A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Better Homes and Gardens sells well at the counter

bhg-counter-jun10.JPGIn addition to our in-location display we promoted the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens at our main counter over the weekend with tremendous success.

Weekend shoppers dropping for a newspaper or lottery ticket were our target and it worked.  It was terrific seeing this in action first-hand.  We restocked the display Saturday afternoon it had done so well for us.

Better Homes is one of those titles which responds very well to promotion at the counter.

0 likes
magazines

Woolworths / Safeway decline to support World Cup promo

Woolworths ( and Safeway) supermarkets will not be participating in the World Cup Soccer Flag promotion with The Sunday Age (and the Sun Herald?) today.

I am not sure of the reason for Woolworths not participating and don’t really care.  This provides another opportunity to reinforce the difference between a newsagency and a supermarket for circulation product.  If only the publishers would get this and leverage the opportunity of the service newsagents provide.

While there will be some grumpy customers today who are frustrated at having to walk to us to get their flag, there will be others who check us out and even buy something as a result.

0 likes
Newsagency opportunities

Still no sign of my iPad

sad-ipad.JPGIt is frustrating hearing from and reading about people who bought iPads from Apple stores on Friday and yesterday.  My desk has several iPad attachments, as the photo shows, but it lacks the device.  The Apple website still says my iPad will ship by June 7.    My frustration is heightened by reports that TNT has had the devices ready to ship for more than a week.  This is not good treatment of someone who committed to the device well in advance of the release date.

0 likes
Media disruption

News coverage on the Modern Award

I have done a couple of media interviews over the last week on the Modern Award – one for background material to help the journalist understand where newsagents sit in the mix of the changes.  Some of what I have written here has been picked up.  We have a long way to go to sort out the challenges the award changes have delivered to newsagents and plenty of other businesses.  The frustration is that the process of negotiating exceptions and regulatory changes is time consuming and expensive.

0 likes
Newsagency challenges

British magazine display drives sales

The British magazine display which we ran at the front of our newsXpress Forest Hill store for a week delivered an excellent sales lift – making the space and time allocation well worth the effort.  My sense is that it also drew browsers into the store since we were showing ourselves as carrying more than only the top selling magazines.

A key point of difference as newsagents is the depth of our magazine range.  We ought to embrace and promote this more.  By only promoting top selling titles, as many of us do today, promote that we are me-too retailers, competing in a crowded market.  The british magazine display and other specialinterest displays we do push against this.

0 likes
magazines

Promoting free coffee with New Idea

new-idea-coffee.JPGWe gave over a couple of pockets to promote the free coffee available to readers with New Idea this week.  The simple display with an A4 poster worked well for us, delivering strong sales.

Given that some customers will choose between a few titles, promoting a value proposition like the free coffees can help guide the choice.

I’d much rather promote a value add than discount a title to get the sale – especially in a shopping centre where rents are high and every cent is valued.

0 likes
magazines

Puzzler Arrowords sales collapse for us

puzzler-arrowwords.JPGThe latest issue of Arrowords from Puzzler has not performed at all.  Yesterday morning, I returned everything we had received after leaving the title on the shelves for six weeks to achieve at least something.

We also supported title with a co-location promotion in with our women’s weeklies titles for a week.

This is where the magazine distribution system is flawed.  I have given over my space, my labour and my cash to support Arrowords and I get nothing in return.  The magazine distributor is paid regardless.  We price our assets too cheap.

As I have written here many times previously, there needs to be a non performance fee which applies where a title does not perform to minimum standards.  Given the little control newsagents have over what they receive from two of the distributors such a safety net for our investment is fair.

I think the folks at Puzzler need to work on their titles.  Lovatts are creaming them and while that is good for Lovatts it is not good for healthy competition on our shelves.

0 likes
magazine distribution

Lying to get your business

Some sales representatives who call on newsagents will do anything to get you to buy their products or service.  Newsagents would know who I mean – they are the sales people who try and win business by lying about the competitors.  It’s their point of difference.  I am talking here about outright lies and not just tough competitive positioning.  It speaks volumes for their belief in their own product that they focus on the competitors more than themselves. Thankfully, business won this way often bites them sometime down the track.

There is a bit of lying going on right now and, no, I am not about to name names or companies.

If a supplier representative says anything to you about a competitor of theirs, ask them to prove it.  This will soon shut them up.  Better still, go to the company or person they are speaking about and let them know – it is what you would want if it was you they were talking about after all.

0 likes
Ethics

Newsagency of the Future workshop – Cairns date added

I have scheduled a Newsagency of the Future workshop for Cairns on July 1, 2010 @ 10am following contact from Cairns area newsagents.  Bookings can be made here.

At all of these sessions we will discuss how new technology like the iPad will impact on newsagencies, how newsagents are reinventing their businesses and attracting new traffic and driving better margin.  There are some exciting stories to share.

0 likes
newsagency of the future

MediaWeek podcast: magazines

I was fortunate to participate in a podcast for mediaweek magazine yesterday.  Hosted by Brendan Wood and James Manning (Publisher of mediaweek), I appeared along with Erica Bartle of the Girl With a Satchel blog.

The hour long podcast was a terrific discussion about magazines.  We covered the Master Chef launch, the bundling of magazines as appears to be happening more, the latest magazine audit numbers and the challenge of the iPad.  Click here to listen to the podcast.  Let me know what you think.

It is good that newsagent voice is represented in a discussion like this about magazines which will be listened to many of our suppliers.

0 likes
magazines

Where is my iPad?

It sucks that I preordered and prepaid for my iPad but now have to wait another week.  Apple has teased me by shipping all extra bits but not the iPad itself.  Ugh!

I could have stood in line overnight but I figured I’d trust their online process.  I’m not happy that people who bought after me get served first.

0 likes
Media disruption

Promoting Better Homes and the chook cookbook

fhn_bhg_jun10.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of Better Homes & Gardens at the counter this week as well as with this in-location display.  It gets the prime counter location thanks to the chook cookbook of the cover.  We decided on the in-location display to maximise sales in the first week of the on-sale.

We plan additional activity for the weekend, when we sell most copies of this title.

We do all of this because we are rewarded with sales.   This is one title which newsagents should get behind, especially Fridays through Sundays, as it responds very well to promotion.

0 likes
magazines

Catching customers as they leave

fhn_aww_jun10_2.JPGThis photo shows the rear of the display promoting the latest issue of the Australian Woman’s Weekly.  Click here to see the front.  Promoting the title on both sides works for us as we get shoppers as they enter and leave the main women’s magazine aisle.

One thing ACP does well is provide good marketing collateral.  For this issue of AWW we received the A1 poster, plenty of cover run-ons, plenty of A2 posters two of the large banners.  This collateral kit provides us with options for these displays I have posted here as well as material for the location we will move the title to next.

Sales for this issue of AWW have been strong.

0 likes
magazines

ABC launches iPad app

The ABC has launched it’s iPad app today.  The Age has a good wrap up of what is on offer.  It all looks pretty exciting – the various screen shots show that the app coveras a variety of ABC offers.  That it’s free will see good early adoption.

While we will see plenty more announcements of local iPad apps with the product going on sale tomorrow, the ABC offer brings credibility to the decive as an alternative news, information and entertainment channel.

0 likes
Media disruption

How to create your Newsagency of the Future

future-newsagency.jpgI am speaking at a series of workshops next month on How to create your Newsagency of the Future.  After months of planning I am pleased to be finally able to announce the details of this important workshop series for newsagents.

The announcement is timely with the launch of the Apple iPad tomorrow since part of the workshop content will look at the likely impact of the iPad and similar technologies on the newsagency channel.

It is time for newsagents to look more carefully at the implications significant changes to the distribution channel which will affect newspapers and magazines.

The time is also right to discuss online strategies and how these may work for newsagents.  Some newsagents are having tremendous success while others are wondering why they bothered.

I will share details from the latest newsagent benchmark study which tests the health of the newsagency channel as we currently know it.

I will also share case studies of newsagents who are transforming their businesses, attracting new traffic and selling better margin product.  This will include sharing some secrets on how to get good knowledge on good margin product trends.

I promise a practical business-building session which will leave participants with change opportunities which can be implemented in almost any situation and with a better understanding of what the future may hold.

Access to the workshop is FREE and open to all newsagents.  To book, please book online here or download the booking form here and fax this to the number noted.

While the workshop is funded by my software company, Tower Systems, it is NOT a sales pitch. I’m not out to sell you anything. What I want is a healthier and stronger newsagency channel, a channel with a bright future for newsagents, their employees, their suppliers and all of the families which rely on the newsagency channel for income.

I am happy to consider dates beyond those listed.  Make contact with me direct if you and a group of newsagent colleagues would like a workshop hosted closer to your location.

0 likes
newsagency of the future

Damn those Uncle Tobys’ Oats!

aww_stock.JPGThe free pack of Uncle Tobys’ Oats in every copy of the latest issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly makes the magzines lop-sided and bent.  The product does not look as good as it usually does as result.  We had to hide some stock at the bottom of the stack it looked that bad.  The other challenge is that we cannot create the usual high stack because they fall over.  So, the usual display is not as impressive and we now have back room stock to manage.

While I am sure that the advertiser prefers the giveawar to be in the magazine, the magazine itself is suffering from the sample product.

0 likes
magazines

Promoting the Australian Women’s Weekly everywhere

fhn_aww_jun10_1.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly on one of our ACP basket builder stands at the entrance to our main women’s magazine aisle.

This display is also seen by everyone entering the shop and shoppers as they move from the newspaper stand to the counter. We are also promoting AWW on the rear of the stand – to shoppers as they leave the aisle. The magazine can be bought from both sides of the stand.

While it may not be obvious from the photo, we have invested a bit of time in the display, slicing up some of the posters to enable us to include the social responsibility pitch on each shelf of the display.  We did this for visual effect as much as anything.  The amount of blue in the display finishes it off well.

0 likes
magazines

That’s Life and the $30,000 in prizes

fhn_thatslife_jun10.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of That’s Life magazine out the front of the newsagency in the mall.  The Deal or No Deal tie-in promotion is strong – we know this from past experience with similar promotions.

We have located the stand promoting That’s Life next to the entrance to our main lottery counter – both products should feed well off of each other.

We will leave this display up for the rest of this week.  depending on sales we may use the stand for Better Homes & Gardens on the weekend.

0 likes
magazines

Melbourne’s ethnic press

Upstart (a magazine for emerging journalists) published a terrific profile on Melbourne’s ethnic press two weeks ago.

Regulars here would know I’m a fan of ethnic newspapers because of growing sales and their tremendously loyal customers.  You can’t ignore double digit growth.  I’d happily extend the raneg of ethnic titles in any oy my newsagencies.

0 likes
Newspapers

Newsagency software on the iPad

ipad_photo.jpgQuietly, over the last few days one of team from Tower Systems has been playing, like a kid in a candy shop, with our Point of Sale software on the yet to launch Apple iPad.  Using some smart technology we have been able to gain a good feel for the iPad as a management tool for newsagents in their businesses as well as when they are on the road away from their businesses.

We have found the iPad very easy to learn and navigate and the 10″ screen very easy on the eye.

So, outside of application for newspapers, maagzines, books and other digital content, the iPad has good uses in business.  It’sa terrific tax deduction for newsagents who like gadgets with a good business use.

Disclosure: I am the owner of Tower Systems – serving more than 1,700 newsagents with newsagency management software.

0 likes
Media disruption

Closer to uderstanding Bill Express cash merry-go-round

Banking Day has a couple of excellent reports from yesterday and last week on the latest from the investigation into the collapse of the company being held in the Supreme Court of Victoria.  Each day of the hearing has shown that newsagents were just a small part of a major financial scam.

Bill Express funded the entrepreneurial visions and dreams of its chief executive, Ian Christiansen and his late brother Hal Chistiansen, the Supreme Court of Victoria heard yesterday.

Profit results were created and funding was also provided to Australian Private Networks (a private company that now trades as Activ8Me, Australia’s largest satellite broadband provider) in a convoluted funding arrangement relying on cash from the “Arabian Highway”.

Click here for  a free trial to Banking Day to get the rest of the article.

Once can’t help but wonder whether independent due diligence into Bill Express before it was promoted to newsagents would have uncovered the now obvious flaws in the business model.  We will never know.  No such due diligence was undertaken on behalf of newsagents.

1 likes
Bill Express

Newsagents set for a $500 slug from government?

The Sydney Morning Herald today reports that newsagents could be among others slugged $500 a year by the federal government as part of their crackdown on money laundering.  The $500 fee and considerable compliance costs would apply to any Austrac registered business.  This would snare newsagents offering Western Union services.

If the plan proceeds and newsagents are hit with the costs, I would expect many to opt out of Western Union.  This would have significant income ramifications for the ANF.

We opted out of Western Union in my newsagencies last year following a cost benefit assessment and after taking on board the Austrac regulatory requirements.  We figured that the offering the service was no longer worth it.

0 likes
Newsagency challenges

The Australian: iPads to replace newspapers!

A cup of coffee and a newspaper looks set to be usurped by a latte and an iPad as the media of choice for Australia’s cafe set with the launch of the iPad on Friday.

Tens of thousands of the devices could be sold in the first year.

Where once magazines and papers ruled, research from Australia and overseas suggests iPads will quickly become a common sight in cafes that run Wi-Fi hotspots.

The opening paragraphs from a story in The Australian yesterday.  In Cafe circuit braces for impact of Apple’s iPad, the newspaper touts the new device and the potential impact on reading habits.  This story is one of many by the newspaper over the last couple of months talking up the iPad.  They will be, after all, the first newspaper in Australia with an iPad app – just $4.99 a month.

iPad pre-sales, have been, I am told, well above expectations.  That said, there is little in the way of local content to be available from launch this Friday.  This is a surprise.

The iPad is an opportunity for publishers to innovate.  Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, we are not seeing much of that at the moment.

Newsagents need to be engaged in conversations about the iPad and other disruptive products coming down the line.  They will succeed, opening a new channel and attracting plenty of existing print customers.

0 likes
Media disruption

Telling a story through the display

obon_pencils.JPGHow do you convey in a display that the pencils on display are made from recycled newspapers?  While back office marketing people would create a poster to tell the story, out at newsXpress Knox, one of the team decided to use a rolled-up newspaper to tell the story.  They rolled a newspaper and used this to cap a display promoting the OBON pencils.  The display looks terrific.  I’ve seen people drawn to it to find out what the newspaper has to do with pencils.  Next to the packs of pencils are two loose pencils and a sharpener – so shoppers can actually see the newspaper.

An interactive display like this can work for many products we sell in newsagencies.  Retail theatre is important to make products appealing and, in some cases, understandable.

Too often in newsagencies I see displays which were out of date twenty and thirty years ago.  We need to innovate in our product presentation if we are to compete in today’s retail environment.  After all, everything we sell is available elsewhere.

0 likes
Newsagency opportunities
Trending Articles

Fairfax changes approach to TV Guide, disrespects newsagents

Published on April 20, 2011

What do you think of the Powerball changes?

Published on February 16, 2018

IPS releases new magazine contracts

Published on June 21, 2011