We usually sell 2 or 3 copies of Maxim magazine. The circulation experts at Ovato think we need 40 copies of the latest issue. What a waste.
The circulation experts at Ovato will have an explanation, a glitch, human error or some such thing. I’ve heard it before plenty of times.
The survey I launched 24 hours ago seeking to understand the attitude of newsagents should magazine supply arrangements not change received over 150 responses:
What change do I want? It is simple, really. I want magazines supplied on terms at least equal to those of my main competitor, supermarkets.
The current model disadvantages newsagents. Unless there is change, yes, I am likely to reduce my commitment to magazines.
It’s my view that unless there is significant change requirements on newsagents regarding magazines, newsagents are likely to reduce their interest in and support of the category.
With supermarkets benefiting from scanned based trading, saving hours on arrivals and returns per week per store, not having to cover the cost of shrinkage and not having to pay for the right to get access to electronic invoice data, newsagents are competitively disadvantaged.
How do you feel knowing that your biggest competitor in the magazine category has trading terms that are significantly better than yours? I know of some newsagents who have quit the category because of this.
So, I have a question for you. I’ll keep it general and start with what we have today. If nothing changes do you plan to keep your magazine commitment as is, increase or decrease?
Taking your newsagency online: a dive into newsXpress national and local store websites.
Tuesday, Feb. 16 @ 2pm Melbourne time.
Today at 2pm, I am hosting a new free workshop for any newsagentinterested in taking their newsagency business online.
This session will look at this topic from the context of what newsXpress does and has done for 5+ years. We will look at the national sites and the local store sites:
I am doing this new session using newsXpress national website and local store website examples because I have good data and personal experiences I can speak to. You can rely on this information to make more informed decisions yourselves at the local store level as well in the context of any group you are part of.
newsXpress was the first marketing group in any retail channel in Australia to deliver local store connected websites with a live quantity on hand data feed. The learnings have helped other groups step into this. lucrative space.
This will be an online session, which you can access from anywhere with this link:
https://zoom.us/j/97889421359?pwd=R2puem9RWUVFS1lFTStXMjNHMzRIdz09
Meeting ID: 978 8942 1359 Passcode: 791972
Two and a half years ago I shot this video in which I discuss the challenges that I see for newsagents in the convenience space. I share it again today in response to the topic one again being live in our channel.
Given how magazines are displayed in plenty of retail situations with, often, the top third or less of a cover being on show, I wonder if the above the masthead placement of the ad for Harvey Norman on the latest TV Week may impact sales of this issue of the title. The ad revenue from Harvey Norman must be compelling to Are media for them to place that brand ahead of their own magazine title brand.
This is an odd move.
On Insiders this morning on ABC TV, James Campbell from the Herald Sun worried with all his might that the Melbourne CBD may not come back. he went on to say the the CBD was the “engine room” of the Victorian economy.
The melodrama was laughable.
CBDs have been fading in relevance for years, before Covid. The shop local movement has had an impact. Federal and state government region al policies have had an impact.
Campbell’s comments re the CBD were ignorant, but on point for what we see from the Murdoch press.
The thing is, regional, rural and suburban high street shopping is better in Australia now than for decades. Shoppers are spoilt for local choice.
Shopping is easy and safe, too.
People like this. Local shoppers like it. Local shopkeepers like it. Local makers like it.
Local shopping is the engine room of retail in not only Victoria, but Australia.
But, if we are to believe Campbell, a strong Melbourne CBD is critical to economic success in Victoria. He needs to read more, and get out more. Melbourne CBD office workers who have been working from home and who have a choice to continue to work from home are more likely to choose to work from home … thereby transitioning Melbourne CBD shopping to local shopping.
I say this based on reporting recently on this very topic.
Most newsagents are in regional, rural and suburban high street situations. They are benefiting from people working, living and shopping locally. This is why many have had a good Covid and why many are having a terrific start to 2021.
It seems from what Campbell has said that he does not want that. It appears he would prefer the national chains in the Melbourne CBD to be doing better. Well, James Campbell, therein lies a problem. national chains, especially department stores, are a retail sector in trouble. Brands are going direct, cutting out the middle person department store.
For us, we need to keep doing what we have been doing – evolving our businesses in service of local shoppers with products sourced locally where possible, encouraging local makers and proving the circular value of local.
For me, I’ll ignore Campbell and his shouty pouty Murdoch colleagues. They are an ignorant and selfish lot. They do not serve Australia and Australians well when it comes to discourse on these topics.
I feel for retailers in the Melbourne CBD and all CBDs. However, the drift from big city shopping has been on for a while. This is not a new phenomenon.
There are many retailers who saw this years ago and adjusted their businesses accordingly. Those newsagents are doing well, which is great news. Sadly, we won’t see this as a news story as media outlets prefer the negative over the positive.
I have been to my shops today, to see first hand what this new Covid lockdown looks like for Valentine’s shopping.
The Westfield shopping centre car parks were 95% empty. despite our shop being the only card outlet open, trade has been okay but not flash.
On the high street, as you may expect, it has been a usual pre-Valentine’s Saturday – good sales, plenty of shoppers.
Talking with some other Melbourne newsagents today, their experience has been the same.
I suspect things will have been more normal in regional Victoria.
Why? Because it defines your business to others.
Okay, you may want that. if so, by all means promote lotteries on Facebook.
However, if you want to bring on a new supplier and they check your business out, be prepared for them to say no to you because you are a lottery shop. Yes, they judge you that way.
Also, the Facebook algorithm will restrict you sees your site based on lottery advertising.
If you have been doing it, is there any evidence that it boosts your sales? I have not seen any.
While I am not a lottery retailer, my opinion is it’s not worth promoting lotteries on Facebook.
Following the model from last year and the situation, then, that saw retail newsagency businesses classed as essential, newsagency businesses in Victoria can be open over the next five days. Lottery kiosks and tobacconists cannot remain open. Now, for newsagents in Victoria …
Taking your newsagency online: a dive into newsXpress national and local store websites.
Tuesday, Feb. 16 @ 2pm Melbourne time.
Tuesday next week, at 2pm, I am hosting a new free workshop for any newsagentinterested in taking their newsagency business online.
This session will look at this topic from the context of what newsXpress does and has done for 5+ years. We will look at the national sites and the local store sites:
I am doing this new session using newsXpress national website and local store website examples because I have good data and personal experiences I can speak to. You can rely on this information to make more informed decisions yourselves at the local store level as well in the context of any group you are part of.
newsXpress was the first marketing group in any retail channel in Australia to deliver local store connected websites with a live quantity on hand data feed. The learnings have helped other groups step into this. lucrative space.
This will be an online session, which you can access from anywhere with this link:
https://zoom.us/j/97889421359?pwd=R2puem9RWUVFS1lFTStXMjNHMzRIdz09
Meeting ID: 978 8942 1359 Passcode: 791972
I won’t be trying to sell you anything in the session. Rather, I will share experience insights, lay out the steps involved, discuss online platform options and answer all questions.
And, if the 2pm timing does not work, let me know and I will do my best to schedule another session at a time that suits.
Here is a video of the online workshop I hosted earlier this week on Taking your newsagency online.
This true story happened this morning at my Mount Waverley newsagency.
A new customer visited and made a modest gift purchase. On the receipt was a discount voucher for $4.00, which was pointed out to them.
They left the store and returned a few minutes later and made another purchase.
Then, twice more, they left the store and returned a few minutes later and made another purchase.
Over the course of four transactions they spent $388.00 for which we gave away around $30.00 in discounts, which is small when you consider the margin we achieve with gifts
The voucher guided them to look beyond their destination purchase.
here is a video I shot late last year in which I explain the vouchers some more. What happened today at Mount Waverley is not unusual. It’s another way we can grow our newsagency businesses.
This is a good example how a systematic approach to managing loyalty can. drive sales. There was nothing extra special about the approach in-syore. In reality, the software did the heavy lifting, calculating the discount opportunity and including this on the receipt.
It’s a thill seeing it work so well, work in different tilting the business.
In our Mount Waverley retail setting we compete with several gift shops. Plus, we have Chadstone less than 10 minutes away. Every win we can make is worth it to this small suburban retail newsagency.
While it was key we had products they wanted or were likely to want to purchase in the next few weeks, it was the practical opportunity of saving that mattered in making the $388.00 in sales a reality.
Any newsagent can do this.
While the Tower newsagency software was first newsagency software to offer discount vouchers back in 2013, others do now so newsagents with other software could have the type of success I have described here.
My point is – we all need to structure our businesses for these wins based on differentiation of our offers through smart loyalty marketing in businesses with broadly appealing gifts.
It’s good news and another example of small steps combining to create a good commercial outcome.
Whereas in the past we’d letterbox flyers and advertise in local papers. Today, using tech, we can guide greater efficiency from shoppers, maximising the opportunity.
Some card companies push $2 card spinners aggressively to newsagents, claiming excellent sales numbers.
My advice is ask for the evidence, ask for more than the anecdotes of sales people. Anecdotes are easy. Evidence does not lie.
Looking for data in one newsagency recently, a $2 card spinner generated 15% of greeting card GP whereas a smaller, less stock heavy, spinner generated 16% of greeting card GP. Considering the space and carry stock weight, the second spinner is the better investment for the business.
Sure, $2 cards give you a product with which you can compete with discount variety stores. To me, the big question is do I want to compete with discount variety stores? My answer to that is no … because if I do so, I set shopper expectations in a way that means selling gifts priced at $200 and more is challenging.
I get that sales reps are paid to sell. The thing is, that puts their needs ahead of yours. Data is key. In all the data I have seen from newsagencies for years, cheap card spinners, like $2 card spinners, do not serve newsagency businesses well. There are far better uses of floor space and inventory investment.
This all comes back to Blue Ocean Strategy. Swimming in the blue ocean is more enjoyable, healthier and valuable. Swimming in the red ocean is bloody. For me, $2 cards are a red ocean product.
Based on sales data covering October through December 2020 and 2019 from 156 newsagency businesses across Australia in city and country locations, high street and mall, the latest newsagency sales benchmark study is revealing as to the impact of Covid on our channel and the value of location.
Let’s dive deeper into the results. This round of the benchmark I look at regional and city high street businesses. I have not broken out shopping centre businesses because the dataset is too small. The results from those stores for the quarter, however, are bleak. Revenue down between 15% and 20%. Steep declines in magazines and newspapers. While some categories, like gifts did okay, performance was nothing like on the high street.
Regional high street businesses.
City high street newsagencies.
The gift percentages above do not tell the full story. There are some newsagencies that achieved 200% growth off a reasonable base in 2019 of $25,000 in gift sales. Also, there are some newsagencies that booked $200,000+ in gift revenue for the quarter.
Within gifts, homewares are surging with some newsagencies booking more than $25,000 from this segment alone in the quarter. fashion, too, is surging with some recording more than $15,000 in revenue from a segment that the year before contributed $0.
In terms of cards, there are some newsagencies reporting 40% and more growth. This has usually come about through significant shop floor and supplier related adjustments.
Note.
These are averages. The gap between those doing well and those not doing well is considerable. It is important that newsagents look at their own data as the most important competitor they have is themselves. The trading period from the past against which you compare results is your competitor. Look at those numbers more carefully than you look at these benchmark results.
What have we learned from the last 3 months?
I am grateful to all newsagents who shared their data for inclusion in this study.
Mark Fletcher.
Email: mark@towersystems.com.au Website: www.towersystems.com.au Blog: www.newsagencyblog.com.au
M | 0418 321 338
Today at 2pm, I am hosting a free workshop for any newsagent interested in taking their newsagency business online.
This, itself, will be an online session, which you can access from anywhere with this link:
https://zoom.us/j/91031390280?pwd=LzFKYXFqdVJueS9iNWhNbWRJUndBUT09
Meeting ID: 910 3139 0280 Passcode: 323615
I won’t be trying to sell you anything in the session. Rather, I will share experience insights, lay out the steps involved, discuss online platform options and answer all questions.
Back in the day when a promotion like the latest book offer from News Corp. was launched there would be advance information, including to software companies – so newsagents could land the offer in their business with the right data management processes to ensure efficiency and maximise the opportunity.
No more.
This book offer from News Corp. this past weekend, ahead of a price rise slipped in unannounced, leaving newsagents and newsagency software support people dusting off previous advice late. It was okay in that previous advice worked. That’s not the point though. Some newsagents, especially some new newsagents, were unnecessarily stressed because of poor comms from the publisher.
The weakened circulation management infrastructure in capital city newspaper publishing offices results in less support for offers like this and less engagement in newsagencies.
The folks organising the Toy Fair have, in my view, done a better job of dealing with Covid trade show challenges than reed and AGHA. They called it early and decided on a digital trade show, rather than leaving the decision to the last minute. back in November they made the decision and advised the marketplace.
Being digital, more newsagents can attend and engage with this vital category.
Here is a terrific video from them pitching the fair and explaining how it will work:
Great leadership on show from the board of the ATA.
Covid revealed a vulnerability of major shopping centres that attract crowds, a vulnerability that remains on show today, in February 2021.
Whereas shopper traffic in high street retail is at pre-Covid levels and, often, ahead, in shopping centres traffic remains flat in some and down in others.
Try and they might, major landlords are struggling to attract the numbers of pre-covid, and this is impacting retail, especially small business retail. this brings me to newsagency businesses.
More traditional newsagency businesses rely on the habit based shopper. A certain number of this type of shopper has found satisfaction elsewhere, outside of major centres.
I think this is a factor in some of the shopping centre newsagents I know looking for space outside. I am one of those.
With major landlords unwilling to reset occupancy cost – yes, they are pushing increases, not offering decreases – the value proposition considering the lower traffic is not there. Something will have to give from landlords if they want newsagencies to remain. However, I suspect they are not as interested in the newsagency channel.
There is appeal for kiosk based lottery outlets. However, with supermarkets covering basic magazines, cards, newspapers and stationery, our shingle is not the must-have it once was. I have no issue with that. My concern is for newsagents who feel they must be in a centre and end up agreeing to a higher occupancy cost.
Having traded pre and through Covid in high street and shopping centre situations, there is no doubt that for the medium-term, high street has a far greater appeal, because of the return that can be achieved through the control you have.
Tuesday next week, at 2pm, I am hosting a free workshop for any newsagent interested in taking their newsagency business online.
This, itself, will be an online session, which you can access from anywhere with this link:
https://zoom.us/j/91031390280?pwd=LzFKYXFqdVJueS9iNWhNbWRJUndBUT09
Meeting ID: 910 3139 0280 Passcode: 323615
I won’t be trying to sell you anything in the session. Rather, I will share experience insights, lay out the steps involved, discuss online platform options and answer all questions.
Being online is critical to every retail business. We saw that last year and already see value from that this year. Business experts, accountants, mentors … everyone agree that being online is critical.
The hope I have for this session is that it offers a useful learning opportunity for newsagents, to encourage them to get online and to lay out several pathways through which they can achieve this.
And, if the 2pm timing does not work, let me know and I will do my best to schedule another session at a time that suits.
Newspaper home delivery in Australia continues to be a low-cost service with plenty of small business newspaper home delivery business owners effectively financially supporting ailing large newspaper publishers.
As I have noted here many times previously, when newspaper home delivery customers are surveyed about what they would pay for the service, the majority would be happy to pay more.
For a company that preaches free market from its platforms, it does not live it when dealing with small business newsagents.
Check our this magazine sales data from a regional newsagency for January, reflecting excellent year on year growth in January 2021 over January 2020.
The numbers achieved by this business are typical for small town regional Australia. The growth is at the high end, reflecting an extraordinary result by the owners, who have tirelessly pursued new traffic opportunities to expand the relevance of their business.
Well done to them and to all newsagents who are achieving year on year growth numbers for magazines and their business overall.
There is plenty of good news in your channel.
