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

Scratch ticket thefts in Melbourne

Intralot this afternoon sent an important notice to its retail network about recent theft incidents of instant scratch ticket stock:

Intralot would like to make all retailers aware of a spate of robberies that have occurred in metropolitan Melbourne over the past days. In all these robberies,scratchies have been stolen.

We recommend that all outlets secure their scratchies so that they cannot be easily taken.

Once a scratchie book is activated, it is identical to cash and cannot be deactivated if stolen.

You should also note that if a customer comes into your outlet to claim a scratchie prize and upon scanning the ticket, the terminal will state “payment cannot proceed”, please call the CSC if the customer is prepared to wait or advise the customer to take that scratchie back to the outlet where it was purchased from.

If you have any questions or issues, please contact our CSC on 1300 760 867.

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Lotteries

January 2010 newsagent sales benchmark study

I am undertaking a newsagent retail sales benchmark study comparing sales for January 2010 against January 2009.

Tower Newsagents can participate by sending a Monthly Sales Comparison report: tick the box to exclude home deliveries, and tick the box for a category breakdown. Set your first date range (on the left) to January 1, 2010 to January 31, 2010 and the date range of the right to one year earlier.

Once the report is on the screen, click the PDF button to save this as a PDF, go into your email software and send a copy of the PDF to me at mark@towersystems.com.au. I’ll publish the benchmark results here and elsewhere so all newsagents can benefit.

Non Tower newsagents can participate by emailing me for a copy of a spreadsheet template I have prepared.

As with past benchmarks, I expect to get data from between 100 and 120 newsagencies in the next week.  The results will provide an indication of sales performance year on year and give newsagents something with which to compare their businesses.

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Newsagency benchmark

Creating a new marketing season for newsagents

back_to_work_newsxpress_1.jpgnewsXpress yesterday launched Back to Work, offering a Toyota Yaris to one lucky newsXpress shopper and eight premium bikes as runner-up prizes.  Supported by a six page flyer delivered to close to one million homes as well as compelling in-store marketing collateral, Back to Work is a brand based campaign being run with the generous support of key brands such as 3M (Scotch, Post-it), UHU, ACCO, Italplast, Brother, Stabilo, Dymo, HP, Epson, Duracell and Spirax.

While many newsXpress outlets ran Back to School campaigns Back to Work has received more support because few retailers play in this space.

New campaigns attracting new shoppers are crucial to the newsagency channel, campaigns in addition to the traditional newsagency campaigns.  This is how we grow market share on a same store basis, by attracting new shoppers and driving better business from existing shoppers.

It is easier to get attention when you are playing in a less crowded space.  That is key to this Back to Work campaign.

Yesterday, the first day of the campaign, we had our first customer come in with the Back to Work catalogue looking for a specific item.  It’s great when this happens, especially so early in a campaign.

Disclosure: I am a Director of newsXpress.

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Newsagency opportunities

Making space for Bazaar

bazaar_feb01110.JPGIt was a challenge yesterday reconfiguring the fashion space to fit Bazaar and the bagged Bazaar bumper fashion package onto our shelves.  We made it by cutting space allocated to other titles back.  We have found the best way to drive sales of premium packages like the bagged Bazaar issue is to open them out – this shows off the value of the package.  This is what created the main space challenge for us.  Hopefully, the sales will be the reward for the space allocation.

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magazines

Promoting the latest issue of Prevention

fhn_prevention_feb0110.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of Prevention magazine next to the Australian Women’s Weekly as well as it’s usual home in the women’s health and fitness area and next to our main newspaper stand.  We have found that Prevention responds well to co-location and next to AWW is ideal.  We will leave it in this location for a week.

Our approch with co-location is to try and use the strength of a title or other product to drive the impulse purchase of another product.  It works well enough for us to keep investing time and space in this.

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magazines

Promoting Woman’s Day with a free cookbook

fhn_dw_feb0110.JPGWe are promoting Woman’s Day at the counter for the next two days. The free mini cookbook with the magazine earns this premium position. Magazines with free cookbooks on the cover have been appealing for us in the past. We can’t afford to allocate this space for more than two days – but that’s okay since we will achieve more than 75% of Woman’s Day sales in the first two days.

We chose this practical display option over a billboard display as it is likely to drive a better outcome for us – although publishers do tend to prefer the billboard displays.

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magazines

Promoting Good Food magazine

fhn_good_food_feb0110.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of Good Food at the entrance to our main women’s magazine aisle this week. This display replaces Dolly (with the free towel) which did not go well for us at all – I think the towel is the problem there. Hopefully, Good Food will be repeat the success we have had with the title in the past. We are using both sides of the display unit in the photo to promote this issue.

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magazines

Advertising covers front page of the newspaper

age_feb1101.JPGHalf of the front page of The Age newspaper is covered with a wrap-around ad today for ING. While advertisers may like this, newspaper readers don’t. Editorial staff must be frustrated at their treatment by the publisher. What’s more important, the story or the ad? The publisher says the ad. Fair enough I guess – they must put their shareholders first. As a newspaper fan I don’t like it.

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newspaper masthead desecration

Are we lazy in our preference for sale or return offers?

I am not a fan of sale or return offers from newsagent stationery and gift suppliers yet we take them in my newsagencies from time to time.

Sale or return makes sense for circulation product, (most) greeting cards and (most current issue) books, it does not make sense in other categories when it is used to get us to take product which does not move quickly and or to take product for a lower margin.

I wonder if the sale or return offer lulls many newsagents into a false sense of security around the product offer – it’s sale or return, I don’t have to worry about whether it sells because I have protection.

With rents the way they are, we need to ensure that every square metre of retail space is performing well.  We cannot afford to be lazy about product.  If products don’t deliver the floor-space return necessary, they have to be cut.  The floor-space return is based on sales and margin as a ratio to floor cost.  This is where the sale or return offer can cloud our view. I have seen newsagents factor that a product is sale or return into the assessment of economic value to the business.

My sense is that we work harder when we take more risk with products.  This is also true with (most but not all) products with better margins.  Better margins are usually achieved from products we purchase on firm sale.

I think there are suppliers who know that a certain amount of product supplied on a sale or return basis will not be returned because the retailer will forget about this option or because the conditions around this are left to lapse.

The best stock outcome for us is good margin product which turns at an above average rate, product which generates a handsome return on the floorspace allocated and inventory capital invested.

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Newsagency challenges

Comparing eReaders

Paid Content has published a useful chart comparing eReaders including the new Apple iPad.

Based on the coverage by mainstream media here in Australia, the iPad is already a tipping point device – even though it and most other devices are yet to launch here.

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Media disruption

Biggest Loser pedometers a hit

pedometer.JPGThe Biggest Loser Couples pedometer giveaway with the herald Sun went well for us in most newsagencies I am connected with. At our Forest Hill store we received plenty of pedometers and didn’t run out until late in the day. We had plenty of happy customers and happy people dropping in to pick up their pedometer only.

We were not so happy at one other newsagency where we received 30 pedometers for 74 newspapers (we actually didn’t get any and had to go to the distribution newsagent to collect them) and ran out in no time at all. In this instance, the problem is with the distribution newsagent and the publisher.

Complaints aside, I like these promotions with newspapers. What is needed is a fix for the distribution issues we have covered here in recent weeks. I see this as much a publisher as a distribution newsagent issue.

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newspaper home delivery

Newsagents being chased on Bill Express debt

Some newsagents have recently received letters from a firm called Professional Collection Services (PCS) demanding money in relation to Bill Express.  The Bill Express liquidator has engaged PCS to collect Bill Express debts relating to telecommunication services incurred prior to Bill Express ceasing operations. Unfortunately the letters of demand to not specify what the debt relates to or any other relevant details.  I’m told that the legal advice for anyone who receives such a letter if to immediately write back and seek details of the claim in writing so that this can be verified.  The contact details are: PCS, PO Box 85, Collins Street West, VIC 8007.  Email: vicadmin@profcoll.com.au.  This is not something to ignore.

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Bill Express

Driving ink sales

ink_entrance.JPGThe large format poster was a feature in our centre at Forest Hill several times through 2009.  This week, it is righin the mall t outside our store and facing shoppers as they come through the entrance from the carpark nearest us.  We have good evidence from 2009 of this poster driving traffic and sales.

We created the artwork -and had our printer create several of the posters.

Ink works for us with this type of marketing because of our brand commitment, our highly competitive pricing and compelling collateral.  In creating this, our goal was to leverage shopper trafffic already in the centre and nearby.

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Newsagency opportunities

Missing People’s Friend

peoples_friend_stock.JPGWe see to have delivery problems with People’s Friend in any one of my newsagencies every second week.  Yesterday, it was Forest Hill’s turn.  This would not matter if the title was not so popular but with 20 putaways and only a couple off copies left for the shelves we will have between 30 and 50 unhappy customers.  We have spoken to Gotch about this and they have an answer for each occurrence.  I suspect a more systemic problem.  I’d be interested if other newsagents have People’s Friend delivery problems.

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magazine distribution

AFL prospectus for 2010 season out now

afl_prospectus_2010.JPGThe AFL Prospectus for the 2010 AFL season is out now in newsagencies.  If last year is anything to go by, this $39.95 collectors (and AFL tragic) item will sell out quickly.  We have it located with newspapers as well as with our AFL related magazines.  I have seen customers decide to purchase the prospectus on impulse, making it an excellent impulse item.

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magazines

Get to Melbourne Gift Fair

Newsagents in Victoria looking for new revenue opportunities ought to get to the Gift Fair which starts tomorrow morning and runs for four days.  You’ll see plenty of suppliers and products worthy of consideration.  More than 300 suppliers are exhibiting.

I know of newsagents who went to their first gift fair and within months completely refreshed their business.

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Gifts

Kutcher shows how media is changing

An article in Fast Company offers an excellent insight into how media is changing.  It’s about Katalyst, a company founded by Ashton Kutcher and business partner Jason Goldberg.  You’ll read about how they are using social media like Twitter and developing web based video content – with the backing of advertisers.

Now read about a speech made this week by Elizabeth Murdoch:

We in the TV business have to catch up with what our audience is doing. We can no longer afford to be one-screen business. Social networks are finally the interactive dimension of storytelling. We now need to evolve with our audience. To resist this would be like resisting Technicolor.

We’ve talked here before about Gen Y and how we are not seeing them as much as we would like in newsagencies.  The Fast Company article and the call to arms in Murdoch’s speech will provide an insight into why.

Since we are not content developers in newsagencies, this space is not for us.  Our job is to develop a better presence with products which need a bricks and mortar presence and to make the experience more enjoyable so that shoppers want to come back for a real life experience.

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Media disruption

Is newsagent privacy being breached?

I have heard from several newsagents that their neighbouring newsagents have allegedly been told by publisher representatives that they have signed new newspaper home delivery contracts.  The allegation is that this information has been put in terms of well they have signed, you should too.  It has also been used to say, if you don’t sign they can take your territory and give it to them.

While I cannot verify if the allegation is true, I’d note that three separate (and unconnected) newsagents have shared their stories with me.  I cannot imagine any publisher condoning such activity.

If true, such a disclosure about someone else signing a contract would be a breach of privacy.  The challenge is how do you act on this?

The stress around the new contracts is not yet over for some newsagents.

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Newsagency challenges

Crosswords do sell with women’s magazines

lovatts_big_crossword.JPGLast month, 80% of sales of Lovatts BIG Crossword were achieved from this one pocket next to the Australian Women’s Weekly.  That’s close to 30 units sold from one pocket.  In the first two days of on-sale of the new issue of BIG Crossword, all copies sold have come from this pocket.  Newsagents who do not promote crossword titles next to AWW or their weekly magazines are not achieving their maximum potential.

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crosswords

Predicting our future

In the future you may not have to go to the newsagent any longer.

That’s Robert Penfold, US correspondent for the nine network reviewing the iPad from Apple – on Sky News a few minutes ago – and talking about the use of the device to read newspapers and magazines.

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Media disruption

Mainstream media and the iPad

Checkout the report published by the Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada by about the iPad.

But those with the most hope invested in the new iPad are newspaper and magazine publishers who are struggling to open new revenue streams as print advertising shrinks and readers seek free content on the Internet.

“It’s the best chance especially newspaper and magazine content publishers have, said Kaan Yigit, a Toronto-based new media analyst.

“A predictable, good-looking platform that’s more intimate to the consumer and is more ready to replicate some of the features of the printed paper,” he added.

Also, see the news report from CBS News in the US.

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magazines
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