The GIO has paid to partially cover the masthead of The Age newspaper in Victoria today. The ad also partially covers editorial content promoting a story in the newspaper. As I have mentioned previously – if the publisher wants to make money from this space they should reconfigure the masthead so that there is room for these ads. This would be better than sticking something over the top. That’s what a business which respected its own brand would do.
TIME magazine published a good article online overnight by Tom Vanderbilt about the declining number of paperboys in the US.
While arrangements for the delivery of newspapers is quite different in the US compared to Australia, there are still plenty of men and women who will remember getting their start delivering newspapers here.
At my local Fitness First gym yesterday was a display stand with free copies of The Saturday Age newspaper for anyone who wanted one. The display was messy because someone had taken the news section and left the rest messed up on top. There was a bulk unopened on the floor next to it.
Asking about the promotion I was told I could take as many copies as I wanted since they didn’t know what to do with them. It was late in the day and the majority of what they received appeared set to be wasted. They also said that they would have The Sunday Age today.
One off the people behind the counter was saying that The Age must be desperate for sales. It turns out that he gets a cheap home delivery through his AFL club membership.
Giveaways and cheap deals are a good way to attract new customers through sampling your product. However, there is a tipping point when your freebie and discounting campaigns devalue your brand in the eyes of consumers. If the guy at the gym is anything to go by, some people have reached that point with The Age newspaper.
We have been promoting The Little Black Book for the Herald Sun Super Coach competition at the counter, just above a stack of the newspaper. In addition to the great display created by one of our team members, the book has been offered to every Herald Sun customer.
We are doing this as a customer service and to reinforce to the publisher that a direct relationship between newspaper publishers and proactive retail only newsagents (i.e. sub agent for newspapers) is vital … to the publisher, the newsagent and the consumer.
The interest in the Super Coach competition has been strong. The diversity in ages of shoppers buying the book has been considerable.
XchangeIT yesterday emailed newsagents who will be charged a higher fee from March 31, 2011 for accessing the service because they are not sending magazine sales data. This morning I published a 9 point action plan for XchangeIT compliance here.
Concerned newsagents should book for one of the free live and online magazine management workshops run by Tower Systems – any newsagent can book and participate. Click here for details of the session next Tuesday – an XchangeIT expert will step you compliance and how to avoid the higher cost from March 31. This training program has been undertaken by more newsagents than any other training ever in the history of the newsagency channel.
Meeting XchangeIT standards is important for newsagents and the magazine distributors. It is something we should all work together on. Hence the opening of the popular Tower training program to all newsagents and at no cost.
It is unfortunate that some software companies charge newsagents extra for XchangeIT access and support and that they block access to invoices from XchangeIT if their software support fee is not paid.
Like plenty of newsagents I am sure, we received these Justin Bieber cards this week. The challenge is where to put them. There was a time when newsagents happily gave over prime counter space to these impulse lines without thinking. Today we are so many more impulse opportunities for the counter delivering 50% margin and more. We will give the Bieber cards a go at the counter but we will watch their performance as this space is valuable. the best we can hope for us a rush by young girls and a sell out in a week.
I’d like to see counter lines like this attract a premium margin given the premium space we need to provide. 50% would be reasonable in my view.
The other issue with the cards is that they are so yesterday – Justin Bieber has a new hair style, apparently.
We have been promoting the latest issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly with newspapers this week as well as on the I Love Magazines display. With Anna Bligh’s strong popularity following the Queensland floods, we are chasing impulse sales – hence the placement at the counter with newspapers.
Park Street, the reality TV show filmed in the offices of ACP Magazines and following the production of Madison, Shop Til You Drop, Cosmopolitan and Dolly bombed on its debut earlier this week according to a report at news.com.au. Not a single viewer tuned in to watch the start of the show in Melbourne or Adelaide. Anyone see it?
Every week I hear from one or two people looking at buying a newsagency asking about the process or whether I think newsagencies are good businesses to own.
A it happens I do think that newsagencies are good businesses to own. Sure, print products are challenges. However, they are not dying any time soon. Indeed, traffic from newspapers and magazines is excellent … good enough to build strong sales of other products. Lottery products generate excellent traffic. Greeting cards generate excellent traffic. Business services like photocopying generate excellent traffic.
So, my first reason for saying that newsagencies are good businesses to purchase is the traffic opportunity. Smart newsagents can achieve good things with this traffic. they can lead the business through change which attracts new customers and gets existing customer spending more.
The challenges we face as a channel and , more importantly, individually, present opportunities for us to play considerably outside our traditional model. There is where good retailers wille xcell. not so much good newsagents of the old school variety, but good retailers.
This is my second reason for saying that newsagencies are good businesses to purchase … the opportunity to profit from change. Take an old school newsagency and turn it into something fresh and bright. Use the core traffic and get out of what is not making money. I have seen newsagencies take on cafe, book, printing, gift, homewares and even haberdashery products. The changes of today and tomorrow present excellent opportunities.
many newsagents are tired, some are lost, some are not retailers. Replacing these folk with fresh retail-focused ideas can refresh a business and help it turn a profit.
This is my third reason for saying that newsagencies are good businesses to purchase … to bring in new blood and turn a tired business around.
Almost every newsagency in Australia is connected to the community in some way or another. Through supporting sports groups, participating in community groups and helping other local charities, the local newsagency is the quintessential local business. In some locations, the newsagency defines the local character. In others, it is the local meeting place.Even in capital cities, newsagencies are the places people go when big retailers let them down.
This is my fourth reason for saying that newsagencies are good businesses to purchase … to better leverage the community connection.
While there are plenty of reasons for buying a newsagency, these are four I would highlight. I think that the channel has a bright future if we embrace change and attract more buyers with good retail skills.
We are promoting the ACP I Love Magazines consumer campaign on shopper receipts. The coupon artwork was developed by Tower Systems and is available from the website.
Promoting I Love Magazines on receipts makes sense since receipts are part of the competition entry process.
We are having terrific success using receipts as a marketing tool for seasonal offers, competition promotion, driving loyalty and even general business promotion. More newsagents should use receipts – promoting your business is better than promoting other businesses like you see on shop a dockets.
Any newsagent who is not a Tower Systems user who wants the artwork should contact me – I’ll happily send it to you.
We received TAR magazine earlier this week for the first time. It sells for $43.95 and we received three copies. We had not ordered this title. In a city based newsagency I can understand giving TAR a crack but not in a suburban shopping centre where Take 5, That’s Life, New Idea and Woman’s Day and the staples. I can’t see what in our sales data would have drive the Gotch allocations system to decide that we should carry this title. My take is that Gotch had spare stock and we were next on the list to get an allocation – based purely on the quantity they had to shop and nothing to do with potential for sale.
My gripe with the broken magazine distribution model aside, we are giving the title a shot but it’s tricky. The cost to us of theft of one copy would be extraordinary.
I’d be interested to hear from other newsagents and their experiences with TAR.
In one of my newsagencies we are benefiting from the temporary closure of a competitor due to a complete refit. Even though we are some distance and on a different level from the other newsagency we have seen magazine sales increase by 65%. What is most interesting is the breakdown in growth by MPA category. The top categories in terms of share of total magazine sales are:
The shift in what we are selling is most interesting. The crosswords growth is stellar. I still think this is one of the best magazine categories for newsagents given the low interest by our competitors in crossword titles. While the partworks growth is much bigger, it is off a very low base. The crossword growth of an additional 141 copies in three weeks is off a good base.
We are facilitating the growth in crosswords through a co-location strategy. They are located in their usual position as well as in a secondary display with a selection of weekly titles closer to the front of the newsagency.
Today’s economic climate is an opportunity for crossword sales in that they represent low cost entertainment while also helping to maintain brain health. Promoting these two points every so often can help boost sales.
I put the dip in motoring titles down to the surge in female shoppers. More of them have sought us out than male shoppers. Maybe male shoppers are lazy and give when they see their usual newsagency closed.
I get the numbers I am discussing here from the Monthly Sales Comparison Report which compares whatever period I select. By requesting a category breakdown I can compare magazine sales by MPA category across any two trading periods.
We are engaged in a campaign to retain the new customers who have sought us out during the closure of our competitor. This is built around the habit basis of magazine purchases.
If sales data I am seeing is anything to go by, UFC magazine has had a good first three days of sales. In one of my stores we sold out of the initial allocation within 48 hours and are now well into the additional allocation.
While not a MasterChef magazine launch – because the UFC TV brand is not as big here as the MasterChef TV brand – I expect sales for the launch issue of UFC to meet the publisher’s expectations.
I’d encourage newsagents to support the title with prime space allocation for at least the first two weeks. This is how we are getting our sales – from the front of the store.
We are promoting the new look Girlfriend magazine and new look collateral promoting the title with this display is a good location in-store. The edgier look takes the magazine away from the softer teen girl look. This cover has more of a Frankie magazine look. That’s a good thing.
The change in look warrants a different approach to promotion. hence the space allocation and care taken with the display.
We will leave this display up for a week and then move it to be displayed with our weekly titles for a week s part of our co-location strategy.
We are promoting Take 5 and Annette Sym’s cookbooks next to each other since the latest issue of Take 5 has a mini cookbook of Annette’s guilt-free recipes free with the magazine. This is a perfect tactical opportunity – I’d encourage newsagents to check their shelves now.
We have ensured that we have the full cover on display – the free cookbook with Take 5 gets lost in traditional magazine fixturing otherwise.
We are promoting Cleo magazine with a waterfall display backed up against a pillar pointing out onto the dance floor.
I love the consistent colour theme of the product and the marketing collateral. This combines for a stunning look in-store.
Cleo had a rough audit, down 14.12%. Through this display and plans for the title in the second week of the on-sale we are doing what we can to at least drive sales in our newsagencies.
The abundance of real news this week provides us with an excellent opportunity to remember that we are newsagents with the emphasis on news.
While digital platforms are providing immediate coverage of the major stories – Lybia, Egypt, Bahrain, Christchurch and, yes, Ricky Nixon – on our shelves we have newspapers with the analysis and the pictures.
I’d encourage newsagents to take a moment and check how newspapers are displayed. Are they in the best position? Are you co-locating at the lottery counter as well? Are you showing off content for these top stories? Are your team members promoting newspapers across the counter? Have you considered a display around some of the big stories as you would feature a magazine?
This week newsagents have many reasons to take a fresh and bigger approach to promoting newspapers. I say go for it!
Pos comments here about what you are doing to promote newspapers in this week of big news stories.
Riptide is one of those magazines which often flies under the radar. Riptide is Australia’s dedicated body-boarding magazine and does not have the profile of other sports magazines. However, it’s sales are on the rise. Targeted at Males between 14-28 years of age, Riptide is one of those titles which can be purchased on impulse. It is also a good birthday gift suggestion for a parent or grandparent looking for something different. Issue #180 of Riptide went on sale last week and includes a DVD called “The Lackey Project”. This DVD gives stores a reason to feature this issue. The publisher is encouraging newsagents to look at sales as some a re reporting sell outs already. Gordon and Gotch has additional stock available.
With the I Love Magazines display unit promoting ACP titles in-store we needed to find another use for the ACP Basket Builder stand which would usually ccarry some of these titles. Our team came up with this terrific idea of using the stand to promote the ACP cookbook range.
As the photo shows, in addition to displaying the product, a great poster has been designed to cap the display stand and draw attention to the range.
This display was setup a week ago and faces onto the dance floor.
We are promoting both Total Girl and K Zone magazines with this aisle end display which points onto the dance floor.
Just because kids magazines are challenged, as I wrote last week, it doesn’t mean that we should stop promoting them – indeed, the opposite should be the case. By bringing these two titles from their usual location at the rear of the store to the main stage we will hopefully reintroduce them to shoppers.
We are chasing a measurable sales lift and as we do with every display we will track and learn from the results.
It seems that not a day goes by and I hear about another newsagent hit by employee theft. It feels as if we are in the grip of an epidemic. I have just completed an article on the topic for the next issue of My Business magazine. My next step is to create a new video for newsagents on how to identify, manage and minimise theft.
We have to get this scourge under control.
Darren Osborne writing at the ABC’s The Drum presents an excellent analysis of the circumstances of RED group going into administration – points to disruption being a key factor. Newsagents should read this.
While some in the newsagency channel like to talk down newsagents when it comes to compliance (as happened with this thread recently), the facts show that newsagents are doing quite well.
Of the 2,381 newsagents signed up for XchangeIT, 2,220 are eligible to be considered compliant as it cannot include POS Solutions DOS software and other packages which don’t meet the compliance standards.
The most recent assessment, two weeks ago, indicated that 89.9% of eligible newsagents, 1,996 in fact, were sending sales data. However, only 45% of eligible newsagents sending sales data day in day out on time and without fail and passing what XchangeIT calls their ITC’s – Integrity, Timeliness and Continuity. 55% of newsagents fail this.
This data was provided to me on Monday by XchangeIT.
The big challenge is around continuity. Continuity is about sending the files each day AND the content of the files – that today’s file fits ‘neatly’, in terms of sales quantities, with yesterday’s file and so on. It is essential that all files fit so that a whole of business view can be created. The most common reasons for failure of continuity are system setup or a failure to follow standard processes at the end of the trading day – both are easily fixed.
Newsagency software which meets the XchangeIT standards creates the sales files so that they meet the requirements. The challenges are around setup and execution at the store level.
While the 45% number is not ideal, that 89.9% are sending sales data indicates a better result than some writing here have recently suggested.
Newsagents should talk to their software provider to determine if they have their system setup in the appropriate way to meet industry standards. Each of us getting this right is good not only for our own business but for the newsagency channel as a whole.
Click here for a copy of overall compliance advice from Tower Systems. There is a series of EDI advice sheets on the Tower website with specific information about driving compliance to the XchangeIT standards – rely on these for the detail.
We like many newsagents received a certificate of appreciation from the Better Homes and Gardens team at Pacific Magazines. Congratulating us on our efforts for the title and the sales achieved. This recognition is appreciated. The certificate itself is something we can proudly display at the counter. This is the type of thing customers will notice and comment on. It helps to differentiate our newsagency from others who have missed out on the certificate. Thanks Pacific.
We are promoting Zoo and UFC magazines side by side with a simple yet highly visible in-location display in our men’s magazine aisle given the joint promotion by ACP this week. The display will run for the week or as long as we have stock – we have limited stock on both titles.