We are supporting the latest issue of House & Garden magazine with this simple yet high profile in-location display. Anchoring our garden and home titles, the display acts as a beacon for us.
While not a huge seller for us, House & Garden plays an important role in the magazine mix. We do achieve sales when we put the title in the spotlight like this. The in-location display will remain in place for at least a full week.
I was talking with a newsagent recently about challenges they are facing – a new supermarket is opening nearby and a local Officeworks is undergoing a major refresh. My newsagent colleague was worried about this new competition, like a deer caught in the headlights.
This newsagency has many strengths, few of which were being leveraged. This situation is not uncommon as newsagents often get caught in running their businesses and dealing with the archaic practices from some suppliers that they do not see big picture opportunities for more creative and valuable competition.
We talked about his situation and the opportunities which I saw. Here are some of the suggestions I made which should have a broader appeal, suggestions designed to play to the strengths of the local newsagent:
If you are feeling the competitive challenge, step up to it with your own unique voice and actions. Be different or be ignored.
Think about your strengths and play to them. I am sure that every newsagency business has more strengths than are currently being leveraged by the business.
This list is by no means complete. Brainstorm with your colleagues in-store, talk to your customers. Share your ideas here.
All reaches of News Corp. are under the spotlight following the phone hacking scandal and evidence of the cover up by the organisation including admissions at the most senior level.
The hacking of phones, thousands apparently, and acknowledgment by News International boss Rebekah Brookes of payments to police in the UK and an acknowledgment by James Murdoch of approving as payment to victims in apparent return for silence naturally calls into question the ethics of this worldwide media company.
As Margaret Simons pointed out yesterday at crikey.com, there are implications for News Ltd here in Australia. Simons rightly honed in on the company’s Code of Conduct for journalists because John Hartigan, Australian Chairman, pointed to this in a communication relating to the UK scandal. Simons called for journalists to respond on their knowledge of the Code. Check out some responses at The Content Makers blog.
Given the declared behaviour it is appropriate that the spotlight is on all News Corp. businesses including their Australian businesses. Since News appears to have sat on or hidden the extent of this scandal for many years we can only wonder what else there is to be discovered.
Australian newsagents could consider the ethics of News in the context of their cover price policy which has left us earning less in real terms today than ten years ago – while they have looked after themselves and lifted advertising rates, they have reduced what we earn at retail and for home delivery. An organisation committed to ethical behaviour would ensure that its pricing decisions were fairer to working families.
We could look at newspaper home delivery fees through the prism of ethics – they have fallen in real terms as I wrote here recently. News Limited has presided over distribution newsagents earning less. An organisation which claims to operate ethically would ensure that it approved and facilitated a fair price for those working hard on its behalf as newsagents do. Instead, News caps what newsagents can earn, denying newsagents reasonable business levers which reflect on local conditions.
We could also consider the ethics of News in their approach to the rationalisation of newspaper home delivery. The newspaper distribution system which we have today is a system which they have controlled for decades. Many newsagents are losing their family businesses because of the control News exerts over what they earn. Family assets are disappearing as newspaper distribution is rationalised by News as they create a new model to serve their financial needs. This rationalisation looks set to escalate over the next six to twelve months. An ethical organisation driving rationalisation and laying off employees would have an obligation to compensate the dismantling of the system it created.
Maybe these three examples do not reflect ethical failure – others can decide that. The do, however, reflect a lack of care for and commitment to socially responsible behaviour by News. Yes, they are a business with a sole purpose of driving shareholder value. But they are also a large part of the Australian community and it is reasonable that we expect them to act in a socially responsible way to families and the wider community.
While these behaviours do not compare to the apparent illegal behaviour in the UK, they do reflect on the ethics of the company and the regard (or otherwise) it has for its distribution channel and the community in which it exists.
Of course, News shareholders would disagree. They would say that the company is doing what it needs to do to drive its costs down. They would say that it is also keeping the costs for consumers low. Maybe so. However, on the income side, the non cover price income side, it is not showing a concern for costs which flow on to consumers.
It is possible that the ethical failure exposed by the UK phone hacking scandal is part of a broader ethical weakness in News. Twitter, blogs and even mainstream news outlets are lighting up asking questions and turning on spotlights. While News outposts around the world will be unhappy and uncomfortable with this, it is appropriate. If they have nothing to hide they have nothing to be uncomfortable about.
Suite101 is claiming that Justin Bieber cannot sell magazines. This is based on sales data for a Bieber covered edition of Vanity Fair. regulars here would know that the experience in my newsagencies has been quite different. The pacific magazines Justin Bieber one shot sold out five times for us. We kept reordering until there really was no stock left.
The Suite101 article references a report by USA Today which claims that a Bieber covered Teen Vogue issue of also experienced lower sales.
From what I could see, the girls purchasing the Pacific Magazines Bieber one shot were not sophisticated magazine shoppers, probably not the target audience for Vanity Fair or Teen Vogue.
All I know is that I sold a ton of the Bieber title to young girls. I’d love to be able to do that regularly for that important demographic. I hate to say this but we need more Justin Biebers.
the LINCOLNITE is reporting that the WH Smith newsagent is town has installed self checkout machines in an effort to reduce customer wait time. While this technology may suit the WH Smith model, I don’t see the sense of such impersonal technology in a business which relies on personal shopper contact and interaction to demonstrate a key point of difference.
A Woolworths manager speaking with a newsagent recently advised that while they count and top returns, they do not return the tops. This is another item on a list of operational and valuable benefits given to competitors of newsagents by magazine distributors.
Newsagents who provide accurate sales data ought to be rewarded by being permitted to not have to return any unsold stock.
What about it publishers? Would you lobby your magazine distributor for us? Please, we need your help to reduce the cost of magazine returns. Achieving a returns process equivalent to Woolworths could reduce the pressure many of us feel to process returns early.
We are promoting Money magazine with in-location display at the entrance to the aisle. I love the cover, the stack of currency certainly grabs attention.
The placement of the posterand the stock directly below works very well. Everyone in the aisle will notice this and that’s half the battle. We plan to leave this display up as long as we have stock.
We are promoting the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine from ACP with this aisle end display.
While our sales for Harper’s Bazaar are not huge for the title, the free high-quality notebook which comes with this issue should drive incremental business. This is why we wanted to make sure that the title was well displayed – I.E. not in the usual magazine fixturing.
We will leave the display up for a week and then move to a second location elsewhere.
The use of Twitter by people around the world to express shock, disappointment, frustration and anger at News International, News Corp. and the Murdochs over the phone hacking scandal and subsequent cover up will be referred to in the future as another moment when the extraordinary power of Twitter was on full display.
The protests made through tweets are having an impact in News revenue and its share price.
Whereas in the past it was the fourth estate on which we the people relied to put issues under the spotlight and through which campaigns of justice are run. Twitter has given anyone with a mobile device or a computer a worldwide podium from which to speak. And speak they are. Hashtags enable people who have never met to unite around a cause. We can see that there have been close to 40,000 tweets in the last 24 hours and 3,900 in the last hour.
The extraordinary tweet traffic using the #NotW hashtag over the last couple of days is evidence of people power in action. It appears that rolling tsunamis of tweets calling for advertisers to pull advertising from News of the World and other News International titles is a key reason advertisers have been doing just that and a key reason that News International has decided to shut the newspaper down after this weekend’s edition.
The decision to shut the newspaper is like the action of a surgeon removing a cancerous growth from a human body. Time will tell is this surgery by News removes all the cancer.
But back to the point of this post. Given the dominance of print media outlets here in Australia by News and the lack of in-depth coverage by News outlets of the phone hacking scandal and subsequent cover-up, Twitter is proving to be an excellent source for up to the minute news.
Twitter has no borders and no editors. It has been wonderful to see people across the globe come together on this issue, ahead of the politicians, unified by hashtags.
Based on the extraordinary traffic of Tweets which is not showing any sign of slowing, News is going to need to improve its efforts at damage control if it is to mitigate the situation – including News here in Australia.
From a newsagent perspective, what we are seeing is a platform which disrupts print in action. This story and how people are interacting with it is a story about print. It demonstrates how the story is the thing as opposed to the feel of the paper and the smell of the ink to which which many newspaper lovers often refer when saying the medium will go on for decades.
Update and Footnote: with speculation mounting that News International will extend The Sun to a Sunday edition, the closure of the News of the World could be seen as cynical and not actually reasonably addressing the problem.
The administrator for REDGroup has announced that the remainder of company owned A&R stores will close except for two which have been sold. I urge newsagents to make sure they are aware of any A&R store which is near their newsagency. An imminent closure presents a good opportunity. Smart retailers will leverage this opportunity.
In a creative and tactical move, the team at my Knox store put together this Warming Winter Cookbooks display in a high visibility location for all shoppers to see.
The selection of ACP titles included in the display is ideal for this type of promotion.
The display is visually appealing, easily shopped and offering cookbooks at different price points and thereby being aware of different shopper budgets.
It is vitally important to give as many products we sell as possible a moment in the sunshine. This display does this in a creative way and connecting with the season.
This display also shows off the difference newsagents can offer magazine publishers over convenience, petrol and supermarket outlets. We are the engaged, creative and shopper focused retailer.
We are promoting the latest issue of Donna Hay Kids magazine with this display at the counter, at our busiest selling position. This is a successful impulse purchase position for us – probably due to it also being next to our photocopies.
The in-store team creating the display creatively connected with the cover image. I love it! I also love that the collateral they have created takes people seeing the display a bit into the magazine.
Good displays are more than just the cover of the magazine. This is smart and certain to drive shopper interaction … leading to more sales.
Donna Hay is selling very well for us … as are many food titles.
VANA and GNS issued the following joint statement this afternoon which I am sure will interest newsagents:
Newsagents today face an industry in waiting. Publishers are looking at different models to shape the industry of the future and newsagents are facing many months of uncertainty as well as dealing with the ever changing ways of the retail market. Similarly many wholesalers are seeing the industry changing with retailers looking for new forms of product to fill the void of this changing retail market. Their challenge is to remain relevant to their existing client base.
History has it that Associations have always tried to look after their members to the best of their ability, with suppliers and industry partners often locking horns with associations over “who’s job is it to do what”. With both believing strongly in their reason and efforts, often the member, in this case, the newsagent, risks missing the opportunity of establishing their real power to the consumer.
For this reason, VANA and GNS have begun discussions in an effort to help the newsagency industry strengthen its place in the retail market. Together, VANA and GNS, will be working on ways to get the best out of both organisations in order that the newsagent is able to refocus themself as the dominating retailer it is.
Initial discussions have included:-
• Development opportunity of the N-Branded product
• Better communications between both organisations
• Training opportunities for newsagents
• Collective development of on-line opportunities for newsagents.
• GNS Market fair developing an “industry feel” for all newsagents.
• N-Stock opportunities
• Re-enforcement of the stationery category in newsagents
• Promoting the need for marketing by all newsagentsAs both organisations are challenged with the retail environment today we need to always remained focused on the reason for our existence …. To support and create opportunities for the newsagency industry to move forward successfully.
The time has come to make sure actions by both organisations remain focused on this success of the Newsagency industry as a whole. We look forward to keeping you updated … as our successful working relationship that will be reflected into our industries’ success.
Regards,
E J Rogan
Chairman of the Board
Gerard Munday
VANA Chairman
New magazine distributor IPS is experiencing a rocky start to business following some missteps around electronic invoice being data provided to newsagents.
Whereas XchangeIT acted as guide, standards enforcer and quality assurance master in dealing with Gotch and Network, they appear to have taken a more hands off approach with IPS.
A conspiracy theorist may wonder if this is because the Gotch and Network controlled XchangeIT does not want to be too helpful to IPS. While I think it is too early to draw this conclusion, I am perplexed at the lack of control exerted by XchangeIT over how the folks at IPS, Rural Press IT people actually, have been working with the XchangeIT data structure.
XchangeIT took over the ownership, management and enforcement of magazine distributor / newsagent data standards years ago. They have not fulfilled that role well in my view in relation to IPS.
I have privileged knowledge of what has been happening with IPS through my ownership of Tower Systems. Tower, like I am sure other software companies, has faced a tsunami of calls from newsagents in how to handle incorrect invoice data from IPS. The people creating the data for IPS, Rural Press IT, have clearly not understood the requirements of the industry standards data specification.
All of the time consuming challenges newsagents and software companies are facing this week around IPS data could have been avoided had XchangeIT applied the same diligence and scrutiny to the introduction of IPS as they have and do to Gotch and Network.
My people at Tower have been working with IPS and XchangeIT since first reported problems with IPS data. We (myself included) participated in a national phone hookup last night which I think will get us all closer to resolving the issues.
I appreciate that XchangeIT will disagree with what I have written. They will say that IPS is accountable for the data it puts into files sent to newsagents. While that is technically true, they are the guardian and we all rely on them to play that role.
The calls in recent days from various business sectors wanting compensation for the decision by the federal government to place a price on carbon are interesting. Big business polluters want compensation for the impact of this policy decision by government. They look set to receive this compensation.
Newsagents were impacted by a government policy change in 1999 when the distribution of newspapers and magazines was deregulated. We were not offered and did not receive compensation. We were left to fund the cost ourselves.
It says something about the small business commitment (or lack thereof) of politicians (of all colours) that small business family run newsagents receive nothing for seismic policy change while pollution generating big businesses are set to receive hundreds of dollars of compensation for introduction of a price on carbon.
I am disappointed that politicians appear set to get away with once again showing that small business does not matter. Shame on them and shame on us for letting this happen.
The News International phone hacking scandal has gone from bad to worse with allegations of police investigations having been hampered by News representatives in pursuit of stories. News is seeing a commercial implication with advertisers like Ford withdrawing advertising as a result of the latest revelations. Kent News is reporting planned protests at retailers selling News International titles.
Beyond the appalling hacking impacting so many people in the UK is the apparent cover-up by News International for several years. This cover-up is apparent in the reporting, or lack thereof, here in Australia of what is the biggest newspaper related scandal in decades.
The hacking and the cover up represent an ethical failure for which News at its highest levels globally must be accountable. To date it has sought to avoid such accountability. The repeated denials by News leave it open for other conclusions to be drawn.
Listening to the latest on the story yesterday made me wonder if I would take their titles off the shelves as stand against their actions. If an advertiser can distance themselves from unacceptable behavior by not supporting a product and or company then why not the retailer?
The Association of Magazine Media (formerly the MPA) in the US is hosting a Magazine App Bootcamp for magazine publishers. The agenda looks pretty exciting and relevant.
The three day bootcamp offers the very latest training on and insights into creating compelling and commercially successful iPhone and Android Apps for magazines. Much of the bootcamp content is about the user experience – delivering an experience on devices which matches or surpasses the experience with a print product.
I mention the bootcamp here today to show newsagents how magazine publishers are pursuing change to navigate their own future. It’s what we need to be doing in our own newsagency businesses – there are tremendous opportunities for newsagents who want to embrace change.
We are promoting the latest issue of Prevention magazine with this display at the end of one of our magazine aisles, facing to the front of the newsagency.
In addition to this prime location display off of which the title can be purchased, we have stock in the usual location – with other women’s health titles.
We also plan to give the title a stint at the counter, probably after this display comes down in a week. This activity is all about giving key titles movement, trying different locations to make the most of the opportunity.
No, neither did I. 7-Eleven coffee was absolutely last resort coffee, desperation coffee. That was until two nights ago.
I was in Sydney and saw a new format 7-Eleven coffee shop on George Street. I’d not seen a 7-Eleven like this before.
The front third of the shop looks different to the rest, darker, cooler, like a coffee shop. The back bit was the usual 7-Eleven garish and bright.
But enough about the look. At this massive coffee machine, a real machine and not some glorified cafe bar type machine, making fair dinkum live coffees was a barista. Someone showing passion for making good coffees. This is not what I had come to expect from 7-Eleven, the masters of prepackaged everything … the place of nothing really fresh, nothing made for you.
Until now.
At this 7-Eleven on George Street in Sydney you can get a coffee which looks, smells and tastes like a fresh espresso from any of the many coffee outlets in Sydney’s CBD.
While newsagents bitch and moan about what is said or not said about their future, 7-Eleven is experimenting and innovating. Kudos to 7-Eleven. This is the future, playing with the model, trying new things, showing customers that your business is not what you thought it was.
Welcome to retail in a disrupted and challenged world. The innovators will thrive and the best the rest can hope for is to survive.
With stock take season more or less over it was good to see more newsagents use their computer systems in counting and maintaining stock on hand records. That said, too many newsagents still use manual stock takers who do not provide data which can be used to update computer based records.
Such manual and paper based stock takes are a waste of money for newsagents. Other than knowing the value of stock on hand, there is no benefit for the business.
By completing a stock take using your computer system you set your business up for better business decisions, ordering based on accurate sales data and having evidence with which to hold suppliers to account.
The benefits of an accurate on hand count within your computer system are considerable and far-reaching.
I’d urge newsagents to use their computer system for future stock takes, regardless of the system you have. By treading your business data as one of your most valuable business assets you set the business up for considerable flow on benefits beyond the stock count itself.
Iconic Melbourne bookshop Reader’s Feast is to close as part of the shutdown of REDGroup. While the financial issues of REDGroup are the core cause closures not only of Reader’s Feast, Borders and many Angus and Robertson stores, some of the material in the coverage on ABC radio’s AM program yesterday was interesting in the context of disruption to print products.
The gift department continues to perform at a stand-out rate in many newsagents. I am seeing this in my own stores – excellent year on year growth. Valuable basket building. This is being driven by our team with terrific tactical engagement at the local store level – by placing appropriate gift items near getting cards and by creating traffic attracting displays – like the Sesame Street range in the photo. Attractive and bold displays like this are with their weight in gold. They are playing a key role in helping this newsagency attract sales from nearby gift shops.
Standalone gift shops do not have the underlying regular traffic of newsagencies and this makes them more vulnerable. Most newsagents who are leveraging their existing traffic with a move into gifts are doing well. The key is to carry stock which suits cards which are most often purchased.
Following the story in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review, I was interviewed by Adam Spencer on ABC 702 in Sydney at 6:40am and on 2UE by Michael Smith at 1:20pm. Both interviews picked up on the opportunities of change for newsagents and connected with the vital importance of newsagencies in local communities. They talked up the retail channel – as did the article if you read the whole piece.
I loved being able to get the message out that newsagents beat Harvey Norman, Big W, Australia Post and Dick Smith on price!
I received calls from several newsagents late yesterday who had heard one or the other of the interviews. But they rang more in response to some of the comments to yesterday’s blog post.
Publicity for the newsagency channel like we saw yesterday is good. It pitches our businesses as important and relevant to the community and moving with the times. This is vital if we are to be seen by shoppers as relevant. The last thing we need is to be though of as out of date retailers as retailers seen that way are soon forgotten.
Rob Hunt from nextra called several newsagencies that I know of yesterday, talking down the AFR story, trying to scare people. From what I have heard, Rob offered nothing positive, no pathway to a brighter future, no suggestions on how to deal with changes we already see. He seemed only concerned about being negative.
The debate between newsagents about what to discuss publicly and what to keep to ourselves about our future as a channel is not a useful debate. It will not help us navigate to a future. Our future is in the public domain in a range of ways including audit and other publicly released data.
We need to be publicly realistic about what is happening. But more important than that, we need to be publicly opportunistic.
There are not enough people and organisations serving newsagents who are prepared to pursue a bright future beyond what we know today. Too many prefer to oppose for the sake of opposition. Or they oppose to try and take focus on the smart move by a competitor. These NoNos, the people who complain and criticise without working on a plan for the future, are wasting the attention of good newsagents. They ought to create a plan themselves and show that they can do more than just complain and criticise.
It is natural that Rob Hunt of nextra would complain about the AFR article given that a key feature was the growth in sales reported for newsXpress stores and the coverage of the national TV campaign announced by the group.
A better response from Rob Hunt would have been an announcement about a TV or some other equally valuable and national campaign for nextra newsagents.
Our channel will be well served by multiple positive, strong and future focused newsagency marketing groups. This would play a valuable role in strengthening the newsagency offer.
I also heard late yesterday that a bank representative pointed to the article to justify their lending approach on newsagencies. Hmm, yes, it makes sense that a bank used an article in July 2011 to justify a policy change from early 2010 (or before). Not! Banks take into account many factors when considering lending proposals. The P&L of a business is paramount. The future opportunity of the channel in which the business is also a factor. This is where the AFR article had plenty of good news.
Finally, I’d note that the price people buying a newsagency for is a factor of the P&L and the perceived opportunity. This is why we must, every day, drive P&L value and pursue opportunities in our businesses. Energy invested in these areas will increase the value we achieve when we sell.
I like the home delivery campaign which has been appearing in The Australian newspaper recently. It promotes the habit of newspaper home delivery and it promotes print as opposed to a digital edition. Using the front door of a home as the anchor image for the ad is terrific. Yes, this is a very nice campaign. kudos to those responsible.
I am sure that distribution newsagents would be happy to see News limited promoting home deliver of The Australian in this way.
My only (small) gripe is the promotion of a discount off the cover price for what is actually a premium service. I wish that publishers would understand that subscribers will pay more for a premium service. There is no need for such steep discounting.
Check out the children’s book sale put together by the team at one of my newsagencies for the school holidays. It looks terrific. The sale includes Kung Fu Panda 2 and Transformers activity packs, tying in with their recent release at the movies. The display located at the front of the newsagency and facing into the mall is eye catching and generating plenty of traffic.