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Promoting all the Whitney Houston titles

Here is how another of my newsagencies is promoting the range of Whitney Houston related cover stories. This display is located behind the counter.  It’s support Who, Woman’s Day and OK!.  This behind the counter support is in addition to displays with newspapers and in-location for each of the magazine titles.

I could be wrong but I suspect that interest in Whitney will pass quickly given today’s news cycle. That’s why promotion this weekend is vital … it’s the biggest opportunity we have with the story.

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magazines

Promoting Who Whitney Houston tribute issue

Here is how one of my newsagencies is promoting the Who magazine Whitney Houston tribute issue.  Check out the detail in the display – Renee our in house merchandiser extraordinaire (and manager) has picked up on elements in the Who collateral and extended the reach of this beyond the magazine poster … just wonderful.

I think that with this type of very special tribute issue it is important to be respectful of the subject and this display achieves that – while appropriately drawing shopper attention to the opportunity.

I love the cover of Who – the photo and the gold work well together.

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magazines

Promoting Woman’s Day Whitney Houston special

One of my newsagencies is promoting the Woman’s Day Whitney Houston tribute issue on the column at the front of the newsagency facing into the shopping mall.

I love the treatments like the stars included to draw attention to the display and reinforce the special nature of this issue of the magazine.

Going above and beyond for this special issue is a way we newsagents can own the opportunity and the moment. No supermarket would do this.

Sales on the first day have been good.

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magazines

Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited hurts small business newsagents with indecision

News Limited kicked off a project a couple of years ago around the future of newspaper sales and distribution. They presented newsagents with three options: do nothing, consolidate or specialise.  News Limited senior management made it clear that do nothing was NOT an option.

Yesterday, News Limited told newsagents that it was going to do nothing. The promised new newspaper distribution contracts are not coming.

Newsagents have been stressed through the process since the knowledge of a decision by News about such a key part of their business made newsagencies difficult to sell and difficult to access funds for.  Any bank manger will confirm this.

I would go further and note that the earlier decision by News Limited to force changes around newspapers has been a key factor in the considerable decline in the sale of newsagencies over the last two years.

Newsagents were dealt a blow yesterday when the company advised that it is not ready to provide newsagents with the contractual certainty which it had said it would provide. News Limited has opted to do nothing … leaving newsagents with a longer period of uncertainty. Promised new contracts are not coming. News is not saying how long for … things could not be more uncertain.

the VANA blog has more details on the meeting with News Limited yesterday.

This inaction by News Limited means that finance will be harder to obtain for newsagency businesses, newsagencies, especially those with a distribution component, will be harder to sell and capital investment in the distribution side more challenging to complete.

News limited created the uncertainty and the cost to newsagents by launching their review.  They are continuing it by their inaction.  This is not socially responsible nor is it ethical.

Newsagents have very right to be angry.

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Ethics

Valentine’s Day sales surge in the last four days

While Valentine’s Day was a good season through the four weeks leading up to the day, the real sales surge for us occurred in the last four days.  We say a four fold sales surge in the last four days compared to the same period last year, far more than the sales surge for the whole four week season as we measure it.

While gift sales were up, it was cards which worked the best for us with sales up well over double.  Thanks to our in-store hallmark category and segment performance reporting we can see where the sales growth came from at the segment level.  For us, it was Husband and New Love which did particularly well on the previous year.  Oh, and the handcrafted Valentine’s Day lifestyle cards did very well.  Knowing the sales results at this micro level immediately after a major season is a real boost not only to our business performance intelligence but also to how we interact with suppliers.

Data is king (and queen) in this marketplace.  Bring on Easter!

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Newsagency management

Timely advice on magazine returns

Through the course of working with a newsagent over the last few weeks on returns processing questions and observing the handling of newsagent returned product at the Sydney warehouse, a senior customer service representative from Network provided me with the following observations which are valuable for newsagents to take on board:

During my stint in the returns dock I noticed a real problem with returns sent back via logistics providers. Many of these returns were consolidated onto a single sealed pallet with other store’s returns for both G&G and Network.

The pallets are then dumped in either the G&G area or the Network area without being separated. The G&G returns are processed in Victoria so any pallets dumped in their area are taken away (in full) by G&G and never received by Network. This makes these stores look like they simply aren’t returning stock at all and therefore likely to receive reversals of credits.

Newsagents need to ensure their agreement with their courier company is clear and it involves two separate drops, one to G&G and one to Network.

Ultimately the stores are responsible for their stock getting back to the correct place, so they should be asking questions of their service providers. We don’t want these people on our reversal lists, we only want those who are taking advantage of the system…problem is it’s impossible to tell them apart because their returns simply don’t show up in the system.

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magazine distribution

Promoting Frankie magazine

We are promoting the latest issue of frankie magazine with this display on a column seen by shapers as they enter the newsagency.  We are confident of selling out and are chasing more stock – but Gotch says they are out so we have gone to the publisher.

With this display, our in-location display and a growing pool of shoppers purchasing frankie we know we will sell out of stock.  I want to make sure that we have enough stock so we can reach our fullest potential. this is vital for us and for the title.

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magazines

Promoting Madison magazine

We are promoting the latest issue of Madison magazine with this high profile positioning.  We are not a Connections Emerald newsagency in this location and have only received limited collateral so we have gone for showing off the product benefit with the FREE summer tank gift and letting this speak for itself.

Everyone leaving our women’s magazine aisle faces this display.  We also have this issue of Madison in a waterfall disk;lay in its usual location.

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magazines

Woman’s Day and Who Whitney Houston specials

Newsagents in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland (but not FNQ) have an opportunity tomorrow to drive incremental business with the special edition of Woman’s Day covering the passing this week of Whitney Houston.  We have prepared for the opportunity by deciding to place the special issue at the counter, next to newspapers as well as next to the current issue of Woman’s Day in our women’s weeklies section.

Who is out tomorrow nationally with a Whitney Houston feature as well. Friday is the usual on-sale for the title. We will have Who placed next to the Woman’s Day special at the counter and with newspapers as a Whitney fan is likely to purchase both titles.  Who is a strong seller for us and certainly a traffic generator on Friday and the weekend.

Special issues like what we will see tomorrow present newsagents with an opportunity to not only drive incremental sales but to also compete successfully with other retailers of magazines. Supermarkets, petrol outlets and convenience stores all operate off planograms. This limits how they can respond to special issues.  Our newsagency channel does not suffer from this rigidity. We can demonstrate the importance of our channel to suppliers through our actions tomorrow.

FOOTNOTE: Newsagents may need to check with their software company for handling the Woman’s Day special issue as the data will be out of cycle for the usual. Newsagents using newsagency software form my Tower Systems company were emailed advice early this morning.

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magazines

Are SA newsagents being silenced on the potential sale of SA Lotteries

Is the state government and or SA Lotteries pressuring newsagents to not comment publicly about the decision on the State Government of South Australia to privatise SA Lotteries?  I am in Adelaide today and plan to ask some of my newsagent friends about this report at the website of Rob Lucas, Liberal and member of the Legislative Council in the South Australian Parliament:

Strong arm tactics to silence Lotteries protest
Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Shadow Minister for Finance Rob Lucas today accused the Labor Government and the Lotteries Commission of using ‘strong arm tactics’ in trying to silence growing anger at the decision to privatise the Lotteries Commission.

“In recent weeks newsagents in both metropolitan and regional areas have been receiving telephone calls and letters threatening them with the potential loss of their agency agreement to sell lotto products,” Mr Lucas said.

“Even newsagents who have expressed the mildest criticism to the media about the decisions to privatise or to introduce online lotto are being ‘strong armed’ by the Lotteries Commission.

“After receiving telephone calls a number of newsagents have received official warning letters from the Lotteries Commission claiming media comment was in breach of SA Lotteries policy and of their agency agreement with the Lotteries Commission.”

The warning letters quote the Agent Procedure Manual:

“Agents are not authorised to comment to the media with respect to SA Lotteries or its products. Any media requests must be immediately referred to Public Relations.”

“Newsagents and other agencies earn about $29 million per year in commissions on lotteries products, so it is not surprising that these hundreds of small businesses are very angry about Mr Weatherill’s broken promise on privatisation,” Mr Lucas said.

“It is clear the privatisation decision and the future actions of a private sector operator will have a significant impact on the value of their businesses.

“The Liberal Party will now lodge FOI requests to try to establish how many agents have received warnings about speaking to the media.

“Sadly this sort of crackdown is typical of this arrogant Weatherill Government and it is time now for the Government to ‘call the dogs off.’”

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Lotteries

The challenge of the small independent magazine publisher

I have been speaking with the publisher of Spearfishing Downunder magazine and their decision to offer DVDs only to subscribers from the next issue.  They wanted to get more accountable value from their investment in the DVDs but had not thought through the reaction from newsagents to such a valuable subs only offer.

Now before newsagents react, this is a niche publisher with a track record for supporting newsagents. Check out their website and how they guide people interested in the magazine to our businesses – not many publishers invest in driving newsagency traffic in this practical and valuable way.

Like so many other small and independent magazine publishers I speak with, they want to get their title into newsagencies where it will sell out. They make most of their money from sales.  So, sales are vital and oversupply is expensive.  Their DVD move was borne out of frustration with the magazine distribution model, frustration I understand.

I started my conversation with them yesterday following up a situation where one newsagent had been sent 32 copies of the latest issue (#36) of the Spearfishing Downunder magazine. They were down to receive two copies but somehow the Gotch magazine distribution process landed 32 copies in-store.  The newsagent and the publisher suffer as a result of this distribution error.

I mention all of this to share with newsagents how magazine distribution errors and problems can impact the publisher as much as the newsagent. I know that this publisher, and other small and independent publishers, are keen to explore with newsagents ways of more certain sales over the newsagency counter. I have some thoughts on that which I am exploring.

In the meantime, I hope that this post opens for discussion here how we can work with publishers like this to drive sales and address challenges of the magazine distribution model.

In the meantime, I am sure that the publisher is looking at how to work more closely with newsagents.

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magazine distribution

Perfect placement of Psychology Today magazine

I love the placement of the latest of Psychology Today with our wedding magazines. This is pure genus from one of our team members given the wedding theme of the cover story for this issue of Psychology Today.

I love the placement not only because it makes sense but also because it shows they are looking at magazine covers and responding to issue specific opportunities.  We need to see more of this in newsagencies.  Displaying magazines is not a planogram business, not in our businesses at least.  We can make more by being smart at an issue level.

There are some reading this who will groan about the time it takes and that we only make 25%.  Our magazine range is our key point of difference as a channel right now. If we do not leverage this then are letting ourselves down and ignoring our specialisation.

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magazines

Where do newsagents stand on the issue of gay marriage?

I watched Magda Szubanski on The Project on Network Ten last night and could not help but be moved by her coming out as gay, on national TV. Kudos and respect to Magda.

It got me thinking about the broader issue of marriage equality and the high profile campaign by the Get Up! organisation. Reports indicate that the push has the support of the majority of Australians.

Then I started to think about the marriage equality campaign in the context of our newsagency businesses.  Where do we stand on these campaigns?  Hang on, that’s too hard … to expect our newsagency channel to have a unified view. We’re a diverse bunch.

I then started to wonder not so much abut where we stand on a particular issue like marriage equality but how we would feel about being a place where opinions could be gathered, collated and noted.

What if in our businesses we have a facility where locals could vote on an issue or note a comment or connect with an issue in some way, an issue of the day or the week, an issue of community importance – local or national? Wouldn’t that facilitate the relevance of our businesses? Would’t that show our connection with issues others care about, regardless of where they stand?  In think so!

I am not advocating that newsagents take a stand on an issue, rather we give the community to voice their opinion, in a respectful way. Sure there would need to be some moderation and control – but that would be okay given the traffic which could be generated. Traffic is vital to any retail business after all.

Just as The Project on Network Ten is offering a fresh approach to current affairs TV, newsagents could offer a place where locals could share opinions on a topic and where the channel could, somehow (IT maybe), gather those opinions and share them in a way which is meaningful for the greater community.

No major retailer competitor of newsagents would try this. We could be the channel of local voices and local opinions and through this demonstrate a commercially valuable relevance to our communities.

Thanks Magda Szubanski for being the catalyst for these thoughts.

FOOTNOTE: Some reading this will quite reasonably say that with social media people have a range of options for expressing their views.  What I am thinking of is a simple way, in-store, of harvesting opinions and making a visit to your newsagency count for more than buying a card, a lottery ticket or a newspaper. It could reinforce our position as a community hub.

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Newsagency opportunities

Valentine’s Day a hit in newsagency land

Despite the best efforts by a research company to talk Valentine’s Day sales down, I’d thrilled to declare it a raging success – not only in my newsagencies but in other newsagencies too. I spoke to many newsagents yesterday who were busy with sales, most up on 2011 sales.

Greeting cards and gifts were successful. Oh, and to shoppers of all ages too. This really is a season without age boundaries.

I also liked hearing that some shoppers were being utterly practical, buying a magazine or two as a Valentine’s Day gift.  Nice … a magazine will last longer than a bunch of flowers.

Like any retail season, we retailers make our own success. We buy and merchandise for it. Our retail team members serve for it.  Here at the small business newsagency level we do all this with a local flair.  Maybe this is why we’re saying it was a good season. Valentine’s Day is certainly a season for small businesses to shine compared to bigger businesses who don;t know how to be personal or local.

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newsagency marketing

Expanding the bike magazine range and space

We have increased the amount of space we allocate to motor bike and related magazine titles. this is allowing us to better display the titles we have and create room for the new titles on the way for this section. It’s growing in popularity for us and this is set to continue with the imminent arrival of another five or six titles we are not carrying today.

On the titles in the photo, we are two months into a trial with EMG and their packs and, yes, they are selling. they are accounting for part of the growth here.

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magazines

Thinking about magazine adjacencies

It is important to think about the magazine titles you place next to each other from the perspective of those who purchase the titles.  For example, Super Food Ideas and Feast appeal to quite different shoppers. One is a supermarket type food magazine aimed at budget family cooking while the other is a title for lovers of quality food and the food journey.  I don’t think that they sit well next to each other.  By that I mean that there are other titles would work better next to each than having these two titles together.

Adjacencies are all about driving the additional purchase. This is why we try and place titles next to each other which are likely to appeal to the same shopper.

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magazines

Promoting Shop Til You Drop

We are promoting the latest issue of Shop Til you Drop and Shop Til You Drop 4 Kids with this display facing shoppers as they head to the counter.

We have positioned the magazines next to plush which will attract kids and their parents.  Yeah, we thought it was smart placement. The titles are certainly attracting good browser attention from here.

The question we always ask ourselves before creating any display is what’s the best location for driving sales of this product? This is vital as the answer is sometimes not the highest profile display in store.

Remember, displays are about driving your sales and not so much about promoting a brand for recollection outside your newsagency.

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magazines

Tomorrow will be fun

The day after Valentine’s Day is usually fun for a few hours when guys rush in to pick up a card which they should have purchased before Valentine’s Day. There are bound to be one or two who ask for a discount as it’s after the day. Such style! They should pay extra. Anyway, we’ll leave our Valentine’s Day cards up for a day and see how they go. We like the sales … and the laugh.

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Greeting Cards

Frustrating research on Valentine’s Day

On the radio this morning I just heard a report of some new research into Valentine’s Day saying that more women will not purchase a Valentine’s Day gift this year and that the value of gifts purchased will be lower.  seriously? How is such a speculative item news, especially given that we retailers will know by the end of today how tyne season has gone for us.

This type of research frustrates me, especially where it has findings which are contrary to my experience and where the news of the research itself could guide consumer behaviour.

Media outlets should stick to reporting news rather than speculation.

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Ugh!

Tapping into growth in watch interest

Watches have moved from being functional to being fashion items. Indeed, both guys and girls often are found to own multiple watches for different purposes and occasions. The growth in interest in watches can be evidenced by the increase in watch advertising in magazines and on billboards.  I was pleased, therefore, to see the relaunch issue of International Watch magazine arrive last week.  We have this title in a good location with the whole front cover on show.  I expect that we will have no trouble selling the two copies we were allocated.

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magazines

The Valentine’s Day age range

Further to my post below about promoting the Lovatts BIG crossword title with our Valentine’s Day range, check out the two customers I saw shopping our Valentine’s Day card range yesterday afternoon.  This is typical of the age range of Valentine’s Day shoppers we have seen in this shop … retirees down to school kids – shopping side by side.

I love a season which brings in such a diverse range of shoppers.  For some years I made the mistake of thinking it was a season for younger people.  A couple of customers soon set me straight on that score.  While most of our Valentine’s Day customers purchased a card, we have had  terrific success with plush and the other Valentine’s Day themed gifts we have on offer.

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Greeting Cards

Cross category promotion for Valentine’s Day

As we have done for years we have the Valentine’s Day themed BIG crossword title from Lovatts mixed in with our Valentine’s display.  We do this because we see this as a season for all ages and not just the young. A crossword could be the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for a couple who have been married for 30, 30 or more years. The Lovatts crossword title in the display also shows off a more practical side to the season and I expect this would be appreciated by those who says the day is too commercial.

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Newsagency opportunities

A lucky Valentine’s Day shopper

We’re planning on drawing the winner of our JAG watches prize after we close today. One of our customers will win the two watches which we are giving away as part of a Hallmark promotion. I like competitions like this where one of our shoppers is certain to win the prize. This reinforces the value of local business shopping compared to bigger stores where someone somewhere else wins.

We will run six local in-store competitions like our Valentine’s Day JAG watches promotion this year. They will be nicely spaced and provide a reminder of the bonus value of shopping with us. In each case, entry is tied to in-store purchases.

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marketing

Promoting Better Homes and Gardens in location

We are promoting the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine with this in-location display.  This is in addition to the counter display which I mentioned over a week ago. As the second most popular magazine in Australia this bonus support just about always results in sales growth for us.

The in-location display for Better Homes and Gardens is the only one on this side of the aisle – this helps draw attention.

With the TV show back on the air and continuing its strong rating showing this is an ideal magazine for newsagents to regularly and boldly promote.

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magazines
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