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

Promoting Better Homes and Gardens

bhgweekendClick on the photo for a closer look at how we are leveraging the Better Homes and Gardens brand over the weekend around the popularity of the TV show.

On the left you have a free-standing floor unit. This unit works exceptionally well for us. Newspaper customers pass it. On the right is our power-end nexus WIN A CAR promotion displaying six titles with BHG in the top left spot. On the right in the magazine fixturing you can see prime placement of Better Homes and Gardens in three pockets – next to our weeklies on one side and AWW on the other side.

Every week, between Friday and Sunday, we have the best opportunity to drive impulse purchases of BHG. This works best when we actively support the title beyond placement in the usual location.

If every newsagent did this we would wrest BHG sales from supermarkets. How are you supporting BHG this weekend?

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magazines

Promoting The Saturday Paper

satpaperposterWe have placed the poster for The Saturday Paper placed out the front of the newsagency facing into the mall, pitching the lead story in this issue of the newspaper to nearby shoppers. This is the only newspaper poster we are promoting at the front of the business – we don’t usually place newspaper posters here.

satpaperknoxThis photo shows the promotion of The Saturday Paper with other daily newspapers today. While I’d concede it’s a bit over the top, we wanted to ensure the new title was noticed by other newspaper shoppers. So far it’s not impeding sales of other titles.

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newsagency marketing

Tasty newspaper ad

tasty-newspaperI took the bait in the ad from Coles in the Herald Sun today and rubbed it. Sure enough, it smelled as the ad said it would: lemon and myrtle. Delicious.

Knowing about the smellable ad is something useful knowing for talking with customers through the course of the day.

You can’t do this with an ad on phone yet.

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Newspapers

Melbourne Toy Fair a must-attend trade show

toyfairThe Toy Hobby & Nursery Fair in Melbourne that starts tomorrow (Sunday) has become a must-attend fair for newsagents keen to grow toy, plush and gift sales. Like the gift fairs, the Toy Hobby & Nursery Fair Fair appears to attract more newsagents than newsagency specific trade shows recent years.

I like Toy Fair because I’ll see product that can stretch the range of products I sell and therefore the appeal of my shop. I also like it to spot trends and understand from suppliers how these can play out for me.

The best way to grow our businesses is through the products we sell and how we merchandise and promote them. The Toy Fair is important for expanding our offering and better competing outside lower margin newsagency product categories.

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Newsagency opportunities

Encouraging a newsagent to break free from the past

Here are some notes I put together for a newsagency business I assessed as part of the October / December 2013 vs. 2012 newsagency sales benchmark study I did last month. These notes are for a smaller town newsagency currently offering a very traditional mix of products. Here’s some of what I found:

Your newsagency appears to be a traditional newsagency business with a focus on lotteries (57% of sales), magazines & papers (30% of sales) and a bit of cards and stationery.

This mix of products does not give you a bright future in that for the vast majority of your business you are relying on others to drive traffic. If lotteries, newspapers and magazines decline or those customers defect to other retailers you will be in a difficult situation.

A way to address this is to focus more on products and services over which you have control and through which you can advocate a point of difference.

What your point of difference? What do you think it is? It’s essential you have one – beyond being a newsagency. In your data I cannot see a point of differenced reflected. While your sales decline of 3% is less than the average for declining newsagencies, it is not a good story.

Based on your care sales I suspect you could increase gift sales by 300% or more. Plus I think you could sell more in toys and plush – I’d suspect at least $1,500 in each in the October – December quarter.

Tough as it is in a town your size (pop. circa 3,000) I’d look carefully at the businesses nearby, if you have anyone selling gifts, what are they selling? I ask because I know newsagencies in towns this size that have lifted gift sales to match card sales. If you could do that you’d see your GP for the year increase by between $10,000 and $15,000. This, in turn, would make your business more valuable.

I think mission critical to your business right now is getting known for something other than magazines, newspapers and lotteries. You need another valuable point of difference. Something that could attract people from nearby towns to your business to shop.

If I were you these are the issues I’d be considering to make the business more successful and more valuable.

We have to break free from the past and from the agent mentality. Our future is as retailers.

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Newsagency benchmark

Getting attention in the shop window

windowconnectionCheck out the sign I noticed in the window of a shop in The Strand Arcade in Sydney.

There were four signs like this in the window. Each with text unrelated to the products being sold but related in that the statements were complex, interesting like the menswear products being sold.

What struck me was the use of space in the window by the retailer to not overtly try and promote products but rather to attract and interest a type of customer. Very smart. I noticed.

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retail

The Saturday Paper promoting newsagents

satpaperThe publisher of The Saturday Paper has used Twitter to promote tomorrow’s edition and newsagents as the go to retailers for this to their 7,979 Twitter followers.

The tweet has been re-tweeted nine times, significantly extending the promotion of The Saturday Paper and our channel.

This is terrific support specifically for our channel.

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Newspapers

When a newsagent steals from a partner

This is almost the worst kind of theft you can see in a newsagency, theft by one partner from the business. I saw it recently with the result of forever ruined friendships and a business that will struggle to make it in-tact.

Newsagents can better manage their theft exposure by treating data as if it was cash. Unfortunately, too often, once theft is discovered the victims rarely consider they may have played a role in the theft by not managing appropriately.

I am writing about this today because I’ve recently seen a situation that should have been caught far sooner.

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theft

All quiet for St Patrick’s Day

stpatsIn Auckland a couple of years ago for St Patrick’s Day the city was jam-packed for close to 24 hours. In New York a year before leading up to the day there was green everywhere. In Melbourne this year, St Patrick’s Day is set to be quiet if what I’s seeing is accurate. I noticed the delicious sounding menu in the photo in Richmond and saw some Irish artwork but that’s it. No non-food small business in Melbourne and some inner suburbs I could see.

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newsagency marketing

Distribution newsagents miss out on News Corp cover price increase

Distribution newsagents are voicing frustration that the price increases for News Corp. newspaper titles are not resulting in an increase in the fees they are paid.

While News Corp will say they addressed this in their restructuring of fees last year, any reasonable assessment will challenge this. Last year’s fee increases did not catch up with the cost increases newsagents have absorbed in recent years.

Ater the increase in 2013, distribution newsagents were still worse off in real terms than a year earlier.

As long term SA newsagent John Fitzpatrick noted yesterday:

The retail price of the Saturday paper has jumped from $2.00 to $2.50 the extra commission to Distribution Newsagents on copies supplied to retail outlets = ZERO, Subagents receive an additional 0.0625 per copy BUT nothing for the Distribution Newsagent!

Granted, we will receive the .0625 cents on Home Delivered copies – BUT NOT all copies – Cafe’s, Hotel’s, NIE Packages, TAB and many more will be at a reduced rate.

There are never ending costs in Subagent delivery, especially in SA where current weekend publishing times have been very late.

It seems News doesn’t value the work involved in Subagent Distribution.

News will need to work urgently on the current model if it wishes to retain all existing distribution newsagents. And right there is the question many newsagents are asking.

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Newspaper distribution

Here’s how to do in-store video advertising

screens1The Newslink stores at transit locations have an excellent in-store screen-based advertising and promotion platform. Their screens promote offers that are pitched consistently from the shop floor and across the sales counter. They only advertise what Newslink sells. The offers I have seen are compelling – designed to attract shoppers.

The screens they use are big. They themselves are placed in consistent locations in-store – at the front.

I’m aware several parties are pitching advertising screens to newsagents and to newsagency suppliers. None of the offers I have seen come close to the Newslink approach. The screens themselves will not drive discipline in newsagencies.

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Newsagency challenges

News Life Media drives supermarket traffic

newsmagswoolThe Australian today has an ad promoting a bunch of News Life Media magazine titles and an easter-themed gift with purchase that is exclusive to Woolworths.

While I understand the need for publishers to promote different retail channels, I can’t recall News Life Media supporting newsagents with advertising like this for promotions nor can I recall them offering a seasonal gift like this across a range of titles.

It’s this type of promotion that diverts traffic from one retail channel to another. It also reinforces a consumer view re the value proposition of newsagents versus supermarkets. News is promoting Woolworths as a better value retailer for the titles.

News should realise that when it comes to seasonal related promotions there is no better retail channel than newsagents. We own seasons.

Smart newsagents presented with this promotional opportunity would have placed the titles with an Easter themed display. They would have done this without charging extra for the additional space and effort. They would have done it with other Easter product. Smart newsagents would have been more engaged than Woolworths. Yet we have been overlooked.

Shame on you News Life Media.

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magazines

The evolving bookshop, the evolving newsagency

i2I spent some time at the Dymocks flagship store in Sydney earlier in the week and was surprised at how far it had evolved from a traditional bookshop offering. While they still sell books, they have a strong representation of gifts, cards, social stationery, gadgets and toys / games. The photo shows part of their toy / game area which is in the front part of the store. I’d say it’s located here because it’s an important part of their offer.

The borders between retail niches have become blurred in recent years and this will be even more so as more niches encounter challenges from online.

Smart retailers today don’t define their businesses by the traditional past of the channel. They focus on what they can sell regardless of whether it neatly fits the business they offer. This is why we see newsagents doing so well today with gifts, plush, jewellery, toys, homewares and fashion.

Being a retailer and not an agent means we have to continually evolve our businesses, to make the most of the opportunities we see where we can generate and nurture our own traffic from decisions we make – even if the products are outside of what we have traditionally offered.

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Book retailing

Impressive new wine magazine

alquimeOne of the pleasures of writing this blog is the people I get to meet along the way. Last week, I met with the three guys who launched ALQUIMIE, an impressive wine related magazine.

ALQUIMIE is unlike any wine magazine I have seen. I’d liken it to wine magazines what frankie is to young women’s magazines – smart, accessible, beautiful, passionate.

Issue #2 will not be out for close to another month but I wanted to put it on your radar – if your customers are into good wine related writing. It’s distributed through IPS.

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magazines

Charity connections attract the ethical shopper

charityMore and more shoppers are looking for products that do good beyond the products. In the gift space especially, shoppers are looking for products that support charities. While we have seen this for years through programs like the Hallmark support for breast cancer which has raised over $1 million, support through other products has been less obvious. A charity connection can drive shopper traffic and engagement.

Worldwide Orphans is a charity supported by the Bunnies By The Bay range from Jasnor. The charity connection gives shoppers another reason to consider purchasing this product. I gives us a reason to feature the range outside the plush department. The more reasons we can give shoppers to consider products the better.

Easter is a good time to feature this range given the range of bunnies available.

Retailers like The Body Shop own this space of ethical retail. There is no reason why we can’t. In each department of today’s newsagency – stationery, magazines, gifts, plush, toys, cards – we have access to products with charity connections. We could leverage these so that our businesses make bold and clear statements about doing good and providing our customers the opportunity to play a part in doing good.

FYI, Jasnor has not asked me to write about this.

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Ethics

Peppa Pig promotion for Practical Parenting

image004Practical Parenting out next week comes with a Peppa Pig DVD as a gift with purchase.

Promoted well this issue should sell out quickly.

It should also help you sell other Peppa Pig merchandise.

This is another example of how we can make more money from magazines than the 25% of cover price we get today.

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magazines

Do changes at magazine distributor Network Services indicate newsagents are less of a focus?

Changes announced internally at Network Services last week read to me like a downgrade in focus on newsagents. While the company will deny this, my view is based on the backgrounds of those they are promoting into newsagent related roles and considering the experience of those they are promoting out of newsagent related roles.

  1. After 7 years in the role of Group GM of Network Services including responsibility for Magshop and Netlink in NZ, Niall Murphy is moving to a non distribution role at Bauer Custom Media. Niall’s knowledge will be a loss.
  2. Tony Edwards will take the role of Group GM – Retail Distribution. He’ll have  responsibility for  Network Services and Netlink in Australia and New Zealand. Tony 13 years experience of working within the industry including managing Netlink NZ and more recently as Client Services Director for Network. The downside is a lack of knowledge and experience of the Australian marketplace. Our magazine distribution model is unique.
  3. David James is taking on the role of Group GM – Magshop & Subscriptions Services. The goal here to build a more integrated service offering within the Print & Digital subscriptions according to the internal announcement. David moving from a management role in Network in the distribution area will be a loss to the business and to newsagents.
  4. Marena Paul takes a newly created role – Commercial Manager Retail & Operations. This role will oversee  distribution and subscriptions areas as well as providing commercial strategy support.

Further to this, the person now with management responsibility of the call centre has a large corporate account background. They have no experience with small business owners like newsagents.

Last year network lost key call centre staff and we are still feeling the experience of this today. Whereas Network services used to have a clear escalation process that worked, today the company does not – although it will deny this.

Network Services in 2014 appears to me to be more focused on national retailers than single business operators like newsagents.

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magazine distribution

Chasing the ideal product adjacency in your newsagency

placementI noticed Yours placed with Anti-aging and I though that’s an odd placement, like the titles didn’t / shouldn’t belong together. To me, Yours belongs with British weeklies or our Aussie weeklies and Anti-aging with cosmetic and fringe health titles. Maybe I’m wrong but I see Yours as a title for people embracing who they are and Anti-aging more for those in denial. But I am not the customer!

Thinking about this placement later on, I wondered if it was deliberate, I wondered if someone in the business put the two titles together believing that they spoke to the same shopper.

Product placement is an inexact process outside of mass-appeal and obvious adjacency opportunities. Yet it is important. We need to put products next to each other that speak to the same shopper otherwise we miss opportunities.

While newsagency software can guide you about what sells with what and that data is useful for existing products, this post is about products for which you don’t have historical basket data.

It’s important we take time and consider who is the shopper we are targeting here? when looking at parts of our businesses – and in asking the question ensuring that we have product adjacencies that leverage a common shopper.

Yes, obsession about product placement takes time. The reward in more sales revenue when we get it right. This is especially true with magazines. In fact, checking your magazine department for ideal product placement is a good place to start.

Footnote: See my Magazine Relay advice for more on placement opportunities and the process of changing magazine layout.

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magazines

Leveraging the Peppa Pig brand to drive newsagency traffic

400671_564720456968667_1674993186_nThis display promoting Peppa Pig products at the front of the newsagency will drive traffic given that Peppa Pig is the #1 girls pre-school brand. Kids with parents in-tow will drag them to our shop when they see the display.

Leveraging licenced products is another way newsagents can drive new traffic to their businesses. Key to success is sourcing a broad range of product – often from several suppliers each with different licences.

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newsagency marketing

Understanding the new competitor: WH Smith

whsexpressThe newsagency on the ground level of the Virgin domestic terminal at Sydney Airport is now a WH Smith business, another new outlet from the successful UK retailer that is expanding in Australia. This location is different to others I have written about several times recently.

I saw WH Smith Express today. From the name to the in-store offering, this a more focussed business than had occupied this location for many years. It’s impressive.

This is what WH Smith brings to Australia, retail focus, absolute clarity on their offer and all their brand stands for.

WH Smith is a brand on the move in Australia. Newsagents need to have a plan – from the individual business perspective to brands we trade under.

Take a look at the WH Smith corporate website and you will soon see that they dominate in the UK the space we occupy here. There are not here to escape the harsh UK winter. No, they are here for profit.  We need to develop our response.

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Newsagency challenges
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