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What? They stopped making the Trading Post?

We have had several customers ask about the Trading Post this past week.  All were shocked to hear that it has ceased publication.  One encounter I had was memorable on Friday.

First up, my customer, a lady in her seventies, had been sent to us by Coles because they were “out of stock” of the Trading Post.  Yes, I can imagine a supermarket staffer saying that without thinking.  Ah, supermarket customer service!

It took a bit to convince the lady that the Trading Post ceased publication a month ago.  Once she believed me she wondered why they would stop printing a popular paper.  Then she realised that it was the square thing, that tv thing which killed it off.  We eventually worked out she meant the internet.  Yes, the internet, she said with a vague look in her eye.

He liked to take it with him and read it.  She was telling me about a man she used to buy the Trading Post for.  It was all he read.  The ads were like a novel or a magazine.  He will never be bothered with the internet, she said dismissively.

I am not doing the conversation justice.  My customer was entertaining, engaging and loud.  Others were watching.  I shoerd her the Melbourne Trader which comes with the Melbourne Observer.  She was certain that would do the trick.  On other customer watching us bought the Melbourne Observer as well.

There are a few points to this story: not everyone is connected to the Internet; some consumers prefer paper; the Trading Post is missed by some; being on the floor of the shop and talking with customers drives sales; retail is entertaining.

Once we were finished, I reminded my new friend how helpful we were compared to the supermarket.  The glint in her eye let me know she got the point.

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Customer Service

Herald Sun lets down readers with DVD offer

annabelles_wish_dvd.jpgThe Herald Sun today comes with a free DVD of the Disney movie Annabelle’s Wish.  We ran out of stock before lunch.  Home delivery customers and customer who purchased their newspaper at the supermarket were angry that we did not have their free DVD.  Some walked a considerable distance only to be let down.  Gross undersupply by the Herald Sun has meant that the free DVD has turned into a customer service fiasco.  We have made it clear to our customers that the Herald Sun is to blame.

I love promotions like this – if only they were executed better.  The messy system publishers use means that we are not able to leverage the promotion for our maximum value nor are we able to leverage it for the maximum value of the publisher.

I advised people at the Herald Sun that we would run low on DVDs.  That did not help.

If you want one of the free Olivia Newton-John CDs tomorrow, get in early.  If you’re in Forest Hill or Frankston, get in by 11am.  I’d note that if you want a set of Leunig cards, free with The Sunday Age, we have plenty of stock.

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Newspapers

Google UK: think of us as a newsagent

We are, if you like, a virtual newsagent.

This is Matt Brittin, head of Google in the UK speaking before the  Culture Media and Sport Select Committee of the British House of Commons.  The Register has the story.

As I have been blogging here for five years,  disruption to the print model is our biggest challenge.  The News Limited contracts and other more day to day year to year issues are bumps caused by this disruption.

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Media disruption

Great marketing collateral for Who magazine

fhn_who_dec0409.JPGWho looks stunning this week.  The yellow marketing collateral looks fantastic.  Our team at Forest Hill liked the look so much that they gave the magazine prime position at the counter yesterday. That and that they are up to date with Tiger Woods on the cover.  Sales kicked as a result.  Yesterday afternoon I saw first-hand this display work.  A customer with a newspaper and a greeting card added a copy of Who to the sale.  The yellow at the counter has excellent visual cut-through.

This display will most likely come down on Monday.

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magazines

Lottery customers like syndicates for big jackpots

oz_syn_40mil.JPGSince the big Oz Lotto jackpots a few months ago we have noticed that jackpots drive a significant increase in syndicate sales, greater than before.  While I am no expert, my theory is that lottery customers are not greedy, they are happy for a share of something bigm especially for Oz lotto where there is usually only onw or two winners.  Our syndicates for the $40 million Oz Lotto jackpot are selling very well.  While we will do up to $100 per share syndicates, we tend to stick with $30 share prices and less with ten members in each syndicates.  Our most popular syndicates are the $10 and $20 a share syndicates.

Our customers also tell us that they like that there are just ten shares each.  This means we quickly turn syndicates over and that in itself creates a buzz and drives sales.  We pre make new syndicates so that they are ready to go up on our syndicate board as soon as one of the same share price sells out.

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Lotteries

Christmas Retail Marketing Tips for 2009

I have published new Christmas Retail Marketing Tips 2009 in keeping with a tradition of many years.  These ideas are put forward to get newsagents thinking of different ways to engage with Christmas and drive sales.

  1. CHANGE, CHANGE AND CHANGE
    Each week, move product around, keep the shop looking fresh and people will buy more. While moving stock is hard work, the pay off is that shoppers will find “new” things.
  2. CHRISTMAS ART
    Invite school, kindergartens and play groups to provide art with which to decorate your shop. Offer a modest prize for the winner. Invite public voting if you like. Be proud in showing off local art. This will bring families in to show off and show you as community connected.
  3. CONNECT WITH A LOCAL CHARITY
    Offer a local charity coupons (in a catalogue) to distribute which provide a discount off certain product categories on presentation. In return, give them a commission from each sale. For example, the coupon could offer 10% off any gift and you could give the charity 5% commission on every sale. A good charity will promote the coupons for you.
  4. KRIS KRINGLE SHOPPING
    With Kris Kringle giving growing in popularity, display your gifts based on price point. Signpost them as Kris Kringle gifts. Show people what to buy.
  5. GIVE GIFTS
    One day each week give gifts with every purchase. It could be a chocolate, a fridge magnet or a calendar. Whatever you give, make sure it is something people will like and is easily given away from the counter. Get known as the shop which gives more.
  6. SAMPLE
    If you sell chocolate, offer samples. There are ways to do this with the food health regulations. Candy companies will tell you that offering samples drives sales.
  7. SMELL
    Choose a smell for Christmas and use a vaporiser to let this waft into the shop. Darrell Lea stores do with well with a liquorice smell. I have seen store do it well with a pine tree smell at Christmas. Tap into a sense which is not often used in retail.
  8. MANAGE LINES
    With more customers in the shop this time of the year, managing lines is important. Have your best people at the counter and driving traffic so that wait time is kept to a minimum.
  9. TAP INTO SPECIALIST GIFT GIVING
    There are many gifts you can sell by showing that they relate to a highly specialist gift giving occasion: teacher, neighbour, priest, local service provider, gardener. Promoting a gift for one or more trains your customers about giving such a gift and getting it from you.
  10. ADD TO THE PURCHASE AT THE COUNTER
    Have two impulse items at the counter to be pitched in every sale. Gift tags, Christmas candy or a trinket for car, work or home. Research suggests that 18% of sales can include a counter based impulse purchase. Get the product right and tap into the opportunity.
  11. ADD VALUE EVERYWHERE
    Seize every opportunity. Have tape with gift wrap, gift bags near gift items, pre-wrapped gift items, an up-sell opportunity printed on receipts, a promotional flyer in every bag and logical layout to the store – zones for product categories with good adjacencies.

This is a season for doing more than the average.  It is an excellent opportunity to connect with new customers and win them for the long term because of your range, service and overall value proposition.

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marketing

VIP shopping is a hit this year

We have seen Christmas VIP shopping events in four of the seven centres where I have businesses so far this Christmas season.  They have been a considerably better success for us this year compared to previous years.  The offers are almost the same but probably better executed.

We promote through the marketing run by the centre and connect with every opportunity they provide – signs in the window, voiceovers on the PA and external marketing.  We ensure that the offer on the day is genuinely good value and that execution in-store is consistent.

We have had the most success this year with boxed Christmas cards.  In one store we offered 25% off and in the others 20% off.  This was for one day only – no laybys, rainchecks or special orders.   The smallest uplift in sales we achieved was 100%.

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newsagency marketing

Selling Delicious magazine with the weeklies

delicious_magazine.JPGDelicious magazine sells better from the location shown in the photo – from the food column mixed with our weeklies – than in the traditional food segment where all of our food titles are located.  We track sales from this location by pocket count.  This is vital in co-location situations.  This latest issue of Delicious is selling 2 to 1 better from this weeklies area.  While creating the space was a challenge, it is paying off.

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magazines

Cashing in on Tiger Woods misery

tiger_woods_magazine.JPGWe have Golf Magazine on display in our newsstand since Tiger Woods is on the cover and so much in the news this week.  A sale is a sale in my view and if we can move a magzine with Tiger on the cover because of his woes then kudos to us.

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magazines

Rupert Murdoch’s speech to the US FTC provides guidance to Australian newsagents

Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation, appeared before the US Federal Trade Commission’s Workshop: From Town Crier to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age? on Tuesday.  His speech contains information which could be of interest to newsagents facing a decision as to whether to accept the new News Limited contracts.

Here is some of what Rupert Murdoch had to say to the FTC:

First up, on the trust between consumer and a newspaper:

From the beginning, newspapers have prospered for one reason: the trust that comes from representing their readers’ interests and giving them the news that’s important to them. That means covering the communities where they live … exposing government or business corruption … and standing up to the rich and powerful.

And on the future of newspapers:

The same is true with newspapers. More and more, our readers are using different technologies to access our papers during different parts of the day. For example, they might read some of their Wall Street Journal on their blackberries while commuting into the office … read it on the computer when they arrive … and read it on a larger and clearer e-reader wherever they may be.

Later, he adds:

I have often made the point about newspapers this way: by reminding people that we are in the news business, not the dead tree business. In other words, what makes a newspaper is its content and brand – not necessarily the form in which it is delivered.

He outlines the principles for the new world:

  • Let news organizations innovate to give their customers the news they want, when they want it, and how they want it.
  • Ask consumers to pay for the products they consume. Let aggregators desist – and start employing their own journalists.
  • And ask the government to use its powers to ensure the most innovative companies are free to reach new customers instead of looking for ways to prop up failures or intervene in a constitutionally sensitive business sector.

I’d make several observations on this.  Newsagents are distressed at the challenge of their individual small businesses negotiating with a global corporation on a contract which many see as the reason for their existence.  News Limited has denied newsagents the opportunity to charge consumers fairly for the services they provide.  Successive Governments in Australia have ignored calls by newsagents to give them genuine freedom in structuring their businesses around newspaper distribution in ways which are appropriate to their communities.

Looking at Rupert Murdoch’s speech more broadly, News Corp. is rightly positioning itself for the next generation channel.  This will not be print, certainly not to the extent that it has been in the past.  It is therefore, in my view, open to newsagents to decide the timing of their move out of newspaper print distribution .  The contract on offer today is two years (one year in South Australia) for a reason.  Newsagents need to understand that and not expect anything beyond this period.

Australian Newsagents ought to study this and other speeches by Rupert Murdoch and add them into the mix when considering what to do about the contracts.

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Newsagency challenges

Making room for Money magazine

fhn_money_magazine.JPGWe don’t have room for a promotional display in support of the latest issue of Money magazine so instead we made room in its regular space and allocated a double waterfall.

While not ideal, I am confident that this will drive incremental sales and that’s the name of the game.

We will watch performance over the next few days and keep an eye out for promotional space – however, this is a challenge over this especially busy Christmas period.

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magazines

Australian Traveller anchors the travel section

australian_traveller.JPGWe are using the latest issue of Australian Traveller to anchor and signpost the travel section.  This is based on our assessment of Australian Traveller being a good product we are proud to carry and the support offered newsagents by the publisher – better commission and marketing support.

Travel magazines, while not the volume of other categories, are important in the mix for a magazine specialist.  We have ours located at the entrance to our men’s magazines aisle.  We are contemplating moving them because we have heard that women make more travel decisions than men.  Finding space in the women’s aisle is a challenge but we’re working on it.

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magazines

Dick Smith TECHLIVING magazine weak

techliving_magazine.JPGThe second issue of TECHLIVING, the Dick Smith house magazine went on sale yesterday.  While I am sure it serves a purpose for them, it sits in a crowded space in newsagencies and only serves the purpose of advertising Dick Smith in our stores.  It’s weaker than other house titles we carry in newsagencies.

I am inclined to include a flyer with the magazine promoting our ink and toner since this is the one category where we compete head to head with Dick Smith – their ink customers would save money shopping with us.

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magazines

Christmas mini cookbook packs

fhn_acp_cookbooks.JPGI like the mini cookbook Christmas gift packs supplied this morning by ACP Magazines.  The $9.95 price point is smart and the packaging good.  I also like the collateral provided.  We have put the books in a bin between our newspaper stand and our main counter – at the end of one of our diary tables.  Our thinking in taking this approach is that we needed to promote it like any other Christmas offer rather than through a more traditional magazine display.  the other benefit of using the bin is that we can move the display as needed.

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magazines

Another Trading Space replacement

tradingspace.JPGThis morning we received copies of TRADINGSPACE, a new title classifieds title trying to trade off the demise of the Trading Post.  They offer free classifieds.  I don’t recall receiving any pre launch announcement about the title.  Our challenge with the title is where to locate it since the Trading Post space is gone.  I’m sure other newsagents would have the same problem.  This classifieds space is getting busy.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

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Newspapers

November newsagency sales

We achieved good sales in November with sales up in key traffic departments as well as in key good margin departments.  The numbers are even better when you consider that some departments had a high base – calendars, diaries, cards and ink.  Here is a summary of performance* across my own newsagencies:

  • Books.  Up 11%.
  • Calendars.  Up 23%.
  • Cards. Flat.
  • Diaries. Up 20%.
  • Gifts. Up 84%.
  • Magazines. Down .7%.
  • Women’s Weeklies magazines. Up 7%.
  • Newspapers. Down 3%
  • Ink & Toner. Up 8%.
  • Stationery. Up 1%.
  • Prepaid Visa. Up 650%.
  • Lottery sales.  Up 11%.
  • Instant lottery tickets.  Up 6%.

Overall traffic is up 2%.

What is particularly appealing to me in the numbers is the adjustment to our mix.  We continue to build a more efficient business by balancing low margin high traffic products with high margin lower traffic products.  This is an on-going mission, one with which every newsagent ought to engage.

The growth is due to a combination of constant change in-store, a good retail experience, good external marketing and a strong commitment to a brand / price strategy.  We are known in several key departments for these points of difference.

People who ponder the future of the channel need to look at their numbers.  Every month we have an opportunity to gauge our progresson this long term mission.

* I have used revenue as the measure for all departments except for magazines and newspapers where I use unit sales as the measure.

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Newsagency management

Attracting customers to the newsagency

fhn_newsletter_dec09.jpgIn addition to mailing to homes and businesses around our centre, we have our December newsletter – IN STORE OFFERS – in a stand at the front of the shop.  We will also distribute this to businesses in the centre.

This newsletter promotes several of our Christmas offers from a range of departments.  It also connects with marketing distributed to thousands of homes around the centre in recent weeks. It respects core departments – magazines (suggesting a Christmas gift pack) and cards (the very successful Hallmark sound cards) – while promoting calendars (great margin and range point of difference), the new moon board game (competing with the big guys and winning!), Scotch gift wrap cutter (everyone needs one!) and our digital photo key rings (also competing with the big guys and winning!).

Regulars here will notice that we have evolved the newsletter considerably over the last four years.  This latest incarnation reflects our research on how shoppers engage with the newsletter.  Items are less wordy and more outcome focused.

The newsletter focuses on brands and value – we see these as a key point of difference for us.  The pitch is the same in our catalogue marketing as well as our advertising.

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newsagency marketing

Oz Lotto jackpots to $40 million

Oz Lotto jackpotting last night to $40 million is a nice assist as we get closer to Christmas.  While there are retailers who think that big jackpots draw sales from other products we sell, I don’t see that in my newsagency.  We will benefit from a traffic boost and add-on sales in non-lottery categories.

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Lotteries

Newspaper contracts causing distress

I have heard from several newsagents this week who are distressed about the News Limited contracts.  It is the all or nothing approach which is causing the most stress.

In two situations put to me the newsagents would like to keep the retail business but discard the small loss making home delivery business.  They say that no amount of representation has been able to achieve an outcome which suits.  This means they either take everything and lose money or take nothing and hope to negotiate sub agent terms which would mean a break even situation on newspapers.

One understands that emotions are heightened when you consider that for many long term newsagents this is the most fundamental change they have faced in decades.  For the first time they are wondering whether to walk away from a core offer which for years has defined their business and their place in the town.

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Newsagency challenges

Books versus ‘magazines’

fhn_books_activity.JPGFurther to my blog post a few days ago about kids activity books from Network Services, the photo shows a couple of books we have in-store at the moment from which we achieve more than 50% margin.  Whereas the Network supplied books seek to leverage existing traffic, the book campaign I choose to participate in drives new traffic.

These books are more valuable to us than the Network books because of the margin and because they are part of a catalogue marketing campaign to thousands of homes around our newsagency.  The book campaign drives traffic – I can tell because customers come in with the books they want circled in the catalogue.

Few newsagents would benefit from Network using its magazine relationship with newsagents to send out books.  We need to negotiate rules with Network which would see this behaviour stop.

There was considerable discussion here on the weekend about the future of newsagencies and the need for a so called cure.  We will find our own future by making smart business decisions – such a choosing to engage in traffic generating campaigns, like books, and to carry better margin products, like books.

I have seen newsagencies take book sales from $10,000 a year of $75,000 a year (and even more) on the back of the kind of new traffic generating marketing campaign I have written about here.  Steps like this are crucial to each of us finding our own future.

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Book retailing

Promoting Top Gear to guys and girls

fhn_top_gear.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of Top Gear Australia at the entrance men’s magazine aisle but within eyeline of those leaving our women’s magazine aisle.  December is a great month for achieving sales of magazines to shoppers who would not usually buy them.  Top Gear is one of the titles we target as a good Christmas gift and this has guided our placement for promotion of this issue.

We plan to use signage to guide shopping of magazines for Christmas gifts with some in-store marketing collateral – different to the poster we did last year.  This year, we are experimenting with bookmarks.

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magazines

Kindle e-reader has a record month

Amazon says that sales of its Kindle e-reader hit a record in November.  Information Week reports that Forrester Research predicts 3 million e-readers will be sold in the US this year.

We are yet to experience the e-reader phenomenon here and this is why some in Australia say it is a fad which will pass us by.  I doubt this.  Our uptake will be faster than the US because we enter the market with more advanced devices.

Newsagents need to watch this market and consider what is happening in the US in the context of what we will sell and deliver in years ahead.  We don’t sell e-readers nor do we sell account top-up services.

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Media disruption
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