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

Good to see SA & WA Lotteries assist newsagents to ANF Conference

It was terrific to hear that WA Lotteries and SA Lotteries each offered grants of $1,000 to help newsagents fund attending the ANF Conference in Melbourne this week.  They offered more $1,000 grants than were taken up unfortunately.  It’s not often that we see newsagency suppliers offering such practical financial assistance for newsagents to participate in industry events.

Kudos to both organisations for providing such practical assistance and encouragement to newsagents for professional development.

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Newsagency opportunities

Promoting healthy living magazines at the counter

mags-heealthy-counter.JPGWe are promoting a range of health related magazine titles at the counter this week.  We are using the popular Diabetic Living to draw attention to the display – but we have a good range of titles on offer here.   Up behind the counter, at eye level, we still have Annette Sym’s range of Symply Too Good To Be True cookbooks.  Both displays support each other in terms of the healthy lifestyle theme.

Both displays will come down at the end of the week.  I am sure that the effort will have been worth it in terms of sales.

We have to get magazines out from the traditional magazine department and into the store if we are to lift sales from average for everyone else.  With supermarkets and others reinventing their approach to magazines, we need to be more engaged as a channel.

This move we made at the counter for health related titles was pretty simple.  It;s working for us.  I’d encourage all newsagent to try it.

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magazines

Promoting Home Beautiful magazine

mag-homeb-aug11.JPGWe have been promoting the latest issue of Home Beautiful magazine with this simple in-location display.  We’ll leave the display up for two weeks depending on stock availability.  Home Beautiful is one of those magazine titles which sells through the on-sale and not just in the first few days … making on-going promotion worthwhile.

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magazines

Father’s Day Book Sale off to a great start

booksale-aug11.JPGOur 2011 Father’s Day Book Sale has driven excellent sales in the first few days.  The table is at the front of the newsagency, facing into the shopping mall.  On the front of the display is a selection of books targeting the Father’s Day shopper.  However, the bulk of the display is books for other occasions.  The range covers books for children, men, women, food, hobbyists … its very broad.

The table is tidied a couple of times each day and the feature displays refreshed each week.

We have been doing Father’s Day book sales in my newsagencies for years now.  Next to Easter, it is the best book sale season for us.  Not so much because of Father’s Day but because people are starting to buy for Christmas.

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Book retailing

Borders closure benefits newsagencies

One of my newsagencies is in a centre which used to boast a Borders store. My research suggests that the closure of Borders has added between $150 and $200 a day to our sales. This is across several categories with magazines the core beneficiary.

We positioned ourselves to make the most of the opportunity by starting some months ago by enhancing the range of magazines we carry.  This project continues thanks in part to the arrival of IPS.

We have not made any major move into books because we do not have the space – this newsagency is just 135 square metres. So, we continue with our commitment to remainder books and seasonal book sales.  We enjoy good success from that.

While it’s not ideal to profit from someone else’s misery, I’m happy to have the opportunity to leverage good news from the closure of Borders.

I’d encourage other newsagents near a now closed Borders store to seek out similar opportunities.

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Book retailing

Using The Block and Better Homes and Gardens to drive impulse purchases

mags-impuulse-block.JPGIn addition to the placement out the front of the newsagency, acing into the mall, we have The Block and Better Homes and Gardens placed at the counter, between our two main newspapers.

My reasoning behind this is that there will be some shoppers who did not see the titles at the entrance yet who will purchase either or both titles on impulse.  Thanks to this simple placement at the counter we have achieved additional sales of both titles.  Very nice indeed.

We can act in an average way with magazines, high profile brands especially, and achieve average results.  By acting as  a specialist, we can achieve above average results.  This is what we need to to if we are to make the most of magazine opportunities especially.

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magazines

Using strong magazine brands to attract shoppers

mags-storeimpulse.JPGThis is the impulse purchase placement we had at the left side of the entrance to one of my newsagencies over the weekend.  We were using the Better Homes and Gardens brand along with The Block brand to draw attention to other products.

Better Homes and Gardens always works well when placed in this location, especially on weekends – it attracts browsers and plenty of these convert to shoppers.  With The Block finale on TV this weekend it made sense to cap the ACP impulse stand with this one-shot title – we have been able to get more stock after selling out.

I know from feedback that newsagents come here looking for ideas.  This is a good one.  Choose popular brand titles and use them at the front of your business to attract shoppers.  This tactical placement is far more valuable and beneficial than sticking magazine posters on your window. Dress the front of your shop for the weekend.  leverage of what is popular.

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magazines

Good start to GNS Market Fair in Melbourne

The first day of the GNS Market Fair in Melbourne yesterday was terrific.  While there will be some who say the numbers were down, my experience was that the quality and level of engagement was up.

I floated between the Tower Systems and newsXpress stands and these were located across from the VANA stand.  You can tell a lot about a newsagency trade show by the business of the association stand.  The VANA stand was constantly busy.  I know that both Tower and newsXpress had a good first day too.

Newsagents attending the GNS Market Fair yesterday were upbeat … I saw lots of smiles.

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Newsagency management

Marketing tip: What is the upside of your newsagency?

People considering the purchase of any business (including a newsagency) look at, among other things, the upside opportunity for the business. While they will often have their own view of the upside, they also often ask the vendor what upside they see.  Having an answer is important.

This is a good question for newsagents to consider: What is the upside for your newsagency?

Your answer to this question could be vital in building the confidence and interest of a prospective purchaser.

Beyond that, however, your answer to this most important of questions could open your eyes to opportunities which have need been top of mind for you. I say this because the next logical question is – if these are genuine upside opportunities for the future, why not engage with them in your newsagency now?

Think about it. Take your time. Let the question – What is the upside for your newsagency? – rest with you for a few days and nights. Make notes of every idea which comes to you. Talk to others and make notes of their comments.   Think about this question as if the answer is critical to you being able to sell your newsagency, that your answer will unlock excitement in your prospective buyer. It could / should unlock excitement for you on things you can do in your business.

When you have an answer, which is hopefully several answers, you then have an opportunity to think about the next question and consider whether you act on any of these opportunities yourself.

I can think of plenty of general upside opportunities for newsagents and several for my own businesses. Each newsagent is in their own unique situation, facing unique challenges and certain to have unique upside opportunities.

What is the upside for your newsagency?

PS.  I have called this a marketing tip because I am hoping that by thinking about your business through a different prism you discover opportunities which you can leverage for success in the short to medium term.  One way to respond to an upside opportunity is to do it, make the change, innovate … in pursuit of the upside.

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marketing tip

Promoting magazines for Father’s Day

mags-dad.JPGWe have started co-locating some magazines to the front of the newsagency, near Father’s Day cards and gifts to pitch them as gifts for Father’s Day. We plan a more complete and broader range display closer to the day. These few titles are just a start. In such a value conscious marketplace, magazines make for a good gift.

In previous years we have created impulse purchase stands around the Father’s Day opportunity. They have worked well. I think they will work even better this year as magazines present an excellent gift giving opportunity for newsagents.

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magazines

Government warning to newsagents about pornographic magazines

cls.JPGI received a letter this week from the Classification Branch of the Attorney-General’s Department outlining the regulations relating to selling classified material, adult material.  The letter goes on to talk about P & O Distributors, saying that they have distributed unclassified material to retailers.  It documents a risk of prosecution and a fine of up to $28,688 or imprisonment for 2 years for breaching the law.  Click on the image to read a copy of the letter.

While I have never dealt with P & O Distributors I certainly recall seeing product packaged like the example included with this letter from the Government in some fuel over the years.I think this is the more likely venue for unclassified material than newsagencies.

The letter points newsagents to the classification website for more information.  It also came with a list of titles from P & O Distributors and a copy of a cover of one of their titles.

At first I thought this may have been some form of scam but upon checking I found it to be genuine.

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magazine distribution

Each New Idea sale to raise money for Daffodil Day

new-idea-daffodil.jpgEach copy of New Idea sold next week raises ten cents for the Daffodil Day campaign being run by the Cancer Council. This is an important campaign, raising much needed funds. The folks at New Idea have produced an A3 poster and an 5 flyer for newsagents to use in promoting this. I am promoting the fund raising campaign now, in advance of Monday’s on-sale. I’d encourage other newsagents to download, print and use this collateral now.

Click here for the A3 poster.

Click here for the A5 flyer.

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magazines

Making the most of Annette Sym’s Take 5 coverage

symply-t5.JPGThe terrific coverage again this week for Annette Sym’s Symply Too Good To Be True cookbooks is a key reason for newsagents to pro mote these titles in a high profile location. It’s why there was a supply increase – to enable us to leverage the additional media coverage for Annette Sym and her healthy eating books.

We are still running our behind the counter promotion and promoting Take 5 in a good location to connect the two.

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magazines

Background to the Google purchase of Motorola Mobility

Check out this PBS Newshour video which puts the Google US$12.5B purchase of Motorola Mobility this week into context.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Google is building its channel, gaining a stronger direct to the user relationship … just as Apple has done successfully much to the frustration of content makers such as book, magazine and music publishers and film producers.

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Media disruption

Newsagent early returns Australian Traveller, orders more stock

mag-traveller-weekly.JPGA QLD newsagent received 11 copies of the latest issue of Australian Traveller magazine.  They early returned 8 copies.  They subsequently ordered four more copies because the issue had sold well.  They should never have early returned the magazine, not right away at least.  Three issues prior they sold 10 copies.  While sales in their store are volatile, they had the evidence to know that early returning would likely lose them sales.  At the very least they had not given this issue an opportunity to show what it could do.  Early returning was not justified.

How do I know all this? … from a discussion on Twitter between the newsagency and publisher.

Some newsagents make ill-considered decisions on early returns which feed a self fulfilling prophecy and drives volatile sales.

A smart magazine manager would not have handled Australian Traveller in this way.  I appreciate it may come across as harsh to say this about another newsagent. If we are to improve we have to call a spade a spade.  It is dumb to take action which costs sales.

On Australian Traveller: promote it with your weeklies or women’s magazines as more women make travel decisions than men.  For us, it was worked here as well as at the counter.

Of course, early returns are driven by magazine distributor behaviour around other titles.  It’s no excuse, however, if we consider ourselves magazine specialists.

It’s not just Australian Traveller.  Early returns is costing newsagents thousands of dollars in sales every week, maybe tens of thousands of dollars.

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magazine distribution

Home delivery fee increase for The Age

Fairfax has granted Victorian newsagents a delivery fee increase from September 5.  The increase is 4.5% for subscription deliveries and up to 66.7% for newsagent direct (i.e. not subscription) deliveries.  Given the continued heavy push by Fairfax for subscription deliveries, the 4.5% increase is what newsagents will see for much of their delivery business.

In a genuine open and competitive marketplace, publishers would not control the fee newsagents can charge.   Publishers only want a deregulated marketplace for the bits which interest them.

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newspaper home delivery

A customer service lesson from Vietnam

I have been in Vietnam this week looking at retail and customer service in general as part of an Asian retail study tour. A couple of things stand out for me from what I have seen in several cities: customer service and cheerfulness.

The attentiveness of retail and service business employees is excellent. Not push. Just there with help and assistance in retail and in cafes. Just wonderful. I have been left feeling that they really do appreciate my business, that serving me is not a chore.

Underlying the service is a cheerfulness among retail and service business team members. It’s like they really love their jobs. It made me wonder whether we are breeding workers in in Australia who work in retail not because it’s a career but because it’s a means to an end – education, travel and the like.

Maybe I am wrong but I get a feeling that I have encountered more career retailers here in Vietnam than I encounter in retail in Australia. Sure there are career back room retailers but what about the shop floor. What is our mix of casual versus full time today compared to, say ten years ago.

One of the best books I read about working in retail and service was How Starbucks Saved My Life. I have written about it before. Sure it is a little, well, American, in parts. However, this book nails what we need in retail – employees who love their jobs because it is their choice to get up in the morning and take the job.

It’s what I have seen in my brief time in Vietnam, people who love their job and reflect this in the service they provide.

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Customer Service

Father’s Day 2011 up and selling

fathers-knoxfront.JPGWe are promoting Father’s Day with this display at the front of one of my newsagencies – facing out into the shopping mall.

The display is already working at attracting passers-by from the shopping mall into the newsagency. We are already seeing good sales of Father’s Day gifts and Father’s Day cards.

The signs are good a good season.

I love this display because it makes good use of the height of the entrance to the newsagency and because it pitches cards and gifts together. It’s bold and big and this pitches us well against other nearby retailers.

We are chasing growth in Father’s Day cards and gifts again this year over last year. I think that newsagents have an excellent opportunity with this season despite the doom and gloom in the media about retail. We have purchased gifts with an eye to value.

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Gifts

Another Art of Knitting display

mags-knit.JPGCheck out the display for launch issue of The Art of Knitting partwork at another of my newsagencies.  I love the textured engagement with the title by using wool.  It makes for a different magazine display.  The result is what you want from a display like this – excellent sales.  Click on the image for a much larger version of the photo – it’s worth it.

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magazines

The Age – Newspaper of the Year

Congratulations to the folks at The Age for winning Newspaper of the Year at the PANPA Awards tonight.  Congratulations also to the Gladstone Observer, Sunshine Coast Daily and the St George & Southern Shire Leader for taking out awards.

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Newspapers

Watch for the new look Coles supermarket

Early next month, Coles opens what I am told is their most innovative supermarket yet. At Burwood East, at the revamped K-Mart centre, Coles is opening the latest in their new concept supermarkets. I’d urge newsagent to check it out. I will be.

The Coles transformation is extraordinary.

It begs the question, how are we transforming? This is an unfair questions for small independent retailers. But we should ask it nevertheless. How are we transforming?

Here are my personal thoughts reflected in my shopping centre based businesses as space and other opportunities permit:

  • Size. I target no more than 150 sq m. More is not justified.
  • Magazines. No more than 900 titles. No magazine specific fixtures.
  • Cards. Located at the entrance. Preferably on the left.
  • Stationery. No more than $15,000 in stock weight.
  • Ink. $8,000 in stock weight.
  • Counter. Very limited candy range.
  • Fixtures. Every fixture to be moveable.

In the meantime, if you’re in Victoria, get to Coles east Burwood when it opens in early September.

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Newsagency challenges
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