It is good to see the price of more international magazines fall in the last couple of weeks. While they have not dropped sufficiently to match the rise of the Australian dollar, the fall is welcome – by newsagents and shoppers. It will be good for sales in newsagencies with a large range of international titles.
The $A price of many imported magazines does not make sense. Someone must be making a killing somewhere. It’s not the newsagent.
Further to my post yesterday about a free copy of the current issue of MasterChef magazine with The Australian being given away at Qantas gates at Brisbane airport on Wednesday, I saw the same at Melbourne airport when I flew to Sydney yesterday (Thursday) morning. This is some mighty giveaway promotion from the folks at News Magazines.
Sure enough, inside the copy of the magazine was a subscription flyer offering a saving of 27% for a one year subscription. Gee I wish they would engage with newsagents and offer a locked in deal to drive traffic to our stores for collection.
Weight Watcher’s magazine is one of those titles which responds well to promoting in a high traffic location. While I am sure there are plenty of regular purchasers of the title, I am equally sure that there are those who buy it when reminded to – through displays like this one which we have in a high traffic location in one of my newsagencies.
In addition to this display, we have the title being promoted in with health titles. Next week we will also include a full cover facing in our weeklies impulse display and leave it there for a week. The reward when we engage with Weight Watcher’s magazine like this is sales … every time.
We are promoting the latest issue of Dolly magazine with this simple display at the counter – along with a couple of other items which appeal to the same demographic.
While not a billboard like display, the real value of this display is the placement. Every customer making a purchase in our store will be in front of this display. The newsagent difference is that we give access to this premium space for free.
Since it is premium space, we will give the title three days. It stays longer if it’s delivering results. This is the only way to deal with premium counter space.
Check out this timely, moving and emotionally raw song by Biilly Bragg about the scandal which has damaged the News Corporation and Murdoch brands.
See what I had to say a few days ago about this scandal and Australian newsagents.
People flying from Brisbane to Sydney with Qantas yesterday who picked up the usual free copy of The Australian newspaper opened it to find a free copy of the current issue of MasterChef magazine. Talk about a nice giveaway.
The tie in could be the Neil Perry cover story in MasterChef – he’s the face of Qantas in-flight catering.
I’d love promotions like this to come with something which drives traffic to newsagencies for future copies and not just subscriptions.
Last weekend we ran Better Homes and Gardens and That’s Life Reader’s Recipes at the counter in one of my newsagencies, between newspapers. They sold well! At least six copies of each from this location alone. More sales were achieved from the usual location for each of the titles. This is excellent incremental and impulse business to primarily newspaper customers. We have ordered more of each title as a result.
We newsagents are better placed to drive this type of impulse business than supermarket, convenience and petrol outlets. we can be smarter in placement. We can decide what to promote based on specific covers and what we know about our shoppers. Our competitors promote titles based on what they are paid to do. So, we can leverage our individuality to our benefit … as we have done with these two titles.
We keep changing what we promote with newspapers because of the regular newspaper customers we see. Impulse purchase displays should not remain in place for more than a few days otherwise the sales are not worth it – unless you have a low number of regular daily shoppers.
Check out this week’s issue of Famous magazine and you will see why this title continues to perform well in the audit. Whoever designed the cover tapped into the Harry Potter phenomenon brilliantly. This magazine leaps out of the sea of colour. It is the first title you notice when looking at a magazine display – even if it is in the second pocket as shown in the photo. Brilliant.
Any magazine publisher wondering about cover choices and design should get to a newsagency and check out this issue of Famous live in store for themselves. Extra attention to design can drive incremental sales.
Any newsagencies with copies of this issue of Famous left should put them on the counter. The movie opens today.
Check out the display promoting the latest issue of Take 5 magazine created by the team at another of my newsagencies. I like their personalisation of the display … displaying lottery numbers. They selected the numbers based on favourites of team members.
This display is right at the front of the newsagency, facing shoppers as they pass by in the mall.
The numbers give shoppers a reason to engage. It separates this display from other displays they are likely to see for the title which will look the same. I love the extra bit of initiative here.
Is this display better than the other Take 5 display? I can;t say. The proof will be in the sales. What I like is that it is just that bit different.
Check out the display the team did in one of my newsagencies for the latest issue of Take 5 magazine and the accompanying $30 million lottery promotion.
The display is in an excellent location, easily seen by most of the shoppers who enter the store, especially those shopping for a greeting card. It certainly stands out. Better than that, it is working … driving good sales.
We have have the title in a half waterfall in its usual location and a pocket in an impulse display at the front of the newsagency.
When you read my next post you may think I don;t like this display. That would be wrong. I do like this display. It is vibrant, eye catching and working. Brilliantly executed.
We have been promoting the latest issue of Good Health magazine with a co-location strategy with weeklies as well as a half waterfall in with women’s health related titles. We have made sure that shoppers can see the free gift with this issue and understand the bonus value with purchase of the title. Placement of this issue of Good Health with weeklies is working particularly well for us.
I encourage newsagents to take part in the Morrison Media (frankie, Riptide, Surfing Life, Slam Skateboarding, Powerhound) online survey. Responses are flowing and I know that the folks at Morrison are taking them seriously. The more newsagents who engage the better.
The Morrison Media model of newsagent engagement is one which other publishers could well benefit from.
Publishers Australia has published an interview with Street Press Australia CEO Craig Treweek. It’s something which newsagents should read. This interview was published specifically for Australian magazine publishers.
Kudos to Intralot for yesterday writing to its outlets to share the facts behind a story reported on Today Tonight on Monday and in the Herald Sun yesterday. Comparing the facts in the letter, which can be verified, with what these two news outlets reported leaves you wondering about their interest in fact checking.
Given the shocking stories about the actions by News International newspapers in the UK I am finding myself more suspicious of news stories, especially those with an attack angle.
SA newsagents are rightly concerned about the prospects for their lottery businesses given the announcement by the state government that they plan to privatise the lottery business. The five year protection for the current retail network is in line with what the NSW state government offered at the time they privatised NSW Lotteries.
State governments of all political persuasions have a lot to answer for when it comes small businesses. Think back to what has happened with transport tickets. Now with the slow privatisation of lotteries around the country the clock is ticking.
Another reason for all of us to work on our businesses, chasing our own futures.
I feel for the uncertainty being felt by South Australian newsagents.
Unless you are living in a cave you would have seen the Kit Kat advertising blitz promoting their new Chunky 3 product. What with the TV, outdoor and digital campaigns it is hard to miss the higher profile for the Kit Hat branded product. The latest Convenience World magazine indicates it’s a $6M spend. This product is something newsagents should have at the counter. If we don’t and only have the old regular Kit Kat then we are not current or relevant.
One of the reason everyday confectionery sales are flat in newsagencies is that our range is not as current as it could be. The Kit Kat Chunky 3 is an opportunity not to be missed.
The latest issue of Diabetic Living has been selling very well. We have ordered another 10 copies since we have just one copy left. We have chased this sales outcome by promoting the magazine from an impulse display unit facing into the shopping mall. Yes, Diabetic Living has been driving traffic. By the time the issue goes off sale we expect to have sold 50% more copies than usual. Nice.
Check ut where your copies are. Try a high traffic impulse purchase location.
The latest issue of Australian Property Investor is the flagship Hot 100 issue – with the stand out gold cover. While it has only been on-sale for a day it is already receiving good media coverage and this will continue including TV coverage.
This is an excellent magazine to have in a high traffic location, like next to newspapers. This is what we are doing in my newsagencies.
This issue sold very well last year – by newsagents engaging tactically. So, I’d urge newsagents to engage again and chase incremental basket-building business. And if the issue sells well in the first few days, consider chasing more stock.
Check out the terrific window display created by Ben, the Sunday Manager at newsXpress Sunbury Square. I like the display because it is unexpected for a newsagency window, because Ben did it on his own initiative and because it is appealing … likely to attract shoppers passing by in the mall.
Telling a story with a product, as has been done here, is more likely to drive the desired sales result than by simply placing product in a shop window.
These ducks look more a lot more interesting situated on a golf course than if they were lined up in a window.
I’d be happy to publish here displays of other creative and outside the usual newsagency window displays – as an encouragement to newsagents to be creative and have fun.
Roger Waters is coming to town and tickets are on sale right now. His show is getting plenty of publicity. So, it make sense that our team has placed the latest issue of Classic Rock at the counter where plenty of eyeballs will see the Roger Waters cover.
I am confident we will pick some incremental business with this tactical placement of Classic Rock .
We obsess about opportunities like this. Our music magazine sales are up 115% in the June quarter over the same period in 2010. This is an excellent result, a terrific reward for conscientious focus by our team and their tactical placement of titles with excellent cover opportunities.
In a bold (or some might say crazy) move, the Philadelphia Inquirer and its sibling Philadelphia Daily News are set to sell tablets providing access to their newspaper content at a discount. This is believed to be the first such move by a publisher to sell tablet computers, thereby creating their own direct mobile device channel to facilitate migration.
View is a new photography magazine. It has been developed solely for the tablet channel. I was put on to View by someone who originally said that they would not switch from print to digital. Once they saw the treatment of photos on View they were hooked. Publishers are finding ways to enhance the reader experience on tablet devices to make them more appealing in some categories.
I really feel for newsagents who have contacted me over the last few days about magazine distributor billed they have to pay in a couple of weeks which are equal to more than the sales they achieved with the same titles in the last month.
Despite a decline in magazine sales, supply to newsagents is more often static or increasing.
With this in mind, magazine publishers concerned about newsagents early returning their titles ought to ask the following of their magazine distributor:
Magazine publishers could be a good ally for newsagents in dealing with magazine distributors. Our needs and the needs of magazine publishers are closely aligned.
There is no fairness in a magazine distribution model where the costs are the same or increasing in the face of flat or declining sales. There is no fairness in a system where costs to the retailer are greater than the income derived. Both situations can be fixed by setting a minimum sell through of 50% and compensating newsagents for titles which do not meet this bare minimum. Such a move would make the distributors responsible. At the moment there is no pressure on them to achieve a minimum sell through.
Regardless of where you sit politically, yesterday’s announcement proposes extraordinary environmental, taxation and structural reform. back in the old days we would have seen a bump in newspaper sales. It will be interesting to see if that happens this week.
The Rollmatz floor play mat we have on display hanging up behind the counter shows off the product perfectly. Customers notice it and that is what we have it there for – especially during school holidays.
The Rollmatz are part of our school holidays toy sale. Sales have been excellent. It’s nice to see a customer add a toy or game to a newspaper, card or magazine purchase.
I love that we have something completely different and unexpected on display behind the counter. It plays to our goal to not be your average newsagency.