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

Check your Notebook diaries

Inserted in the front of the 2010 Notebook diary is a subscription flyer. Subscribe and save 28% on a 1 year subscription to Notebook magazine it proclaims.  Publishers do this all the time and I usually let it slide.  Using a low margin diary supplied on mediocre terms this is poor form by the published against newsagents.  The flyers in the Notebook diaries in my newsagencies have slipped out.

Our channel is a valuable resource.  Suppliers ought to respect this in their actions.

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Diaries

Promoting Time with newspapers

fhn_time_sep17.JPGWe are promoting Time magazine at our main nespaper stand this week.  The ethical consumer cover story is something we feel will interest our customers.  Time is one of those titles which needs to be featured when it has a good cover since it is not often a destination purchase – certainly in our newsagencies at least.

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magazines

Promoting free seeds with That’s Life

fhn_tl_sep1609.JPGWe are promoting That’s Life in our prime counter position from today, replacing New Idea (which has sold well with the free chocolate), because of the free seeds which come with this issue of the magazine.

We will leave That’s Life in place at the counter until Friday.  The seeds are a good giveaway given the low cover price of That’s Life.

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magazines

More newsagents selling home delivery runs

I am hearing of more newsagents selling their home delivery runs to concentrate on retail.

My own experience is that the separation of two different and competing businesses is good for both.  They have different labour and capital demands and separation allows for more appropriate allocation.  Retail has less regulation whereas home delivery is highly regulated.  Retail can pull revenue from a broad range of categories whereas home delivery is challenged in this area.

The separation of home delivery from retail continuesd to be the most significant structural change in our channel.  It is great that newsagents are achieving this for themselves.

Retaining customer traffic in retail after selling the run is easy with good PayPoint technology which lets the retailer act as if they are the distribution newsagent when it comes to payments, stops and starts.

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magazine distribution

My Shop is Your Shop UK

Today is National Walk and Shop Day in the UK – an excellent promotion of local shopping supported by independent retailers, including newsagents, suppliers, local councils and consumers.  This is part of the My Shop is Your Shop project.

the campaign for National Walk and Shop Day is built around reducing emissions CO2 emissions, buying local for today to avoid waste and saving petrol costs.  All good messages which local shops can pitchto their local customers.

This is an opportunity for newsagents and similar independent retailers in Australia.

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Customer Service

How this blog works

Blog posts here are conversations. I’ll publish a post and people, sometimes many people, comment on this and, from time to time extend the post into new areas.
The first comment posted by someone is moderated and from then on their comments are published immediately. People are responsible for their own comments.
The openness of this place means we need to be respectful the opinions of others and their right to their opinion.

Some people get grumpy when I publish something with which they disagree.  The grumpiest responses are sent by email or a call.  Some think that because this place is public I should write what they think and not what I think.  It all makes for colourful conversations about ownership of opinions.

When I started blogging in January 2005 I didn’t know if there would be much interest in matters affecting newsagents. Today, 6,226 posts and 12,364 comments on and 1,500+ visitors a day, I have the answer.

Our channel is important to Australians, suppliers and the families of newsagents and employees. Hopefully, this place plays role in helping define the relevance of the Australian newsagency.

Let the conversations continue.

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About us

Flipping through magazines and newspapers online

Google has released a facility enabling browsers to easily flip through content like they would flipping through physical magazine or newspaper pages. Read the Google blog post about this.  Fast Flip, as it is called, serves up screen shots of the Web pages containing relevant articles – just the article and the masthead.

See fast Flip in action here.  I like it.  the experience is reader friendly.  It plays to the rapid surfing of content many of us do online.  I like the ease with which I can browse across a variety of mastheads and their handling of a story.

Fast Flip also provides publishers with a revenue opportunity.

Newsagents should check this out.

UPDATE: read the Guardian report on this.

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Media disruption

Newsagents set to move against overseas magazines

I was surprised to see the report in the Financial Review yesterday (page 46) about the move being made by NANA, the NSW Newsagent’s Association, against Gordon and Gotch over imported magazines and, in particular, a boycott of overseas magazines.

The article says that the market is flooded with high-priced overseas magazines. This is not my experience.  Through Gotch I can control the titles I receive and the quantities.  I like getting a range of overseas titles Gotch – as would anyone who claims to be a magazine specialist.

Whether I carry a title or not ought to be based on the return I achieve and the overall value it adds to my magazine offer.   While the magazine distribution system is not ideal, I find Gotch to be (usually) responsible to supply adjustments.

I would have thought that the best approach to resolving the issue would have been to to discuss the evidence (data) in a professional way.   Maybe there is something I am missing but a boycott seems heavy-handed at this stage.

NANA has done some excellent work of late on Bill Express (with the QNF) and NSW Lotteries.  I think their forecast moves against Gotch are missplaced.  I’d rather see more negotiation.

I wonder how much these proposed moves against overseas magazines  is being driven by Australian publishers who want more of the market for themselves.

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magazines

Newspapers slow to compete with online

The CEO of carsales.com.au was on ABC TV on the weekend saying that newspapers have been slow to compete with them.

People who have been reading this blog for more than a couple of years will know that I developed Find It as a newsagent connected online classifieds place.  I closed Find It due to lack of support from newsagents.  Participation was free.  The ANF muddied the waters by promoting a competitive site for some time too.

I am confident that we (newsagents and publishers) will look back and say that online classified revenue should not have passed us by.  Newsagents could have ‘owned’ this space.

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Online classifieds

Promoting House & Garden

fhn_housegarden_oct09.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of House & Garden magazine to customers leaving our men’s magazine aisle.  We figured the free tape measure might attract their attention and drive impulse purchases from this high-traffic location.

The collateral is excellent – an A1 poster, banners, regular posters and cover run-ons.  This variety in collateral gives us options through the on-sale period of the title.  This is important since we tend to move titles around.

The main poster is actually the back of the ACP basket builder stand at our counter.

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magazines

Promoting new Weeknight Favourites cookbook

fhn_weeknight_fav.JPG Weeknight Favourites, the new ACP cookbook (out yesterday) is on display at the front of the newsagency this week.  This location is partially out of necessity as we are short of space. The simple display looks good – with the product speaking for itself.  While other retailers carry the ACP cookbooks, few will promote it this way so we are taking the opportunity for some early sales.  This has worked for us before.

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magazines

Federal Court rules Bill Express equipment lease payments

Justice Gordon today handed down a decision in the federal Court declaring that Bill Express contravened the Trade Practices Act by engaging in exclusive dealing and misleading and deceptive conduct. Action was brought by the ACCC on this matter.  Click here for a copy of the ACCC press release on the matter.

The decision relives newsagents from making further payments on their Bill Express equipment.

Curiously, the ANF is yet to make peace with newsagents about Bill Express.  The AN Board in 2003 endorsed Bill Express and robustly promoted Bill Express – without any due diligence on behalf of newsagents.  Last year, while NANA, the QNF and this blog told newsagents to stop paying their equipment rental, the ANF told newsagents to pay.  They then reversed this advice.  I mention this because the ANF is likely to try and trade off the goodwill from this Federal Court decision.  Newsagents need to remember who got them into this and who misinformed them for so long through the mess.

Newsagents ought to thank NANA and the QNF for their tireless work on this, work done using their own funds.  Their efforts brought the matter to the attention of the ACCC.  The ANF deserves no credit whatsoever.

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Bill Express

Is this a stock scam?

I received a call from a Graham from G & N Leisure.  he wanted to know if I wanted the sunglasses stand ordered for one one my stores was to be supplied weith castors or not.  I said I knew nothing about this and that he should contact the store manager.

Graham called the store manager and advised that I had every bit of faith in her ability to make the decision about castors.  Our manager advised that she wasn’t aware that we were getting the sunglasses in.  he made it sound as if I wanted them.  I didn’t.

This sounds like a scam to me.

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Newsagency challenges

Promoting Good Food magazine

fhn_goodfood_oct09.JPGWe are promoting Good Food magazine at the entrance to our main women’s magazine aisle this week.  While it is a requirement of ACP Magazines’ Connections program, we would have promoted Good Food regardless – the cover is stunning and it’s selling well ion our newsagency.

This location has worked very well for many of the titles we have promoted here.  I think this is in part due to the ease of buying directly off the display.

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magazines

Free chocolate wins New Idea best seat

fhn_ni_sep1409.JPGNew Idea gets the best seat in the house today thanks to the free Club chocolate bar which comes with each issue of the magazine.  We expect this to be a popular promotion.  To supplement the collateral supplied, we copied the cover ourselves to complete the display.

We will leave this display up until Wednesday.  the plan at this stage is to replace it with Women’s health which has a free booklet with the issue on sale today.

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magazines

Some suppliers support newsagents

newsagent_supporters.JPGNewsagents only need to look at newsagent industry awards and events to see the businesses which support them. Sponsors of awards, conferences and other events provide practical help to newsagents. My frustration is that it seems to be the same businesses each year.

The QNF Newsagent of the Year Awards dinner on Saturday night is a good example. The photo of the left shows the sponsors as published on the program for the evening. While newsagents ought to select suppliers on their merits, industry support has to be a factor for without this some events crucial to the health of the channel would not happen.

Some newsagent suppliers take and don’t give back.

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Newsagency opportunities

Boxed calendars selling well

2010_desk_calendars1.JPGWe started putting out our range of 2010 desk calendars out last week and right away they started selling.  We have them located next to our main newspaper stand, near our photocopies.  As with regular calendars, the titles selling best right now are those which appeal to special interests.  People will buy now for a Christmas gift if they see something which they know will be hard to buy elsewhere.  Our team has selected titles which separate is from more mainstream calendar retailers.

The success we generate with calendars is up to us.  We have the foot traffic and we already serve key special interest areas.  The right stock in a high profile location should work for any newsagent.

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Calendars

Is Time planning their own e-reader?

NCB Bay Area is reporting that Time Inc. is considering releasing a reader like the Amazon Kindle.

An internal document from Time Inc. obtained by NBC Bay Area shows the magazine giant, publisher of Time, Sports Illustrated, People and other titles, wants to start competing with Amazon’s Kindle and other electronic readers before the end of the year.

While several newspaper and magazine publishers have invested in reader devices, non has brought anything to market.  Such a move is crucial to their desire to maximise their return from everything they publish.

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Media disruption

Queensland newsagents dazzle

newsxpress_winners.JPGI was at the QNF Queensland Newsagent of the Year Awards last night in Brisbane. It was a terrific evening with a lot of laughs and plenty of celebration. It shows the high esteem with which the QNF is held by the support shown then by newsagents and suppliers.

There was a special moment in the evening when newsagents thanked the Gordon and Gotch customer service team one by one. Gotch is disbanding this team later this month and, collectively, more than 100 years experience serving newsagents will be lost. It says something about these individuals that the whole room applauded loud and long as they were introduced.

There is a lot of talk about newsagent unity. It was on show last night in Queensland. Newsagents are supporting their strong and focused association.

In the photo are some of the winners of the evening: Vanessa James, Employee of the Year, from newsXpress Lowood; Warrick Hosking, inaugural New Technology Newsagent of the Year, newsXpress Gympie and Mark and Shelley Petersen, Retail Newsagent of the Year, newsXpress Sarina.  Park Avenue News won Distribution Newsagent of the Year.

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Newsagency opportunities

Doctor Who partwork slow

dr_who_partwork_2.JPGOur sales of the new Doctor Who partwork have been considerably slower than expected. Indeed, we have sold only 20% of what we expected to have sold by this point in the on-sale.

I am not sure why this is. We have the title displayed in-store in a prime location as well as at the front of the newsagency in a good display to attract passers-by. I’d be interested to know if TV support for Doctor Who is less than we usually see for part series.

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partworks

NSW Lotteries sale big news

The passage of legislation through the NSW Parliament this week paving the way for the sale of NSW Lotteries has received considerable media attention in the last couple of days.  A report in the Southern Highland News sums up the concerns of most newsagents.

As I understand it, newsagents have a minimum of five years regardless of who takes over NSW Lotteries.  This is an opportunity to make the newsagent network invaluable in the sale of lottery products and to  seize every opportunity to leverage lottery traffic into other product categories.

Knowing the five year deadline is good for business planning.  That’s my glass is half full view.

A new lottery operator is not going to replace a retail channel if they are achieving a good return.  It will be up to newsagents to deliver that return and make it hard for a new owner to justify to their shareholders why they should shift retailers. If newsagents do the minimum and do not proactively pursue sales growth then the operator will need to look elsewhere.

In some respects, what happens in five years is up to NSW newsagents.

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Lotteries

Ink sales up 50%

inkwall.jpgInk sales at our newsXpress Forest Hill location are tracking at 50% up on last year for the last month.  This is all the more amazing when considering it is happening outside a promotion.  We put the growth down to competitive prices, focusing on the top sellers and A1 posters in the shopping centre – courtesy of the landlord.  The posters promote our focus on brands and competitive prices.  If people are visiting the centre to buy in and see the posters they will be compelled to at least look at us.  Once they do, we have them.

During the same period, stationery sales have fallen.  Not through lack of attention mind you and not dramatically.  That said, most days ink trading from three metres of slatwall outperforms more than 25 metres of stationery.

Ink customers are great because they are loyal once they develop trust for your range and prices.  Their age and economic situation varies too.  Take Forest Hill – we are in an old area yet on the weekends the centre is full of young families.  Both demographics buy ink.

If any one group dominated our ink customers however it would be the older customers.  I mention this because several newsagents have stayed away from ink because they saw it as appealing only to younger people.

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Newsagency opportunities

The piss-take calendar

great_calendar.JPGI love this calendar.  It takes the piss out of pretty the majority of calendars we and other retailers have.  It’s hilarious when you see it sitting in the rack next to calendars with cute kittens, babies, flowers and other warm images on their covers.  I expect this calendar to sell very well.

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Calendars

Online software demo for newsagents

My software company, Tower Systems, is hosting an public online demonstration of our newsagency management software for newsagents using the old POS Solutions software.  This idea was pitched to us by a couple of newsagents using POS Solutions and we thought it was a good idea.

In the session, we will draw on the experience of switching many POS Solutions users (more than 200) to our software and show how newsagents benefit from the moves.  We will also show how the move is often financially rewarding thanks to our transparent approach to support fees.

This session will be held next Wednesday (Sept 16), at 2pm.  Bookings can be made online at the Tower website – click here.

More that 1,500 newsagents partner with Tower Systems already.

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newsagent software

Update on XChangeIT project

Netwwork Services has this afternoon released an update on the progress of the XChangeIT roll out this week:

All Distributors and XChangeIT worked closely together to get on top of the issues and whilst they are not completely resolved we feel that the right short term processes and validations are in place to manage this until such time as the fixes are implemented. This week the number of missing DD2 files reported was below 3%, down from over 40% two weeks ago.

We do however have another issue that we experienced last night. An XchangeIT process caused some Network Services DD2 files to be duplicated. While most POS systems are capable of dealing with this occurrence there are some that are not equipped to identify duplicated files. To mitigate this we are going to send a headline to all agents via XchangeIT advising agents to look out for files that contain the same name and only accept 1 of them. For agents using POS systems known not to identify Duplicate Files, as an extra measure, we will be calling them to advise them of the duplicate files so they are aware they must look first before accepting files. .

We ask that you do that same via your communication networks

Any queries please let me know.

My own experience at Tower Systems has been that the improvements they note are real. It is good to see progress.

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XchangeIT
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