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

Major changes at The Australian

News Limited has announced sweeping changes for The Australian.  These changes position the newspaper to make serious moves with its print and, more importantly, digital products.

As their story published over night says:

Mr Hartigan said separating The Australian into a new division reflected “the significant expansion of our ambitions” for the 45-year-old masthead.

These include double-digit growth targets for revenue, profit and online traffic for a newspaper that is expected to lead News Limited’s move into paid online content in Australia.

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Newspapers

Zinio launches iPhone app

Digital-magazine publisher Zinio released an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch this week, meaning you can now read electronic editions of magazines on the go.

Zinio includes embedded videos in some magazine titles, links, article sharing, and other electronic facilities that print can’t match. Through Zinio, consumers can purchase individual issues and longer term subscriptions – from within the app.

The timing is interesting on the back of the wave of e-reader announcements last week and the much-hyped iSlate(?) from Apple set to launch later this month. Check out their launch video:

Zinio is a well established company which I have written about here before. They bring magazines to devices, eliminating the print channel.

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magazine subscriptions

$30 million OzLotto jackpot most welcome

OzLotto jackpotting tonight to $30 million is most welcome.  The heat of the last two days has impacted retail sales across Victoria and I suspect elsewhere.

We will make the most of the opportunity, offering a range of syndicate products, running an up-sell promotion at the counter and configuring the business to drive impulse purchases of products with OzLotto tickets and lotteries with OzLotto tickets.

It is at times like these that we look at our basket analysis reports carefully – seeing what sold well with lotteries last time and ensuring we are ready again.  The better we understand customer behaviour in our businesses the better equipped we are to drive basket size.

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Lotteries

Old XchangeIT closed

As planned, the old XchangeIT EDI platform has closed this afternoon.  There were only 57 newsagents left as registered for this old software.  More than 2,000 migrated to the new XchangeIT Link platform.

This has been a good migration.  The real beenfits will flow when we see more competitive offers which leverage the new technology.

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XchangeIT

Fast growing news channel

The Online Journalism Blog has an excellent review of iPhone news apps.  Check it out and get a feel for the embrace of the iPhone by mainstream media companies.  In terms of uptake numbers, TechCrunch says that the UK Sky News iPhone app has just reached 1 million downloads.

What’s our role here?  At best: selling phone recharge.  Smart newsagents also sell phone handsets.  We do in a couple of my stores and they sell better than I expected.  Jenlist is our supplier.

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Media disruption

Promoting good health titles

fhn_healthmags_jan1110.JPGWe have placed this display promoting health and healthy eating titles at the fromt of the store – leading to our main Tattersalls counter.  We’re using Women’s Health to anchor the display as the new issue came out yesterday.

As the display shows, we are taking an opportunity to provide prime space promotion to titles which do not usually receive this.

The reasoning behind the display is that this is the time of the year people start to think about healthy eating.  Our plan at the moment is to leave this in place for a week.

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magazines

Leveraging the new New Idea

fhn_new_idea_launch.JPGWe are promoting New Idea next to our main newspaper stand this week as well as at our lottery counter as well as in its usual location with women’s magazines.  The collateral made it easy to create a display which connects with the theme of the TVC – this is important if we are to leverage the TV advertising spend of Pacific Magazines into retail sales.

I got to visit several newsagencies yesterday and saw similar prime-position use of the collateral.

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magazines

Relocation our Prevention promotion

fhn_prevention_jan1110.JPGAs part of a series of changes in our magazine promotions yesterday, we moved our Prevention co-location stand to the entrance to the women’s magazines aisle, next to our Darrell Lea stand. The stand itself makes such a move easy – I love well made small footprint floor units which can be easily moved.

We will leave Prevention in this location for a week or two – as well as in our women’s health area.  The current issue is selling well for us.

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magazines

Promoting Cosmopolitan

fhn_cosmo_jan1110.JPGWe have given Cosmopolitan magazine a power end, capping between our women’s and men’s magazine aisles. The two tone summer-feel collateral stands out well.  Having the product available for purchase directly off the display is important in this location – it works a treat.

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magazines

Newsagents negotiate with News Ltd over newspaper contracts

I have heard from a number of newsagents that News Limited moved ground last week on the new contracts on an effort to get newsagents to change their minds and sign.

I am told the change in approach became necessary given the considerable number of newsagents who had not signed the new contracts.  I’m also told that most of those applying to take over delivery runs were not appropriate to News Ltd needs.

The contract variations I have head about include:

  • Three month opt out clause.  Newsagents to have the right to opt out for any reason within three months of signing.
  • Elimination of unprofitable territory areas.  Some newsagents have finally been successful in eliminating unprofitable parts of their territories.
  • Additional weekly payment from News.  Some newsagents have negotiated a fee as high as $100 a week on top of other fees in return for signing the new contracts.  It appears that the fee size relates to the profitability of the run.

These and other benefits negotiated individually by newsagents demonstrate that News is prepared to move in order to keep good newsagents in place.   It also shows what newsagents can achieve when they work together.

The meeting organised by South Australia newsagents prior to Christmas has been crucial in achieving a more equitable outcome for newsagents.

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newspaper home delivery

Magazine management training opportunity for newsagents

Tower Systems is running its third free online magazine management training workshop for 2010 – tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11am.  Click here to book – there are places still available.

The session will cover XchangeIT EDI standards, efficient operational (arrival and return) processes, how to track theft and other points which drive efficient management of magazines.  Participation is open to any newsagent, not just Tower Newsagents.  While based on the Tower software, plenty of the content will be relevant to any newsagent.

This free Magazine Management workshop has been completed by at least 700 newsagents, making it the most widely undertaken newsagent training ever.

Magazines are the most significant product based point of difference newsagents have.  Managing this category efficiently is key to ensuring a financially healthy newsagency.  It is easy to grow other revenue off good magazine sales.  This is why I write so often about magazine here.  Until we find a replacement which generates as much traffic and revenue (which I doubt we will find) we need to take every step possible to achieve the best results possible.  This starts with excellent magazine management – hence the importance of this workshop.

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newsagent software

e-readers dominating 2010 already

As engadget reports, e-readers dominated the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.

Put it all together and we begin to see the story of a 2010 e-reader market that extends way beyond just e-books to include newspapers and magazines augmented with audio and full-color animations, video, and imagery.

All of this innovation gets us close to the iPod moment for print which I have written about before.

In the magazine space, the biggest near-term potential impact these devices could have as I see it is with special interest titles.  Imagine, for example, a train magazine collector.  They could store in the one device all the articles (or magazines) of interest for readying anywhere anytime.  It’s the ability to store and search the titles which makes the devices an interesting medium in this special interest space.

There have been plenty in the newsagency channel who have said that e-readers will not impact newsagencies and that the technology will not replace the print experience.  The last week at Las Vegas will cause some of these skeptics to change their minds.

FOOTNOTE: Australian newspapers are reporting the advance of the e-readers in a positive light whereas in the past coverage has usually been negative.

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magazines

Western Union no loss six months on

I have had an opportunity this weekend to assess the impact of our decision to cease offering the Western Union service in August 2009.  We did 405 Western Union transactions in 2008 and 198 in the seven months for which we offered the service in 2009.

We are benefiting from easier management of sales counter resources, smoother customer throughput and sell time managing cash and follow up paperwork.  I cannot see a downside in the data for 2009.  While some Western Union transactions included other sales, the loss is too small to register and is covered by growth elsewhere.

Our decision to no longer offer Western Union at my newsagencies came about when we answered the question what do we stand for? – in the context of our counter offer.   Knowing how much newsagency customers like to be served quickly once they are at the counter, we knew we must stand for fast, efficient and friendly service for every customers.  Western Union was the one service offer we had which was a barrier to achieving this.  It was also the service with the potential for the most significant mistakes.

I took some time this weeked to look for a negative impact as a result of ceasing to offer Western Union.  I know that decisions can be wrong so I felt it was important to see if that was the case here.  I could find no negative impact.

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Newsagency management

Kudos to Lovatts for promoting newsagents

lovatts_crosswords.JPGThe Herald Sun is giving away a crossword puzzle book with the newspaper today and sudoku puzzle book tomorrow.  The books have been compiled by Lovatts.  In each there is a full page ad promoting Lovatts products as being AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL NEWSAGENT.

No one ask Lovatts to do this.  They used the page to promote us being they are committed to the newsagency channel.

We are taking the opportunity to promote Lovatts titles near newspapers to reinforce the brand behind the promotional product.  This is in addition to the column of crossword titles (mainly Lovatts) we have next to the Australian Women’s Weekly – this location is out-performing the regular crossword section in terms of sales of the latest issue of Lovatts BIG two to one.

In terms of the promotion itself, I like it.  This is a good giveaway for the newspaper as it connects with products we sell in our business.  I’d like to see them use crossword giveaways later in the year to promote the health benefits and to promote school holiday activities.

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crosswords

Is retail theft on the increase?

Is it just us or is retail theft on the increase?  Five of my shops have experienced thefts in the last four days.  Two people have been caught and we have vision of others.  In each instance, the item stolen was small.  I have never seen it as bad as this week.  We are being as vigilant as ever and make our use of camera technology obvious in-store.

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theft

Bendable newspaper / magazine e-reader

skiff-bend.jpgDvice.com has an initial review of the Skiff Reader.  The photo is from their website – it shows how the device bends.  As I mentioned a few days ago, the Skiff is designed for newspapers and magazines. 

Computerworld also has a good review of the Skiff and the Que reader.

Wether any of these devices is the one to disrupt a marketplace, as the iPod did to music, the extensive coverage over the last few days our of the CES Show at Las Vegas is building consumer expectation.  The more early adopters play with these new devices the faster we will get to the iPod moment for a device which disrupts print.

These devices challenge us to develop more flexible businesses.  Newsagents putting in new shopfits which are not flexible are nuts.  We need to be able to change as fast as the world around us is changing.  Sadly, I still see new shop fits with purpose-built magazine fixturing.  The new concept store I have a half share in at Knox City in Victoria is completely flexible.

MarketWatch has a good review of the e-reader activity over the last few days at the Las Vegas CES show.

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Media disruption

Birthday frames replace birthday keys

18th_birthday.JPGWe are having good success selling signature frames for birthday celebrations.  We first got onto these when we were having trouble getting birthday keys.  Now, we have them in all of our stores.  We sourced them through Gibson.  They carry a good margin and fit well with the greeting card department.  We have tried a range of birthday mementos and these frames are working the best for us.

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Gifts

Packaging a magazine for Christmas

codewords_gifts.JPGI love the Codewords 2010 Yearbook which went on sale yesterday.  While it is late for the Australian marketplace, what I liked is the gift tag stuck on the front cover.  This makes it an easy Christmas gift.  The sticker peels off if you are not buying it as a gift.  It is a small packaging enhancement such as this which can make an item appealing to more shoppers.  I can see stickers working like this for seasons outside of Christmas.

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magazines

New Idea launches new masthead and new look

new_idea.jpgOn Monday, Pacific Magazines launches a new look New Idea with a new masthead, a new team and an extensive multi-platform brand campaign.  I have seen two of the TV commercials which start airing on the Seven Network on Sunday night.  They make great use of It’s oh so quiet a song popularised by Björk in the 1990s and before that Betty Hutton and others.

The commercials are terrific and tie well with a range of collateral being sent to newsagents to support the in-store launch the new look New Idea.

While other retailers will promote the new look New Idea, newsagents have an opportunity get out early and more creatively.  This means placement of the launch material in high traffic location, co-locating to drive maximum possible impulse purchases and being ready to talk about the new look magazine with customers.  Winning new New Idea customers positions us to keep their repeat business.

While the cash prizes for great displays are enticing, the incremetal business is more valuable.  This is why I’ll be ensuring that my stores energetically embrace the opportunity.

Click here to see a copy of the press release sent out by Pacific Magazines.

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magazines

The Jennifer Aniston battle

jennifer_aniston_magazines.JPGWith our That’s Life display having worked very well in two days, we have given the promotional space at the front of our newsXpress Forest Hill store over to a display of Who and OK!, both of which are out today featuring Jennifer Aniston cover stories.

While publishers are not usually that keen for rival titles to be promoted head to head in this way, I like that these two titles have common themed covers.  We have tried to create a display which remains respectful of the two brands.

The display reminds our shoppers that Who and OK! are out today – we need to boost Friday magazine sales.

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magazines

Kids travel pack missed opportunity

kids_travel_pack.JPGI missed this Kids Travel Pack when it arrived last month.  Had I seen it I would have ordered plenty more – it’s an excellent value pack for school holidays.  It would have also worked well as a Christmas stocking stuffer.

This is one example where I am happy for a bagged item.  I am sure that a bulk display would have work well for us – especially where all the contents are clearly on show.

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magazines

Are air freight magazines hurting regular sales?

international_mags.JPGWith the increase in the range of titled air freighted in and therefore duplication of titles on our shelves, I am concerned about the cost to newsagents.  My concerns are for an overall softer sell through from the larger collective stock holding, the cost of increased space commitment to a title and the challenges with controlling supply.

This is something I plan to look at over the next few weeks in a number of newsagencies.  Anecdotal evidence I have seen so far suggests that with some titles, the air freighted issues are impacting the sales on regular issues without the supply quantity of regular issues being reduced to suit.

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magazines

Que reader launched to replace paper

Plastic Logic launched their much anticipated Que reader yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  They are pitching this as a business tool for replacing paper.

Like paper, only better
The inspiration for QUE was an age-old but perfect business tool: a simple sheet of paper. QUE was designed to have the benefits of paper, but without the weight and clutter. Just like paper, QUE is easy to hold and feels good in your hands. But it’s easier to search and find exactly what you’re looking for.

As I noted yesterday, this year will be the year of the device.

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Media disruption

The old XchangeIT to close January 12

The old XchangeIT EDI platform for newsagents is to close permanently on the afternoon of Tuesday January 12, 2010.  With all but 120 newsagents having now successfully migrated to the new XchangeIT Link, the time is right to once and for all kill off this old technology.

Newsagents not running the new platform need to make plans ASAP otherwise they will not receive electronic invoices for magazines.

FYI, Tower Systems is running free online training workshops on magazine management.  these include considerable information on the new XchangeIT Link platform.  The next session is today at 11am – but there are only two places left.

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newsagent software
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