It is not often that we can place Woman’s Day and Time next to each other but that’s what we have done this week. Kudos to the folks at Woman’s Day for leveraging the News International phone hacking scandal into a topical and interesting front cover. I hope that newsagents have embraced the opportunity.
We are promoting the latest K-Zone magazine with the hope of a sales lift as a result of the Justin Bieber cover. Kids magazines are challenged so we are hoping that Bieber’s popularity, particularly in our newsagency as proved with sales all this year of Bieber products, can translate into sales for K-Zone. We have the title in a couple of locations to leverage this opportunity. I hope that newsagents have embraced the K-Zone magazine opportunity and placed where Bieber fans are likely to see it..
Click here to see a story on A Current Affair last night about the EFTPOS fee hike facing newsagents and other retailers. This story came about as a result of excellent work on this issue by the ANF.
I have been calling on newsagents to get onto this issue, lobbying parliamentarians and the like. It is not too late.
Kudos to the publisher of Adelaide Hills magazine for tweeting that the latest issue of the magazine is now available from newsagents. Supporting newsagents in this way, in any way, when promoting a magazine is terrific to see.
With 2,200 followers receiving their @AdelHillsMag tweets, using Twitter in this way is cost effective and smart for the publisher. Twitter connected newsagents should / will re tweet, getting the message of the latest issue even further coverage.
Twitter is becoming more valuable to businesses for promoting directly to those interested in their products and services. I’d encourage newsagents to engage. It’s easy to sign up and free. Besides your followers, people find your tweets based on what you write and how you tag your tweet.
Check out this video showing how LCD screens customer displays can be used in a newsagency to promote phone recharge before, during and after a sale.
Tower Systems POS Customer Display from mark fletcher on Vimeo.
This video was shop on an iPhone in a newsagency in Queensland last week.
We have been trialling this at a couple of my newsagencies. there is no doubt that consistent and professional point of purchase promotion drives impulse purchases for certain types of items.
We have refreshed the Harry Potter display, replacing the large format Lord Voldemort poster with this one featuring Harry Potter.
It is terrific having such a dramatic display behind the counter. It offers a point of difference we like to go for with these displays. It also engages customers and gives a clear message to pitch from this high traffic position.
The Herald Sun promotion is popular, a very nice post school holidays kick for newspaper sales and traffic in general.
We have been promoting the Dolly magazine and the Miley Cyrus one-store with this front of store display facing into the shopping mall. Sales are okay but not what we need from such a valuable location. I think that part of the challenge for magazines aimed at teen girls is the amount of shopping they now do online. As their socialising has moved online so has their entertainment and shopping. We and publishers need to find a new a relevant way to engage with these shoppers.
I was in Adelaide over the weekend and heard first hand of the concern among newsagents about the decision by the South Australian state government to privatise SA Lotteries.
Lottery products play an important role in newsagencies in South Australia. While I am no economic expert, I can see no reason for the state government to sell off the lucrative gambling licence other than to get a short term financial benefit.
Even if the government negotiates five years of protection for current retail outlets as part of a sale, as happened in NSW, this sets a clock ticking for newsagents. It impacts goodwill.
Before the government signs any contract, it needs to assess the economic impact on newsagents, their employees and the communities in which the serve of the possible decision. Such an assessment would need to carefully consider the impact of what may happen after the five years of protection has passed.
The impact on goodwill must be considered. While the state government may reap a windfall, what would this cost the families which own lottery outlets today? The impact on shopper traffic beyond the five years must also be considered. It is possible that this decision plays into the big supermarkets getting bigger.
South Australian newsagents have every right to be concerned.
Over the next few months we will get to see how much South Australian politicians, of all sides, really care about small businesses like newsagencies.
You have feel for Di from newsXpress Pakenham. Her cupcake display was compromised last week when a kid snuck in and ate the icing off the cupcakes which she had baked the night before for the display. It’s a lesson learned I guess. The display still looks good, even without the cakes. Click on the image for a larger version.
I was interested in my travels overseas last week to notice this display of iPhone and iPad related titles at the counter of one airport newsagency.
These were the only magazine titles at the counter.
This placement is a smart move. It demonstrates the continuing relevance of a print media business in world where digital contact is growing.
We plan to run a similar display when the next round of similar titles come in.
I noticed this display of bundled magazines at one of the overseas airports I transited through last week. They bag the bundles and put them all in the one section, just below the single copies.
An airport is somewhere these discount magazine bundles make sense as you are less likely to be educating your regular shoppers to not pay full price. Of course there is the argument that they only get the discount for a volume purchase but we don’t have research to indicate if that is the case with a regular suburban newsagency shopper.
Shoppers could be forgiven thinking that many retailers appear to have lost their way … judging by the number of retail outlets running SALES for months on end.
It seems to me that many shops have had one long sale since Christmas. While the colour of the signs may change, they all scream SALE and often have a a percentage discount. I have seen shops offering up to 75% for more than six months.
There was a time when retailers stood for value reflected in a particular range, unique services or rewards in return for loyalty. These are other differentiators appear to have been lost as retailers appear to lost faith in anything but promoting a SALE.
With so much of what we sell in our newsagencies at a pre-marked fixed price, it is a challenge for us to engage in the perpetual sale game. While I see this as a good thing it is also a challenge because it feeds into the consumer perception that newsagencies are expensive. We are kind of damned if we do and damned if we don’t.
To counter the consumer perception and to swim in waters away from the bloody ocean filled by retailers who are forever running sales, newsagents could consider these ideas for promoting value:
This list is by no means complete. I have created it to get people thinking about what else you could do to promote value which is unique to your business.
Next time you go to put up a SALE sign, make sure that it is for a limited time, that you are offering a genuine discount and that there is considerably more value on offer than simply a price differential. A discount by itself is no longer perceived by shoppers to be valuable.
As David Jones, Myer, Target and others have discovered, promoting a retail business only on price is risky and not likely to deliver the long term rewards necessary to support the business.
As the fall out of the UK News International phone hacking scandal continues, a website blocker for Firefox has been released which blocks access to News Corp. websites including Australian websites:
theaustralian.com.au
news.com.au
truelocal.com.au
heraldsun.com
adelaidenow.com.au
dailytelegraph.com.au
couriermail.com.au
weeklytimesnow.com.au
perthnow.com.au
mxnet.com.au
alphamagazine.com.au
newsspace.com.au
careerone.com.au
carsguide.com.au
There is another blocker available for Google Chrome.
The blockers are getting plenty of coverage on twitter, the blogosphere and news sites.
Placing the Better Homes and Gardens impulse display unit next to our photocopier has worked again for us. This simple move drives incremental business.
In this newsagency our copier is at the far end of the counter. Shoppers browsing the store pass by it as they exit or head to the counter. Copying customers also see the display.
For a small footprint, the display unit certainly works well. Being easy to move allows us to run it here next to the copier for a week or two before moving it to the front of the store, facing into the mall.
We have been trialling the sale of novelty toilet paper over the last week in one of my newsagencies with some tremendous success. In fact, it’s been more successful than we expected. Customers have a good laugh, even though who don’t purchase.
Each toilet role is a good margin dollars added to a sale. The GP is excellent.
Most customers buying rolls do so on impulse and having visited our newsagency for a magazine, newspaper or greeting card. Some buy the rolls having been drown to the store from the mall facing display.
We decided to try the toilet rolls as part of a broader plan to get known for carrying quirky gifts … gifts now commonly available in our shopping centre.
Check out the blog post at Morrison News about a situation where an early return cost the newsagent and a publisher a certain sale.
While I understand the importance of early returns to newsagents for managing cash flow, we should only early return magazines which our own sales data shows we will not sell. Too often, newsagents return magazines which their own data shows they would most likely sell.
We are engaged with the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens with this display at the end of a magazine aisle as well as placement of an impulse unit next to our photocopies and placement of stock between our two top selling daily newspapers. This is our usual approach for the first week of the on-sale and it works a treat. sales for this title continue to grow in our newsagency. The placement next to the photocopies is a fairly recent initiative and it has worked very well for us.
We are promoting the New Idea Masterclass one shot in a second location in-store with this display at the entrance to one of our magazine aisles. This is in addition to the tactical placement on the stand at the front of the newsagency. This new food title has hit at a good time. It’s certainly generating good customer interest.
I have been overseas this week and noticed people, usually men, walking through the traffic selling newspapers. Nothing really surprising about that except that they usually sell a range of titles. The guy in the photo is offering seven newspapers – there are two titles on a frame above his right shoulder. A pretty amazing feat.
Seeing this chap walking up and down the lines of traffic the other day got my mind wandering, wondering about what we do which is similar? How to we walk our businesses outside our four walls?
The wondering hung with me through the day. I couldn’t help shake the feeling that we have spent too much time and money building shops which are based on the need for our customers to come to us. This chap on the road, and so many I have seen this week, are in a situation where their only option is to get on their feet and chase business.
I am not advocating that we close our shops and hit the road. Of course not. I am, however, questioning whether we have built homes for our businesses and ourselves which are too comfortable for us, too hard for us, to leave to get our and chase sales.
If we sit in our nice homes we rely on visitors (customers) coming to us when better business could be out on the streets somewhere. This chap is pounding streets probably because he has no choice. We have a choice and all too often choose to not chase as hard as we could. Maybe we need to run our newsagencies as if we have no choice other than chasing every opportunity possible.
That’s what I started thinking about at least when I was stuck in traffic and saw this chap on the street selling so many newspapers.
We have been promoting the launch issue of the local edition of Maxim magazine with this excellent in-location display. I love the display by one of our team members – eye catching!
This in-location display stands out beautifully in the aisle, you can’t miss it not only from in this busy aisle but also from outside the aisle.
It’s good to get another local magazine launch, especially one being backed by a marketing spend to drive sales in newsagencies. I’d encourage newsagents to get behind Maxim to leverage their marketing spend.
We have a selection of Rubik’s Cube products on display at the front of one of my newsagencies to attract shoppers who are fans of this popular puzzle. These mugs look terrific. Shoppers are drawn to them, usually with a smile like they have set their eyes on an old friend.
In the photo you can see mugs, yes mugs made to look like the popular cube puzzle. I like this product because it’s not something you would usually see in a newsagency and because I can see it working as a nice basket (and margin dollars) builder for us. It’s already selling well, after just a few days.
The more we play in the gift space, as broad as that is, the more we learn. It’s a terrific and rewarding journey.
Check out this video showing how to setup the New Idea twistie display bin.
Publishers note – training videos are a terrific way of communicating with newsagents.
We are promoting the latest issue of Madison magazine with this display in the women’s fashion magazine section of one of my newsagencies. This terrific display is seen by shoppers as they leave this section of our business. We also have Madison in its usual location nearby. The co-location will run for a week.
My local Fitness First gym has just installed a display unit offering free copies of the Herald Sun newspaper. It has replaced a unit which offered free copies of The Age which had been in place in the same location for the last four months.
It seems to me that there has been a significant increase in availability of free newspapers: at gyms, sporting events, coffee shops, outdoor events and even supermarkets.
Until recently I thought that free newspapers would be the local ‘community’ newspaper and commuter newspapers like mX, a slim and fluffy ‘news’ paper which is distributed in several Australian capital cities Monday through Friday. What we now regularly see goes beyond the mX model. More and more we are seeing free copies of the main game, the regular newspaper available which shoppers used to pay for. Plus we are seeing weekend paid for newspaper, free.
While publishers may say that these giveaways are designed to promote the titles through sampling, I don’t see this. A four month long sample of The Age at Fitness First gyms is a long sample.
I am concerned that the publishers are inching closer to a completely free model. If this is not the case then why are they educating shoppers to not pay for their newspaper? Why are they engaging in campaigns which invite shoppers to not get their daily newspaper from their newsagency?