We have had Mother’s Day products on display at of each of my newsagencies since right after Easter. Going out early has been good for sales already even though sales increase significantly as the day approaches.
The gift range of the Mother’s Day season is a good opportunity to get shoppers seeing our business in a different light, that we do have a good range of gifts. Our range is broad as the photo from one of the stores shows.
I like the Blooming Expressions flower from Hallmark. It’s a new and quite unique way for someone to share their feelings. It’s something people can give where they want the sentiment shared over and over, beyond when cut flowers would wilt and die.
I first saw this in the US at the start of this year. The stands I saw were almost empty, meaning sales had been good.
Hallmark has made carrying the new product easy with a good display unit that comes with a sampler … this is vital to driving sales.
While Blooming Expressions is a year-round offer, I expect good sales in the lead up to Mother’s Day.
By the time April is done we will have generated sales in excess of $4,000 of One Direction product. Seriously. The Girlfriend one-shot, the IT Girl one shot, One Direction posters. That’s it. It will spike again when tickets for their 2013 concert go on sale next Saturday.
One Direction is a traffic generating sales bonanza.
Thanks boys.
What makes it more special is the the hit product of the One Direction phenomenon is the Girlfriend One Direction one-shot from Pacific Magazines. Newsagents received this two weeks before supermarkets. Regulars here would know how we milked that opportunity.
This 1D phenomenon ought to show an opportunity for newsagents. I see the 1D products as collector products. Plenty of what we sell could be loosely considered to be collector products. Thinking back on the last year or so we have had success with plenty of collector items.
While some newsagents complain that they ‘don’t get the One Direction thing’ I am happy for the passion and money of the fans. What a terrific April! We have had fun while we tested our retail skills and got to bank some excellent results.
What is really interesting to me is that for all the doom and gloom, including some from me, about print, the results I have banked have been thanks to print products.
I am surprised at the number of newsagents who say they read this blog every day yet have not undertaken a magazine relay in the last year. Gob-smacked actually.
Undertaking a complete magazine relay is the single most important action a newsagent can take for the benefit of their business right now. It plays to the key point of difference we have – magazine range.
Why would you not do a relay? If can’t be because you don’t know where to start – check out my advice on how to do a magazine relay.
Come on people. If you consider yourself to be a newsagent get cracking. The only risk is that you could increase your magazine sales.
Our range of One Direction posters has been selling very well in the few days we have had them in stock. While fans are the main customers, parents and grandparents are customers too for birthday and other gifts.
I love the small footprint of the unit and the timeliness of the posters. I can see us easily selling this range twice over.
In a pure commercial sense, One Direction is gold right now.
We have reconfigured the entrance to our magazine aisle and brought in a table of remainder books. This change is part of a series of changes we have made this week to accommodate Mother’s Day products and to generally change up the shopping experience in the newsagency.
The book table has a lower profile than the magazine unit it has temporarily replaced and this in itself provides quite a different feel to the space.
Our book sales are up year on year. this sales growth and the good margin makes books a valuable impulse add-on to a magazine purchase.
We have been promoting the latest issue of Girlfriend magazine in a couple of places this week to make the most of the cosmetic kit which is bagged with the magazine. The cosmetic kit has a look of genuine value, more so than a single item taped to a magazine cover. I say that, of course, as someone who is not the target customer.
We have making sure that the full cover of Girlfriend is on show so that the kit can be seen easily by shoppers. This is vital to driving sales.
A few weeks ago the ANZ Bank whacked retailers, including newsagents, with an increase in EFTPOS fees. Last week they increased small business loan rates as well as home loan rates. Along they way they have continued to charge hefty fees at every opportunity from overdrafts to account fees.
Newsagents who want to reduce the fees they pay to the ANZ could consider switching to Tyro broadband EFTPOS. My own Tower Systems newsagency software and the pos solutions software both link to Tyro. It’s faster than a bank terminal, more accurate, easier to reconcile and often has lower costs.
Chris Ball from Tyro can provide pricing comparisons on 02 8907 1748.
I am disappointed by practices I consider to be ethically questionable by several newsagency suppliers, practices where the suppliers have made promises they have not kept. Practices they knew the newsagents involved would most likely not take legal action on.
These product suppliers, not distributors, have got away with letting newsagents down and we, those of us who have seen their behaviour, have let them get away with it.
I will not name names here because two have threatened this.
If I won’t name names why mention it? Because I am frustrated that we let these people put on a fake smile , sometimes pass out a bit of money to cover up their misbehaviour toward others in our channel.
While it would be impractical to create and police I would love to see an ethical newsagency supplier tick awarded to indicate suppliers who have met and continue to meet criteria set and judged by newsagents , newsagents with no conflict or perception of conflict, newsagents not involved in industry politics.
So what am I doing about this? I have closed my account with two suppliers. With a third it is not that simple because of how their products come to me. I’m working on that.
I note that suppliers I am writing about would vigorously argue that they have done nothing wrong and that they have simply focused on growing their respective businesses. I suspect that some newsagents would agree if presented the facts. I see it differently. I expect people to be true to their word.
The purpose of this blog post is to raise the issue of supplier ethics and to encourage newsagents to consider this when selecting suppliers they support.
I received an email yesterday from Virgin Australia offering a copy of the Weekend Financial Review delivered to my home. The email was simple and the offer very easy to accept – well executed by Virgin and Fairfax, much better than others I have seen where you have to jump through hoops.
As a customer I love newspaper offers like this. It adds excellent value to the relationship I have with Virgin. As a retail newsagent I guess I am frustrated but, hey, deals like this have been done by Fairfax and News for many years. It makes sense that they pursue circulation through corporate partnerships. It’s better than them putting bundles of the newspaper on a street corner and letting people help themselves.
We are promoting the Titanic themed issue of National Geographic, with the hundred-year anniversary a couple of days ago and the TV mini series starting on the Seven Network last night this is a title to have in a good location for driving impulse purchases.
Our key effort is making sure that the whole cover is on show as just the top quarter does not tell the story. Tomorrow, we will have the title with newspapers, between our two dailies, for a couple of days. This usually works a treat.
We are giving crosswords a run at the counter for the next week. While sales growth for the category has been good, we want more – hence this move. It’s very simple as the photo shows.
We are letting the titles speak for themselves as we have found this works best with crosswords. Putting the titles in the way of shoppers is the best way to drive incremental business.
I plan on leaving this display up for a week. We also have some crosswords with our weeklies as well as the usual crossword section. Crosswords account for 8% of our magazine sales.
The Nieman Journalism Lab has published a fascinating article by the respected Ken Doctor pin the future of news publishing. Doctor pulls no punches in assessing where we are at today:
Until recently, the holy grail was summed up in two words: replacement revenue. Now the jig’s up. No matter how fast you shovel digital dirt into the chasm of print loss, you can’t recreate the past; you can’t fill the hole.
I’d agree with that. Here in Australia we have the two main publishers taking quite different approaches. News is putting much of its content beyond paywalls because it thinks people will pay to access it. Fairfax has a mixed paywall model and has a number of sites from which it derives income and can grow this significantly further.
I am surprised we have not seen significant digital-only start ups in the news space here. Seven or ten, for example, leveraging existing resources to provide digital only news outlets focused on their respective target audiences. Okay we have the publishers of Crikey investing in a number of sites. But not much else happening – unless I am missing it.
But I digress from Doctor’s article. It’s a fascinating read on options for news outlets and how they could generate requisite revenue for a future. I’m not aware of the six ideas he covers being pursued here in any big way. If you;re in news publishing it’s certainly worth a read.
From newsagents perspective, all of this is interesting because it shows that we must have a strategy for dealing with dramatic changes to products which have been at our core for decades.
I stayed at the Sofitel Hotel in Brisbane last night, the same hotel as One Direction as I was to discover thanks to the girls outside on the street screaming for the members of the boy band. They were possessed. Seriously. Fanaticism is a very powerful commercial driver … as we have seen with magazine sales.
I like the idea of the small business tax change apparently being considered by the federal government and covered in the weekend’s newspapers. It could be particularly useful to newsagents when undertaking considerable investment in the business, such as a shop fit.
I note that some in big business have complained about the fairness of tax help for small business being funded by big business. Hmm. The TV networks, car makers, many major manufacturers, miners and other big businesses are regularly helped by government with funds taxed from small business.
I was in a newsagency in Brisbane last night talking about magazines and training newsagency team members about best practice. One of the best opportunities we have in this area right now is with the pacific Magazines Barina car giveaway. This is a newsagency exclusive promotion, targeting the top 1,000 newsagencies in the country. If you are part of the promotion, go hard as it’s likely to be exclusive to you in your area.
Click on the image to see a large version of the display I created in a location to be seen by all shoppers in the store.
While the promotion has only been running two days, it looks like a terrific sales driver.
ACP is publishing the next issue of Woman’s Day early, this Friday, with an exclusive interview with Share Warne and Elizabeth Hurley.
This special issue includes: Shane’s first ever magazine interview, never seen before photos (9 pages) of Elizabeth and Shane’s Family, the couple talking about marriage, babies, wedding plans, plastic surgery and more. It also includes part 2 of the Royal Wedding lift out.
Here are the details on when this special issue will be available: NSW/VIC/QLD on Sale Friday 20th of April; SA/WA/FNQ/NT/TAS will remain on sale Monday 23rd of April.
We have will give prime space to this issue. The supporting TV and other promotion should drive bonus traffic this Friday.
We did not achieve the sales we expected from our Facebook inspired display behind the counter and so we refreshed the display to make the message clearer. We think that by only including the thumbs up sign we have something which is more positive and therefore is more likely to drive shopper engagement. Time will tell.
Over the last week I have been helping students from several universities with research projects they are undertaking on the Australian newsagency channel – the challenges we face, how we are dealing with these and what the future holds. On the weekend, after answering some questions about how we think we are perceived by Australian consumers, I caught up with this video from Britain’s Got Talent. Take a look…
What struck me about this, beyond wondering when Brits will look beyond the physical before they judge someone, is what can happen when your actions go way beyond what people expect of you.
The young guy and girl walk on stage and their physical presence sets expectations. Their performance shatters those expectations and forces the audience to see them in a completely different light.
Our history has set consumer expectations about newsagents and newsagency businesses. I think those expectations are out of date with retail today.
For each of us and the newsagency channel collectively to have a future we must shatter consumer expectations. Achieving this starts in our individual businesses. I think we each have to ask ourselves, are we shattering consumer expectations about newsagencies in our own newsagency? If not, why not?
If you think this is too hard then you must ask why you remain in business … and then get on with shattering the expectations of those who shop with you, pas by your front door or for any other reason think about your business.
We need to deliver to Australian consumers the experience delivered by the two young singers in the video.
We have been promoting the Women’s Health Training Guide with the Women’s Health magazine in our women’s aisle. It’s selling well, very well in fact.
These health related titles are in the middle of a bright sales period in part thanks to the weight loss shows on TV. Just about every night there is a show promoting exercise and fitness. I try and leverage this by making sure that we give the health and fitness titles, men’s and women’s, prime positions in their respective areas. The result is good sales growth.
Check out where you have Women’s Health Training Guide. Make sure the full cover is on show. Try it with your weeklies – I am sure that this placement wiklkl drive impulse purchases.
We have been promoting the new Cakebaking title which is part of The Australian Women’s Weekly cookbook series out the front of the newsagency as part of a cookbook promotion. It’s selling well.
Since newsagents have this title available around six weeks before supermarkets it makes sense for us to go strong and promote it outside the usual cookbook section, making the most of the blue ocean opportunity.
Once we move it from the front of the newsagency we will give it a run with our women’s weeklies titles for a week or two.
I’m thrilled with the latest Pacific Magazines in-store sales newsagency specific promotion. With the opportunity for a shopper and a newsagent to each win a Barina, I am certain we will see a sales lift.
We are promoting the competition at the entrance to our busiest magazine aisle and several other locations in-store. We are also promoting the competition as well as at the front of the newsagency to attract traffic.
We are ensuring that all shoppers who visit understand the opportunity and respond by purchasing more magazines.
I love that the marketing collateral from Pacific Magazines lists all of their titles this helps shoppers and newsagency staff. After all, the promoting is about driving sales of Pacific titles and making people aware of the range is key to achieving that.
We have a range of creative activities planned to support this promotion, to keep it fresh beyond the initial launch.
The real prize for us is the customer database made up of entries.
We are promoting the latest issue of Cleo magazine with this terrific looking aisle end display by the team facing the dance floor. We are also supporting Cleo in-location with a half waterfall.
I like Cleo but would like to see more genuinely valuable gifts. Model & Co. gifts are now too regular so they so do not feel as special as some other gifts.
Newsagency software company Tower Systems has agreed acquisition terms with the owners of the NewsPOS newsagency software business.
NewsPOS serves a loyal community of newsagents in Queensland and New South Wales and has offered best-practice low-cost newsagency software for some years.
Under the terms of the transaction, Tower Systems will assume full responsibility for the NewsPOS software and customer service from next week.
“We will maintain the NewsPOS software, price model and support services and not pressure NewsPOS users to switch” commented Tower Systems Managing Director Mark Fletcher. “Our development and help desk teams will be trained in NewsPOS so that we can provide easy access to quality support for as long as is needed.”
“I am thrilled to have found a place where NewsPOS users can continue to use the software without pressure to switch” commented David Groth, the founder of NewsPOS and the force behind the business. “I am looking forward to working with Tower, training their people and introducing them to NewsPOS customers.”
The acquisition by Tower Systems extends its newsagent market share, pushing its newsagent customer numbers to more than 1,800. The next largest newsagency software company is POS Solutions with an estimated 600 newsagents as customers.
The Tower software serves newsagents in the retail management, stock control, theft management, sub agent and newspaper home delivery areas.
With consolidation of newsagency businesses and newsagent suppliers very much in play in 2012, this acquisition is not expected to be the last in the newsagency software space.
Newsagents using the NewsPOS software are welcome to contact David Groth on 0412 079 308 or Mark Fletcher on 0418 321 338. Once the hand over has been completed Tower Systems will email and fax help desk contact details to all NewsPOS customers.
I have completed the analysis for the latest newsagency sakes benchmark study. While the results are not unexpected, they present challenges which newsagents need to sep up to.
As I note in the full newsagency sales benchmark, I am concerned about the widening gap between newsagency businesses in this country. You can’t excuse the gap as being the difference between city and country or between shopping mall and high street. No, the gap I am concerned about is the gap between professional retailer and those who don’t care about their business as much as they should.
Now let’s look at the results by key departments. Note that for some departments I use unit sales and others I use dollar revenue:
Magazines. 18% of newsagents in the study reported unit sales growth with an average growth of 3%.
Of the more than 80% of newsagents reporting a decline in magazine sales, the average decline was 7%.
Looking just at women’s weeklies, the decline is not as great with the average just below 5%. That said, the difference between businesses is more considerable here. More 25% of newsagencies are reporting growth of weeklies of, on average, 4%. Another 25% and reporting a decline, on average, of 11%. This is what I meant before about the difference between newsagencies at either end of the scale.
Elsewhere in the magazine department, craft & hobbies is a stand out, often delivering close to 10% year on year growth. I bet many newsagents don’t realize this, that they have such a traffic generating success story on their hands which they could use to support other parts of the business.
Food & wine had a challenging quarter with the average decline across the board at 7% in unit sales. There must be some titles in trouble in this category.
The category with the worst sales results is children’s with an average of 13%.
NOTE: I have no doubt that newsagents can do better. The start is a full magazine relay. I have the data to prove the value of a few hours shop-floor work. This is vital as magazine range is the only channel-wide point of difference we have.
Greeting cards. 68% of newsagents reported an average of 5% revenue growth. Of those reporting decline, the average decline was 3%. This is an excellent result for cards, a department on which newsagents spend too little time.
Stationery. 63% of newsagents reported an average decline of 4% in stationery revenue. This is not good for the channel. At the other end of the scale, 20% of newsagents reported average growth of 13%. This is further evidence of the problem for the channel. This requires leadership to address. NOTE: I took a moment to look at stationery in some more detail. Pens and paper remain at the core. They usually account for close to 50% of sales. The sales losses are at the fringes, where stock turns are lower. There are some fundamental challenges for newsagents when it comes to stationery. The data shows that we are all over the place – some have a great story while others do not. This confuses shoppers and ensures they cannot have a consistent stationery experience in a newsagency.
Ink. 48% of stores participating in the study separate ink sales data allowing further analysis. 59% of stores reported ink revenue growth with 6% the average increase. Of those reporting decline, the average decline was 3%. Ink continues to be an important product category given the habit nature of the product. Win an ink customer on price and or service and you have them for life.
Gifts. 53% of the stores in this study have a gift department and reported on this separately. 70% of these reported an average sales increase of 8% in gift revenue. Of those reporting a decline the average was a concerning 12%.Gifts are a challenge in that they require considerable attention. We have to create an offer that respects the core nature of our business. If we go too far then we risk magazine, newspaper, stationery and lottery business.
Newspapers. 51% of newsagents reported a decline in newspaper sales. The average decline was 1%. The average increase was 2%.
In the last study it was capital country newsagencies which were most challenged. In this study the differences based on geography are not as strong. That said, there is no doubt that shopping centre newsagencies remain vulnerable. This speaks to the fickle nature of shopping centre traffic performance. While am no economist it could be that they are the first to experience trends.
You can download the full newsagency sales benchmark here.