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

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

Poor attendance at VANA state conference and trade fair

I’m told the VANA state conference and trade fair in Melbourne last wednesday attracted around 40 newsagents.  This is less than half VANA had been telling suppliers to expect. I decided to not attend as the agenda was nothing flash and I see more appropriate suppliers at gift fairs and marketing group events.

With many trade fairs and conferences already available to newsagents through the year, there is no need for associations to play in this space. All it does is suck cash out of the channel as suppliers have to fund the trade fair space, time and freight. Newsagents ultimately pay the price for inefficient events. By all means, host a conference if you have relevant content best delivered in a conference format where newsagents are out of their businesses for a day, but not a trade fair. Some suppliers at last week’s event are very disappointed.

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Newsagent representation

Can you sell gifts worth $250 and more in your newsagency?

mickeybigA supplier of circulation products to newsagency businesses was heard recently to say that newsagents were wrong to chase sales of cheap gifts. This supplier is ignorant of what many newsagents are actually doing in the gift space. Sure, some newsagents offer cheap gifts. Many, however, are playing a different gift space altogether. Indeed, I know of newsagents enjoying excellent success selling gift and homewares products  priced at $50, $75, $100, $200 and more.

Take the Disney characters (from Jasnor) in the photo. They’ll retail for close to $300. Are newsagents selling these? Yes!

Just as I say newsagents need to break free from the history of their shingle, so too do newsagency suppliers need to break free from what they think newsagents should do. Our businesses are not their business – unless we negotiate commercial terms.

The days of newsagents focussing only on cheap gifts are over.

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Suppliers

Making the most of the AFL season start

aflcounterWe promoting AFL products in multiple locations in-store with the season close to starting. We have products where appropriate to our various shopper profiles. For example, collector cards are at the counter as this is where they work best – 50/50 purchased on impulse and destination. Our season guides are with newspapers and sports titles as this is where they sell from.

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Newsagency management

Sunday newsagency management tip: use time-lapse photos to watch & learn from your retail business

Setup a digital camera somewhere with a clear and wide view of your retail newsagency and have it take a photo every sixty seconds for a day. Play the photos as a video and see what you can learn about your business.

I expect the video of time-lapse images will show you things about your business that you did not know, things about traffic flow, employee activity, your activity and product hot spots.

The goal here is to look at our shops through different eyes and from this to learn how to improve the business.

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Management tip

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: getting customers dressing to promote your business

Have fun, promote your business and encourage engagement with a product or group of products in your newsagency with a dress-up promotion. Nothing too crazy because you want as many people engaged as possible. Here are some ideas I think could work in a any newsagency business – high street, rural and shopping mall:

  • Wear your knitting. Wear a hand-knitted article of clothing and get 10% of any knitting magazine. Create a display featuring these and place with it gifts and other products that will appeal to this shopper.
  • Retro day. Wear anything retro and get 10% off anything in-store. Be sure to have an excellent range of retro products on display.
  • Be a character. Dress as a character featured on a kids magazine and get 10% off any magazine.  feature displays of character-driven product. For example, feature Peppa Pig products from several suppliers to show off the character focus of your business.
  • Easter bonnet  Wear an easter Bonnet you’ve made and get 25% off Easter cards.
  • Uncovered tatts. Dress showing off your tattoos and get 10% of tattoo magazines.
  • Show your models. Bring in a model you have made and get 10% off any model making magazine.
  • Smuggle your budgies. Wear speedos and get 10% off anything in-store.
  • Wear the local high school colours. 5% of all purchases by people wearing the local high school uniform or school colours will be donated to the school.
  • Wear something promoting a local community group. The group with the most support gets a $100 cash prize.
  • Wear something from or related to your wedding day. Wear an article of clothing either from your wedding or related to your wedding and get a discount of 25% off wedding, engagement or anniversary cards.
  • Boardies sale. Wear board shorts for a 10% discount off anything especially surfing, skating and water sports magazines.
  • Tradies sale. Everyone dressed as a tradie gets a discount of 10% off anything in-store.
  • Cat day! Wear anything cat related and get a discount. Meow for a bonus discount!
  • Handwriting day. Bring in a letter you have written and get a 25% discount of any pens you purchase.
  • Paper plane discount day. Bring in a hand-made paper plane and throw it down our discount aisle and get the discount off your purchases that matches the distance the plane flies.

These and other ideas you come up with from reading this list should be single day promotions. In addition to any purchaser discount, offer a prize of the best – this can drive better engagement. The promotions with a local community connection offer you bonus kudos as a local business.

A side bonus of these ideas is that they can drive interaction with shoppers – another point of difference for small business newsagents.

Have fun!

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Fun

The all important first impressions key to driving newsagency traffic

redshoesThe borders between retail businesses are more blurred now than ever. We are all playing outside what is usual for our respective retail category. Coupled with this is a reduction in loyalty due to online businesses and the blurred borders between retail niches.

The blurred borders make our windows and front-of-store displays more important than ever in attracting new shopper traffic.

We buy products specifically to use them to lure passers-by to the lease line and then into the shop. We change the pitch facing into the mall a couple of times a week, offering a different pitch to weekend traffic than we offer to weekday traffic. The Slumbies are a good example of us playing outside traditional newsagency space. I watched yesterday as the display attracted young girls an mums. The commitment to promoting products outside what people expect works. It’s vitally important to us.

Take a look at what you present to shoppers walking past today. Is it attracting people who would not usually shop in a newsagency? In not, you’re not keeping up.

 

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Management tip

The Saturday Paper issue #2

satpaperInterest has been good for issue #2 of The Saturday Paper, out today. Sales are down on last week as I’d expect – it happens to all new titles.  It will take a couple a while to find consistent interest. Issue #2 is a good read, a better investment of time to this reader compared to other newspapers.

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Newspapers

Tapping into the Loom Band craze

loombandsoppWe have been lucky to have stock of Loom Bands while all other retailers in the centre sold out. We leveraged the opportunity by promoting at the entrance to the newsagency. This brought in plenty of shoppers yesterday and today and now we’re sold out – but only until early next week. Next week we plan to go bigger and bolder on Loom Bands. This is a short-term opportunity to leverage while it’s hot.

If you sell to (or want to sell to) kids and those who buy for kids, you need to have Loom bands and understand what they, how they are used and the add-on sale opportunities. Click here for a news report that captures the interest.

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Gifts

Newspaper cover-up

age-coverupmar2014For the record, here’s the front page of The Saturday Age newspaper today. There is a house ad promoting subscriptions for 50% off covering editorial content. I’ll keep posting about this when I see it as a record for the future.

Click here to see other newspaper mastheads trashed by advertising covering editorial.

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newspaper masthead desecration

News Corp. is allocating Labour Day newspaper supplies based on Australia Day!

Distribution newsagents have told me to be ready for sell-outs on Monday – Labour Day everywhere except for NSW and QLD – as those managing circulation nationally for News Corp. have set supply numbers based on Australia Day this year. Yes, seriously!

Newsagents who have sought to change their Labour Day 2014 figures based on sales for Labour Day 2013 have, I am told, had their allocation reset to reflect Australia Day 2014 sales.

There are plenty of areas in Australia where customer traffic on Australia Day is very different to Labour Day. I know in Victoria, for example, that Australia Day is about BBQs and parties whereas Labour Day is more likely to be family outings often including shopping.

Looking at my own retail data, Labour Day is easily double the Australia Day sales.

So, if you own a retail only newsagency and find supplies of your News Corp. products low for Monday and can’t get extra, don’t blame the distribution newsagent. They are likely to have been cut by a circulation management decision at News Corp. that has not sought to understand the differences between Australia Day and Labour Day.

One newsagent I was talking with about this yesterday questioned the News Corp strategy: if they want to kill off newspaper sales they’re going about it the right way.

Footnote: today is not GET NEWS CORP. day. This post and the previous one are here because the company is letting shoppers and newsagents down.

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Newsagency challenges
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