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

Thinking about our children in our businesses

Do your kids work in your newsagency? I know many newsagencies where this is the case. Some are even into third generation family employee situations.

It can be a blessing and a curse – all in a day in some businesses. In others it is a delight every day. While in others it can lead to hurtful breakdowns in family relationships.

I know of some family newsagencies where one or more of the kids have resigned or been sacked several times over the years.

It can be tough for your child working in your newsagency – at any age including as an adult. In some cases colleagues will feel that your child has not earned their place – regardless of how well they may be contributing to the business. Your child may feel this too. Often these feelings are not discussed openly, making a situation worse.

I have seen situations where kids of the owner have had it much tougher than other employees – tougher without due acknowledgement.

Some suppliers and or their reps, too, may feel your child has not earned their place. This could play out in how they treat your child and your business. Shame on suppliers and or reps who do this.

I appreciate none of this is new, nor is it unique to the newsagency channel. My goal with this post is to acknowledge a situation in which many newsagents and their kids find themselves and through this to offer some support.

It’s important that there is respect between kids and parents working in the same business and that the family ties are not abused. We need to make sure there are appropriate skills development opportunities. Plus we need to provide opportunities for leadership as skills are developed. Parents and kids need to be appreciative of each other for the additional emotional and practical support family members often provide each other.

If you have kids working in your business, take a moment to think about their role, how you treat them and what it means to have the with you. Talk with them.

If you’re a kid working in your parent’s business, open the topic for discussion.

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Ethics

Newsagency management: best practice performance reporting

Year on year revenue and unit sales comparison across two trading periods is the most useful management reporting for newsagents. Regardless of the software you use, I’d expect this type of reporting the be available. Here is a video I shot a few weeks ago for newsXpress members explaining how I use the report to assess business performance:

We are our most important competitor. This report shows if we’re moving forward or backward.

i urge newsagents to rely on hard evidence (data) when considering ow their business is performing.

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Management tip

Network fixed journal delayed billing error

dbillNetwork Services late this afternoon issues an email to newsagents advising that the journals distributed today from Universal magazines are , indeed, delay billed. While this is welcome news I suspect some newsagents will have processed returns already – because of lack of advice from Network and because they don’t need journals at sub-par margin.

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magazine distribution

Newsagents frustrated at journal supply

journalI’ve heard from several newsagents about the Paper Pocket branded journals received today from Network Services.  These are from Universal Magazines. They are part of the calendar offer newsagents were given the opportunity to opt out of. Billing is delayed. While they are 33% margin, that’s short of where they need to be to be interesting to many newsagents. I have suggested to Universal that instead of opt out, they go with opt in. They are reviewing distribution plans for next year.

The products themselves look good. It’s the terms and the push model that frustrate newsagents.

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Calendars

It’s a mystery

mysteryNetwork Services sent us a new product: Bungees. Mystery Pack it says.  Well, it’s a mystery to us why they would send us this item. No thanks. 25% if an offensively low GP for a toy item. It makes us less competitive when suppliers send us unrequested product that it not appropriate to our business model.

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magazine distribution

Are newspaper brands out the front of your newsagency still relevant today?

Passing a newsagency in Sydney on Saturday I noticed that of the three signs on the front of the business, above the door and front windows, Newsagency was the smallest. It took around 20% of the space. Two daily newspaper brands took 40% each. With sales of one of the newspapers declining around 15% year on year and the other down 7% year on year I wonder about the value of the promotion of the mastheads on such prime real-estate.

Do signs of newspaper brand attract shoppers to a newsagency? Maybe. Maybe not. I am not aware of any research into tho. My personal view is that with newspapers now available in so many locations, the value of a masthead as a traffic driver is noir what it used to be.

While I am happy to sell newspapers and do promote them in-store, I think we are at a point where there is no value in using the newspaper brands to attract shoppers. I say this because the newspapers themselves are giving over considerable space in their pages to encourage readers of the print product to migrate to digital product.

Newspapers publishers through their own actions are showing us that the brand is not as connected to retail as it once was.

So, maybe it is time to take down the newspaper signs.

Newspaper publishers will say I am wrong. They will make a case to anyone who listen that they believe in the future of print and want to work with newsagents supporting print. They have to say this as the print product today is key to their future – whatever mediums they make deliver advertising and other content through. I’d point them back as the ads they are running in their own newspapers.

So, I think it’s time masthead signs came down. The problem for many newsagents will be what do you replace them with?

The newspaper signs are easy – newspaper companies pay for them, they are professional and they can cover unsightly parts of the building. That’s a short-sighted and lazy way to look at it.

An engaged retailer will think carefully about how they want to pitch and signpost their business. They will do it with a sign that attracts new shoppers, a sign that is relevant to the future of the business.

The choices you make about the signs you use at the front of your newsagency are about what your business is, who you want to attract and your unique selling proposition.

Whatever you do, it’s up to you. Your business must serve its shareholders above all others.

We make our own success.

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Newsagency management

Pacific Magazines supporting newsagents in Marie Claire promotion

mcinstagram42,000 followers of Marie Claire on Instagram have been told to get to their local newsagent for the November issue and some terrific gifts with purchase. This is excellent promotion directly supporting our channel.

Newsagents are quick to complain when magazine publishers run promotions outside our channel. Here is an opportunity to praise a publisher for specifically supporting our channel.

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magazines

For your customers who are into their bucket list

cketlistBucket lists have been come a thing in recent years – more and more people talk about them and actually work through things on their bucket list. The latest issue of Australian Traveller magazine is one to promote as this is the annual Bucket List issue. Check where you have your copies and consider giving it a better location in your newsagency.

I love their tag line: Honestly Australian.

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magazines

Sunday newsagency management tip: how stay on top of emails

While email communication is not popular with millennials, it remains a key method of communication in business. Too many newsagents treat email as a secondary channel and miss out on opportunities as a result. managed well, emails can be efficiently handled and helpful to your business. here are some tips to make the medium more useful:

  1. Make email accessible: on your computer, tablet and phone.
  2. Check your emails at least daily – preferably four or five times a day.
  3. Scan emails to quickly understand value and relevance.
  4. Delete as you go. If an email is not of interest, delete it. Don’t think twice about deleting.
  5. Use folders to organise your emails by category.
  6. If you can delegate an email, forward it right away.

If you write emails yourself, keep them short and on point. Essays leave the reader wondering what you wan thyme to take away from the email. Use bullet points or numbers for key points. Do not use CAPS as that’s like screaming.

Invest a bit of time several times a day and make emails work for you. Stop missing out on opportunities.

No newsagent can afford to say I don’t do emails. It’s like saying I’m from another period in time and will live my life here as if I am back in that period.

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Management tip

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: help a local business and attract more shoppers

groomerI have been fascinated to see pet groomers in action at the Pet Expo pet industry trade show in Sydney over the last two days. While I am concerned for how some dogs may feel about being groomed, the groomers were absolute professionals, doing excellent work. Watching them in action I realised this is a marketing opportunity for all newsagents.

Contact a local small business pet groomer. Invite them to run grooming demonstrations in-store one Saturday.  Promote it in advance. Surround their demonstration area with dog calendars, magazines diaries and gifts.

By doing this you offer an interesting and appreciated service, attract new shoppers, show off products you have for dog lovers and help a small business like yours grow.

Groomers I have spoken with have said they’d jump at this opportunity. While it’s a cliché, this is a win win. From your perspective, having products to leverage on the day is vital.

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Management tip

Terrific pitch for pet calendars

btpetexpoAt the Pet Expo trade show in Sydney yesterday & today I caught up with the folks from Browtrout calendars.  The calendar display shows the value of pet lovers. While they sell to pet shops, newsagents are their key channel and have better terms.

The display in the photo is best practice for pets – it’s their full line.  Impressive.

Calendar sales for us are up more than 10% on last year. We’re ordering extra.

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Calendars

Good social media campaign

witmktgThis is a good use of Twitter to drive traffic for an offer from WH Smith to their 21.500 Twitter followers – many of whom would be shoppers in the UK.

I am posting this here as Aussie newsagents using Twitter and Facebook for business may want to use this as inspiration.

Their mechanic is clever as the shopper needs to show the tweet to get the deal – this helps them directly measure the impact.

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newsagency marketing

Careful, our ignorance is showing

I noticed comments posted here recently drawing differences between distribution and retail newsagents, indicating that the distribution newsagent had it tougher and were more real. I think such a view reflects an unhelpful prejudice.

We each have unique business and personal circumstances that determine the difficulty we face daily in our businesses and lives. To label one more real than another because of the type of newsagency they run is something I don’t agree with Our situation is real to us.

Today, newsagency businesses are more diverse than ever and the world in which we operate more competitive than ever. These factors and the overlay of personal circumstance make it unreasonable for us to judge another based on the type of newsagency they have.

Thinking about this from an overall newsagency channel perspective, all newsagents deserve our respect and support. While we don’t all have to agree, we ought to at least have respect for each other and accept that the challenges of one type of business could be more than what we know.

I read the comments over the last couple of days on the post which prompted my comments here and was not planning on saying anything until a taxi ride last night in Sydney.

I hailed a taxi in Redfern and asked the driver to take me to the Hilton in the city. He asked where the Hilton was. He really didn’t know. I ended up navigating him with the map my iPhone. In the city, stuck in traffic I asked how long he had been driving. He’d been driving two years but only regionally out in Parramatta. He came to Australia as a refugee and while he had an engineering degree, driving a taxi was the only work he could get. He was in Redfern because of a rare fare close into the city. He did me a favour by stopping.

While maybe he should have learnt the roads in Sydney better, I found myself thinking about his circumstances and that I’d been too quick to judge without all the information. Realising this, the next thought I had was about the post talking abut the differences between the types of newsagencies.

While this is a somewhat personal reflection, it represents part of the reason I started the blog. I hope it makes sense.

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Ethics

Harvesting customers outside the newsagency

inkposterWe are participating in an ink promotion through the distribution of 15,000 flyers to homes around our newsagency as well as an email campaign to customers on our database and a Facebook ad campaign in our area.

The flyers visually connect with the in-store posters, the shelf talkers and floor decals. The visual consistency across all touch points is vital.

We use ink to demonstrate our competitiveness with the majors including Big W, Australia Post, Officeworks, Dick Smith, Harvey Norman and others. Notice how on the poster we say this is 175 independent retailers buying together. I think that’s a potent message as champions small business and shows how working together helps us compete. It is working.

The timing of the ink campaign is important as it fits with back to school and sets us up for a stationery boost in the lead up to Christmas. It is helping us connect with new shoppers who will become regulars as a result. It’s a long term investment in new traffic.

I have been running ink campaigns for many years. I’ve had some competitor newsagent complain. What can I say – this is competition. It’s a good thing.

We make our own success.

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newsagency marketing

This is a cool way to cap an aisle

coolaisleendI love this aisle cap at one of the WH Smith outlets I visited this week. It’s  eye-catching and informative – drawing attention to the stock.

I like the angle as it is more inviting to enter the aisle than a straight facing usual aisle end that we see in many newsagencies in Australia.

This is a new WH Smith outlet in a transit location. It is designed for space and shopper efficiency.

The WH Smith approach to shop fitting to create a functional and flexible fit out built to a budget. Regardless of their scale, their approach is something newsagents could follow and reduce fit out costs.

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Newsagency management

Newsagent wellness survey results

wellnessClick here to download the full results of the newsagent wellness survey.

The results are interesting, not what I expected in that more newsagents are taking holidays and more are exercising.

Newsagents work long hours – well over half work more than 60 hours a week. 18.3% work more than 80 hours a week.

With the average newsagent pay taken from the business at somewhere between $35,000 and $50,000 a year newsagents are on a low per hour rate. Note: the income number is anecdotal than a figure based on hard evidence. That said, I think it’s accurate.

I’d like our suppliers to read this survey as they can impact the amount of time we spend working in our businesses. Suppliers can make choices that improve our efficiency for value.  I want to stress that: efficiency for value. There are some efficiencies pushed on newsagents that are not valuable to our businesses.

Newsagents, too, should read the survey and check in how they view themselves compared to others. Are there steps they can take to be healthier, things they can do in their businesses to be less handcuffed to them?

Here are three things suppliers could do that would considerably improve the quality of life of newsagents:

  1. Give those who want it control over the magazine title range and volume we receive.
  2. Eliminate the need for us to return unsold magazines. Bill us on sales data.
  3. Give us electronic invoices. Many suppliers do but not all, not enough.
  4. Work with us more and less against us: newspaper publishers, some magazine publishers and others who are cozying up to supermarkets and their siblings.
  5. Drive our efficiency: the more accountable we are the better we will run our businesses. While it’s nice to have hand-holding, it can drive inefficiencies for us. We need to eliminate old labour intensive practices.

I hope that the survey is useful.

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Newsagency challenges

Halloween products better value and better quality at your local newsagency

eaphalAustralians looking for Halloween products ought to try their local newsagency. I checked out a Woolworths supermarket yesterday and plenty of their products were what I’d call poor quality and the prices were high. To me, at Woolworths you pay more for less.

The Woolworths display said it all: cluttered, discount shop like. Smart newsagents make Halloween all about fun and retail theatre. They add value that separates them from the Woolworths approach.

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Newsagency management

Halloween more mainstream

4821250914_australian-womens-weekly_LIt’s good to see halloween mentioned on the front page of The Australian Women’s Weekly. It all helps drive interest in what is an important retail sales season for many newsagents. While AWW is not alone in covering Halloween, it’s high profile makes the coverage particularly interesting to me. Good to see.

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magazines

Terrific looking Zoodle store from WH Smith in Manchester

zoodleThe Zoodle store at Manchester Airport looks terrific. It stands out from the crowd. Looking at the model in detail, I am impressed with their leveraging of brands such as Disney, Peppa Pig, Where’s Wally and Thomas the Tank Engine. Look at the bullhead – stunning.

Zoodle encourages kids to read books and play with toys.

Central to the business in this transit locate is a strong value proposition. For example, a 3 for 2 offer on all children’s books.

We have a Zoodle at Melbourne airport but it does not look as good as the manchester store.

I am surprised we are not seeing more of these WH Smith created Zoodle stores.

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retail

Calling for political action on retail crime

retailstafffearIn the UK this past week I saw several engagements by businesses on the issue of crime against retail businesses and their employees by shoppers.

I noticed engagement at Euston station in London, where I took the photo. The poster is a clear message on customer violence. Then, at the Better Retailing LIVE conference in Manchester, there was a discussion on a campaign to engage politicians in helping independent retailers to tackle retail crime.

The campaign seeks action on four main problem areas: shoplifting, vandalism, robbery and violent crime. The area of violent crime is what piqued my interest. There is a report that 74% of retailers have received verbal abuse when refusing the sale of tobacco to under age shoppers and 9% have been the victim of physical assault.

A campaign endorsed by a number of industry groups alls on politicians to help in a range of areas including, most important in my view: introducing legislation ensuring shop workers have the same legal protection from assault as emergency workers. The campaign is providing focus on an issue we could benefit from addressing in Australia.

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Newsagency management

Officeworks price gouging on tape?

officeworks-expensiveOfficeworks sells this Sellotape roll for $7.86.  We have it in our newsagency, near two Officeworks locations, for $5.99. We use a convenience pricing model for stationery.  Our buy price is $1.99 ex GST. I’d expect Officeworks to pay less.

I think this is a rip-off by Officeworks. The company spends heavily promoting that their prices are low and they won’t be beaten on price – yet they fail to ensure this is the case.

$7.86 for this roll of tape is a rip-off. It shows why people should not shop at Officeworks.

14 likes
Competition

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best

simpleI have looked at many retail situations over the last week in London and Manchester. I plan to do a video covering some of the insights. In advance of that, I was taken with the simplicity of the fixtures in this pop-up coffee shop in Manchester. Their use of pallets is excellent, demonstrating that sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

I think we spend too much on our shop fits, building complex and expensive memorials when we could use more found objects that are more flexible – like this coffee shop has done with pallets.

4 likes
Newsagency management
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