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

Sunday newsagency management tip: let your employees make mistakes

Learning from mistakes can be more valuable than formal training. That’s been my experience. Too often I see newsagents micro-managing their employees and denying them the opportunity of learning from mistakes.

A young employee just given responsibility for an area of a newsagency had made some excellent choices in changing product layout.The changes they had made were a vast improvement. I witnessed the owner of the business ignore the opportunity to compliment and point out where they could do better. This same owner has a track record of micro-managing employees, managing away their creativity and not tolerating any mistake.

While the young employee in the above story could have done a better job, this was their first crack. I am certain they will improve with time based on their initial work. If I was the owner I’d have congratulated them and left it at that. Good people improve of their own accord. They also make some mistakes and these are be more valuable for them and us.

I’d go as far as to suggest we need to encourage mistakes – as long as the people working with and for us learn from them. We need to learn from our own mistakes. In fact, it’s good to show off to ur colleagues that we do this.

I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my years in business. The best mistakes are those people have seen me make and see me learn from. These are the mistakes that have been more valuable for me too.

This is my management tip today: don’t micro manage, set your people free and welcome mistakes by those who will learn from them.

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Management tip

Sunday retail newsagency marketing tip: create an award

Retail business marketing is all about extending the reach of your business beyond those who shop with you today and know what it offers. It serves to raise the relevance of your business to others.

Today’s marketing idea seeks to better connect your business with the local community.

Create an award. Create an award that a person or group in your area could be eligible for, an award recognising effort the community appreciates and needs. The ideal would be to recognise unsung effort, something other awards do not already cover.

Call this the 2013 [insert your business name] Award for [insert what the award’s for].

Do your research before you announce anything. Make sure you are up for an annual award – organising the judging, funding the prize and linking with an event where the award could be awarded. This could be the local shop or some other region-wide event. Ensure that the award has appropriate criteria for judging or voting.

Awards could be best best community project of the year, local hero of the year, best regional promotion of the year, best community event of the year.

Set a budget so you don’t go overboard. promote the award for plenty of time, to get the best marketing value possible. Promote the winner in-store.

A good award will extend your community connection and this should play well for sales. While doing good is good, growing sales is more important as this gives you the resources you need to do good.

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marketing

Hero father’s Day gift drives traffic & sales

The Car in a Can has been our hero product this Father’s Day – delivering excellent sales and attracting shoppers from the mall into our newsagency.  I stood outside the shop yesterday and saw first-hand the success of this product in attracting shoppers. Having such a different Father’s Day gift has been valuable. We’ve see the Car in a Can bought for grandpas to new dads – a broader age range than we anticipated.

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Gifts

Fairfax misses an opportunity

The Saturday Age today is promoting a deal offering the 2014 Good Food Guide for a discount with the newspaper. Because of a disconnect between Fairfax and retail newsagents we did not have the Good Food Guide. We lost sales. News Corp. in Victoria is building its connection with retail newsagents. fairfax should do the sale.

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Newspapers

Great window promoting Father’s Day

I love this window display promoting Father’s Day that I saw in Auckland on Tuesday it ikoiko. The display is funny, smart and engaging. When I was there people of all ages were stopping and reading. This window display was doing exactly what it needed to do and doing it in a way that connected perfectly with the type of business Iko Iko is.

Click on the image for a bigger version – to see the detail. I’m putting it in my inspiration folder.

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marketing

NSW State Government shows lack of support for small business

Many years ago the Labor government of NSW hurt small business newsagents by cutting commission on transport tickets. The Liberal government is showing they are no different by crowing that 75% of OPAL card users top up their accounts online, thereby cutting out retailers like newsagents. Their website guides users on this.

While top-up online is to be expected, the promotion is another example of governments selfishly chasing their revenue needs at the expense of small business. These same politicians find money to pork-barrel electorates they want to win and to prop-up industries they want to suck up to. What’s happened here is another reason my call for politicians to do work experience in small business is vital.

The biggest sector to suffer from changes in transport ticketing arrangements over the last decade is newsagents.

While I not a fan of agency business I understand that to many newsagents agency related traffic and revenue is very important.

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Ethics

Peppermint magazine supports newsagents

Great to see Peppermint magazine promoting newsagents as the for the latest issue out this Monday. They tweeted 14,000+ followers with the news. In checking them out I discovered Peppermint is Australia’s first and only eco and ethical fashion magazine. I did not know that. The information makes it useful in promoting the title.

Every social media reach-out by magazine publishers promoting us is valuable as they are speaking to their community.

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magazines

delicious not promoting newsagents

I was disappointed to hear an advertising for delicious magazine on the radio a couple of days advertising a number of outlets but not mentioning newsagents. In the past these ads certainly mentioned our channel but not this ad. It left me wondering if it was deliberate – I hope not.

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magazines

Does Hubbed prefer to attack the questioner rather than answer the questions?

A newsagent attending a recent Hubbed presentation promoted by and held at the ANF / QNF offices in Brisbane says that Hubbed CEO David McLean said that he had an intense dislike of me and intended to bring Mark Fletcher down. He is reported to have said that he has met me to discuss Hubbed.  I have never met with or spoken to David McLean.

While I don’t care what McLean thinks about me, newsagents would be better served and informed is he answered the questions about the Hubbed contract I have published and addressed the broader business questions I have raised.

That I publish my personal opinions here on this blog does not diminish the opinions nor restrict how they can respond.  I’d encourage McLean to respond to my questions as if they were put at a public forum since that’s what this place is – a public gathering place of newsagents. There are 1,300 visitors a day here.  Don’t think of it as a blog but rather a place where newsagents talk.  McLean is welcome to respond here as he would publicly at a Q&A session.

Alternatively, I’d welcome an opportunity to put my concerns about Hubbed to McLean and others in a public forum where newsagents can see the Q&A live.

Transparency is key. From what I have seen so far transparency is lacking in what Hubbed has put to newsagents.

That McLean is responding to my questions by attacking me should itself concern newsagents.  A more potent response from the company would be to answer the questions, thereby showing that concerns were unfounded. That would be a good outcome for Hubbed and for newsagents.

Newsagents have not yet been presented the complete commercial terms and therefore cannot make an informed decision as to what they are signing up for.

If the ANF was not a business partner of Hubbed it could ask the questions I am asking. If the ANF was not a business partner of Hubbed it could act as an association representing newsagents on this matter.

Newsagents have not been presented clean financial information to show how they will get a return on the Hubbed daily fees + the cost of the retail space used + the cost of labour.

Hubbed has not been specific about how it will drive new traffic for newsagents.

Hubbed has not, from what I am told, addressed in any detail how it will compete with the Australia Post self-serve kiosks.

Let me be clear and repeat what I have written previously – I don’t know if Hubbed is good or not as all of the information to make such an assessment is yet to be released.

What I do know is that Hubbed is an agency service. There are some newsagents who will want to remain agents. Those who want to be retailers are less likely to find the Hubbed agency offer appealing.

The people behind Hubbed should welcome scrutiny if their offer is as good as they say it is and they should attack those calling for scrutiny if what they offer does not stack up.

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Hubbed

The Walking Dead 2014 calendar hot!

I’d urge newsagents to get The Walking Dead calendar in-store. We sold our initial order in a couple of days and have plenty more on the way. The TV series is very popular and the calendar is an easy gift for fans. One customer earlier this week bought the calendar and as a result of the discount voucher they received they purchased a greeting card – adding bonus margin dollars to the visit from the customer. FYI.  They didn’t come in to buy either item – more than $30.00 spent on impulse.

This calendar is from Browntrout.

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Calendars

Promoting Disney and Marvel plush

We’re promoting a range of Disney and Marvel themed plush is a good tie-in with other products we have in-store. This is another example where connection with well-known brands can help us connect products from several suppliers to tell a better retail story in-store.

I’d urge newsagents to look at this, at branded products they can source from multiple suppliers.

While the plush is Ty brand, it’s the consumer brands of Disney and Marvel that infrequent plush shoppers recognise. Our plush collectors, however, collect all things from Ty – we love them!

This type of stand is a good example of how newsagents can make a small investment in a new product range for an excellent return. For a few hundred dollars you can usually have earned back the cost of all stock before the invoice is payable. This is what I mean about being a retailer and not an agent.

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Newsagency management

Promoting diaries and calendars

We’re promoting diaries and calendars in our magazine department with special interest titles placed with or adjacent to magazines appealing to the same shopper.  This placement is using recently released magazine space for the next couple of months before we replace it with regular shelving for other product.

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Calendars

Unfortunate QNF communication on insurance

In a communication to members yesterday, Ann Nugent QLD CEO of the ANF provided advice on insurance. My understanding is that Ann is not licenced to provide this advice. If Ann was licenced to provide the advice the licence number ought to appear on the advice. Ann could have sent the information saying as advised by the QNF brokers but she has not done this.

Ann’s advice refers to the risk of underinsurance. There is evidence circulating in Queensland of underinsurance being offered by providers to the newsagency channel. One can only guess that this is being done to achieve a lower premium. Such a goal does not make good business sense. As with any such business decision, be cautious and be satisfied that you know what you’ve got.  Seek the advice of a professional.

The QNF is an industry association purporting to represent newsagents. Their communication needs to declare any commercial arrangement on the matter being communicated.

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Newsagent representation

State and federal politicians should be required to undertake a week of genuine paid work experience in a small business every year

Despite small businesses employing more Australians than any other business block we receive less attention from our politicians. This is in part our own fault driven by disconnected representation and a lack of unity on issues.

One way to redress the disconnect between small business and politicians would be to require every politician, federal and state, to spend a week a year working in a  small business in their electorate – paid real work.

The business should be chosen by random ballot – to remove the opportunity for mates looking after mates.

Besides the practical work experience, the politicians would gain a better understanding of the life and challenges of everyday Australians.

I am confident that after a couple of years we would see this small business work experience program drive a more practical narrative from politicians of all sides- and not just a small business focused narrative but one also more connected with real life.

We can’t compete with the lobbyists who are paid a fortune to guide our politicians to outcomes they want. Hence my call for a legislated week of small business work every year for every politician.

Imagine what discussions about paid parental leave, GST changes, assistance for the car industry or workplace relations changes would be like in the cabinet room if everyone at the table had done a week of real work in a small business beforehand. They would have reference points relevant not only to our small businesses but also to our employee colleagues, their constituents.

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Newsagency management

Slippery Wiggler another fun product for newsagency shoppers

We’re enjoying this Slippery Wiggler product. It’s another impulse-purchase fun item we have our team members playing with, showing off to shoppers and selling as a result. It’s hard to hang onto – hence the name. It’s a perfect product to demonstrate.

Slippery Wiggler connects with the newsagency shopper as a gift line and as a counter line. It helps us serve younger shoppers and those who buy for younger shoppers. Like all product categories we need to balance the number of these funky / disposable fun products with everything else we sell – but this is retail management 101.

I was talking to a newsagent about Slippery Wiggler a couple of days ago. Their preference is to sell a more expensive gift. I want to sell both as both work in different situations to different shoppers. To me buying products to sell in my newsagencies is all about maximising the basket as greater shopper efficiency is vital to the success of any retail business.

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Fun

Herald Sun promoting digital subs

Check out the two-page spread in the Herald Sun yesterday, promoting their print and digital offering.  It’s a deal I suspect is more about the digital sub.

I was wrong. The original post earlier today said this ad covered the front page. This was my mistake – the ad was deep inside the newspaper. I could have taken the post down altogether but felt it best to leave it here to set the record straight.

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newspaper masthead desecration

There must be an election, politicians are engaging with newsagents

Liberal leader Tony Abbott picked up a Geelong Advertiser at Highton Newsagency and then Tweeted about it. Welcome to another election stunt designed to promote a local candidate and show a small business connection.

As I found out when John Howard visited my Forest Hill newsagency in the 1998 election campaign, they want the photo in a small business but ignore you once they are in office.

The newsagency channel faces disruption of a similar scale to the TV networks yet we’re not getting hundreds of millions of dollars to help us navigate this.  The Australian newsagency channel faces similar competition to the car industry in some respects yet we’re not getting hundreds of millions of dollars of handouts.

No, I’m not actually asking for handouts. Rather, I am suggesting that instead of opportunistic photos, politicians should meaningfully engage with newsagents and other small business people.

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Australia Post

Great timing for P!NK 2014 calendar for newsagents

We’re lucky to have the P!NK 2014 calendar in-store in time for more P!NK concerts in town. We are embracing the timing opportunity with prominent placement of the calendar where shoppers who may like P!NK can see the calendar since they are probably not shopping today for a calendar.

By buying the calendars we want (as opposed to magazine publisher calendars) we are able to build more valuable brand-based stories that connect with other products we sell including magazines. The connections between key product categories in a newsagency are considerable. Cards, magazines, calendars and gifts ass relate to each other in a range of ways. Our business data shows the extent in each of our newsagencies.

No single supplier is going to connect the dots for us. This is where we need to be the retailer, we need to source products to connect the dots across product categories, so that we are able to tell more valuable retail stories in our businesses.

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Calendars

Promoting Peppa Pig products and partwork

We’re promoting the new Peppa Pig partwork along with Peppa Pig plush and activity packs in a move that is driving sales of all products.

Our only frustration is the lack of stock of the Peppa Pig partwork. I am surprised the publisher was not more prepared for the success of this. The data on sales of Peppa products in Australia indicated the scope of the opportunity here. No matter, we’re selling all we can and reordering extra stock when it becomes available.

Peppa Pig is a good example of the value of brands in our businesses. By sourcing what we can from multiple suppliers we can leverage traffic generated by a partworks launch to drive margin dollars per sale. The result is excellent for us as it takes the small GP we make on the partworks launch issue and increases that many flow thanks to the 50% and 60% GP on the plush and other items.

This is another example of how newsagents can make money out of magazines.

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magazine distribution

Strong Father’s Day collateral in New Zealand

Check out the collateral for Father’s Day being used by Whitcoulls in their downtown Auckland store. The poster has good visual cit-through – I noticed it from across the street. I like that it’s used consistently from the window through the store as it presents a consistent call-to-action message.

My first reaction was that the stop sign approach was not ideal but then I realised that it had had the desired effect on me.

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Gifts

Video: How discount vouchers are changing shopper behaviour

When I meet with newsagents at industry events and conferences the most common question I’m asked at the moment is about the new discount vouchers approach to shopper loyalty. Better than the old and me-too approach of VIP card points-based programs, discount vouchers are changing shopper behaviour as I outline in a new video:

The beauty of discount vouchers is the ability to tweak management levers to customise the program specific to the needs of your business.

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marketing

Working the counter beyond confectionery

In one of my newsagencies confectionery is not strong enough to justify premium counter space so we have been trying more impulse purchase items. Our requirements are 50% GP or more, rapid turn and small footprint. These USB car chargers are ideal for our purpose – easily understood, good margin and good price point. We’re making more money from these than we make selling chocolate bars.

I appreciate our situation is not common in that most newsagents continue to enjoy success with chocolate at the counter. I expect that newsagencies in shopping centres will sell less confectionery in the future with the growth in convenience stores and stronger competition from new generation petrol outlets.

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confectionary

Another bagged magazine bundle from Bauer

The bagged bundle of Cosmopolitan and OK! is frustrating. With OK! at the front the expectation is that we have it with weeklies. There’s no spare room there though. There is no point putting this with Cosmopolitan as it would look out of place. My understanding is supermarkets are paid for extra pockets. That we’re sent this additional ‘title’ imposes a cost burden on us that makes us less competitive.  As a recent comment here showed, these bundles also impose frustrating management challenges.

For a recent thread of comments on bagged magazines click here. Also, to help keep track of this issue I have created a new category: Bagged magazines. I’ve retagged some past posts to build the history.

 

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Bagged magazines
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