I have scheduled a Newsagency of the Future workshop for Townsville for May 29 at 10am. This session will be at the Plaza Hotel. You can book here. It’s free. Participation is open to anyone.
This could be the last session of this round. It’s been a fascinating journey meeting with so many newsagents and engaging in some terrific discussions as we explore being proactive about the future of our businesses and the channel.
We have been promoting the latest issue of Prevention magazine with this aisle end display. The exercise band gift is ideal for the typical Prevention shopper.
This display was one of our Mother’s Day magazine gift displays which we ran in several locations in-store. FYI we sold close to three times our usual magazine on Saturday – most likely due to our targeting of magazines as a good gift for Mother’s Day.
We are also promoting this issue of Prevention with good placement in our women’s health and fitness area.
We are giving the latest issue of Men’s Fitness magazine a run with high profile double half waterfall placement with our men’s fitness and sports titles. We are also promoting it at the counter.
This issue of Men’s Fitness comes with a free copy of a past issue and I can see that this works with given the timelessness of the content of the magazine.
Our sales of sports and fitness titles are up considerably – double digit growth year on year comparing calendar year to date to the same period a year earlier.
One of the themes I have explored in the Newsagency of the Future workshop series over the last couple of months is the opportunity for newsagents to compete with other retailers, even to the poit of the competitor closing down.
When I first broach this opportunity, newsagents, especially those in rural and regional communities, balk … concerned at the possible commercial harm to another local business. I understand that. I grew up in Pakenham back when it had a population of around 2,000.
While we like to think about business colleague, the local families that rely on them and the benefits of co-operation, commercial reality prefers us to focus on our own return, our own survival.
What’s better, two businesses covering costs or one business which is profitable and able to invest and grow? I think the second scenario is better. One business growing is better for the business owner, its employees and the shopper community than two businesses which are treading water – especially in today’s world of economic challenges and considerable change around retail.
This is why newsagents need to look around their area and target other businesses as competitors and go after them through service and product range propositions. Whether they act on this is another thing. Look, assess and make a business decision.
Newsagents have wonderful opportunities for competition, opportunities which could dramatically improve the financial return achieved by any newsagency business. Opportunities for expansion in range of products and services.
The logical opportunities are gifts, toys and books. Other opportunities exist with food, coffee and a range of other areas I won;t go into here because for commercial reasons.
We, each of us, need to look at our businesses beyond the prism of a traditional newsagency. we need to seize opportunities which strengthen our offer, drive our profitability and make our businesses more valuable. Oh, and all along the way, easier to run … yes, having an easy to run business makes it easier to sell. no doubt about that. Newsagents often forget this.
The interactive storybook range from Hallmark has made for a nice and different Mother’s Day gift this Mother’s Day. Mum & Me and a couple of there in the range are a wonderful and memorable gift on a range of levels. I like them and glad we had them on offer. With the season often having a sameness in retail we look for products which can help our range stand out as different – these recordable storybooks work on this level. Nice.
While Mother’s Day sales have been excellent in the lead up to this weekend, those out shopping for Mother’s Day cards and gifts today are the best shoppers since time is against them. We have configured our shops to make the most of the opportunity by making shopping easy and impulse buying tempting. We are also making sure we can tap into the opportunity of shoppers purchasing products for themselves. This the last big, season-driven, retail weekend for a couple of months.
UK card retail chain Clinton Cards has been forced into administration by John Sands parent company American Greetings following their purchase of Clintons debt through a UK subsidiary of American Greetings. American Greetings is #2 US card company behind Hallmark Cards.
With more than 700 stores, the Clintons network is a highly visible player in the greeting card space in the UK. Store closures as a result of the administration action will put even more retail space on the market and add to further job losses in retail – already at a high.
I have looked at Clintons stores a few times over the years, most recently a few weeks back when I was in London for a retail conference. It was clear even then that the group was not travelling well with an odd mix of products.
I wonder if the decision by American Greetings decision is related to their recently released fourth quarter figures showing a small loss.
Card sales in the UK are down more than 4% year on year – against the growth trend we are seeing in Australia.
Newsagencies are well placed to compete with specialist card shops because of the broad base of shopper traffic we achieve. While our product category has its challenges, it offers a fundamental structural strength, particularly in areas such as greeting cards.
Footnote: Clintons had sales of £360m from its 700 or so stores. This data should interest newsagents as it goes to the heart of the challenge of an almost single category retail outlet which relies on major seasons to carry it through the year. I have covered some of this in the recent Newsagency of the Future series, sharing ideas on how newsagents can leverage their base for card sales growth.
Click on the image to see the a larger version of the display created behind the counter promoting the latest One Direction magazine which came out Monday. The Girlfriend One Direction Aussie Tour Issue has been selling well for us. We wanted an in-store display to show off our credentials as the go to One Direction retailer in our region.
Doing this display in Mother’s day week may seem a curious decision to some. We thought about this and made the move to replace our Mother’s Day counter promotion with the 1D promotion for a few reasons:
Sales for this and other One Direction titles continue to be good. Even our posters are selling well despite plenty of retailers in our centre now carrying exactly the same range. Indeed this is why we are actively promoting ourselves as the One Direction hub in the region. Thanks to displays like this at the counter it is working and leading to valuable word of mouth for us.
I am surprised that there are newsagents who still ask what is or who are One Direction when I talk with them.
I’ll be at the VANA awards dinner tonight representing my newsagency software company Tower Systems – a sponsor. We sponsored the Tasmanian awards last weekend in Tasmania. It is frustrating that Tower appears to be the only newsagency software company investing money in the channel in this and other ways. I wish other newsagency software companies would show their support for newsagents. Alternatively, associations could cut off those who do not support them. You can’t have it both ways.
The weekly magazine circulation data for the march quarter released this morning and published by B&T indicate performance of major weeklies within the band published last month in the newsagency sales benchmark report for the sale period.
The worst news of the audit is the collapse in sales for lads mags: Picture, People and Zoo with each reporting declines of more than 20%. This is bad news for the publisher and bad news for newsagents and other retailers.
OK!, BRW and Who reported growth.
I see upside in magazines for newsagents who are proactive with the category and engage with it as a magazine specialist. Okay, not long term growth but certainly for the next couple of years. Magazine range continues to be the most important point of difference we have today.
For one of my newsagencies I am adding at least 50 new titles to my magazine range because I want the sales growth this will bring.
March quarter newspaper circulation numbers are out this morning and they show sales in fee fall for some titles. The Age, The Sydney Morning, The Sun-Herald, The Australian Financial Review (Saturday) all reported double digit declines in circulation. Click here for the full numbers as published by B&T.
While reporting declines for most titles but nowhere near the same extent as the Fairfax reported declines, News Limited would have to be happy with the numbers reported, especially for South Australia where thanks to the migration project the company has more control than ever on home delivery circulation. The challenge here for newsagents is the reduction in real-terms of revenue from newspaper home delivery.
Overall, the sales declines are a sobering reminder for newsagents that newspapers lack upside and many instead continue to deliver a sales decline despite continuing investment in marketing.
I wish the a breakdown between retail and home delivery sales.
A question for newsagents: what’s your plan for a newsagency without newspapers? This is at the heart of my Newsagency of the Future discussion.
A couple of media outlets yesterday reported on the PMP (parent company of magazine distributor Gordon and Gotch) takeover offer. The reports offered on a little more than we know already. here is the key additional information from Business Spectator:
PMP still hasn’t told us who is responsible for the $253 million takeover proposal that it informed us about almost two weeks ago. The Australian Financial Review believes that it’s a Brisbane-based, family-owned company that’s behind the conditional, non-binding proposal, which is being backed by US private equity.
On Gotch, it seems the company is looking at its operations and processes following recent staff losses. Hopefully this leads to a more equitable magazine distribution model for newsagents.
Newsagency businesses own many products which we do not treat any differently to those products which other retailers sell. These products we own, products which we almost have alone, present us with several opportunities.
We can price these products based on a scarcity of competition. We can use the certain traffic generated to sell other items. we can promote our businesses as the go to places for these items.
Road rules books are a good example of the products I am talking about here. They are a product people know newsagents carry. They would know that asking someone in a newsagency about one of these would be far easier than navigating any other retailer.
So, we need to know about all products like the road rules books. We need to embrace the opportunities in terms of sales, margin and allied sales we can achieve. We can do this by:
We bemoan that newsagencies have no products unique to the channel while there is a small coup of products which, in the minds of shoppers, are exclusive to us.
We are finding that it is the simple Mother’s Day gifts, like the Best Mum sign as shown in the photo, which is selling best this Mother’s Day.
Talking with a male shopper earlier this week, he said he liked the Best Mum sign because the message was simple and would let him mum know what he thought every day.
It’s not something I would buy but I am not my customer. It seems that butterflies are in right now.
Mother’s Day 2012 is working a treat for us. Sales are up on 2011, up more than customer traffic. This is an indicator of improved basket depth. We’re happy with that. The next couple of days are set to drive the year on year growth we are achieving for Mother’s Day cards as well as Mother’s Day gifts.
The free cookbook which comes with the latest issue of Delicious magazine obscures the cover shot of a delicious pasta dish.
Free mini cookbooks as bonus gifts appear too frequently with magazines now to have the value they once had. This is why I question the covering of Delicious in this way. Will the free cookbook drive enough of a sales increase? I doubt it.
While I am no magazine publisher I wonder why publishers invest in these gifts when investing in a better base product should drive more consistent business. Maybe there is something I don’t get about publishing and driving consumer demand. I know publishers I speak with say that free gifts drive sales. Maybe so but do all these bonus cookbooks work today as they used to?
Show me a compelling cover any day. That’s my retailer perspective.
My rant aside, we are supporting this issue of Delicious with good full cover showing placement.
Business commentator Paul Wallbank has published a blog post which will interest newsagents looking to sell their business. Paul looks at the challenge of selling a business, like a newsagency, to a purchaser from a younger generation. This is one of several factors which is challenging traditional multiples used in guiding the selling price of newsagency businesses.
I had an opportunity to speak at the GNS national sales conference at Cypress Lakes in the Hunter Valley yesterday. My presentation was a variation on my recent Newsagency of the Future presentation.
That GNS would find time in the conference agenda for its national sales team to consider the challenges and opportunities facing newsagents is terrific.
The stationery department in a newsagency is one over which newsagents have complete control yet which they rarely seize the opportunity to exert that control. The result is often a poorly focused stationery offer which does not make the most of the opportunities newsagents have available to them.
For example, newsagents tend to hang on to under-performing stock for too long because they want to ensure they can serve even infrequent shopper needs. However, they do not price stationery for this slower turn long shelf life product.
Australian considers think newsagents are expensive when it comes to stationery. Most of us aren’t as we compete price-wise against most of the majors. However, if shoppers think we are expensive regardless why not increase our prices? Given perception we won’t lose sales.
I urge newsagents to read a blog post I published on June 20 last year. In The Stationery Challenge for Newsagents I listed twelve actions newsagents could take to get on the front foot for stationery and to own this department.
Every day newsagents do not act on stationery in their businesses is another day lost for the business, newsagent-owned GNS and stationery suppliers … oh, and your customers.
GNS is working to help newsagents and the conference this week is helping to refocus the energies of the sales team and the entire company.
Newsagents should consider placing the new mini Women’s Weekly cookbook from ACP, Diabetic Recipes, next to Diabetic Living from Pacific Magazines. The two work well together given the common topic. Price-wise it’s an easy purchase for shoppers to purchase both.
We have the placement in the photo in our women’s health section. I’d like us to try it elsewhere but space is a challenge right now with Mother’s Day and several other promotions running. Maybe next week as this is a timeless placement.
We are promoting the latest issue of Marie Claire magazine with this placement at the entrance to our main women’s magazines aisle.
The free hair magazine and the TRESemme hair product are nice gifts and are sure to drive interest. This is why it’s important shoppers can see the gifts without having to lift the product out of traditional magazine filtering.
Another reason for promoting the magazine is the coverage. Last night on Australia’s Got Talent on the seven network they gave the magazine an excellent plug thanks to Dannii Minogue being on the cover. I’d expect people to be looking for Marie Claire in-store today.
We are promoting the latest issue of Dolly magazine in its regular location in-store as well as this column-based location which is adjacent to the counter.
We wanted to promote Dolly to shoppers as they enter … especially so that One Direction fans who purchase one of our One Direction titles from the front of the newsagency. Hopefully they will browse Dolly and pick the title up. Leveraging this 1D traffic is crucial.
The free make-up kit is a nice premium gift and is sure to appeal to the Dolly crowd. This is another reason for making the magazine easy to see and shop.
I have noticed a change in lease terms being offered to newsagents in shopping centres by some landlords. A couple of landlords who were being inflexible on rent are now offering at a more competitive rate. Their approach suggests to me that they better understand the typical newsagency operation and have now factored this into their lease pricing model for our type of business.
This change, if it is more than a one or two off, would be a good news indicator for newsagents and would-be newsagents.
The other change I have noticed is that landlords are more interested than ever in what a tenant will bring to the centre in terms of retail offer and new traffic. They are listening to and considering this. They are starting to discern a difference between the various newsagency banner groups as well as the difference between a newsagency unbranded and one being part of a group.
International Traveller magazine launches today. This is from the people behind Australian Traveller magazine.
I urge newsagents to NOT early return International Traveller. Billing of newsagents will be delayed by three months. There is no financial reason for newsagents to early return this title.
Plus the launch issue has a margin of 30%.
The publisher asks three things of newsagents:
The growth in travel is outbound by a huge margin. This magazine appeals to that growth sector. Tourism Australia’s own numbers show that outbound travel is growing at just under 10% per annum and is forecast to continue at this rate for some time.
International Traveller is filled with real practical editorial, inspiration and entertainment for the target readers women 33 to 55.
I love that the publisher pays their way when travelling for reviews. This is important and delivered more objective editorial.
I urge newsagents to get behind the launch issue of International Traveller.
The buzz for Prometheus is the new Ridley Scott film is tremendous so it made sense to us to give the latest issue of Empire magazine time in the spotlight with this placement with our men’s magazines.
This spotlight placement is in addition to placement with our entertainment titles.
I love this simple and free-standing display because it makes the magazine the hero and it does so by separating it from the traditional magazine shelving.
We have repositioned our floor unit promoting Better Homes and Gardens in the lead up to Mother’s Day. We know form past years that is a popular magazine as a Mother’s Day gift. Our placement of Better Homes and Gardens at the front of the newsagency facing shoppers coming in from one of our entrance aisles is sure to drive purchases.
We also have the magazine in its usual location as well as with newspapers.
These floor units are terrific in that they can be easily relocated. Further, they are strong and withstand the challenges of being situated in a newsagency with high foot traffic. The units are something Pacific Magazines does well.
I love the cover of this latest issue of Time magazine. Visually it is very strong. It’s also right on topic with stories these past few weeks out of China. We can’t seem to lift sales for the title out where we are. We don’t have enough traffic for news magazines. That said, we are supporting this issue of Time with placement with newspapers as well as full cover display in the usual location.