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

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: loving your community for Valentine’s Day

Embrace the love theme of Valentine’s Day but focus on your community. Cut out hundreds of hearts and ask your customers to write what they love about your town / community.

Put the hearts on show – so people can read the messages. Create a display in or on your window or create a tree-shaped frame onto which the hearts can be placed as leaves.

The completed tree or display, hopefully overflowing with heart-shapes with notes of what people love about their community becomes an inspiration for you and everyone who participated and looks at the finished art.

Let your council, chamber of commerce, community groups and schools know. Maybe invite a gold coin donation for each heart for a local charity. Let the local paper know as this is the type of local community story they should love.

There is no commercial goal here. No, this is a marketing idea designed solely to deepen the connection between your business and the local community.

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marketing

Fly swats the perfect Australia Day impulse purchase

flyswatWe’re maintaining our attention on impulse purchase lines beyond Christmas and the school holidays. Our buying focus is on items that connect either with a season or some other opportunity that is relevant to us and our customers. These Extendable Fly Swats are part of a range of items we sourced for selling around Australia Day. They’re a bit of fun and useful – perfect for this time of the year.

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Gifts

Dealing with changes in lottery fit-out requirements

Further to my brief post yesterday about changes to Tatts lottery fit out requirements, any newsagent facing a re-fit in the next three to six months should, in my view:

  1. Immediately write to Tatts asking that they timing be put on hold until they, Tatts, issue new guidelines. Explain that you have heard that some Tatts area representatives have acknowledged that the guidelines have changed. Seek immediate clarification. Send the letter by registered mail, fax and email. If your fit in weeks away, mark it URGENT.
  2. Take time to look at a 7-Eleven with Tatts products. Their spend requirement is minimal – less than $5,000.
  3. Take time to look at a Coles Express with Tatts products. Their spend requirement is minimal – less than $2,000.
  4. Review your business plan and determine from your projections over the course of ownership of the agency what a justifiable capital expenditure on the Tatts fit-out would be. In other words, spend according to your business plan and not the Tatts requirement.
  5. If Tatts is immovable, bring the matter before an appropriate mediation / dispute resolution authority in your area: QCAT, VCAT, CTTT, Small Business Commissioner.
  6. Also advise the ACCC of what you are required to do and draw their attention to the different standards for 7-Eleven and Coles. While various associations are making a collective case, individuals should too.
  7. Spend what is commercially appropriate to your business.

I am confident in my information that Tatts employees have advised some Tatts agents that there has been a change to guidelines.

If I was facing a re-fit I’d immediately put it on hold until I know the facts and revisit my commercial plans. It would be unwise of Tatts to pressure you i the absence of documented clarity on the changes.

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Lotteries

Refresh your view of your newsagency business

WARNING. This is a crazy idea. You could feel foolish for trying it. That’s the worst case. The best case is you get to see your newsagency through fresh eyes and from that flows ideas for making your business more successful. Okay, here it is:

Go to your shop at night time. Leave the lights off. Put a chair on the middle of the shop floor. Sit down. Take your shoes and socks or stockings off. Put a blindfold on. Soak it up. What do you smell? What do you hear? Is there any sense of place that you get from being there.  Be still for fifteen minutes or so thinking about this. Breathe deeply. How does your shop smell? Does it have a smell? If not, why not? Then take the blindfold off and look around you for another fifteen minutes. Finally, get up – with your shoes and socks or stockings still off – and walk around the shop. Take in the environment you are in control of. Let the ideas flow. If you want to take it to a deeper level, lie down on the floor on your back and look up and around – kind of up-skirt your own shop while it’s empty!

Your future is best created by you.

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Management tip

Broaden the appeal of Valentine’s Day with a broader gift range

valteacupsThe range of gifts we sell at Valentine’s Day is only limited by the range of gifts we carry. There was a time when Valentine’s Day was about plush and chocolates. Now, with the season being embraced by more, we can sell all sorts of gifts. We’re having a crack with a range of retro-themed mugs. I love the retro music theme and so do our customers.

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Gifts

Mollie Makes magazine in supermarkets

magsmollimsuperI was surprised to see Mollie Makes in a Woolworths supermarket yesterday. I see this as a specialist title, too fringe / specialist for the limited pockets in a supermarket. Makes me look at them even more competitively.

A difference between newsagents and supermarkets on magazines is our range in niche titles. If supermarkets enter this space I’d be concerned.

If you’re reading this blog post because you did a Google search for Mollie Makes – buy your copy at your local newsagency and support independent small businesses … we’ll love you for it!

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magazines

Hubbed coverage on TV inadequate

Ten News last night ran a story on Hubbed, the bill payment / parcel service in which the ANF has a commercial stake. The reporter called me yesterday morning about the story and as I was in Cairns all day on business I could not be interviewed.

The story was misleading in that newsagents have had access to the parcels services well before the launch of Hubbed. Plus the alternative services have no capital cost associated with them.

The story was incomplete in assessing the bill payment side: whether there is growth and how it’s done using the Hubbed kiosk versus the Australia Post offering.

The story did not look at the costs newsagents face in getting into Hubbed. One newsagent said two or three parcels a day makes him money. I’m not sure if this is the case once you account for labour, retail space and the cost of financing any infrastructure Hubbed require you to take on.

The pitch I have seen from Hubbed requires newsagents to take on a lease commitment for some years – releasing to Hubbed capital which newsagents fund? I can’t see the equipment or software provided by newsagents as being worth the amount they are being asked to fund – leaving me to wonder about the additional money newsagents are being asked to fund.

The ANF engaged previously with me on Hubbed but is yet to answer questions put to them. Link for more I have written on Hubbed.

My view is that the future of today’s retail newsagency relies on us being smart retailers generating net new traffic from retail endeavour far more so than through providing agency type services.

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Australia Post

Thursdays now vitally important to newsagents

magstlt5While sales of Take 5 and That’s Life remain flat, Thursdays, their on-sale day, are more important than ever in newsagencies. It’s the busiest day of the week for magazine sales for many newsagencies I have seen sales data for. Indeed, magazine sales are up 20% and more on Thursdays in some newsagencies when comparing to before the magazine on-sale changes in 2013.

In one newsagency, Thursday magazine sales are up 35% while overall magazine sales are up only 1%. This data is providing the newsagent with opportunities for other changes in-store through which to leverage the Thursday opportunity.

On  Take 5 and That’s Life, I see a greater difference between the titles today than a year ago. Whereas in the past you could put them next to each other and they would look like twins, today, they are noticeably different.

We newsagents need to engage more with these titles if we are to help them get out of the sales slump. We need to be especially proactive on Thursday and Friday as this is when more than 80% of sales in newsagencies are usually achieved. By proactive, I mean: co-locate on the counter or with newspapers. Engage your staff to talk about what’s in the titles. Ensure they are full-face displayed with weekly titles.

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magazines

Who is the Australian Women’s Weekly customer?

aww-youngerLooking at the latest issue of  The Australian Women’s Weekly, I wonder if Bauer is chasing a younger reader for this title. This latest issue feels like it is targeted women under forty. Maybe they have been pitching there and I’ve not noticed it. The cover shot looks like it could be on the cover of Cleo or Marie Claire. The stories, too, feel younger-skewed.

While I am no magazine expert, I did a double-take when I saw it, thinking – that’s odd. Then I started to wonder if they are chasing a younger reader.

With the launch of Yours imminent, maybe Bauer are trying to segment their readers more clearly. Yours is targeting women 50+ – what used to be the more typical AWW reader. The challenge is that AWW is historically bought by women in their forties, fifties and beyond. This latest issue appeals less to that older demographic in my view.

I can’t see my 40+ customers who purchase AWW based on the cover or a quick browse purchasing this issue. To balance that, however, there is an opportunity for a younger shopper to purchase this issue. But to leverage that opportunity I need to change where I place the title. I wonder if this is what Bauer wants us to do.

Knowing your customer is vital in retail. For example, the typical newsagency shopper is female 35 and over with one or two kids, more often working than not. While local situations will see differences, what I have described is common.

Knowing the customer targeted by products suppliers is also important. The suppliers who share demographic information can find retailers more engaged.

If Bauer is changing the focus of AWW I’d love newsagents to be given more information – so we can adjust in-store behaviour to reflect the change.

It will be interesting to watch customer interaction with this issue of AWW.

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magazines

Quirky Back to School items

btsquirkyWhile the core stationery / school supplies products are not core to our newsagency, quirky products are. For example, this 2 in 1 sandwich cutter / lunch box set is a good product for the start of the school year – for younger kids. We have it on show at the front of the newsagency as part of a range of quirky products speaking to the back to school shopper. These products attract good traffic and they make people happy.

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Stationery

Promote your newsagency for sale to your customers

sellingyourbusinessConsider a sign in the window if you are selling your newsagency. A customer could be in the market for a business and yours could be a good fit. Brokers tell me buyers in rural and regional situations are more often locals.

A sign in the window can work – as long as the business – the shop itself – looks healthy and appealing. A FOR SALE sign in the window of a shop that looks like it is on its last legs will not help drive a sale.

Too often retailers selling their business go to considerable lengths to hide that the business is for sale and through this they miss opportunities – including selling to existing staff and or customers.

By putting a sign in the window you also remind yourself every day that the business is for sale and that you need to keep it looking at its best. It also reminds you to talk more about what there is to love about the business than what you don’t love.

Yes, this approach will have people asking. You could be the best sales person of the business. Be sure to have a broker as a backup for the more formal questions.

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buying a newsagency

Cool ways to display products: a skateboard

vm-skateboardA retail store near a holiday destination uses a skateboard as a prop for displaying shoes. this is excellent visual merchandising. The skateboard speaks to their target shopper better than if the shoes were placed on a traditional shelf.

Sometimes the simplest ideas work best. The test of any display is the revenue it generates.

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visual merchandising

FOUND! The missing Australian Open Tennis programs!

austopenI was in a couple of transit location newsagencies yesterday and discovered plenty of stock of the Australian Open tennis programs. The sighting of all the spare stock made me wonder if these were the copies Network failed to supply me. Regulars here will know that we expected to sell close to 30 copies this year based on previous sales. The allocations geniuses at Network cut us back to 2 copies, denying us hundreds of dollars in revenue. Calls to the company resulted in nought.

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magazine distribution

New magazine for women 50+

ImageGen.ashxBauer has announced the imminent launch of Yours, a fortnightly magazine aimed at women 50 and over. The local title appears to be a carbon copy of the Bauer UK title of the same name.

Check out this YouTube video of the UK editor talking about the magazine:

Yours fills an important niche. It will work if it’s filled with Australian content. If it’s re-purposed UK content then the current swag of UK titles will continue to sell well.

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magazines

The hamper opportunity for newsagencies

idea-hamperRight now plenty of newsagents and their staff are business packing school book orders. This process is a bit like packing hampers. So, why not put the planning, management and packing skills to use in other seasons and create gift hampers for key seasons.

While some newsagents do this already, the vast majority do not. And I wonder why not.

I was in a business overseas just before Christmas and took this photo of a small selection of the Christmas hampers they has assembled for customers. The range was impressive. Looking at the sea of hampers I realised that hampers did not need to be filled with what we usually, sell. No, hampers could be items we bring in especially for the gift giving opportunity.

You can source the baskets and celo-wrap for little cost. The contents can reflect the price you wish to charge. Include a magazine to suit the target recipient – to pitch the circ. part of your newsagency.  Pitch a greeting card opportunity to add avalue and you have something unique.

Hampers could work for any of the major seasons if done right.

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newsagency marketing

Customers love an inspiring message

magnetspositiveWhile we need sales revenue to pay the bills, some days the memorable reward is a customer who enjoys being in your space.

These magnetic signs have sold  well. Better than that, they have made people browsing feel good.

I saw a customer reading the signs reach out and gently touch one, as if to touch the goodness in the words. It made me feel good when I saw this because I knew that visiting our space touched the customer.

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Gifts

Large Papyrus card range in Woolworths

papyrus-premiumCheck out the large range of Papyrus cards in a Woolworths store I visited Monday. This store is  near a newsagency with Papyrus cards. I thought that Papyrus was originally pitched as a range with which newsagents could promote a difference to the majors.

This display of 200 pockets was not the full range of Papyrus in the Woolworths store.

6 likes
Greeting Cards

Gift with purchase for Food Ideas & Taste

magsfoodideastastePeople purchasing Food Ideas or Taste magazine at Woolworths get to choose a free lunch bag displayed with the titles in an exclusive promotion.

This promotion at the front of newsagencies across Australia would drive better sales at Woolworths because the placement would be more noticeable than toward the back of a Woolworths store in a less-visted part of the business.

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magazines

GNS stock delays impact some newsagents with Back to School

Several newsagents have reported delays in receiving GNS supplied Back to School stock. In some cases the newsagents claim significant sales are being lost while in others additional labour costs have been incurred to get back to school packs completed in time. In one case the newsagent has 48 hours to do what they should have two weeks to get done at a leisurely place and using spare time in the roster.

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Stationery

Consistent message from Coles on Back to School

colesbts2014Check out the Back to School display in one inner-city Coles outlet I visited a couple of days ago. Click on the image for a larger version – you’ll see more of their range in detail. What I like is the visually consistent message. Back to School owns this space. The in-store collateral connects with their out of store advertising and marketing – all integrated.

I have posted this photo to provide a reference point for newsagents doing back to school, to ask whether your display is as consistent and as visually impactful. I think it’s important we compare ourselves to those competing with us.

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Stationery

Quitting old greeting card stock

cards-cheapCheck out how one retailer I saw was quitting unsold greeting cards. Cards were in cardboard boxes and shoppers needed to leaf through to find product they wanted. There was no shortage of shoppers prepared to browse the heavily discounted stock.

Sometimes a no-frills approach works best.

4 likes
Greeting Cards
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