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

Newsagents are responsible for business collapses and closures

quadrantIn Launceston Monday night I noticed that Quadrant News & Cards had closed. The empty shop with a For Lease sign is a sad sight.

It is easy to see this as a sign of the times, the decaying Aussie newsagency. But that would be wrong.

Quadrant News & Cards closed due to poor management. Plain and simple. All we owe the death of any business is the truth.

The truth is that this business was not well run. I will not go into details but I do know them

I have heard a few newsagents who have presided over newsagency business closures recently blame others: the landlord, their bank, staff, publishers. In most cases, the newsagent is to blame.

All of us need to own our situation. We need to be responsible for the decisions we have made and the decisions we make.

  1. Your landlord is charging the rent you agreed to.
  2. Your bank will chase you for debt you took on of your own free will.
  3. Your reliance on newspapers and magazines as a percentage of your overall revenue is up to you and business decisions you have made.
  4. Any decline in magazine sales is, primarily, your fault given how you range, display, promote and engage with magazines.
  5. Your staff are hired, trained, motivated and fired by you.
  6. The relevance of your business in a rapidly changing world is up to you.
  7. Your situation in relation delivery of newspapers is one you agreed to.
  8. The new traffic you attract to your shop is up to you.
  9. Your buying, pricing policies, merchandising … it’s all up to you.
  10. The relevance of your business to your local community … it’s up to you.
  11. Yes, this is your business.

Quadrant News & Cards in Launceston would be open today if the business had strong and committed management. It would be thriving if the owners had decided to stand for something rather than being an agent for what others told them to do.

There are too many newsagencies like Quadrant that have closed and too often the owners point the finger.

If you are contemplating closing your newsagency, if your debtors are threatening action consider taking ownership of your situation and developing a radical plan to lead your business out of the mess. It’s hard work but that’s what being a retailer (and not an agent) is all about.

If you are not contemplating closing and if your creditors are not chasing, you still need a radical plan to lead your business. We all do.

The plan starts with you looking at the business from the perspective of what is needed from today on and not from the perspective of what was done in the past.

The old way of running a newsagency is dead just as the old traditional newsagency focussing just on papers, magazines, cards, stationery and lotto is dead.

The story about the future of your newsagency is one you alone write.

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Newsagency management

I like this newspaper stand

virginpapersI like this newspaper stand being used at the Virgin terminal at Melbourne airport. It’s small footprint and strength are ideas for tactical placement in a newsagency – in different locations every few days chasing impulse purchases.

While designed to make The Australian the hero, it supports more titles in a three local paper town like Melbourne, Sydney and many regional locations.

Tactical placement of newspapers away from the usual newspaper location is one way we can help increase newspaper sales.

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Newspapers

Free EFTPOS as a marketing pitch

eftpos-serviceI love this sign at Coffee Republic in Launcestion, Tasmania. While other coffee shops have a minima  spend for cards and some have a fee for EFTPOS, they have gone the other way, showing off a point of difference and giving customers another reason to love them. Based on their pricing I’d say they are funding it out of a higher than usual margin. But their coffee is the best in Launcestion so the price could more reflect than than to hide their EFTPOS fees.

It’s refreshing seeing a sign in a retail business telling you what you can do rather than what you can’t, a sign saying things here are free where usually there is a sign saying the same things cost extra.

Nice.  If you’re ever in Launceston, try their coffee … it’s excellent.

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Customer Service

Would you close for a family wedding?

smallbustimeoffFurther to my post ten days ago about a business closing to give the owner a break, I noticed at the weekend a cafe with this sign in the window. The cafe was closed for the wedding of the owner’s daughter.

On reflection, small independent retailer businesses should not close for a holiday or to attend a family wedding.

When we open our businesses we do so to serve the community. We want them to rely on us. One way we do this is through consistent behaviour. Breaking that consistency even for a special family engagement tells locals they are not as important. Whether we like it or not, plenty of shoppers will thing they are more important that us. Indeed, if we run the ideal busyness that’s how it will be.

Closing gives people an opportunity to try elsewhere. It invites them to do this.

No matter what the cost or challenge small and independent retailers need to remain open.

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Management tip

Promoting Rolling Stone off-location

magsrstoneWe have been promoting the latest Rolling Stone magazine with magazines that we think are likely to be purchased by fans of Lana Del Ray. Placing a title like this issue of Rolling Stone off-location based on the cover works in driving incremental sales. Try it.

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magazines

Promoting 2015 Astro Diaries

magsstarsWe have the 2015 Astro Diary range being promoted with magazines and specifically with Yen, Frankie, Peppermint and the like. The look and feel of the diaries suggests that those buying these magazines are the target shopper for the diaries. We are using the shelf above the magazines for the promotion.

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magazines

If you rip cash out of your newsagency…

The ATO is targeting small businesses in a clamp down on the cash economy according to media reports over the weekend and today.

Using a range of tools and benchmarks, the ATO plans to make the point that those ripping cash out undetected will be detected.

In the 1990s newsagents were in target of the ATO because of a reported systematic approach to under reporting tax. There was a meeting at the ATO office in Box Hill where AFP, SRO, ATO and other government departments were represented in an investigation of the systematic approach. While nothing public came of that meeting, the activity engaged in appeared to disappear for a time. That’s what happens when there is public awareness around an investigation.

I was not a target of the 1990s investigation. My involvement was to bring people to the room who could explain how other software could be used to commit tax fraud.

If you take cash out of your business be aware that the ATO has a range of means through which to detect this. The likelihood of being caught is greater today than in the 1990s.

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Ethics

Products can be more important than the newsagency shingle in attracting shoppers

bigwatchThese oversize watches, standing a metre tall, have worked a treat attracting shoppers, getting them thinking of the business differently than would be usual for a newsagency shingle.

The watches are a perfect example of the value of using products as a shingle with which to attract shoppers than the shingle itself.

People smile when they see the watches. Kids drag their parents in.

The shingle Newsagent or Newsagency is burdened by history and the performance of others whereas these oversized watches represent fun and get people in without the bias or expectation of the shingle.

Sometimes, what we stock and how and where we place it can me more important than the name of the business stuck above our front door.

These big watches say something about the newsagency that could not be easily pitched in marketing.

Smart buying and good merchandising are activities we need to view as an extension of our business marketing.

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Fun

Some newsagency customers frustrated with bonus DVD coupon

misseddvdWhile I understand the purpose of the bonus DVD coupon in the Sunday Herald Sun yesterday, the coupons is only of value if there are stocks of the DVDs in circulation. I felt for the customer who said they have been to ten newsagencies that morning, four were closed, looking for the one DBD they had missed in the series. There’s got to be a better supply model. It starts with retail newsagents having absolute control over their supply through a direct relationship with the publisher.

It’s terrific that this is a newsagency focussed promotion. Let’s work on the back end to make it work better for newsagents and customers in the future – to maximise sales.

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Newspapers

Dreadful promotion of homes+ by Coles

coleshomesplusBauer Media better not be paying Coles a premium to promote the launch issue of homes+ magazine. On the weekend I noticed this floor display unit placed at the checkout which is locked and used a clutter storage space in a busy inner city Coles location. It’s probably the worst location in this particular Coles supermarket.

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Competition

Promoting Doctor Who partwork

drwholaunchWith Doctor Who media coverage and social media interest at fever pitch we are making the most of the first issue of the Doctor Who partwork with placement in the aisle where Doctor Who titles are usually located. We are also pitching this launch issue in two other locations.

This launch is helping with and benefiting from all our other Doctor Who products.

4 likes
magazines

The easy to merchandise gift with purchase

magsgfgiftThe pendant Peppermayo pendant with the latest issue of Girlfriend magazine is the ideal gift with purchase. It does not challenge space or make the pocket look untidy, it’s an ideal gift for those buying the title and it’s placed to enhance rather than detract from the cover. we have this issue in a couple of locations to leverage it.

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magazines

Men’s Health ideal for Father’s Day

manshfdayWe have Men’s Health magazine being pitched with Father’s Day cards by placing the Win a $5000 Shopping Spree stand next to our Father’s day card display at the front of the newsagency. the placement is worth more than this as magazine shoppers notice the Father’s Day cards as much as card shoppers notice the magazines.

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Gifts

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: embrace seasonal opportunities

fdseasonMajor seasons provide newsagents with excellent marketing opportunities.

Take Father’s Day. I’m told that more than 50% of Father’s Day cards will be purchased in newsagencies.

Our success with Father’s Day will depend on how we promote the opportunity inside and outside our businesses, the gifts we offer for add-on purchases and how we leverage the Father’s Day traffic for other purchases.

Your Father’s Day sales should be up this year on last. I’d suggest a 5% increase is reasonable. Hopefully, it will be considerably more.

While some newsagents will act more like agents and and probably have an average or worse year, others have been actively and aggressively promoting the season with a broader range of products than last year – chasing double digit growth. These latter newsagents are retailers.

With this season we will get new customers in our business and return visits from infrequent shoppers. Give them a reason to spend more this visit, give them a reason to come back, get their details for future marketing, show them yours is not a traditional newsagency they only visit for major seasons.

This Father’s Day season and other major seasons like it are an opportunity to reset how people see your newsagency. Embrace it. Use this season as a key marketing activity for your business.  However, you need to back it up with a genuinely different, exciting and memorable experience – one that works for you long beyond the season itself.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management advice: manage customer accounts with care

The local newsagency is one of the few businesses where a customer can open an account without providing a personal guarantee or going through any form of credit check.

Too often I see newsagency businesses where there is little or no management of these accounts. Here are my suggestions for best practice customer account management:

  1. Have all customers complete an account application form with verified address details.
  2. Get from all account customers a copy of their driver’s licence showing their address. Keep this on file.
  3. If they are making a regular purchase, ask their first few transactions to be paid for at the time of purchase as good faith.
  4. If they are making a special order, request either a deposit or full up front payment if you are unable to return the goods they have requested.
  5. Request all orders be in writing so you have evidence of the order.
  6. Include an invoice with all goods supplied.
  7. Provide a statement monthly with your trading terms clearly indicated.
  8. Know what money you make on everything – accounts cost money and this needs to be considered if you are also giving an account customer a discount.

Tight account management sends a message to your customers and your employees about th professionalism of the business. The more professional you are the less likely anyone will steal from you.

9 likes
Management tip

Promote Time magazine with your weeklies

magstimewilliamsWe have placed this week’s Time magazine with the weeklies because of the Robin Williams cover story. Those most likely to purchase this issue on impulse would not go looking for it elsewhere in the magazine department – hence our tactical placement.

Tactical placement of a magazine title based on the cover story is the single most effective way to achieve incremental sales – more so than the billboards type display publishers prefer.

1 likes
magazines

Promoting The Saturday Paper and other circ. products to drive traffic

fossatpaperToday we are promoting The Saturday Paper on the lease line, facing into the mall along with the Herald Sun, the new Doctor Who partworks and the latest Better Homes and Gardens.

I setup the display to leverage interest in the Robin Williams story in The Saturday Paper. It’s a different take on a major story. I figured the poster is what would attract people. I then selected other products for the stand based on what a Saturday shopper could purchase.

This is not a permanent front of store display – just for this weekend. We change the front of our newsagency weekly.

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newsagency marketing

Beware of paying for likes, friends and links

With more newsagents relying on Google, Facebook, Twitter and other search engine and social media platforms to drive traffic, there his a temptation to get attention, numbers and followers by paying a service to achieve this for you. My advice – don’t! Paid for eyeballs are of no benefit to your business.

Paid for links to drive traffic to your blog or business website will be seen what what they are. Google and others will mark you down and your competitors will see how desperate you are to get attention.

The most important likes, friends, visits and links you can get are those achieved naturally and because of the good content you provide.

5 likes
Ethics

Newsagents infuriated by IPS supply of colouring books

ipscolourFairfax owned IPS has made a dreadful decision to scale out colouring books to newsagents. We can source similar quality colouring book products which will carry a 50% and more gross profit so there is no commercial sense for us to sell these titles on magazine margins.

IPS management is not responding. They need to as there are newsagents saying this move is the straw that has broken their back and they are planning on closing their IPS account.

Colouring books? Seriously?

The person who agreed to this ought to be put on notice.

To the supplier using IPS to distribute colouring books to newsagents: stop! We have excellent sources of supply of colouring books that enable jus to make 50% and more.

Using the magazine scale our model for poor margin product is wrong. Stop it.

23 likes
magazine distribution

Inside Out magazine still cheap at Coles

cheapinsideoutIf every newsagents needed a reason to quit Inside Out magazine it is the continued discounting being run for the title at Coles. Given how Coles operates this has to be a publisher initiative. The Exclusive to Coles bookmark in each copy tells shoppers to not purchase the title elsewhere so why should we stock it?

I don’t understand the ethics nor the social responsibility of this move. It seems dumb to me that a publisher deliberately and for the long term prices a magazine in Coles at 26% less that the price of the title elsewhere and less that we are charged for the title.

There is no sense in stocking a title that is priced in such a way as to make my business look expensive.

17 likes
Ethics

Leveraging Doctor Who interest

omagsWe’re embracing interest this week in all things Doctor Who with collectibles on show as well as Doctor Who titles next to the Doctor Who partwork which launched Monday. Doctor Who fans spend money on their passion the TV show and the brand more generally.

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magazines

People want newspapers to focus on news and not on character assassination

isthisnewsI am sure plenty of customers in NSW will complain about the front cover of The Daily Telegraph today and question whether it’s news to trash Jodhi Meares as this story does.

People want news.  They want stories that matter, stories about their state and town about life as it affects them. People do not want trash for the sake of trash.

Newsagents will get people returning to buy a newspaper that focuses on news.

Yes, Jodhi Meares has been found guilty of drink driving – in a court and she has been sentenced. And, yes, the story is of public interest. However, it is not a front page story and certainly not a story as published this morning. Dreadful.

Publishers ought to focus on news that really matters, stories that rely on the ethics and integrity journalists claim is core to their profession.

17 likes
Newspapers

What’s next for WH Smith in Australia

Having purchased Wild Cards & Gifts and Kenny’s Cardiology in quick succession it’s reasonable to ask what’s next for UK retailer WH Smith in Australia.

While the majority of their UK experience is in high street and mass transit location newsagency and newsagency like businesses, there focus up to now has been on card and gift. While Wild and Kenny’s provide WH Smith with retail outlets for their home brand gift and social stationery lines, they do not play to the strengths of the business and, I suspect, they do not provide WH Smith the critical mass they need for operational efficiency.

While there are plenty of stories around about their next move in Australia there are no facts. One story put to me was that I’ve had discussions with them.  I have not.

3 likes
newsagency of the future
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