We are proud of the deatil in our Better Homes and Gardens main counter display at newsXpress Forest Hill. We are featuring the free wrapping paper which comes with this issue. The display was helped by using some of the spare wrapping paper to show it in use. Click on the photo to see a larger version. We plan at this stage to leave this display up until Wednesday of next week.
We are using spare space on the Dolly display at the entrance to our women’s magazine aisle to promote OK! which is out today. The Twilight theme on both titles makes it work here. This positioning will get OK! seen by more people and hopefully drive a good sales lift. We will leave this in place until Monday.
Eugene Varricchio, Group General Manager – Retail & Distribution, ACP Magazines, was dragged on stage at the newsXpress National Conference a few weeks ago in Melbourne by performer Matt Hollywood to help with a comedy routine. Check out the footage captured on a mobile phone on the night and loaded to YouTube:
Eugene handled with good humour what many others would have refused. He gave many of us there the best laugh in ages. While I feel bad, thinking back, about laughing at what Matt put Eugene through, my overwhelming feeling is one of admiration for him playing along and letting us all have such a good laugh.
We do put our suppliers through crap sometimes. It is nights like this one with Eugene on stage where a supplier builds a unique connect with the newsagents in the room. His good grace at being set up, which we was, says a lot.
The newsagency channel is missing an opportunity by not engaging with independent publishers in a professional and structured way. While their volumes can be small, independent magazines provide us with an important point of difference over other magazine retailers.
The small publishers I am meeting with at the moment are keen to engage with proactive newsagents. This can deliver exclusive opportunities, better margin and insights which drive sales. It surprises me that industry associations have not missed this opportunity.
We have made room for the December issue of Better Homes and Gardens in our women’s weeklies section. The Christmas issue sold very well from here and we wanted to see if we could repeat this success. A full waterfall next to Australian Women’s Weekly in addition to a good display next to gardening titles is where we pitch this issue. As the photo shows, we have bumped Family Circle across to the right but still in thee weeklies mix and driving good sales.
The question about the future ownership of NDD remains a hot topic among newsagents and their suppliers. There are plenty of rumors but nothing certain. If I were to lay a bet on the outcome it would be between no sale and Australia Post picking up the magazine distributor.
Stationery revenue increased in 3.4% in newsagencies in September / October 2009 compared to the same period in 2008 according to the latest newsagency benchmark study. This is an improvement on results from earlier this year.
Despite the increase in sales, stationery appears in fewer shopping baskets than in the same time last year. This is further evidence of the impact of newsagents diversifying from traditional product lines such as stationery.
Ink and toner revenue increased 24.55% in September / October 2009 compared to the same period in 2008 – in newsagencies established in this category. Ink now accounts for, on average, 30% of all stationery sales. If the current growth trend continues I can see Ink reaching 50% of stationery sales. This is an extraordinary shift from just three years ago.
The benchmark study was undertaken by Tower Systems and analysed data from 125 newsagencies.
A more complete report on the sales benchmark study will be released next Monday.
The Friendship Book is a popular item in newsagencies this time of the year. We usually sell out easily. This year, we have The Friendship Book 2010 calendar to add value to the opportunity. This is sure to do well too. While not successful for everyone, the customers who purchase The Friendship Book also purchase People’s Friend, the Melbourne Observer, a selection of British magazines and a certain style of cards and stationery we have. This knowledge helps us carefully place products to guide efficiency.
In my experience, newsagents don’t know enough about their customers and end up placing products where they can find space rather than based on data driven strategy.
It is good to see Better Homes and Gardens continue the tradition of a free sheet of wrapping paper with their December issue. This is a popular gift with customers. It is genuinely adds value to the magazine without presenting display challenges for retailers or chasing sales with an irrelevant gift. We have this latest issue on display in its usual location, near gardening magazines, and also with women’s weeklies and in an impulse unit at one of our counters.
The signposts get stronger each day that Christmas is near. This week, Darrell Lea came in and was put up, right at the front of the shop to attract passers-by. To do that we had to move product elsewhere and from that spare other product to elsewhere. Moving stock is a key use of labour in newsagencies between now and the New year. I’m not complaining, it is an important part of retail. All suppliers need to understand the considerable demands on time right now.
We will move the Darrell Lea range a couple of times in the season as regulars soon become store-blind to these offers.
The Vintage Vogue covers on calendars and diaries from German publisher teNeues should work well in newsagencies with good Vogue sales. I like the range because it strengthens our point of difference in calendars and diaries as well as connecting between product categories around a successful brand – we need to do more of this.
PMP, owner of magazine distributor Gordon and Gotch, has launched treeet.com.au today, a online store selling DVDs, CDs, books, electronic games and magazines.
While the magazines on offer today are overseas titles, the platform could easily handle local titles. Newsagents should watch for treeet to creep into Australian titles. If that happens we would need to more aggressively focus on pricing access to our unique and valuable distribution network.
We should also watch to see if treeet is promoted in out stores in any way.
Newsagents who operate as magazine specialists have done well in taking airfreight and other import titles. These are the titles targeted by treeet today. It will be important to monitor the impact of treeet on these sales. Only Gotch will have that data.
Read the PMP announcement here.
The calendar impulse display I wrote about last week is working well for us – so much so that we are leaving it setup for longer than expected. Browsed often during the day, we see shoppers move from this stand to our main calendar department now located less then a metre away. The full face display of calendars is what draws people in. We have carefully chosen a selection for their visual appeal.
The other benefit of this display is that it rests the location from the usual magazine display.
Our calendar sales are up 33% comparing September and October 2009 with the same period in 2008. And, yes, we are still at full price!
Owner Driver magazine is a highly specialised title, not one which would see considerable fluctuation in sales. Our sales are low, a couple of copies here or there and none at all other times. This is why the quantiy we receive does not make sense. There is no justification for an increase. When this happens it makes you wonder about the algorithms used by magazine distributors. I appreciate that their are ‘blips’ from time to time. They are frustrating and expensive to resolve.
The Discovery Channel DVD promotion with the Herald Sun is popular and driving sales. It is the kind of newspaper promotion which works well for newspapers. It also works for newsagents because we are setup to manage fulfillment. Even though margin is not what we would like we are happy for the guaranteed trafffic commitment.
Analysis of the latest newsagency sales benchmark results show a decline in over the counter sales of newspapers in Australian newsagencies of 2% in September / October 2009 compared to the same period in 2008.
The newspaper results reflect a slowing in the decline of newspaper sales reported earlier this year. In the January / March 2009 quarter, newspaper sales were down 5%.
This latest study, undertaken by Tower Systems and covering 125 newsagencies, looks only at over the counter sales.
The benchmark study also reveals a 5% decline in shopping basket instances of newspapers. This is explained by the decline in sales and the expansion into new areas by newsagents reengineering their businesses. Overall newsagency sales increased 2% in the same period.
A more complete report on the sales benchmark study will be released next Monday.
My software company, Tower Systems, has released a low cost newsagency software, hardware, training and support package. It includes newsagency point of sale software, Lenovo computer, receipt printer, laser printer, cash drawer, scanner and on-site installation for under $5,000.
A short video introducing the offer here.
With fewer than 800 newsagents without a computer system, Tower and key newsagent suppliers are on a mission to get those without a system computerized and connected with the rest of the channel.
We have placed diaries are more likely to appeal to women closer to our greeting card department since women are four times more likely to shop the card department than men. The photo shows part of this range, we have more on a stand nearby. While this placement near cards is a logical step to some newsagents it will be innovation to others. Once you see the diaries in this location it makes sense. A small move but well worth it.
I was saddened to hear the news that Neville Lyons of Mitty’s Newsagency in the heart of Melbourne passed away a week ago. Neville was a character in the Victorian newsagency channel. I first met him more than twenty years ago. Always ready with encouragement, Neville was an old hand who represented publishers well at the top end of the city of Melbourne.
Check out Pixel Mags and see how easy one company makes it for publishers to get their content across t0 the iPhone platform.
We are promoting the free cookbook holders which come with ACP cookbooks at the moment by placing them in the magazine fixturing. They are a nice gift from ACP and should help boost sales with cookbooks a popular Christmas gift. We have these on display in with cookbooks in our women’s weeklies magazine section as well as food. It is good to see such a practical gift.
A cute dog or cat photo will sell just about anything, especially at the counter. Each time we bring in the small pads on the left side of the photo they quickly sell out. This time around we have placed the pocket diaries next to the pads as they appeal to the same customer. Our goal here is to sell two items instead of one. Both are price for a quick sale.
Counter space is in great demand in any newsagency. We try and maximise the return by careful adjacency placement and constantly moving product through the space.
Magazine unit sales dropped 5% in September / October 2009 compared to the same period last year my latest newsagency sales benchmark is showing. The sale study shows that magazine revenue fell 3% in the same period. This is against a 2% increase in all sales for the same period.
The 5% fall is less than half the fall reported in the January / March 2009 benchmark study. This is good news for newsagents and magazine publishers.
The benchmark study indicates a fall in contribution by magazines to overall newsagency revenue. In 2008, magazines contributed, on average, 14.6% of revenue. In 2009, the contribution is 13.6% of revenue. While this can be partially attributed to the decline in sales, it is more to do with newsagents growing revenue in non-circulation areas.
The benchmark study also shows a steeper decline in sales in larger newsagencies, those turning over $30,000 or more a month in magazines.
I’ll have more to say about the changing balance in products sold in newsagencies once I have digested more of the benchmark results.
The benchmark study includes data from 125 newsagencies using Tower Systems point of sale software covering sales for September / October 2009 and September / October 2008.
I undertake these benchmark studies to provide newsagents with data against which they can compare their businesses and, hopefully, make more informed business decisions. I find the results useful in building a profile of successful newsagencies. The dataset is invaluable in understanding operator performance, trends and opportunities.
Newsagents need to cast a wide net when looking at how to respond to the new newspaper distribution contracts sent out last week. The contracts are too complex and the ramifications too considerable (personally and network-wide) for newsagents to make a decision without thorough research and discussion.
While others are looking at the contracts from a legal and strategy perspective, I have been hunting around online to find out how newspaper distribution contracts are handled elsewhere and have found some interesting US recent history: here, here, here and here.
Not directly related but interesting nevertheless. The question about what makes someone an employee versus a contractor is interesting in the US context of newspaper carriers. This made me think about the level of control Australian newsagents have to operate a newspaper distribution business. That’s a blog post for another day.
By the way, in my searching, I also came across a Fairfax Q&A from June 1999.
The masthead of the latest issue of Dirt Action is covered by the printing on the plastic bag inside of which the magazine is sealed. No wonder these bags get ripped open by browsers. While the publisher could argue that regulars would identify the magazine through the bag, this is no good if they want to grow their readership.