I like this display of convenience food placed above weekly magazines in the same book retailer I referred to in the previous post. There is no missing the bags of chips and other items placed above the magazines.
This is very smart retailing, a placement sure to drive a deeper basket.
Check out the very cool kids book reading and sales nook I saw in a bookshop at Auckland airport. It was in the centre of the shop – a play area kids could be within easy view of parents browsing the shop. Out of shot in the photo is a couple of kid-size seats. Very cool.
I was surprised to see that Yours is priced at $5.00 in New Zealand. That is A$4.55, a considerable difference to the price of the Australian edition of the title. It could be due to difference in competition between New Zealand and Australia.
I am aware of several new newsagency locations in centres. If you are looking to open a newsagency in Victoria, New South Wales or Queensland, please contact me by email or phone (0418 321 338).
We have not been asked once by a customer if we are part of the Bauer Rewards program in my newsagency. One pitch reportedly used by Bauer to get people to sign up was that other newsagents nearby have signed up and you will need this too or you will miss out.
While the program is still relatively young, I suspect that take-up is causing some concerns within the company given the money that has been invested out of the Connections budget.
Have you been asked if you accept Bauer Rewards?
We continue to have success with retro products from mugs to magnets to retro toys like these pushing puppets.
I love seeing an older shopper showing them to someone. You know if they pick it up the chances of them purchase increase dramatically.
We have had these on the shop floor – near our greeting cards – for just on a week and have sold four. I’m happy with that. The margin is excellent.
Click on the image the see the screen shot showing the data Bauer has relied on to set our supply of Zoo Weekly. Look particularly at issues 28 through 33. Without justification our supply was increased.
While it’s only an extra copy, Bauer is hard on newsagents who are only a day late paying their bill.
Bauer is tough on newsagents yet it rejects complaints from newsagents when they are tough on the company. It needs to drop its double standards.
I am in Auckland looking at retail and noticed a massive 4-day sale at Whitcoulls – just about the closest they have here to an Australian newsagency.
There were all sorts of deals. With cards it was buy 1 and get one at half price. What was odd was how they promoted it – with small signs stuck in card pockets. It made the display look untidy but that could have been the point. The signs are certainly easy to notice.
Knowing more about what you sell can help you sell more. While that sounds like a glib marketing pitch, it is true.
We researched The Grumpy Cat and instead of placing it on the shelves as a regular product we created small signs that connected the product with the memes on facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and elsewhere on The Grumpy Cat.
Our approach showed we understood the product and how people engaged with it online. It also drew attention to The Gumpy Cat in a far more effective way than if we simply placed the stock on the shelves.
Our signs were fun. We have seen customers smile and point them out to others they are shopping with.
Take a look on your shelves for products you could research and as a result better engage with. Start with licenced product – you will be surprised at what you learn by reading fan forums and other online content. The better you understand those interested in what you sell the easier it is to sell to them.
Look at your newsagency as more than thousands of SKUs to sell. these are products people will love. your job is to bring the products to the attention of your customers in a way that speaks to their interests.
Researching what you sell will increase sales.
Footnote: we sold ten of the Grumpy Cat in a few weeks.
It’s the end of July and a good time to think abut a give-away calendar you could make for your customers. Such a calendar would be an excellent opportunity to promote local events and support local groups and causes.
Make sure the calendar promotes your business.
You could get the calendar printed by a local printer. Heck, you could even print it on your copies to save money and promote your copying service.
There are also online businesses that specialise in designing and printing calendars like tho – weigh up the approach that fits your budget and works best for you.
Be sure to create a calendar that is genuinely useful for your customers. +HAVE FUN!
The calendar should connect within your unique selling proposition, it should pitch what is special about your business.
We have been testing these cute small yellow happy plush items with newspapers. Customers smile and occasionally they purchase from here. The main stock of the range is on then other side of the aisle so newspaper shoppers with their eyes open will see them twice.
We are constantly trying different items with newspapers – always something with a higher GP to chase a better return from the newspaper sale.
Here’s the display we have at the front of the newsagency this weekend. We are using the new issue of Better Homes and Gardens as it always works well at the weekend – and the cover shot looks particularly tasty. We have Good Chef Bad Chef issue #3 next to BHG as it sold well for us from here last weekend.
This stand on the lease line is the only magazine representation at the front of the shop. We count the what we place on the stand so we are sure of its value.
Pacific Magazines through their Nexus program is running a $5,000 shopping spree competition starting Monday. These short-burst easily understood promotions work well.
My goal in getting behind this is to build the database that supports my shop through Nexus emails and text messages.
We did some planning today on how to make the most of the launch next week: the floor display unit will be at the front of the store, we will use collateral in front of each major title that is part of the promotion and have a pitch with at least one Pacific title with newspapers – our top three traffic locations will be covered.
For us it’s not about pretty displays – it’s about key location tactical engagement.
Check where you have the three Disney food titles in-store. Place them together to leverage the Disney brand. The photo shows what we have done. While we have the Cakes cookbook with food magazines, we figured it could also sell from this location.
It has been terrific meeting with newsagents at the newsagency management workshops being run around the country at the moment.
Newsagents I am talking with are looking for practical advice and ideas appropriate to their situation. They don’t want to be sold some froth and bubble, they want specific information on actions they can take in their own situation.
I am sensing a change in the newsagency channel. I have spoken at many events like these over the years and the mood of this series is different. It gives me optimism about the future of the newsagency channel.
It’s been particularly thrilling to meet with newsagents from rural and regional areas. Hearing of someone travelling for four hours to participate is fantastic.
I was contacted by my bank yesterday about an online transaction their internal systems claimed was fraud. I called the number of the person who ordered goods from the website and sure enough their response reinforced the bank’s view. The quick check avoided the frustration of cancelling a sale we had yet to fulfill.
Click here for advice from the ANZ Bank on fraud minimisation. This list from the ANZ is particularly useful:
The latest window display being used by kikki.k looks terrific: it uses bold colours, an inspiring message … follow your path … and a sense of forward motion to attract.
I am sure this display, in all their stores, will drive good shopper traffic for the group – how could it not?
This is the type of window display we can use for inspiration in our newsagency businesses.
I was impressed with this visual merchandising display on the floor of David Jones in Sydney. From the required pyramid shape to the story of the product mix to the placement such that it disrupts traffic flow and therefore had to be noticed – it works well.
This display is a good one to remember when creating displays in-store because of the VM boxes it ticks.
The Sydney Morning herald overnight published a comment piece by Derek Rielly: the slow, painful death of our newsagents.
I was interviewed Wednesday for this article. The interview covered more than has been published.
My views are: yes, plenty of newsagencies have closed in recent years and some major suppliers treat us poorly and are busy moving elsewhere. However, there is GOOD NEWS. There are newsagencies that are growing. There are suppliers who work actively with our channel in exclusive ways.
It a newsagency closes, it’s on the owner. I have seen many turnaround situations. I live this myself as I recently wrote when sharing the latest newsagency sales benchmark results.
The future of your business is up to you. The future of the newsagency channel is up to all newsagents.
There were reports circulating yesterday that WH Smith PLC had purchased Kenny’s Cardiology. While there has been no announcement from WH Smith, I have been told that Kenny’s franchisees have been advised.
If true, the acquisition would be another by the UK public company of a card and gift related retailer in Australia – WH Smith recently purchased Wild Cards and Gifts.
WH Smith is on the record saying they are keen to expand wholesaling opportunities through acquisitions.
There is another rumour about WH Smith having interest in a newsagency related business. That, for now, remains only a rumour.
Check out the display of healthy snack food on show at a Newslink store in the Qantas terminal of Sydney airport.
On this display they are offering a good range of snacks presented well and with terrific signage.
This is an excellent pitch. Plenty of shoppers were browsing the range. It’s something other newsagents in transit locations could try.
The double width bag from Bauer promoting Mother & Baby is packed with some terrific items. However, and it’s a big however, it’s difficult to display. I visited three newsagencies this afternoon, one had it behind the counter as they didn’t know where they could place it, one had it shoved behind newspapers and the other had it on the floor in front of baby titles.
It would have been helpful to have a floor display unit. This is what a supermarket would have required with a similar pitch.
The other issue is that the front promotes The Australian Women’s Weekly – but this title is not in the bag. What’s with that?
We have placed Who magazine on the counter to drive impulse purchases. The cover and the stories inside are respectful of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy – the full extent of which is still unfolding.
Who is a good title for this type of story, they do it well.
I was talking with a retailer a couple of days ago about the theft from his business of more than $50,000 by a business partner. He was devastated that the long-term business partner would steal from their 50/50 owned business.
The theft has challenged the future of the business as two long time family friends collapse their business relationship. It is touch and go if the business will survive.
Partners can steal from each other if there is easy opportunity. That was the case in this situation I am writing about.
For the sake of everyone involved, partners should agree on a transparent process for handling cash with different people responsible at different times. This coupled with good checks and balances and a fine attention to actual grow profit by department and with proper stock control processes and you have several points at which theft can be uncovered.
The easier you make it to detect theft in your business the less likely you will be stolen from including by your business partners.
It is wrenching hearing someone talk about theft by an employee or a business partner. The damage beyond the cash itself is far-reaching. It can change someone forever.
The calendar commemorating the Centenary of ANZAC is popular with shoppers even though we are a year away from the commemoration. We are it out and on display as part of a Father’s Day calendar pitch. While calendars are popular for father’s Day, this ANZAC calendar is attracting new shoppers to the category very early into the2015 calendar season.
Placed at the front of the newsagency I have noticed shoppers stopping at to take a look at it. This tells me the calendar has the potential to find new shopper traffic for us.