For 41 years, the The Sun newspaper, from News Corp., in the UK has respected an agreement between UK publishers and not published on Christmas Day. This year that changed when they published an iPad only Christmas day edition. The Times, also from News, published an iPad edition on Christmas Day.
Christmas is over for many newsagents, especially those in shopping centers. Our stores at Forest Hill, Knox City, Frankston and Watergardens kick off BOXING DAY SALES first thing this morning. All Christmas stock is half price as are all calendars plus a range of items we have sourced specifically for the sale. We have A1 colour posters promoting the event and the stores have been configured into sale mode to make the most of the opportunity. We also have a small gift for shoppers in a couple of the stores.
We have done well on Boxing Day for many years now and have learnt to plan and buy for the big day … not just by bringing in sale stock but also by making sure that we have a good range of full price stock which will sell well on impulse.
We are looking forward to a long and successful day.
Merry Christmas to one and all who pass by this place. Have a great day with family and friends. For those opening for Boxing Day Sale business, enjoy your one day off.
Australian newsagencies used always have a toy department decades ago. Over the years we lost the market to the majors. We forgot how to compete. Some of us are taking back the farm and enjoying good success with toys. At Christmas especially.
In one of my stores we have brought in a pallet load of toys to fill space from sold out Christmas stock and to make the most of the high shopper shopper traffic for the Boxing day (and beyond) sales.
While we did not anticipate putting the display up before Christmas, this became necessary because of excellent Christmas sales. No sooner was the toy display being put up and the registers were ringing with sales.
Newsagents can take back the farm, not just with toys but with other categories. There are many excellent traffic growing margin building opportunities, if we are smart and commercial in our approach. This is what 2011 should be about, re-energising your business with a focus on traffic, margin and efficiency.
I am not alone in having success with toys and other new categories. If your business is experiencing tough trading, there are plenty of good stores out there which could unlock good stories for you too.
Check out the stunning display – it shows what can be achieved when you bring in a pro.
We have sourced a better range of bands than magazine distributor Network Services sent newsagents last week. The range is broader, better priced, better packaged and offers a better margin. The look stunning on slatwall. The range is bigger than in the photo.
The supplier of the bands sent by Network ought never have been given access to the newsagency channel.
We are promoting The Australian Women’s Weekly in our prime women’s magazine section as well as next to our newspapers this week.
This newspaper location is working a treat for us – generating good sales from a simple and tactical display.
While this space is premium, AWW is earning its keep. It’s great to see someone come in for a newspaper and purchase AWW on impulse. It’s better that we get the sale than a supermarket or some other retail channel. I’d encourage other newsagents to try this co-location approach.
To coincide with the launch of a new release of the iPad app for The Australian, News Limited has released details of a new subscription offer. $6.17 a month is a good deal if the new app has worthwhile improvements. The offer was communicated by News to current and past subscribers two days ago. The regular monthly subscription for The Australian is priced at $8.99. Meanwhile, the app for the New Zealand Herald, best newspaper iPad app in my view, remains free.
Just after the announcement that Fairfax and News Limited had met to discuss newspaper distribution, the collective of newsagent associations released their New Territories Report. This report lays out several principles which they consider to be important to newsagents in negotiating the newspaper distribution model of the future.
Internally, News and Fairfax are playing their cards close to their respective chests. Newsagents need to approach this project in a similar way.
In the late 1990s newsagents botched the negotiation of new contracts. The egos of a couple of blokes got in the way and newsagents were left with poor representation on a crucial matter.
While the report from the associations released yesterday makes a range of statements with which I agree, I would feel far more comfortable if I knew that they were being advised and guided by a text of professionals from outside the channel: legal people, economists and business strategists.
If newsagents want to have a strong position at the table discussing the future of newspaper distribution, they will need to stump up the funds necessary to be as well prepared and represented as the publishers. This is not happen in the late 1990s and the result was a poor one for newsagents.
I applaud the associations for making the report public. Now, I’d like to see details on their expert external advisors.
Fairfax and News Limited revealed yesterday that they have met to discuss newspaper distribution at a high level. It makes sense that in the rapidly changing situation for print newspaper publishers look at ways they can optimise their distribution businesses. They have an obligation to their shareholders ahead of any other stakeholder. While newsagents will not like that last statement, it is a fact of corporation law.
We have sold one copy of Football+. When we first received this issue we early returned a couple of copies as we had no room and would never sell them based on our sales data. Network Services or ACP, one of those two certainly, decided to send us more stock of this title yesterday. There is no justification in our sales or returns data for this move. We are early returning this additional stock.
We, like most newsagents, have invested good money in technology and processes to ensure that Network and ACP are fully informed of our sales and returns data, so that they can make informed and fair magazine distribution decisions. The supply of additional stock to us of Football+ yesterday was not an informed or fair move.
Just as the accounts people at Network Services take a zero tolerance approach when it comes to payment of the account, newsagents are right to take a zero tolerance approach to unjustified supply. The problem is that we are the weak party in the transaction. Network can stop supply to force us to act. Newsagents do not have any punitive action option. Early returning is not punitive – we even pay for the privilege.
The Dog and Lemon Guide is no longer a print product. Instead, yesterday we received a single sheet with a code for accessing their website. I am not about to put this in the shelf priced at $19.95. The risk of theft is too great – especially for a car title. It would be easy to slip this into a bag unnoticed. While I appreciate that the publisher is continuing an association with newsagents for the online product, there has to be a better way than this theft inviting approach.
We sell one copy of Wallpaper magazine if we are lucky. Yesterday, we experienced a 100% increase in supply. Like happens so often when I write about this here, there is no justification in our sales or returns data for such a move. I looked through the magazine and could not see any reason for the increase in supply.
Wellbeing Detox which went on sale yesterday has a six month on-sale period. This is too long. I will give the title a month. It it is not paying its way in that time it can go back. To expect newsagents to give up valuable retail space for six months is nonsense. As for the title itself, it looks good. It certainly taps into a popular niche. If only the supply model worked better for newsagents.
I have been contacted by a newsagent who feels let down by the ANF over a pricing change for their Certificate IV Training Course. I’ll let them explain the situation in their own words:
I registered to do the course from ANF, Certificate IV in retail management. They charged me $1,995 for the course advertised on their site on Friday, 17/12/10. On Monday, 20/12/10 I received a promotion from ANF said that to register for the course from 20/12/10 the cost is only $975.
I called the ANF and asked if I can get the refund for the course as there is only 1 day different from the day I registered and the promotion day.
They said they will not give refunded in my case as the I registered the course before the promotion started.
My concern is, yes I registered the course before the promotion started, but only 1 days different, and I am sure that at the time I registered, they should have known that there is a promotion running and if they act professionally as they are there for, they should advised me on that.
We work so hard to make one thousand dollars. We have to sell few thousands of papers to get one thousand and in only one days different and the Body, who proudly said to act on the interest of newsagency. But in this case not at all as they only act on their interest.
Given that the ANF would have (should have) known on the Friday of the price change on the Monday, I would have expected them to readily agree to the $1,000 refund. It’s what a business which cares about customer service would do.
What do newsagents think about this?
We are not making any money from the various Simpsons comic products. There are too many copies of too many titles. We are not even covering the cost of the retail space. Despite providing accurate sales data showing the sub 40% sell through rate for the various Simpsons titles, we continue to be grossly oversupplied – as I suspect are most other newsagents. I am writing to Gordon and Gotch to advise that I will no longer carry this brand. Since they cannot deliver fair allocation, there is no point in me continue to waste time and money on this. The constant shuffling of space, processing of returns and trying to resolve the oversupply issue is just not worth it.
The latest issue of Men’s Health, out yesterday, is a challenge to display thanks to the free sachet of coffee stuck in the middle of the magazine. We can only fit two copies per pocket and flat stacking is out off the question. While the publisher is satisfying the advertiser, they are damaging their product by making it difficult to professionally merchandise. In newsagencies where space is short, less stock will be on display because of the much fatter magazine.
The new recipe Darrell Lea Rocklea Road cake is not selling so well this Christmas. All other Darrell Lea items have performed well. This Christmas cake is usually a winner. But not this year.
I suspect that the sales drop off this year is due to the new packaging, you can no longer see the cake, and the promoted new recipe – why change what was loved.
The drop off is not only in our stores, I have heard from others that sales are down.
The revolution started by the release of the iPad earlier this year and which has been aided by a growing range of tablet devices is set to impact on sales of imported magazines.
Through the Amazon store, I can access thousands of magazine titles for a fraction of the newsagent price. Take Forbes magazine. At US$2.49 a month,why would I wait for my newsagent print copy when I can access a copy for the iPad immediately?
I expect to see an impact on retail sales of some international titles ahead of local magazines and newspapers.
I wouldn’t want to stop access to international titles through Amazon as such regulation would only delay us and magazine distributors dealing with the new paradigm.
The challenge for newsagents is whether magazine distributors adjust supply in sync with any decline in print edition sales.
A survey conducted by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri indicates that more than half of print newspaper subscribers who use their iPad at least an hour a day for news are very likely to cancel their print subscriptions within six months. Click here for more on this study. While factors such as price could impact the decision, the study indicates why some newspaper publishers are keen to push this new distribution platform.
Distribution issues aside, magazines remain an important part of any newsagency business. We are promoting them to our Christmas shoppers with this coupon on all receipts.
I created our Magazine Club Card in August 2004. It is an important and valuable point of difference for us over the supermarkets and other retailers selling magazines nearby.
We have found the coupon on receipts to be an effective way to communicate this point of difference to customers buying greeting cards and other items. We use the same coupon approach to promote non magazine opportunities to magazine customers.
We are promoting the latest issue of The Outdoor Room with this aisle end display. It’s a timely display because Jamie Durie has been getting media cooverage – including on ABC radio – for the latest issue over the last couple of days.
The other reason for the display is that this magazine makes for a nice Christmas gift for someone interested in outdoor living areas.
We have had the display up for a week and plan to leave it in place until after Christmas.
My doubts about this Potty Putter as a Christmas gift were unfounded. We have one left. Amazing. Once again I am reminded that I am not my customer. This was a challenging product to display – we relied on our Christmas catalogue to do the trick … and it did. The variety of gifts sold this year is extraordinary, from traditional to weird to fun. A very broad Christmas in terms of gifts.
Click on the image to see the detail of the Potty Putter.
The front page of the Courier Mail newspaper today is a huge ad for their new iPad app.
Newsagents, and I bet other retailers, are not happy at being used so blatantly to push people away from what they sell. One can only wonder at how else News will use its successful print products to lure and push readers of those online.
While migration online is inevitable, it is frustrating that the company which is pushing / pulling people online continues to pressure newsagents to invest in supporting the print product.
We stopped receiving The Economist in January, almost twelve months ago. We never sold any copies and were finally successful in stopping this title. This morning, we received the Economist from Network once again. There is no sales history whatsoever to support the reintroduction of the title to our newsagency. The only reason I can see is that it helps Network reach its revenue budget based on how full the trucks are.
I am not alone. This sort of thing happens every magazine delivery day to newsagents around the country.
Network is the first company to aggressively pursue newsagents for payment of accounts yet refuses to accept any accountability for the supply of titles without justification. They create the accounts problem yet accept no responsibility.
I was in a major shopping centre on the weekend and noticed a temporary outpost located just outside the newsagency selling several cheap no name brand Chinese import versions brand name products in the newsagency.
This is typical of some landlords. They demand premium rent for what they say is a premium shopping centre and then cheapen the experience with junk product outposts, especially at Christmas. It is appalling that they permit outpost traders to compete with long term and loyal tenants in this way.
Of course, the landlords will have their excuses, they always do.
This instance I saw was one of the worst because of the specific nature of the products being offered by the opportunist outpost operator.
Now before any of my landlords reach for the phone or keyboard to contact me thinking that I am writing about them, as is their want, I’d note that I do visit other centres.