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

Sunday newsagency management tip: start the financial year with good data

Poor data is in my top three causes for a newsagency struggling or failing.

If you do not use accurate current data in business planning then your business decisions are more likely to be either wrong or less effective.

I know data can be a boring topic. It is better for you to master this boring topic and have a business than it ignore it and not have a business.

Yes, it is that simple.

Accurate current data can help you:

  1. Buy better – buy replacing what is selling, buying to a budget and buying new products based on what shoppers buy today.
  2. Deal with suppliers, compare suppliers understand the financial value of suppliers.
  3. Cut employee theft.
  4. Cut shopper theft.
  5. Tune your roster to cut labour cost.

Every newsagent either wants or should want these benefits. It is a weakness for and of our channel is that more newsagents ignore data than embrace it.

So how to you improve the quality of your business data: scan everything you sell, enter into your computer system all stock that comes in, scan out everything (including cards) you return, do a stock take ASAP and then rolling category stock checks through the year.

These tasks can be done in the regular course of running your business. They are not a burden. Newsagents sometimes say they are a burden so they have an excuse to not face up to the truth of their business data.

Your data is your truth. Embrace it and your business will improve.

I know of at least ten newsagencies where an employee was able to steal more than $100,000 because the business did not treat data with respect.

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Management tip

Tapping into the current obsession with sugar

bigsugarNewsagents should get the current issue of The Monthly in front of more customers to leverage their Big Sugar story. This will be an issue to promote with newspapers as well as weekly and or food magazines. I’ve read the article – it’s fascinating and challenging. It’s an excellent opportunity to pitch The Monthly to people who do not regularly purchase the magazine.

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magazines

Queens Birthday weekend is one of those weekends

There is a slower pace with shoppers today, the first day of a three-day weekend (everywhere in Australia except for Western Australia). And fewer shoppers too. But they are spending, because there is not the usual Saturday rush that we see. I expect we will end the day ahead in dollars but down in traffic. I’m okay with that.

When I say it’s one of those weekends, I mean it is a holiday weekend without a purpose that retailers can easily tap into … commercialise.

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Newsagency challenges

I never would have visited your shop

attractingcustomersA customer visited the newsagency a couple of days ago, spending in excess of $40. They make a point of telling us that they visited because of this Happy Jackson range from Tinco facing into the mall. They said they had never shopped with us before.

This is an excellent example of a non newsagency product attracting a new shopper into the newsagency.

The feedback from the customer is an encouragement to focus on more opportunities like this.

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Gifts

Meshel & Tommy on NOVA Melbourne promote magazines & newsagents

As part of their Happiness Thursdays promotion a couple of days ago, Meshel & Tommy on Nova has someone live on air in a newsagency in Melbourne buying magazines for customers who called in. A colleague heard this live and send me this:

I was listening to the radio yesterday in the car and the breakfast program Meshel & Tommy was doing a segment called happiness Thursdays. This week there focus was on magazines. The way they pitched it was that buying a magazine was a luxury and it made people happy. They specifically mentioned the smell of a new magazine. They had a radio staffer in Burnley newsagency in the magazine section. People called in and told her what magazines they wanted and she bought them for them. The magazines I remember being bought were Better Homes and Gardens and frankie.

This is a terrific story, one that should warm the hearts of newsagents.

Thanks NOVA and thanks Meshel & Tommy.

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magazines

Embracing the soup season

magssoupsWe’re giving the new Big Soups soup cook book from Bauer support by placement at the front of food titles and with another popular soup title.

Our goal is to sell the copy we received in the next couple of weeks before we consider returning it. This prime placement is the best support we can give.

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magazines

Promoting the Win a Tablet opportunity

nx3We are promoting the Pacific Magazines Win a Tablet opportunity in three locations in store in three locations including this one with weekly titles. Our promotion and placement activity is tactical – i.e. we’re not going for noise but for focused engagement. Our thinking here is that less is more given all the colour in a newsagency. We are also promoting the competition externally as a traffic-driving opportunity.

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magazines

Is the Wild product range evolving?

wildcardsSome who have been watching the Wild Cards and Gifts shops since the take over of the group by UK Newsagent retailers WH Smith have noticed recent changes to their focus. The gifts they are pitching are more often now gifts you’d see in Australian newsagencies than was the case under the old ownership.

If this is indeed a trend it will blur the lines between newsagencies and the Wild businesses. This will be especially interesting to watch in locations where newsagencies and Wild compete for the same nearby shopper.

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Gifts

Day five of five simple moves for increasing sales in your newsagency: move it & move it again

slumbiesThis week I am running a series of simple moves you can make in your newsagency to increase sales. None requires you to spend any money, only time. Here is simple move to make more money by moving spinners.

Do you move your spinners? When was the last time you placed spinners in different locations? If you don’t place your spinners in different locations, are your spinners working as well as you need and or expect? If the answer to this question is no then move them.

Moving a spinner can open the products it holds to shoppers who may not have seen the products in your shop previously.

As a rule, no spinner should be in the same location more than two weeks – except in exceptional circumstances where you know that moving the spinner will love sales.

We need to run our newsagencies with a gift shop approach to the shop floor – major changes every two weeks, following a process of continuous movement.

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Management tip

How is the million dollar scratchie game selling for you?

milscratchieI’d love to hear from newsagents how the million dollar scratchie game is selling. I noticed street level advertising by Golden Casket in the centre of Brisbane. Indeed, it was terrific to see this advertising to see the game.  Scratchie tickets are a good over the counter opportunity as they are a retailer focused product as opposed to OzLotto, Powerball and Lotto tickets that can be purchased online and on your phone.

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Lotteries

Newsagents could win $500 tipping on the World Cup

Screen Shot 2014-06-05 at 6.15.41 pmI love the promotion by Men’s Health magazine to Nexus newsagents of a tipping competition for the World Cup.

This is a good bit of fun for the popular sporting event. It’s pure fun too – no displays to setup, no extra stock to display … no this is purely a tipping competition. Terrific!

With newsagents busy running their own small businesses they often do not have time to connect with others. This type of competition by Men’s Health offers newsagents a bit of social fun around what is set to be a very popular event.

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magazines

Pacific Magazines promotes newsagents by TXT

pacmagspromoEarly this week Pacific Magazines the company sent out a text message to consumers promoting newsagents as the retailers to purchase Pacific titles from to get in the running to win a tablet computer. Out of store marketing like this is terrific for newsagents, providing another reason to support Pacific titles.

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magazines

UK consumer survey votes WH Smith as the worst high street retailer in the UK

The Telegraph has reported that a 11,000 consumers in a recent survey voted WH Smith as the worst high street retailer in the UK. Apple was rated #2 and Lush soap #2. The report is pretty damning.

Dissatisfaction with WH Smith is not new, and it has been one of the lowest-rated shops for the last four years.

Retail expert Mary Portas has described it as a “dump” which she “truly hates” shopping in.

This story would not usually rate a mention in Australia but the growing presence of WH Smith here with their own stores, their growing hospital retail network and their ownership of Wild cards and gifts it’s worth knowing about.

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retail

Day four of five simple moves for increasing sales in your newsagency: use your counter!

dogscatsThis week I am running a series of simple moves you can make in your newsagency to increase sales. None requires you to spend any money, only time. Here is simple move to make more money by changing your use of your counter.

Take everything off your counter. Now, put something at the counter that you have never had there. Choose products that appeal to your customers. But make sure that your choice challenges your customers and you.

We did this a while back by placing $24.95 plush dogs and cats at the counter – replacing confectionery. Shock horror they sold very well. Amazingly well in fact. Before this experience I would have said that selling $24.94 dogs and cats at the counter would not work.

Your counter space should be part of your continuous improvement commitment. An approach of continuous movement is important on the newsagency shop floor.

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Management tip

Blocking the newsagency window

windowcoverThis is the main window of a high street newsagency that I saw recently. On the other side of the wall of magazine posters is a fixture with stock. There is room elsewhere on the shop floor for this fixture. Moving it, or trashing it, would free up the window and allow shoppers to see inside. Immediately on doing this a smart retailer would make the shop more appealing to shoppers walking by. This, in turn, should boost sales.

Removing magazine posters in the window of any newsagency is important if the business is to increase relevance to those walking past the business. The old-school approach shown in the photo does not serve the business well.

I appreciate it is easy to stand outside a shop and say what should be done. However, in this instance, moving the fixture could be done with a bit of effort and the positive impact for the business could be considerable.

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Newsagency management

Terrific issue of Vanity Fair to have

vanityfairWhile I don’t usually have Vanity Fair this latest issue would be one to stock given the extraordinary interest in the hit TV series Game of Thrones. This is an example of where being able to order a one off supply of an issue of a magazine title could help drive sales for us and the publisher. I noticed this issue in an airport location earlier this week.

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magazines

Day three of five simple moves for increasing sales in your newsagency: dance!

This week I am running a series of simple moves you can make in your newsagency to increase sales. None requires you to spend any money, only time. Here is simple move to make more money by creating a dance floor.

In front of your counter, a in a space walked past by more customers that almost any other part of your shop, set aside space that is your swing space, your dance floor.

This is space is your key promo space – where you pitch with your best creativity items you want all your shoppers to see.

On the dance floor you display to sell – with flair, excitement and engagement.

The key is creating the space. I have never been in a newsagency where a dance floor cannot be created.

An approach of continuous movement is important on the newsagency shop floor. A dance floor is key to this continuous movement.

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Newsagency management

Banning a Bauer merchandiser from visiting the newsagency

bauermerchandiserA Bauer merchandiser visited my newsagency yesterday and without discussion with the store manager or any staff and without permission moved a Pacific Magazine title to a sub-standard position and placed a Bauer title into a prime position. I have contacted Bauer with evidence of the move and asked that this merchandiser not visit the business again.

Is this action of moving Bauer titles to better locations than Pacific titles an instruction from Bauer?  If so, shame on them.  In my communication with Bauer about this yesterday they did not take the opportunity to advise that such a move against a competitor title without in-store permission was against company policy.

Our layout of magazines is specific and thought through. With our weekly magazines experiencing excellent well above average year on year growth we’re doing something right. How dare a Bauer representative mess with something that is working better than in an average newsagency.

This is my shop, I pay the rent. It disgusts me that a person representing Bauer does this without permission.

How can I be certain the Bauer representative did this? I have video evidence. I thought about posting it here – it’s damning.

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magazines

Promoting SPACES with frankie

frankiespacesWe are promoting the new SPACES next to sister publication frankie as it’s a title that will appeal to the frankie reader. We also have SPACES with our hoe and living titles – with the full cover on show. We follow the same dual location approach with Smith Journal and it’s the frankie placement that works best for us.

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magazines

Nothing like a school excursion

chocolateI used to love school excursions and fondly remember visiting the Newcastle steelworks and a Gippsland cheese factory in primary and high school respectively.

Today, I got to go on an excursion to the Chocolate Gems factory in Brisbane. While sure it was wonderful taste-testing, the real pleasure came from learning about the products, how they are made and how they are different to more mass-produced products.

Knowing how this chocolate is made compared to other products helps us better serve customers and better promote the Chocolate Gems product. There is nothing like getting valuable product knowledge direct from the factory floor of the manufacturer.

I recommend Chocolate gems to newsagents – their products are ideal for local store bagging or purchasing pre packaged as gifts. They are also good for singles sales at the counter.  The margin is double wham you get from Darrel Lea.  They ship in a smart way so that anywhere in Australia the product arrives fresh.

FYI the folks at Chocolate Gems have no idea I am writing this. They have not asked me to. I am mentioning it because what I saw today was a small business operator competing against some massive international businesses. It reminded me of newsagencies and our competitive situation. We need to support more small businesses.

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confectionary

Stunning window display for hair pomade

windowdisplayThis stunning window display in Brisbane promoting Uppercut Hair Pomade caught my eye this morning.

The goal of any visual merchandising has to be to get you to notice a product. This display worked. I noticed and stopped to look.

The symmetrical placement of the hair pomade product is more impactful and noticeable than a traditional hair products window where products are placed without any wow factor.

We have plenty of products in our newsagencies we can create similarly impactful window displays with.

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visual merchandising

Day two of five simple moves for increasing sales in your newsagency: get your adjacencies right

shopfloorplacementThis week I am running a series of simple moves you can make in your newsagency to increase sales. None requires you to spend any money, only time.

Here is simple move to make more money by getting product adjacencies right.

All it takes is some thinking about who your shopper is and watching how they shop your shop.

Most card purchases are a gift opportunity. So it stands to reason that you have gifts near cards. This is what we have – even though you can’t see the gift department in this photo.

Today’s tip is about what else card customers may purchase. Our reports show they purchase jewellery and premium collectible bears. So, we responded to their interest and moved both to be placed near cards in such a way that 75% of card shoppers will easily see them.

The result is a bump in sales – from a move that took a few minutes to consider and another few minutes to execute.

The key here is looking at your data and watching your customers – and responding to make it easier for them to do what they want.

Success with a product is often as much about placement as it is about the product itself. This is why an approach of continuous movement is important on the newsagency shop floor. Identifying key shopper traffic routs and leveraging these with tactical placement should help you increase your sales.

Click on the image for a larger version.

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Newsagency management

Fortean Times supports newsagents

forteanIt’s terrific seeing the publisher of Fortean Times use social media, in this instance Twitter, to promote newsagents as the retailer of their magazine. Their tweet reached out to their 14,900 followers. It’s endorsements like this of the newsagency channel, here and in the UK, that is important to us. Thanks Fortean Times!

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magazines
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