The money people at The Age put their needs ahead of editorial with today’s newspaper carrying a subscription ad stuck over content above the masthead pointing to an AFL article. If they are going to cover it up why have the pointer to the AFL article on the front page in the first place? It is frustrating enough that they are using the ad to take customers away from retail newsagents.
This display unit for Australian Geographic Little Kids and Australian Geographic Explorers seems like a waste to me. I don’t know of many newsagencies which would have the space necessary in either their children’s section or their science section. The children’s section is especially challenged already with unusually shaped packages taking any available flat space. The unit itself looks half made with one of the titles not even properly fitting the unit.
Despite the complaints noted above, we have put this unit our, in our since section, for the next week or two to see how it goes.
Publishers need to think carefully about how they want display units used and the space available in newsagencies for what they have planned. Too much money is wasted sending fixtures which may be put out for a photo and the trashed.
We try and use everything sent and even then if we do not use it for the long term we store it and often bring it out for a second and third go.
I was surprised to see that our postcard supplier has included this Mary MacKillop postcard in the range. However, thinking about it, the postcard will appeal to our customers – if we place it in an appropriately prominent position. I am considering looking at other Mary MacKillop products to at least establish ourselves in this space. We have had success with a range of religious items so we anticipate good interest.
We are seeing a stronger and or earlier Easter than last year. It is hard to say whether the season overall will beat last year right now because the only time to properly assess the season is at the end. Card, gift and egg sales are all performing well – gifts especially. Eggs kicked in this week, it was like someone said that it’s okay to buy Easter eggs now and shoppers came from everywhere. In a couple of our stores the sales kick was so strong that made arrangements for more stock.
We went out early with Easter, right after Valentine’s Day. Going early works well for us – we already have a good range of Mother’s Day stock out and it’s selling.
Our view on seasons is that the sooner we position ourselves as being strong in a season the better.
I have heard of more newsagents being visited by Fair Work Australia representatives and guided to adjust employment arrangements for newspaper delivery drivers. The changes have led to annual cost increases of between $15,000 and $35,000. To add this level of cost to an already marginal operation will kill some businesses and hurt the working families the government says it is so concerned about.
Despite words by the federal government that there are mechanisms for dealing with some of the issues, I don’t see the government proactively working with newsagents on this. Instead, they are sending inspectors to visit newsagents and other businesses to enforce the regulations.
The silence from newsagents about the challenges around the employment changes is concerning. My blog post of March 15 on this topic has generated plenty of behind the scenes discussion but little public comment.
Newsagents are scared. I know that some in some newsagents associations are scared too. I have heard that some representing newsagents believe that this issue should not be discussed publicly. The trouble is, lack of discussion is leaving newsagents to break the law.
While newsagents need to ensure that they operate within the law, they also need to engage on a co-ordinated campaign to lobby the federal government on the personal and economic impact of the legislation of working families – a term they love to use. This legislation is leaving many working families worse off – newsagents and employees.
Newsagents can use their geographic footprint to lobby on this. But for that to happen they need a strong national plan and they need to work together.
With food magazines so popular at the moment, showing double digit growth over last year, it stands to reason that mini cookbooks are popular with publishers as a premium gift to try and drive sales of titles. Publishers need to be careful to not chase too much of a good thing.
I suspect that the frequency with which mini cookbooks are being stuck on the cover of magazines as a gift is diluting their value as a premium. I wonder, too, whether the frequency is diluting interest in mini cookbook sales.
What was once special is no longer all that special – to my mind at least.
If a premium is to be used to drive sales of a magazine, I’d like to see greater creativity from publishers, particularly between titles. I don’t mind mini books being used as a premium, I’d just like to see more creativity in subject matter. Make them truly premium again.
Engadget is reporting that the iPad edition of The Wall Street Journal is set to be priced at US$19.99 a month and that some magazines are set to have weekly and monthly ‘subscriptions’ – not annual.
While the ground is sure to move quickly over the next few months, it is interesting to see so much publisher activity around this new device.
We are promoting Men’s Health on the power end leading into our men’s magazines aisle. The display has been up since Wednesday and is generating good business for us. The free gift of Nivea deodorant is helping with this. If you look carefully at the photo you can see a flat stack unit with Women’s Health next to the Men’s Health display. We also have the magazine in its usual location with men’s fitness titles.
I received a copy the annual report from the liquidator of On Q (a Bill Express related party) this week. It details a situation as messy as that being investigated by the Bill Express liquidator. The report documents some suspected voidable transactions, what look like questionable loans, a question about possible insolvent trading and a raft of poor practices. They are pushing for a public examination.
While there is nothing in the report for newsagents, it is interesting to see the On Q mess through to the end.
I have been made aware of a greenfield opportunity in the Dubbo region for anyone interested in buying a newsagency or opening a new newsagency. It is in a centre, part of a new development.
Let me know (0418 321 338) if you would like more details.
I was fortunate to be at the NANA Newsagent of the Year awards last night in Sydney. It was a terrific evening with good newsagents and employees being recognised for their tremendous service to our channel. Plenty of suppliers were also represented and recognition was given to them for their support of the newsagency channel.
I was taken with the upbeat mood of newsagents and suppliers, it was most encouraging. It was not long ago that these events were more negative.
Well done NANA for a good evening.
Click here to read what Gil Fuchsberg, President of Skiff said at a conference in the US a couple of days ago about their work with Samsung on the electronic device reading expeience. Skiff is a Hearst incubated business. They are certainly on a mission to connect with mobile customers through a range of devices.
We are promoting the Australian Women’s Weekly at the front of the newsagency with a bold display. The Obama cover is sure to draw plenty of attention. The issue itself looks excellent. That said, I would have gone with just that and not the free cookbook as I think they are overdone as free gifts – but more on that another time.
To make the most this on-sale week for AWW we also have it in a full waterfall in its usual position and in a pocket with our newspapers. We know that is our newsagency AWW is a good impulse purchase product. We will know by the weekend if this space allocation is working for us.
We are promoting Girlfriend magazine at the counter (from yesterday) thanks to the skincare treatment pack included with this issue. I expect this to sell well to parents. This is why we have it at the counter. We also have a good display in the usual place for Girlfriend with teen magazines. We expect to run this co-location at the counter until Monday.
OzLotto has jackpotted to $30 million at just the right time and we will see an excellent traffic and sales lift as a result. The real pay-off comes Sunday through Tuesday when people claim prizes from this Saturday’s $20 superdraw. Getting them to reinvest in a $30 million prize will work well. We are promoting the $30 million with plenty of house syndicates, easy upsell offers at each counter and other in-store promotions. We are also promoting other products to leverage greater efficiency from the increased lottery traffic.
This jackpot is an excellent opportunity. Secretly, I’d be happy to see it run for a few weeks more.
Earlier this week we launched a refreshed website for Inkfast, the online printer ink and toner business we started out the back of our newsagency four years ago. We created Inkfast to capture printer ink and toner sales which we could not get in our newsagency, especially business and government sales.
Inkfast has performed well, attracting business across the country from single cartridge orders delivered to homes through to orders from government departments worth thousands of dollars.
I think that newsagents wanting to chase online business need to do so away from the shingle of a newsagency. Whether we like it or not, the term newsagency has many preconceived opinions and biases around price, range and competitiveness attached to it. People buying ink and toner online are looking for something different be it price, range, speed of delivery or delivery to the door convenience.
The online world is different and offering newsagency products and services online under a newsagency name will do little more than serve the existing newsagency customer base. Sure, it is a feel good to be online but does it really drive incremental traffic. I see little value in slicing existing traffic and reducing shop visits.
Going online is all about finding new customers who live and shop online and are unlikely to walk through your front door. This is best achieved by running the online business separately from the bricks and mortar business.
If you research online businesses you see that strong brands have a value proposition different to what you see in the bricks and mortar world. The Inkfast value proposition is speed, it’s there in the name. This is backed by our support for brand name product at highly competitive prices. Through Inkfast we have connected with customers we could never have reached from our newsagency.
We have placed the new look Australian Traveller in among our women’s weeklies titles, in the column of food magazine we have there. The stunning new look and gourmet themed cover (100 greatest Australian gourmet experiences) make it look right at home in this premium location, with delicious and other food titles. We also have some copies in its usual place in our travel section.
The publisher of Australia Traveller tells me that since women make more travel decisions than men, placement of the title with women’s magazines makes sense. The travel department is usually tucked away in a corner somewhere, making achieving sales even more challenging for Australian Traveller and other travel titles.
Co-locating this issue will help us learn more about the best location for this title in our own newsagency.
Robberies in two newsagencies in Adelaide yesterday (one newsagent had $12,000 stolen) are a reminder of the need for tight security around cash at the counter and in the office. They also reinforce the importance of good security systems to gather evidence and act as a deterrent.
The publisher of Totally Speedway magazine has added a putaway request form in his new magazine. This came about thanks to good discussions with his local newsagent and on the backdrop of posts and comments at this blog about the treatment of newsagents by Speedway Racing News.
I am heartened to see another publisher take initiative to support the Australian newsagency channel. Small independent magazines like Totally Speedway and their publishers are important to newsagents and we are important to them. There are many ways we can work more closely together – a putaway request form is a good next step.
If you have customers interested in speedway racing, consider carrying Totally Speedway.
Innovative retailer mag nation is running a brilliant promotion, Undies Monday. Yes, you can walk into any mag nation store in your underwear and they will give you for FREE any magazine, book or stationery item you choose – up to $50 in value. Click on the image, if you dare, to see that customers are embracing the opportunity. Talk about having fun in retail! Gaslight Records (now closed) in Melbourne became famous for their nude day promotion.
There is no connection between Prevention magazine and horse racing titles. It just so happens that our horse racing titles face our greeting card department.
Realising the importance of promoting impulse opportunities as shoppers move through the store and knowing the demographic of our card shoppers, we have placed Prevention magazine facing the card department. This is the only magazine offer between the card department and the counter.
Too often, I think we look at display opportunities from the one direction. Once you analyse traffic in a newsagency you can see many display opportunities, in multiple directions – like this place next to our racing titles.
Next time, we will be more careful in selecting a newspaper stand – to make sure that it provides display flexibility regardless of how it is positioned.
My software company Tower Systems is hosting three opportunities for newsagents to learn more about our software and provide feedback over the next week:
These sessions will feature Jonathan Tay, our Software Development Manager, speaking about our latest software update. These sessions are part of a twenty city tour updating the Tower community of 1,650+ newsagents on the latest release of the software and innovation for newsagents. To book for these free sessions click here.
We are promoting New Idea next to our main newspaper display today since the cover story on Trishna and Krishna the formerly conjoined twins will be popular with our customers. The twins have dominated news stories and talkback radio since their separation four months ago. We also have the magazine available from our two busiest counters as well as its usual location with weekly magazines. We will pull this back on Wednesday morning to just two locations for the title.
In 2004 the MPA (Magazine Publishers of Australia) published a recommended layout of magazines for newsagents. Considerable work was done by the MPA to develop this and the supporting collateral including a booklet and DVD. It was a terrific resource for newsagents wanting to follow a more consistent approach to magazine layout.
The MPA layout was not set in stone but rather pitched as a starting point from which newsagents could evolve as they gathered their own data on ideal adjacencies in their business.
While the recommended layout is still available (if you hunt for it), little or no work has been done since 2004. This is disappointing since data available now goes way beyond what was available in 2004.
We know far more today about what sells with what, what response to promotion at impulse purchase positions versus the more traditional power end display.
I can see tremendous value applying what we have learnt over the last five years to the MPA layout plan and coming up with a more useful document for today’s marketplace.
While a marketing group or two and some individual newsagents manage magazine layout, the broader channel misses out on a useful resource which could drive better sales outcomes.
If newsagents are to continue to be a valuable channel for magazine publishers, they, the publishers, ought to fund a refresh of the MPA work. I, and I am sure others, would be happy to work on such a project. I’d also be happy to share the considerable basket data I have which would provide helpful information on what magazines are bought with other products as well as other magazines.
The key, however, with a recommended magazine layout would be a commitment from magazine distributors to behave on supply.
With half of all magazines sold through the newsagency channel, publishers (large and small), distributors and newsagents need to work together to make our magazine offer more efficient and competitive.
I am concerned about the growth in magazine sales in the convenience channel. Their sales of top 100 titles will hurt the rest our magazine sales since we potentially face an overall fall in traffic. We can counter this with a more consistent and professional offer.
Editor & Publisher published an update Friday on News Corp’s progress toward fulfilling the goal of being carbon neutral by the end of this year. With many shoppers concerned about the environment, the information could be useful for newsagents and fit with a broader environmental strategy.