AFR reports ACP sale proceeding
The Australian Financial Review reports that the sale of ACP to Bauer is proceeding reporting that the chances of getting the deal done are “50/50”.
WHO discounted 60%
I am disheartened to see WHO being discounted by 60% off the cover price to $99 for 51 issues delivered to your home or office for just $99.
While I understand subscriptions play a role in the magazine distribution model, I see no reason to make one channel so much cheaper than another, especially a channel that invests time, real estate and opportunity in promoting brands so ready to launch steep discounts.
Great to catch up with Tasmanian newsagents
I have been fortunate to spend the last two days in Tasmania, in Launceston and Hobart, presenting at the ANF mini conference and participating in the GNS organised trade displays.
The photo does not do the trade display justice. There were many more suppliers in attendance, bringing to Tasmania a flavour of the mainland Market Fairs.
Our channel has some strong newsagents in Tasmania, people embracing change. It also has some old school newsagents who need to create their own future. The day in Hobart and Thursday in Launceston brought together some excellent product opportunities, business management opportunities and some good networking.
I am grateful to GNS and the ANF for being included in the events.
The same magazine – different titles and prices
Newsagents are understandably confused about Inside Fitness magazine and Inside Fitness Australia magazines. Despite the different names, prices and distributors, they are essentially the same magazine.
Click on the photo and see a page from each of the magazines next to each other.
Inside Fitness Australia is distributed by Network Services and sells for $7.95. Inside Fitness (a US publication) is distributed by Gordon & Gotch and sells for $14.95. But the content is more or less the same. It looks like an Australian publisher has purchased the content from the US publisher. In such a case the distribution of the US title needs to be sorted out to avoid shoppers complaining to newsagents that they are ripping them off with the more expensive title.
I am grateful to a colleague newsagent for drawing this to my attention.
The bookazine / magbook opportunity
I have written recently about the success we are having with magbooks – nice incremental business, selling out of some excellent titles.
Check out the photo I saw in an Airport store in Melbourne recently. Just terrific. Professional and compelling. This display is what we aspire to in more stores for the bookazine / magbook products. We are working with Network on these titles.
I like the fresh pitch of these – they show the products in a non-traditional light.
Preparing advice on T2020
With several newsagents successfully building distribution businesses of a scale equal to that foreshadowed by News Limited’s T2020 plans, there is good knowledge out in the marketplace to help newsagents.
My newsagency software company Tower Systems has been directly involved many of these amalgamations. I have asked the Tower team to prepare advice on the practicalities of amalgamating newspaper distribution territories, particularly the management of the data involved and how this is done to serve the needs of News and the needs of the new distribution business.
I hope to publish something in the next few days to quell the in some quarters that what News is asking of newsagents is not technically possible. It is possible. Others have done it already and I’ll explain how.
Surprise discount for magazine launch
ACP has send out subscription offers for Women’s Fitness magazine in advance of the launch of the title early next month.
I can’t recall a subscription discount of this quantum in advance of the launch of a title. I’d prefer to win regular shoppers in retail before chasing the subscription deals for a new magazine title but that’s me.
The flyer (click on the image for more detail) was sent by ACP to subscribers of at least one other title recently.
Has if magazine missed an opportunity?
The Kath and Kinderella cover story on the current issue of if magazine should generate additional browsing of this niche title. The new Kath and Kim film is getting extraordinary media coverage and this is why I’d expect people to be interested in the cover story even though they may not have heard of if before. This is why I am surprised we did not get any extra copies. I appreciate every copy costs but having the first cover story about the home grown movie would be an opportunity for promotion to a wider audience.
Promoting Gourmet Traveller
We have been promoting the latest issue of Gourmet Traveller magazine with this aisle end display at the food end of our women’s magazine aisle.
With a couple of copies to go we’re set to sell out.
Connecting with magazine fans
Checkout the Girlfriend magazine Twitter feed and see the buzz they create prior to the launch of the next issue (out today). Reading the posts and feedback you get a feel for a magazine very engaged with its readers. Knowing about this can help us understand the articles of particular interest and to tap into reader passion.
I appreciate we don’t all have time for this type of research … but a few minutes spent online can be illuminating.
Lexmark out of inkjet printer manufacture
Lexmark has announced they are ditching the manufacture of inkjet printers. While this will not kill cartridge sales, it means non upside – not Lexmark ink sales are that strong for newsagents anyway. The Sydney Morning Herald has the story.
More discounted magazines at the airport
Travellers through the Qantas terminal of Sydney airport can get $5 off selected magazines if they purchase their food at a participating food vendor. There is already the ACP buy 3 for $10 deal.
I still think the best magazine promotion is the Magazine Club Card I launched in mid 2004. Buy 11 magazines over 8 weeks and your 12th magazine is free up to the value of $10. This drives shopper loyalty to the business and engagement with the whole of the category. The discount is earned by above-average behaviour.
PMP full year results
Newsagency may find the results for PMP, the owners of Gordon and Gotch, interesting. Gotch revenue for the year was down 13.3% at $358.5M with an EBIT of $1M. They are reporting a 9.8% decline in magazine volume for the year. The outlook for the year is a further decline in magazine volumes. The company is focused on more cost reduction.
Western Australian retailers dealing with Sunday trading
Newsagents I spoke with in Perth on Monday has mixed reviews of Sunday trading which started this past weekend in Western Australia. Some were thrilled with the sales while others were concerned that labour costs would see it loss-making day for them.
While I do wish there was a solution to paying double time on Sundays (we should support Nick Xenophon’s private member’s bill on this) we need to structure our businesses for success.
Sundays are an opportunity, especially in shopping centres and on busy high streets as they bring traffic we would otherwise not see.
- Greet your customers. With so many new faces on a Sunday you need to given them a memorable (in a good way) customer service experience.
- Sunday deals. Consider Sunday only promotions. This shows the business as offering value and leverages the bonus traffic. Promote these outside your business.
- Schedule Sunday work. Ensure there is work for your team if the shop is not busy. Bring forward some weekday work to Sundays.
- Look at your data. Once you have some Sundays under your belt delve into your data and understand what’s different about this day. I often see opportunities not available on other days of the week.
In any market with Sunday trading small and independent retailers like newsagents need to suck it up and embrace the opportunity.
106 2013 One Direction calendars and counting
We have sold 106 of the 2013 One Direction calendars over the last few weeks. At $24.99 each. It helped that we were the only retailer in our region with the calendar for the first few weeks.
We are confident of selling between 200 and 300 of these calendars this calendar season.
The 1D calendar and related products make our newsagency appealing to a young and valuable demographic – and those who buy for them.
Tapping into the 1D fan base is part of our own strategy for building our own newsagency of the future. It’s a strategy focused on several age groups and built around a commitment to brands.
While the $2,648 we have banked so far from the 1D calendar is not enough to retire off, it is welcome revenue too many others have not pursued.
Australian Country a good anchor for country section
The latest issue of Australian Country magazine from Universal Magazines is the anchor title for our country section at the moment. The cover is clean, reaching outside the country category to appeal to other shoppers. I urge newsagents to seek out the title and ensure they are using it as an anchor title. Sales of country titles are surging for us – in part because we have devoted specific space to them close to the busy area of our women’s magazine aisle.
Promoting Woman’s Day bonus offer
We are promoting the Woman’s Day recipes+ bonus offer with promotion in several locations including this one . It’s a good value offer. recipes+ inside Woman’s Day makes the overall package a bit physically unstable. We are countering this by keeping pockets full.
Changes in TV should motivate newsagents to embrace change
There was a time when owning a TV broadcast licence was a licence to print money. As if the many cable competitors and the downloading of TV shows were not enough competition for free to air, the networks are now faced with video on demand.
Check out the story at gigaom about the re-launch of Arrested Development (a brilliant sitcom) on the Netflix VOD platform. This and similar moves with other shows is developing VOD as a platform to compete with the traditional distribution channel.
The reminder for me is that none of us can run our businesses expecting traditional supply channels to work for us in the future. How people buy much of what we sell is changing rapidly … as is happening in TV.
Lotterywest drives community connection for newsagents
It was an honour to speak at the Lotterywest Business Adventure 2012 conference in Perth yesterday. This full day business development event attended by 160 retailers, mainly newsagents, was packed with practical advice and help for building stronger and more relvant retailers.
I was taken by the unique community focus of the Lotterywest pitch. From the official opening by WA Premier Colin Barnett (also minister responsible for Lotterywest) through to other speakers from Lotterywest, the connection with the community was front and centre.
In making grants totalling more than $100 million a year to community groups, Lotterywest encourages retailers to pitch that buying a lottery ticket is helping the community. This fits with the Unique Selling Proposition of many newsagents.
From the home page of the Lotterywest website (click on the image) to in-store collateral to the TV campaigns, Lotterywest actively promotes the important community work being done thanks to the grants it makes of money for community groups.
It’s a powerful message, one that it important to WA newsagents. With the Barnett government committed to continued government ownership of Lotterywest it is a message sure to continue for years to come.
If I was a WA newsagent, I’d build my community connection message around and including this.
The frankie opportunity
As the audits continue to show, frankie is an important magazine for newsagents. We promote it several times through the on-sale and for the rest of the time we have three pockets of the title in our women’s magazine aisle as shown in the photo. Below this we have four more pockets of frankie. It’s very noticeable to anyone entering the aisle.
When we promote the magazine we do it in a billboard fashion on the aisle end as well as tactically at the counter or elsewhere.
Promoting How Your Body Works
Check out the display the creative team at one of my newsagencies has put up for How Your Body Works. It’s bold, eye catching and sure to help us make the most we can from the launch of this partwork.
I love how the stock has been used to create a background for the poster. This is smart visual merchandising.
It’s at the front of the shop attracting browsers from the mall.
Moshi Monster central
Bringing multiple Moshi Moster products together like this continues to be a smart move, driving purchases of multiple products. We are finding this small Moshi Monster display working well at the ticket sales counter. I’d urge newsagents to group Moshi products together.
Timely Internet Security magbook
We are promoting the just released Internet Security magbook with newspapers as well as with our tech magazines.
I suspect the newspaper location will work well as it’s the type of title people with an interest in online security will purchase on impulse. This is not a title people will visit seeking out – hence our placement in a high traffic impulse location.
We need more titles like this, titles that reinforce magazine range as a point of difference. Newsagents will reject special interest titles like this at their peril.
Thanks for feedback on Newsagency of the Future
The Newsagency of the Future video has been up at YouTube for 7 days and it has been viewed more than 370 times. This is way more than I expected. I am thrilled with the feedback from people – newsagents, suppliers and others. There have been plenty of questions from newsagents about their specific situations. I have also received suggestions on other areas to cover.
I have to say I was unsure about taping the the Newsagency of the Future as each session is different, an evolution from the one before. This time I have to stay more on script. But it appears to work. I am thinking about breaking the discussion of the future up into action points and making a video about each.
To see the Newsagency of the Future video click on this link.
We need to talk about magazine subscriptions
Newsagents need to develop a position on the issue of magazine subscriptions.
Of particular concern to me is subscriptions of fringe titles on which we rely to reflect our key point of difference and subscriptions at 40% or more off cover price.
Check out the latest promotion through Groupon to Australians earlier this week pitching magazine titles available through the Zinio digital platform.
Newsagents invest considerably in promoting mastheads and making magazines browsable by shoppers. This investment on our part helps make it possible for publishers to promote subscription offers and in particular digital subscription offers.
As the market changes, especially for titles with a strong digital subscription push, we need to consider our pricing model. I’d see this applying to titles offering steep (>40%) discounts for subscription and digital subscription commitments.
Our shelves and our labour are our resources to manage and price.