While it’s disappointing to see Fairfax sell space covering news headlines for another post-it note ad on The Saturday Age, the ad for Harvey Norman is interesting. It asked people to redeem the note for a free mug … an interesting traffic generating promotion from the retailer.
A lady bought flowers for her church from a nearby newsagency and had to return to the shop when she discovered the receipt showed she’d bought lottery tickets and not flowers. She needed a correct receipt for reimbursement.
On checking, the newsagent could not find the sale of flowers in the computer system for that amount. What was even more surprising was that they could not find a sale of lottery tickets at the time on the Point of Sale software receipt for the same amount.
Unable to reconcile the data, the newsagent called in the employee on the counter at they time asking why they could not find the lottery sale on the lottery terminal or the flower sale on the POS system. The employee advised that the lottery sale did not exist.
This employee, it turns out, would ask customers if they wanted a receipt before processing the sale and if the answer was no and the sale value was high, $20 or more, they would ring the sale up as lottery products. The employee kept a tally o their iPhone. Then, later in the day, they would buy lottery tickets to the value they had accrued in the POS software. The register would balance and they theft was not caught because the newsagent was not reconciling stock on hand.
The lady from the church had said no to a receipt. On realising she needed one to claim the cost of the flowers she returned to the shop and asked for one. This is how she ended up with a receipt for a lottery purchase equal to the value of the flowers she bought.
The employee admitted theft and was sacked. The police were called. The newsagent stopped looking for evidence after going through several months of data and getting to a theft value of $70,000.
Had this newsagent been controlling their stock and checking discrepancies they would have found the theft sooner and saved tens of thousands of dollars.
This story illustrates the potential cost of poor stock management.
A newsagency I spoke with recently discovered an employee theft problem including cartons of cigarettes among other things. They were not stock-taking cigarettes as they thought it was too hard to get it right. It turns out the challenge was the employee who was stealing and hurting the quality of their data.
The newsagent chose to blame their system and or process and gave up when if=n fact the discrepancies should have been taken as an alarm that they were being stolen from.
There is no excuse to stock-taking cigarettes. If you’re not doing it you’re missing the opportunity for early detection of theft and you are missing the opportunity for more accurate ordering of stock.
What frustrates me is that I encounter there every month or so – a newsagent uncovering long-term theft that includes cigarettes and that they are not using stock control for cigarettes. These newsagents have themselves to blame.
First we had a hit with the hand-grenade dog toys and now we have these hand-grenade themed alarm clocks. They’re a cool gift certain to appeal to a specific demographic. These clocks are part of a broader range of clocks we have in our expanded gift department in the lead up to Christmas.
Boot camps are all the rage right now – parks and beaches are busy with groups of people engaged in boot camp training. Best Body Boot Camp, a new mag book just released, taps into that interest. We are promoting the title with fitness magazines as well as near our weeklies to ensure its seen by people who could buy on impulse.
I’ve heard this morning of reported problems with barcodes on Tatts terminal produced lottery tickets. There is no problem. Any newsagent experiencing an issue should call their newsagency software company to get them to properly program their barcode scanner. The 02 variable weight and variable measure barcode being used by Tatts is an international standard as defined by GS1.
Some newsagents like agency products because they attract traffic and traffic presents up-selling opportunities. Some suppliers argue that agency commission can be low because of up-selling opportunities for newsagents. I have created a two-question survey about up-selling and would appreciate your participation. Please click on the link to have your say.
Yesterday we received more copies of AWW cookbook titles for which we still had plenty of stock. Bauer would know our stock holding from their own data yet they sent us more stock. The only conclusion available is that they found extra stock and decided it’s better in newsagencies with us paying for it than leaving it on the warehouse floor and not generating cash-flow.
When Bauer purchased ACP the commentary was that they would be frugal managers of the business. To me they look mean in their dealings with newsagents – oversupplying more often than before. Their actions in the last six months have seen a return to the bad days of Network Services.
Network used to be pretty bad but through 2009, 2010, 2011 and into the start of 2012 they had, overall, improved. Now it’s worse than ever. New titles coming out when we have no room and more stock of existing titles without sales data justification.
Either the Bauer allocations system is a mess or they are deliberately treating newsagents appallingly and lumping us with stock such that it puts us at a commercial disadvantage.
Did anyone else get more AWW cookbook titles yesterday for which they still had stock?
In our case we early-returned.
We early returned the Girls of Zoo 2014 Calendar since it does not meet calendar margin requirements. Publishers need to understand that the 50% is the minimum reasonable margin for calendars and diaries with 60% preferable. Plus we want complete control over what we get. It’s what the major calendar publishers give us.
The free gemstone gift with purchase with the latest take 5 magazine is proving to be popular. I saw a noticeable lift in sales today. If suspect this is due to the extra real-estate being grabbed by the title thanks to the promotion insert.
We are promoting New Idea Christmas & Holiday Essentials with the magazine, with food titles and in this impulse purchase display unit near the main sales counter. We’re chasing early engagement with our three locations. We’ll adjust this based on sales. Kudos to pacific as supply in in-line with what I’d expect based on previous sales.
Some newsagents like agency products because they attract traffic and traffic presents up-selling opportunities. Some suppliers argue that agency commission can be low because of up-selling opportunities for newsagents. I have created a two-question survey about up-selling and would appreciate your participation. Please click on the link to participate.
Your response will help inform suppliers about how important (or otherwise) up-selling opportunities are to you.
The report on McPhersons Media Group in Shepparton by Alan Kohler published by The Australian today is a terrific read about a newspaper publisher. This is a good publishing company with a track record of engagement with newsagents.
No matter whether you are selling products at full price or discounting them you need to sell them. This means you need to merchandise them so the offer is compelling, easy to shop and appealing enough to attract browsers. This is especially true for products of style – such as the Top Model range.
The photo is from a newsagency I visited a couple of weeks ago. I’ve faded the edges and made it black and white so the source is not obvious since I am using the image only to illustrate my point and not finger the business.
If I was discounting a premium line like Top Model, which I am not, I’d do a bundled deal like buy three for two or even two for one or something along those lines. A % off discount and stock dumped in crappy old dump bins disrespects the Top Model range and the business its in front of.
If something is not selling in your store you have to first off look at your own contributions to causing this situation. Just as we create our own success, we often create our own failure.
Check out the error message on the directory screen at a large shopping centre I was in recently. The technology glitch meant no directory for the 300+ stores in the centre. Sometimes a manual system, list a director of retailers, is better than a computerised system.
We’ve placed the Halloween themed issue of the Cake Decorating partwork in with our Halloween products display.The partwork helps pitch Halloween as a fun party opportunity and this helps sell some of the party related items we have for Halloween tis season.
We did $17,000 in plush sales for the three months to September 30, 2013, up 57% on the same period in 2012. We will easily pass $80,000 in sales this year, delivering more than $50,000 in gross profit.
The growth is a direct result of an ever changing mix of product, our commitment to known brands and excellent shop-floor engagement.
We have created this success for ourselves, growing revenue for the newsagency from a category the channel has been engaged with for years but one which we have neglected. From a small inventory investment and energetic shop-floor management we have made plush a destination product for us.
I mention this in the context of the promotion Hubbed by the ANF and the questions and comments I have published here. For the same amount of money Hubbed wants newsagents to commit to its new agency offering a newsagent can get into Plush and chase a far bigger reward.
It is analysis in to categories like plush the ANF should research consider as part of due diligence when recommending business development strategy to newsagents. Embraced nationally, plush could be more valuable in terms of new traffic, revenue and return on investment to the channel than Hubbed. There are enough newsagents embracing it to be able to harvest good data, current data.
Whereas Hubbed requires a technology platform, marketing to drive traffic, focus on a single supplier and does not fit with products we currently sell, a product category like plush requires no technology, can be sourced from many suppliers, offers the opportunity for local customisation and fits with existing products: cards and gifts.
In pointing these things out I am not seeking to be critical of Hubbed. rather, I am drawing attention to broader consideration newsagents and their representative bodies could take into account when considering any new traffic generator. Before you make any business commitment you should take your time and undertake thorough research.
In my newsagency, plush is proving to be a game changer. Our success with plush is encouraging us in other areas. The pay-off is considerably more than our plush sales.
I reposted this Facebook post from Hallmark Cards Australia over the weekend and saw a considerable (25%) jump in Facebook likes for the Facebook page of my newsagency. In fact, it’s been the most popular Facebook so far. I think this is because it resonated with those who saw it – friends and friends of friends.
Sometimes the most successful social media posts are those that give people a smile or make them feel good without trying to sell anything.
Further to my post yesterday about the inaccurate report in The Australian, I am currently reviewing the data for the latest newsagency sales benchmark study and can see newsagents turning their businesses around, chasing their own success. What these stores are doing make for a good story and not the puff-piece The Australian ran yesterday.
We’re seeing good sales of marie claire thanks to our in-location promotion of the latest issue. This is placed toward the front of the women’s magazine aisle. It’s easily noticed in this location.
The Australian yesterday ran a story about newsagents yesterday: Signs of hope after agents battered by print fallout. Written as a puff piece to promote Hubbed Connect, I say it is incomplete for these reasons:
There are many newsagents who have successfully reinvented their businesses, newsagents achieving growth in shopper traffic and growth in revenue on the back of their own entrepreneurial efforts. Why does The Australian not cover that?
Yes, retail is tough and being a newsagent is hard work. This article in The Australian is written to serve a commercial purpose and for that reason it is incomplete and inaccurate.
Tatts started rolling our barcodes per product over the last couple of days and failed to advise those who help newsagents deal with such technology changes.
For a company that spends considerable sums on rating the customer service newsagents provide this barcode roll out is poor form. The company will see consider this blog post to be unfair criticism. Hey, I did not decide on the barcode change and neglect to properly inform stakeholders. Tatts people need to judge their actions to the standard they judge their retailers.
An experienced newsagency manager is looking for work in Melbourne. This young guy has good experience in a busy high-street newsagency with Tatts, magazines, gifts and stationery. While he’s not worked for me, I can vouch for him.
Click on the image for supply and return detail to see for yourself the supply and return data for Puzzler Simply Code Crackers and tell me if you think I am wrong to complain about oversupply of this title by Network Services in one of my newsagencies.
Issue 1/5/13: Supply 5, returned 1. 5/6/13: 6/1. 3/7/13: 6/5. 1/8/13: 7/5. 29/8/13: 9/9. 26/9: 10.
The magazine allocations experts at Network have been increasing my supply without justification.
Talk any supplier to newsagents and they will tell newsagents don’t respond to emails and rarely engage with opportunities. They will tell you newsagents are time poor. One reason newsagents are time poor is because they have to deal with a magazine distribution model that burdens them in out of data business practices and because they have to spend time chasing errors that bleed them of cash in addition to time – like this creeping oversupply of Puzzler Simply Code Crackers.
Newsagents strike out at all magazines because of the oversupply of some.
When the pick over the caracas of this world, an anthropologist will discover that the magazine opportunity in our channel was killed off by very few behaving selfishly while those who should have been concerned sat on the sidelines, on their hands.
The coffin arrived and is now in place as the centrepiece of our Halloween 2013 display. Sadly, like all Halloween centrepieces, it will probably sell early.
We’re making the most of the opportunity and showing others in the centre how to do Halloween – we;re expecting their displays this year to be like last, very vanilla (boring).
Sales continue to be excellent – up on 2012.