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

Marketing idea for newsagent comment & feedback

I received this marketing idea from the publisher of Australian Family Tree Connections magazine and share it here for newsagent feedback and comment:

This year the month of August is being trialled as ‘National Family History Month’ (having previously been a week).

I’m not aware of other promotions newsagents might be running in August, but I believe it would be an excellent opportunity for Family History, Genealogy and Historical Societies (about 2,000+ Australia-wide) to get together with newsagents and help promote their History/Genealogy magazines section.

Societies are not-for-profit and rely on members to run successfully; their members are very knowledgeable.

The kind of co-operation I envisage is for newsagencies to feature their History/Genealogy magazine section for part (or all, for larger stores) of August, and for Societies to have 1-2 members and a card-sized table nearby to help customers with any queries they might have.

For eons, Societies have tended to be inward-looking so linking with local newsagents would connect them with their “outside world” and maybe pick up a few new members. For no cost, newsagents would have a visibly direct link with an interesting sector of the community.

A natural fit, but win-win? I have the contacts if you think it a worthwhile idea.

What do newsagents think?

10 likes
magazines

Promoting ink at the newsagency counter

In addition to sending flyers out to 15,000 houses and businesses around our shopping centre, we are pitching the latest brand name ink sale with this placement of some collateral at the counter.

What I love about this is that a team member took the initiative himself – brilliant!

Visually connecting in-store with external marketing is vital. The majors do this well. Small independent retailers not so much.

This counter placement is just part of a range of steps in-store to connect with the latest campaign.

9 likes
marketing

Queensland newsagents upset at change to News Limited terms

Queensland newsagents, still reeling from the impact of the suspended/cancelled T2020 newspaper distribution reorganisation, were shocked to be advised last week by News that they will be transferring from 30 day accounts to 7 day accounts.

With their marketplace particularly challenged, as identified by News Limited itself, the significant change in trading terms puts more pressure on newsagencies in Queensland.

While the News move is part of a national transition to a new circulation management model, I would have thought that the fragility of the Queensland distribution newsagent situation, made worse because of T2020, would have seen News delay the move from 30 day accounts to 7 day accounts.

News is making considerable moves to drive operational and financial efficiency within its business. It continues to deny newsagents reasonably opportunities to do the same in their businesses.

15 likes
Newspaper distribution

Contingent liability a factor in loyalty programs

An article in The Age yesterday is a reminder about how old points-based loyalty programs are and about the exposure to businesses of contingent liabilities.

While some loyalty programs operators reserve the right to change the rules and points balances without reference to shoppers, the risk of this is considerable – given that the program was about building loyalty and not crushing it.

The CPA website has information about contingent liabilities of loyalty programs.

Some newsagents I have spoken with have not considered the liabilities building up in their loyalty programs and the possible implications for when they sell their business.

There is another travel-related view of airline loyalty programs by Hal Brierley, published by Harvard Business Review.  I agree with his core thesis about rewarding a small group of your customers.

A good loyalty program will encourage deeper and more active engagement from shoppers and it will do this with little overhead.

My personal view is that points based loyalty programs are past their use by date. Shoppers want something fresh, something that is easier and more transparent. This is why I have pursues discount vouchers instead.

7 likes
marketing

Chasing a younger demographic with the Top Model range

We are chasing a younger girl demographic with this placement of the broad Top Model stationery and related range capping the entrance to two aisles in our newsagency.

We have given plenty of space to the actual Top Model branding since this will be well known by girls and some of their parents. The brand is the key for us here – given its extraordinary popularity in Australia and internationally.

Our engagement with Top Model is a good example of pursuing an international brand that connects with shoppers we already see and that has potential to pull new shopper traffic for us. It’s also an example of playing in a space that reaches beyond what is traditional for a newsagency.  We have to do more of this.

We are a week in and results so far are good.

3 likes
Gifts

Newsagents, where are you?

I have taken to searching for stationery, magazines, ink and cards using Google on my iPhone when I am away from home. It’s disappointing that local newsagency businesses are not coming up in Google searches.

To be listed is free yet newsagents seem to ignore this vital marketing opportunity. There are no excuses for missing this opportunity.

2 likes
marketing

Is Fairfax against newsagents who pursue more efficient newspaper home delivery?

For years, Fairfax has taken a back seat on many issues relating to newspaper distribution and home delivery. Through then on/off T2020 discussions, fairfax has publicly said that they will most likely follow the News Limited lead.

Recent events suggest that Fairfax is no longer taking a back seat. Indeed, the company appears to have an new agenda.  I have two stories to share.

A newsagent in financial difficulty put their hand up for help. An agreement was reached to quickly sell the business to a larger distribution only operator. News Limited agreed,  Fairfax said they would consider it four weeks later. In the meantime, the financial situation of the vendor necessitated an urgent move. The purchasing distribution agent took on the business. Fairfax cancelled the contract, saying they do not recognise the larger distribution business. They handed the territory to another newsagent, a newsagent who will not make money delivering the lower penetration newspaper of the three daily newspapers delivered in this area.

The Fairfax decision does not make sense. It’s a break with how the company has operated for years. It could disadvantage customers. It certainly disadvantages the distribution newsagent as they now have some quite inefficient deliveries to complete – they will be driving down streets being serviced by the other distribution newsagent, a business with a greater distribution density.

The News Limited approach was more commercial. The Fairfax decision seems, from where I sit, to have been political and petty.

Here is the second story.

Fairfax was recently approached by a newsagent who had upgraded to the windows version of their newsagency software to help with what appeared to be a data discrepancy. I’m told fairfax representatives took a copy of the data back to their office, to match it up with the Fairfax data. I’m told Fairfax invoiced the newsagent tens of thousands of dollars based on what they found in the data. The newsagent asked for that issue to be shelved until the newsagent got the original data issue resolved. I’m told Fairfax refused and advised they would not assist in resolving the data issue until the invoice was paid. I’m also told that Fairfax threatened the newsagent with cancellation of the contract.

The newsagent did not pay and I’m told the contract is cancelled as of this week and another local newsagent found to do the deliveries of the Fairfax titles.

These two stories reflect, in my view, a backward step in much needed newspaper distribution consolidation.  For years, Victoria led the way forward. Now, it appears, Victoria is leading the way backward in terms of handling Fairfax titles.

Newsagents are left wondering about the Fairfax agenda and whether the company is hell-bent on breaking the newsagent channel. The company certainly seems to be against the larger distribution-only businesses, preferring to deal with smaller independent newsagents for its titles.

I wonder what News Limited makes of all this…

10 likes
Newsagency challenges

Newspaper masthead cover-up promoting digital edition

The masthead of The Australian was partially covered yesterday with a sticker promoting a $10 28-day home delivery / digital subscription offer.

While the masthead and editorial content coverup is disappointing, the offer itself got my attention. For 35 cents a day subscribers get the paper (six out of seven days) and digital access. The usual price – as promoted on the sticker – is $1.42 a day (over seven days).

The cynic in me wonders how much the subscription offer is about driving digital subscriptions compared to print subscriptions. If you look at the subscription offers for The Australian you can see that a six day home delivery subscription is $8.95 while a seven day digital subscription is $2.95.  On that basis, News is indicating that printing and distribution cost $6.00, or $1.00 a day. Take away newsagent commission and the delivery fee and then factor in the cost of printing and trucking the newspaper wonder how much News makes from print. The digital product is 100% News. The key is reader engagement with advertising and whether News can get to a point of making anything close to advertising from digital as it does from print.

So, I do wonder how much these bundled, print and digital, offers are about migrating people to digital. Overseas experience indicates that it’s a successful strategy for growing digital engagement.

As a retailer selling newspapers I don’t like these stickers as they seek to get people engaging less with my newsagency.

7 likes
Newsagency challenges

Promoting Donna Hay magazine

We’re giving the current issue of Donna Hay magazine a push with this in-location promotion as well as promotion with newspapers through the last week.

This issue has a delicious looking cover, one we felt could help drive impulse purchases – hence the co-location.

2 likes
magazines

Survey reveals level of newsagent unhappiness with mobile phone recharge commission

The results from my quick phone recharge survey are in and while one could reasonably argue my survey questions were leading, the results from 137 participants make sobering reading for Optus, Vodafone and Telstra.

I hope the telcos take time to read what newsagents think and what they want. They would be ill-advised to ignore the results.

Newsagents want a better deal when it comes to phone recharge.  100% of respondents said they were unhappy.

Newsagents think the telcos treat them unfairly.  99.3% said they felt unfairly treated.

Newsagents are prepared to walk away from from offering the slim margin service unless margin improves. 31.1% say they plan to move away from selling mobile phone recharge / top-up.

Newsagents want to make more money from mobile phone recharge.   18.2% said they want 8% commission minimum, 28.4% said they want 9% – 10%, 19.3% said they want 11% – 14%, 29.5% want 15% to 19% and 4.5% want 20%.

Click here for a full copy of the survey results and see for yourself.

The question is, are the telcos listening? Will they show that their words of support for newsagents are real or will they show them as hollow?

The only parties the telcos need to deal with are newsagents and their commercial representatives. I’m told they are talking with associations. This makes no sense as the associations have no direct commercial relationship with newsagents. The associations are not marketing groups, franchisors or managing any levers with which to encourage newsagent engagement.

11 likes
Newsagency challenges

Slow Cooker 3 selling better off-location

FYI we are having more success selling the recently released Slow Cooker 3 away from our cookbooks, on the shop floor outside of the magazine department itself, than in the usual location for our range of cookbook titles. We’re using the Bauer basket builder stand for this.

1 likes
magazines

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: shoppers love positive products

Thanks to good buying by many newsagency suppliers we have access to an excellent range of positive products – products that promote happiness, optimism and generally positive messages – like the signs in the photo.

When we first got them they sold out in just over a week.

Now, with more stock, we are using them at the front of the newsagency on the lease line to attract shoppers from in the mall. It’s terrific seeing people notice one of the messages and walk over to browse the range. I am certain we would not get as many in the newsagency if the messages were not as optimistic.

We took care to place the signs so that strong positive messages stood out. A small amount of time invested helped us achieve our goal.

We have no doubt – shoppers love positive, optimistic, products.

14 likes
marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: clean up as if your business is for sale

Housing real estate agents provide good advice to people selling their homes: clean it up, fix up obvious problems, remove rubbish, make the home look appealing.

Many retail newsagencies could benefit from following this advice … it’s my management tip today.

Clean out the junk in the shop, the back room and behind the counter. Anything you don’t use should go – give it away, toss it out. Make the business leaner, cleaner and fresh, make it more appealing.

Businesses burdened by years of junk building up and not being used can be a turn off for shoppers and employees. Often, you won’t see the junk until you go to move or close the business.

Pare back and feel good about losing the weight.

12 likes
Management tip

Newsagents being pressured by Optus

I’ve had several newsagents and people from one of my own newsagencies tell me that the calls and visits from Optus trying to get them to sign up to sell Optus products in-store are pressure-focuses. They don’t take no for an answer. Nothing like the Jenlist relationship at all.

As well as product and marketing ideas, newsXpress shared discount product opportunities for newsXpress members from some of our preferred supplier colleagues – providing even more opportunities for raising average achieved gross profit through the winter months.

 

7 likes
phone recharge

Are newsagency suppliers not up for a debate?

While I applaud News Limited for commenting on my recent blog posts here about their move to add a 80 cent surcharge to each copy of The Advertiser they deliver to select parts of regional South Australia, their comments reinforce a view that newsagent suppliers don’t like it when newsagents publicly disagree with them.

I regularly hear about suppliers disagreeing with something I have written here. I’m often told by someone inside the supplier’s business. When I suggest they comment publicly the response is often – they don’t want to legitimise your blog post.

We, newsagents and suppliers, need to be able to disagree and debate publicly for it is only through robust honest discourse that we can have a hope of finding some fair and just common ground.

Newsagents and suppliers don’t have to like each other, we don’t have to be friends. We need to respect each other and be fair in our dealings with each other.

Hiding debate, keeping it confidential, stifling it or restricting it to behind the back carping only serves the person or business engaged in that.

While I don’t care what people think of what I write, hearing about complaints behind my back makes me sad as that very act is a demonstration of a lack of interest in engaging on the topic.

Newsagent suppliers genuinely interested in the future of our channel can show this by welcoming debate with newsagents and engaging in public debate and discussion respectfully, seeking genuine common ground.

News has at least commented here and for that they deserve credit. That they have ignored the core issues and have used their comments to spin the issues is frustrating and does not serve their cause well.

All this leaves me with the question – do newsagency suppliers not want to publicly debate key issues with us?

NOTE: Any supplier is welcome to comment here at any time. Once the first comment is made all future comments are unmoderated.

36 likes
Newsagency challenges

Art of Crochet selling out

Our sales of the reissue of Art of Crochet have been excellent. We’re not alone. I’ve spoken to plenty of newsagents this week who are reporting the same thing – the launch has been excellent and many newsagencies are sold our and scrambling for more stock.

The TV campaign has been for more successful that I or plenty of others expected.

1 likes
partworks

Getting interactive products together

With more and more interactive products coming into our stores we need to place them together as they speak to the same customer. This is what we do as the photo partially shows … I could not get all the interactive products we currently have in the shot.  Grouping everything tells a better story, it says you own this interactive gift space.

1 likes
Gifts

Double standards in News Limited South Australian move

In a statement on May 15, News Limited explained why they are introducing an 80 cent per copy surcharge (Monday to Friday) to the delivery of newspapers to newsagents in selected areas of South Australia.  This statement included:

We aim to continue to deliver newspapers to all areas of South Australia. However, News Limited has been subsidising a number of loss-making routes for many years. For our West Coast and Kangaroo Island routes, we now lose a significant amount of money on every paper we sell. This has become unsustainable and so in order to continue to deliver our newspapers when and where our consumers want them, we have been obliged to add a freight surcharge.

This statement is from a company that has for decades denied newsagents the right to charge an equitable price for the home delivery of newspapers. Despite irrefutable evidence that many newsagents lose money on home delivery, News has, for decades, denied increases in home delivery fees to a level that make them break even let alone profitable.

News has, through its denial of a fair fee for service, forced newsagents to subsidise the home delivery of its products through subsidisation by small business newsagents.

This is the double standard evident in the latest move in SA.  The company says it needs to charge the fee to create for itself a sustainable model.  If it’s good for the company why has it not been good enough for newsagents?

Okay, the T2020 sessions last year said the company got it and that it understood newsagents needed to be profitable. But what’s happened? How quickly is it moving? The best way it could show good faith with distribution newsagents would be to deliver an immediate increase in home delivery fees to an equitable level, so newsagents did not have to subsidise this activity from their own resources.

What are distribution newsagents doing about this?

Thanks to agitation from a local MP in SA this issue is gaining more attention in the media – including coverage by the ABC. I’ve just done a radio interview on SA radio about the topic. Hopefully, this attention will get News more fairly engaged with newsagents.

I know from prior contact that News would prefer me to raise the matters canvassed here with them and not here. I think the issues raised here are issues for all newsagents. They go back decades. The only solution is for News to immediately permit newsagents to do what it is doing itself – to charge a fee that reflects the actual cost to the business of providing a service.

25 likes
newspaper home delivery

Woolworths shows how to quit ink

A colleague sent this photo from their local Woolworths showing ink that was priced at $29.99 now available for $6.00.

Beyond the pleasure for the newsagent of seeing Woolworths not been able to sell the ink within the shelf life, this photo shows Woolworths quitting stock at below cost price, taking action to move dead stock.  I mention this as newsagents often ask me about when to quit non-performing stock and how to go about this.

My approach to quitting stock is to let the customers show what the discount price needs to be to move unwanted stock even if it’s offered for free. Moving stock from the shop becomes more important that it sitting on the shop floor and taking space.  Once we decide to quit an item I want it gone within a week or sooner.

But back to the ink. Woolworths setting a price of $6.00 is interesting. This is easier for shoppers than, say, a % off or even the term – half price.  People looking at  cartridge can see that it’s $6.00 – no doubt about that.

It’s important we have a clear strategy for quitting stock in our newsagencies – including knowing how we will show the discount to our shoppers.

9 likes
Newsagency management

Snakes in the shop

We have been having fun locating this free standing floor unit packed with plush snakes in various places in our newsagency.

This easy to move unit is perfect for displaying these snakes.  We have had the unit at the front of the shop and mid way down – in each situation attracting engagement. People don’t come to us looking for a snake. Interrupting movement in the shop is all about driving impulse purchases.

4 likes
Gifts

Promoting World of Knowledge

The team at one of my stores has kicked up support for the next issue of World of Knowledge.

Thanks to some cool collateral they have gone for a vertical and horizontal promotion in-location. This is situated so that it can be seen by anyone walking down our main magazine aisle.

This type of title is very strong in the UK. I hope we can grow the category here.

3 likes
magazines
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