to a government agency which then disburses to the funds as per the direction of the employees. I see the agency as a clearing house, run on a tight budget with all transactions done electronically.
Setup right, the clearing house agency could reduce the time spent by the Tax Office on Superannuation compliance. In the ATO they look for a default or crime which may have occurred but for which they have no evidence. My clearing house idea would provide immediate visibility of missed deadlines and thereby offer savings to government overhead – as well as to business operators. While I am no economist, I expect the government could fund the clearing house out of ATO savings.
The clearing house would make it easier for employees as they would have one place to go to track super and thereby, be less likely to lose track of funds.
My suggested approach would save considerable time in small businesses not only on the payments front but also on dealing with compliance challenges. For example, I have heard of businesses spending thousands on super audits only to have no problem found. Such audits would be eliminated and that money saved for the victim small business owner.
I expect superannuation funds would benefit from the clearing house approach as they would have one place to go to check information they currently seek out from businesses across the country.
The only downside to the proposal is that business owners could not delay making super payments. The benefits outweigh the cost in my view.
I was impressed by this new counter gum display unit with lighting to draw attention to products. Click on the image for a much larger version. You can see the value of the lighting strips.
One newsagent told me it was delivering a good boost.
Newsagents have told me Naplan product sales are down on last year. I offered to open the topic here for comment.
In a newsagency in Sydney yesterday I saw an amazing range of National Geographic titles on display – I;ve never seen so many in one place before. I was told they are popular gifts for people visiting the local hospital. The display was a reminder of the extraordinary diversity in our channel as I’d be lucky to have one of these titles at any time and to sell one or two copies of such a title.
While thinking about this newsagency, while they do early return, they do not do so aggressively. Their current sell through rate performance is at under 50%. That is, more than half the magazines they are sent do not sell. What a waste of paper and time. Shame on magazine distributors for permitting such a costly failure n this small business.
One way we can demonstrate greeting card specialisation is support for minor seasons like UK Mother’s Day which is this Sunday. Card companies help us with products but we need to opt-in to ensure we have the offer.
Newsagents who don’t closely manage cards miss the opportunity and risk not being considered the go to card specialist.
The current issue of The New Zealander newspaper is the last – as announced by the publisher in a notice next to the masthead. I’m sorry to see this as special interest, niche and foreign titles are important to us.
I have received several calls this week from newsagents in particularly tough situations. Each was different yet each could have benefited from earlier engagement. While not every challenge can be resolved, I think we need to be better at confronting them.
Here’s a video I shot yesterday to briefly explore this further.
36 newsagent suppliers have booked so far to participate in the forums I have organised for next week to discuss how they can help newsagents navigate to a brighter future. Click here to download a booking form.
Data will be shared to help supplied have meaningful talks on how they can contribute to a healthier newsagency channel. Newsagents can grow their businesses. Suppliers can nurture optimism.
I’d love to see more suppliers participating – and newsagents too. Book here: Melbourne. March 17, 9am. Best Western, Kew. Sydney. March 18, 9am. Bonnie Doon Golf Club. Brisbane, March 19. 9am. River View Hotel.
Click here to read what caravaners think about Australia Post and recent changes by the organisation. The forum posts are an insight into what everyday Australians think abut this iconic government-owner business. I am linking to it here as many newsagents operate LPOs.
While the cards in this spinner look okay, they are not presented in the best possible way for the products or for the customers.
A small investment of time regularly pulling the cards forward at the based of each pocket can remove the shadow and make them look better and this could drive sales.
Here are the same cards as in the first photo after I pulled them forward. The photos were taken a minute apart with no change in lighting.
The difference in presentation, in what shoppers see, is considerable … as I hope the photo shows. It shows the value of investing a small amount of time regularly on product presentation.
We regularly look at how products are presented on shelves, display units and spinners to ensure that they are presented in the best way to drive sales. This move with cards in the spinner may seem unnecessarily obsessive to some. To me, it’s the business presenting its products in the best possible light.
We have Mindfood and The Australian Women’s Weekly placed next to each other to make the most of the Judy Dench covers. This simple no-cost move is the type of move that drives magazine sales. It is also the type of move which separates us from other magazine retailers – if only publishers would value our channel for this differentiation.
Cards, plush and the easter themed items are selling well in the newsagency and it is early for this relatively small season. Our pitch is on the lease line, facing into the mall … and it’s working, attracting shoppers.
The hero Easter product is the easter Beanie Boo rabbit. We’ll sell more than $1,000 worth – we’re over half way there already with shoppers purchasing two and three at a time.
It is fascinating watching this simple front of store display work. People notice it and stop for a browse. Kids run up to look at the plush or small chicks – they bring parents and grandparents.
Plenty who stop step into the store and browse. Look at the photo and you can see how we do this. We take care with what is behind the traffic generating display on the lease line. People looking at the Easter display can see plenty of opportunities at the next step into the business.
Browsers often take their time once they step into the business. I saw a couple of shoppers yesterday who were attracted by the Easter display end up purchasing magazines. I mention that as I know some magazine publishers would look at the shop and say it’s not what they want in a newsagency. I’d say it’s what shoppers want and magazine sales benefit as a result.
Even at this early stage, Easter 2015 is performing well. I love the fun and happiness in the display and the new traffic it is bringing in for us.
Footnote: note the placement of cards with gifts and plush for the season. This is key. Place them apart and your sales will be considerably lower.
I found this quote at the Vox news site and felt it relevant for retail newsagents and their employees. Some days are tough – hopefully, this quote can help with those tough days.
The eye mask gift bagged with the latest Dolly magazine is perfect for the usual Dolly shopper and works especially well with the Taylor Swift cover. As with feast magazine – we have the full cover on show to make the most of the gift opportunity. Check where your stock is – if it’s in old magazine figuring you won’t get the same value.
The Baci chocolate bar packaged with the latest Feast magazine is sure to help drive sales of the soon to close title. We have it placed so the chocolate is on show – to leverage the value of the gift in the usual location as well as a secondary location. I encourage other newsagents to do this.
With Inside Out continuing with their Coles exclusive $6 discounted price I am not stocking it. Shame on the publisher for permitting one cheap price at Coles and a higher price elsewhere. Is this the only way they can sell the title?
I walked for fifteen minutes yesterday to a regular Sunday breakfast venue only to be confronted by a sign noting they are closed for the long weekend in Melbourne. This business is still establishing itself, it should not be closed, especially not on a long weekend when people have time for breakfast.
The experience got me thinking about how we communicate with our customers. I wondered what this cafe could have done. For a start, they could have let their regulars know a weekend earlier. They could have established a facebook page and let us know vis that. Or they could have setup an email list and sent us a note advising they are taking a break.
We need to run our businesses as if those who shop with us could go elsewhere and never return for the slimmest of reasons – such as being closed on a Sunday over a long weekend. Advanced communication is the key – so we don’t surprise shoppers with a change in opening hours.
My challenge to newsagents today is to think about how you communicate with your customers. Do you have a good path of communication? Is it two way? Or, are there surprises because of how you communicate?
This cafe runs its business as if it relies solely on passing trade. While there is considerable passing trade, there is also considerable regular local business. their approach to communication, or lack thereof, ignores this. The cafe’s sign also ignores weekend only patrons in favour of weekday patrons.
This video published on YouTube about a shopper experience is a reminder to all retailers that this is the era of the customer. Thanks to social media ad other online platforms, customers have never had such a loud and accessible voice. Whether you agree with Angela’s rant or not, the video makes for compelling viewing. Warning: there is some rough language.
We are promoting Better Homes and Gardens on the front of the magazine aisle with prime placement as well as location in the aisle – as the photo shows. As our top selling monthly, BHG is our best promoted magazine. We change it up as shoppers can become as store blind as us.
A few weeks ago I published An Urgent Action Plan to Avoid Closure of Your Retail Newsagency. I link to it again today as it covers responses to the questions I am asked the most. Complaining about your situation is easy, acting is hard.
Newsagents in regional and rural situations can be surprised when a new customer shops with them and it turns out the person is a local.
If you are in a regional our rural situation and have been surprised to discover a local who didn’t know about your shop, think how you can reach more like them.
It could be that with some carefully targeted marketing in your area you can reach new shoppers who could conveniently shop with you but don’t. Maybe they have an assumption about what you sell when your product and service offering is more diverse that their expectation.
With local letter box drops in rural and regional situations often more cost effective than in the city, consider engaging in a campaign to educate locals about your business and the products and services you offer which they most likely would not expect to find in your business.
Invite locals in for an experience beyond what they may assume and, hopefully, you unlock a bunch of new customers.
The alternative is to stand behind the counter waiting for people to walk through your doors based on their assumption of what your type of business sells.
Getting magazine adjacencies right takes time and thought. Investing in this can drive magazine sales.
Too often, the placement of magazines is done as a chore when it should be approached as an opportunity.
In placing magazines, consider the reader and place titles next to each other which appeal to the same shopper. Sometimes, adjacencies are best driven by the cover of an issue more so than the masthead itself. Mindfood is such a title. Sometimes it does not look right with Prevention while other times it does.
On the placement in the photo – wowed usually have the full cover of Prevention on display. We felt the Judy Dench cover shot on Mindfood warranted full cover display for a week at least.
Yes, these are things we think about – because we know that a thoughtful approach to magazine placement is a factor in our growth in magazine sales.
The young girl wanted to see all the lamb we had in stock so she could let one choose her. Her parents waited patiently, knowing this is how purchases for her collection were made. Sure enough, one of the lambs made the choice and the sale was processed.
We were happy to get the lambs we had left together so she could make the choice. With forty in her collection she was an important customer. We respect her process as we have seen it from many other collectors, young and old.
The passion of a committed collector is a delight to watch. I am grateful every time I get to see it as it’s a reminder that a sale is more than scanning a barcode and taking payment. It is often part of a bigger thing, something more important to the customer than a few minutes in the shop.
Patience with collectors is vital to winning more business from them.