Check out this photo of a busy newsagency / kiosk in Kuala Lumpur sent to me by a regular visitor to this blog. Talk about a different way of displaying magazines. Maybe this is the type of display some newsagencies will migrate to as we try and cut the overhead cost of carrying such a broad range of magazines … especially those of us in shopping centres where just the floorspace of our magazine department costs $125,000 or more a year.
Further to the recent discussion here about books, book sales are up by more than 20% year on year in my newsagencies. I think that the market for remainder books will be strong for some years to come. But it will not last forever. As we have seen with music, the refinement of content accessibility devices will drive shoppers to digital content. There is nothing we can or should try at the retail end to stop this. Our best approach is to make the most of today’s opportunity and to plan to make the most of what will happen tomorrow.
In the meantime, I am thrilled with a 20% increase in book sales and with being able to tap into more revenue from digital platforms.
We are promoting the latest issue of Cosmopolitan magazine with this display at the entrance to our main magazine aisle. We also have a pocket of Cosmo in the impulse unit out the front of the newsagency as well as a couple of pockets with women’s fashion titles. This placement gives the title coverage at three key yet quite separate touch points in the business.
Many of the street corners of Auckland have a newspaper vendor just like the one in the photo … located outside the Westfield Shopping Centre down by the harbor. They all look the same: well sign-posted, accessible, an easy way of buying a newspaper.
Passing so these newspaper stands reminded me that we have nothing like this (that I can think of at least) back in Australia.
They must work, otherwise why keep them there, the cost would be too great.
I am aware of a greenfield opportunity in Victoria. If you know of someone looking to create a new retail only newsagency or someone interested in buying a newsagency please get in touch with me by email at mark@towersystems.com.au or phone 0418 321 338. While I am in New Zealand until tomorrow morning my phone diverts.
The new Coles retail formats which I first wrote about around two years are delivering the retail giant double digit growth according to a report in The Australian Financial Review on Monday (page 56).
This is an excellent result for a major format change.
There was a time when newsagents implementing a new shop fit could expect similar growth. The numbers are not so strong today because our shop fits are not delivering change equal in scope to that currently being implemented across Coles.
Now before newsagency shopfitters get angry, I think that the problem with our shop-fit changes is that we newsagents are not being bold enough in our direction to designers.
The change in revenue we achieve is a measure of the change we deliver in the design.
With shopping centre rents increasing at least 5% a year, a major re-fit needs to deliver at least 10% to justify the investment.
If you have not seen one of the new format Coles store I urge you to do so.
We are promoting the launch issue of Feast magazine with this display on one of our gift tables which faces shoppers as they enter the newsagency.
We also have Feast with our food magazines as well as a pocket located with our weeklies.
We have a plan which goes beyond the launch week to support the title through the on-sale to help connect shoppers with Feast and our business. This plan includes a more ‘set’ display which connects with the title itself.
New Australian magazine titles are good for business. Yes, I understand the frustration expressed by some here yesterday about the subscription offer in the launch issue of Feast. I accept that subscriptions play an important role in the circulation mix of many magazine. A healthy subscription base helps publishers in selling advertising and advertising is what helps keep these titles afloat and coming into our shops.
What I don’t want to see is the US style subscription discounting of between 50% and 75%. That would be a killer to retail. Australian publishers I speak with understand that.
Our competitors are petrol, convenience and supermarkets. Not subscriptions.
I’d urge newsagents to get behind Feast. Let’s lock shoppers into the newsagency channel for this title.
Here’s what we with New Idea and Woman’s Day yesterday to promote their Cadel Evans cover stories. In addition to this impulse purchase driving placement with newspapers, we also had the titles on show facing into the shopping mall, on our in-store weeklies impulse unit and in their usual location.
It’s great to see both magazines running positive stories. While these may not sell as much as scandal, customers certainly comment on feel good stories. They are commenting on Cadel’s win since we claim him as Victorian.
We have been promoting the latest issue of Burke’s Backyard with this display facing onto the dance floor since the on sale. While we have just moved the display you can see in the photo, we are still actively supporting the title with a beacon branding position (prime position) in with garden titles in our magazine department. During the rest of the on-sale we will also maintain a pocket with weeklies given that many magazine shoppers don’t go part this part of the magazine department.
Check out how one UK newsagent is dealing with the issue of declining margins:
Dear Customer.SUNDAY EXPRESS:
There comes a time in life when one has no other option but to put pen to paper, such time has certainly arisen.
Over the recent years the National Publishers have continually cut Newsagents terms whereby the normal profits of 28% have dwindled alarmingly in some cases today to a low 21%.
Even Wholesalers like Smiths News have introduced a carriage charge of £50 a week to retailers simply because Publishers have screwed their profits to a bear minimum and the carriage charge to us retailers is now the wholesaler’s main income.
However, the situations slowly worsen and the reason for this letter to you is to bring to your attention of the latest underhand methods of the Sunday Express boss Richard Desmond.
Desmond decided that when the News of the World went out of business he would reduce the selling price of the Sunday Express to ONE POUND (from £1.35p), in an effort to captivate the News of the World readers to his publication.
That’s fine, Mr Desmond can do what he wants with his own money, but the shock every retailer faced last weekend when Desmond informed all retailers by letter on Saturday morning he was taking 7p of Newsagents profits per copy to minimise the lost revenue!
Newsagents all over the Country are up in arms with the obnoxious attitude by this money tycoon, to make this decision without consultation with the retailers is simply unacceptable and many newsagents are refusing to handle the publication what’s so ever for this reason.
What will happen in the future no one seems to know at this time, but whilst we appreciate your custom and would never point the pistol at your head, it would be sincerely appreciated if you would pick an alternative Sunday Newspaper for the immediate future?
Should you still wish to continue with this publication please note in line with other retailers the Sunday Express will carry an additional 10p surcharge until Mr Desmond comes to commonsense and reimburse the retailers with the original profits.
Thank you in anticipation of your support,
Regards,
Brian Webb.
The Cadel Evans cover on New Idea and Woman’s Day out today is an excellent opportunity for newsagents, especially Victoria newsagents. We are placing it at the counter as well as with weeklies and on our impulse unit. The counter placement is key for leveraging interest in Cadel’s winning of the Tour de France.
There is a retail turf war breaking out to capture over the counter sales of eReaders in the US. Curiously, this is just in time for the Back to School market. Officemax is to sell the Nook eReader and Toys ‘R’ Us is to sell the Amazon Kindle.
As the devices have taken on more features, their prices have fallen and become, as headline News reported, closer to being impulse purchases. The article also points to a survey in the US indicating that 51% of families with kids at school planned on purchasing electronic devices this year.
With the move into mass market bricks and mortar retail, these items have gone from being for those who are online connected and savvy to being available everywhere like the pen and notepad.
Inside the latest issue of MasterChef magazine is a brief announcement about a MasterChef App. This is probably frustrating for newsagents but maybe smart for the publisher. Selling for $2.99, users of the App can access a digital version of the magazine with some extra features.
I say maybe smart because it could be that they have their pricing model wrong. Why discount the digital version when the people accessing this have demonstrated that they are prepared to pay for a premium access device? I am sure that NewsMags has thought this through. I’d love an insight into their strategy.
Whether the pricing model is right or not, newsagents need to get used to digital innovation like this from publishers.
The New Idea Masterclass title is selling well for us. Our tactical placement is attracting impulse purchases and our placement with food titles is attracting more considered purchases. We are also pitching the title as a gift idea. It’s mix of recipes is ideal for people looking for a good broad-based recipe book at a reasonable price.
Sometimes buy reading a new title you can find ways to promote it beyond treating it as just another magazine title. It certainly helps when talking with shoppers and answering questions about destination purchases they wish to make.
We have moved our Mastercook display this week to attract more new browsers.
When was the last time you reviewed theft management practices in your newsagency? It is something which should be done at least every six months.
Oh, and I don’t mean a soft review, I mean a serious review of business processes, a serious assessment of the employee theft risk you face, from the sales counter through the shop floor and into the back office.
Employee theft can kill a newsagency. It can sneak up and before you know it you are tens of thousands of dollars down, often more. Hundreds of thousands of dollars even. yes, I have seen this happen.
Sometimes it is not only businesses which are broken, marriages, too, suffer. The loss and trauma can be avoided or at least reduced.
Every week I hear of another employee theft situation. Through my software company I am often involved in gathering evidence for police prosecutors.
Here are seven steps which, if followed, will reduce the opportunity of employee theft in your newsagency.
You could also consider talking to your local police. They may have advice which is particularly relevant to your local area.
The more serious and consistent you are in managing the risk of employee theft in your retail business the more likely you are to reduce its impact on your business. The difficulty is that you will never know for sure.
I appreciate that it is difficult being tough in many retail environments, especially family centric businesses. Every newsagency is at risk, whether a family business or not. Treating employee theft as a genuine and high risk is essential if you are to mitigate the risk and protect your business asset.
This list reflects years of experience dealing with employee theft in newsagencies. Don’t be one of those newsagents who says to me I read your advice and thought it would never happen to me.
If you need help, call me. 0418 321 338.
It seemed like a good ideas at the time. We really thought these chess themed salt and pepper shakers would work. They haven’t. We have had them out for three weeks and that’s long enough in our view. We are currently on a program of price reductions to find the price point at which they do work. While the total cash exposure is not much more than $100, it’s a lesson in buying. As they say … you win some, you lose some. At least our humour toilet paper is selling well!
The current issue of Who magazine has a sampler for which goes on sale tomorrow. Sampling is an excellent way to introduce shoppers to a new title. The Feast sample is an excellent representation of what people can expect from the new magazine.
I’d encourage publishers to consider working with newsagents on the distribution of samplers of their titles. These would / should actively promote newsagents as go to places for the titles.
Any newsagent who is threatened with do business with us or we will come and compete directly with you ought to report this activity to the police as well as their state association. Write down the specific threat, who said it and when so that you can be certain when reporting it.
Fear and intimidation have no place in business let alone the Australian newsagency channel.
I recall when threats were made by one company to some newsagents a few years ago that if they did not sign up for their service they would put it into another business nearby. Newsagents outlasted the service.
If a business cannot win your business on the merits of its products or services then it does not deserve your business. Remember, you are the customer, not the servant.
I have written here previously about the online coupon phenomenon and in particular Groupon. I urge newsagents to go to Stardeals, the local Groupon website and sign up. It’s free. get a feel for a new digital advertising channel.
The Groupon model is tremendously successful overseas. I see the deals from a couple of cities in the US as well as for Melbourne. They are usually quite compelling.
Why do newsagents need to know? It’s important for us to see how some of our major competitors are using online mediums to attract shoppers.
Take a look at this excellent use of magazine posters. It creates a visual energy which is better than the usual flat placement of posters around a shop.
Rolling and standing posters like this presents a strong message about magazine range, that this business is a magazine specialist with a diverse offering.
Shoppers entering this newsagency could not miss the magazine display. I bet it leads to a nice kick in sales.
Well done to the team at newsXpress Eli Waters in Queensland for creating this.
While would be university students and their families will hunt down the latest VTAC Guide, the creative team at one of my stores is promoting the latest edition with this column based display in front of our magazine department.
I love this display a lot. It is set to drive incremental and faster sales of the VTAC Guide. With a long on-sale for this title we want to move plenty of stock in the first four weeks. This is our goal … the sooner we move the stock the better. This then gets us to a point where we have a choice whether we order and carry more stock.
We are promoting the latest issue of Who magazine and its Amy Winehouse cover with this respectful display on a column facing out into the shopping mall.
The folks at Who have created a tasteful cover for this tragic story.
Business is business … I think this issue will sell well.
I love Friday’s magazine delivery. It gives us an opportunity for a refresh of offers for the weekend. It also ensures a traffic boost as readers of the magazines which are published on a Friday visit for their fix.
Our promotion of the launch issue of Maxim magazine has gone well. We ordered extra stock as we are almost out of stock. The Jennifer Hawkins cover was a smart move. It certainly makes the magazine more accessible than the usual lads mag. The most successful promotion for us for launching Maxim has been with the in-location display in the men’s magazine aisle as shown in the photo. This is located near Zoo on one side and UFC on the other side.
Australian magazine publishers who care about a viable newsagency channel through which to see their products need to act to ensure the viability of the channel.
The supply model being employed by our two biggest magazine distributors, Gotch and Network, is showing no signs of improving – despite the spin from both companies.
Oversupply remains rife, hitting newsagent cash flow and driving newsagents to react sometimes without reason against good performing magazine titles.
The problem with the model is that distributors are primarily paid to distribute, despite what they claim. Move them to a payment only for sales model and their behaviour would immediately change. Indeed with such a model all players would be compensated for the same common activity – sales.
Magazine distributors manipulate statistics, they wear complainants out with data and demonstrate little care about the amount of money made by their other so-called partners. Now they will say that I am wrong and that my allegation is unfair and hurtful. They are not in newsagent shoes. Nor are the in the shows of independent Australian publishers. They are in no position to assess the impact of their model on newsagents who rely solely on sales for magazines to pay their way.
Newsagents are cutting magazine display space because they see this as they only way then can control the volume of inventory they receive. This could get to a point where the magazine specialist channel is no longer the specialist.
Unless publishers act.
Australian publishers have an opportunity here to work with newsagents on fixing the distribution problems. Get these two sides with a common goal, sales, together and we can tell distributors what must be done.
This blog post is familiar as It have written words like this many times. I have done it again today because of a call from another distressed newsagent. Yesterday. $32,000 in magazine sales last month and magazine bills of $33,000. So much for a 25% margin.
I was fortunate to be at the launch of the new feast magazine in Sydney last night. This high end SBS branded title from Pacific Magazines is a deliciously sexy looking food title.
Feast is set to shake up the top end of food titles. With so many having gone on a journey with food titles from the entry level to mid tier, more shoppers are looking for a five star foodie challenge. Feast looks to be the title to step up to this opportunity. The food on the pages looks delicious. The stories are passionate. The production is first class.
I am keen to support this new title and leverage the marketing campaign being invested in the launch – I hope that other newsagents do when the title hits the shelves this Monday.
Food titles continue to perform well in newsagencies with many of us achieving excellent growth in the last quarter in this space. Feast can help us cater to a broader market and continue the growth we are enjoying.