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

Free afternoon paper for Perth?

The state government in Western Australia last month put out a tender for the publishing an distribution of a free afternoon commuter newspaper.

Distribution of a Free Commuter Publication on Public Transport Authority Property
Public Transport Authority is seeking proposals from Proponents interested in obtaining rights to distribute a Free Commuter Publication (FCP) on PTA property. This Proposal is not restricting the FCP to a commuter publication form. PTA is open to, and invites proposals for other forms of commuter publications.

Last time they put out such a tender it did not result in a newspaper being launched.

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Newspapers

Competition for New Zealand Post

New Zealand stationery manufacturer Croxley is setting up its own postal service to compete with New Zealand Post.  According to stuff.co.nz, it aims to control about 10 per cent of the NZ$500 million postal market in two to three years. Croxley NZ is owned by United States multinational Office Max.

This move is possible in New Zealand because their postal market was deregulated in 1998.

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Australia Post

Testing snack foods

frank_snacks.jpgWe have started testing snack foods at one of our newsagencies.  The snack food stand in the photo compliments a broader range of confectionery we are carrying to help drive impulse purchase revenue. We have priced the range for convenience – that is, just above Coles which is nearby.

Our longer term plan is to use queue management facilities to help us more creatively represent these products as our customers approach the counter.

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Newsagency opportunities

What recession? Gift retailers are confident and spending

Attendees at the Home and Giving Fair in Sydney over the last three days have been positive about business generally and their retail businesses in particular.  In the mix with gift shop owners, there have been newsagents expanding their commitment to gifts.

My software company, Tower Systems, has a stand at the trade show and we have been talking with people about business, to get an understanding of how they are performing and what they see for the next six months. All bar one retailer we spoke with is enjoying good sales.  People are buying plenty of product to take them through to Christmas.  (They are also buying software which is great for us.)

This would have been an excellent trade fair for more newsagents to attend to see new product catgeories as well as to mix with a positive bunch of people investing in making their own success.  We have certainly seen some new products we plan to bring into our newsagencies to expand our gift offer.

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Gifts

Toasted marshmallows and lotteries

fhn_dlea_tatts_jul09.JPGWe placed a small display of Darrell Lea Toasted Marshmallows on our lottery counter on Saturday.  This is a seasonal line which we have just brought in and it was not selling from the Darrell Lea stand.  By yesterday morning we had sold everything we put at the lottery counter.  Needless to say, we added more stock.  We will leave this for several days before retiring this back to the Darrell Lea stand.  To balance this encroachment of the Tattersalls counter, we are promoting the Powerball $20 million elsewhere in-store. We also ensure that the across the counter area is free of product.

If only nwsagent suppliers could not overly regulate our businesses and leave us to be entrepreneurial retailers.

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Lotteries

Excellent Media Watch

Media Watch on ABC1 was excellent last night in a couple of fronts: a review of Michael Jackson coverage and attention on John Hartigan’s speech last week at the National Press Club and, in particular, his claim of high standards for professional news organisations compared to bloggers.  The whole episode is available online.

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Blogging

Rocky sales for kids magazines

fhn_mania.JPGWe are noticing a slowdown in the sales of children’s magazines, especially the small format titles such as Mania.  Indeed, the last issue has a sell-through of 12% – one copy.  This makes it loss-making for us.  A couple of issues back we sold out.  This rocky road of sales leaves newsagents carrying the cash cost of poor sellers.

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magazine distribution

Hannah Montana partwork now in newsagencies

hannah_montanna.JPGWe have the new Hannah Montana partwork launched today on display at the front of our newsagency, near other Hannah Montana merchandise we have on sale.  It is bound to sell well.

I wish we have received this new partwork a week ago, at the start of school holidays and to coincide with the launch of the Hannah Montana movie.  Based on sales of our Hannah Montana products over the last week, the partwork would have sold well.

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magazines

Promoting Cosmopolitan

fhn_cosmo_jul09.JPGWe are promoting Cosmopolitan in this new premium location at the end of our two busiest magazine aisles.  This display looks good primarily because of the colour of the cover.  The pink cuts-through the mass of colour in a newsagency.  Even on the shelves, this issue of Cosmopolitan stands out.

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magazines

Embracing competition for ink customers

dick_smith_fhn.jpgI took the photo from our counter, looking across at the Dick Smith store which opened at Forest Hill in December 2008.  From our counter we can see their excellent range of ink and toner.  Next to Dick Smith and even closer to us is a government owned Australia Post shop – also with an excellent range of ink and toner.

When Dick Smith opened we felt some pain in ink and toner sales.  This was short-lived.  Our ink sales are as strong as ever.  I am sure that ink sales in Dick Smith and Australia Post are good too.  I put our success down to consistent engagement with the newsXpress HOT Ink! strategy – brand name ink at great prices and marketed regularly through brochures delivered to homes and businesses around us.

Rather than being swamped by the competition, the arrival of Dick Smith especially, we have lifted our game.  We have broadened our range and extended our marketing to ensure that ink remains a growth category for us.

Ink customers, once they trust your knowledge, range and prices, come back again and again.  We like that.

Looking across at the Dick Smith ink display from our counter is a great motivator.

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Newsagency opportunities

Stay home school holidays

We are considerably busier than than any school holidays in recent memory, suggesting that more people, in our area at least, are staying home instead of holidaying in warmer places.  We are noticing more grandparents shopping with grandchildren.

School holidays, the winter break especially, usually see business slow for a two or three weeks.  The opposite is happening – even after the Oz Lotto jackpot went off.  All departments are up and our holiday-focused sale tables, part of our STOCKTAKE SALE, are doing very well.

I’d be interested in whether other newsagents in areas usually affected by holidays (up or down) are noticing a different trend this year.

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retail

Promoting wedding magazines in newsagencies

fhn_wedding_weeklies.JPGWe have replaced the column of crossword magazines next to our women’s weeklies category with a column of wedding magazines.  This is, I am told, the season for wedding magazines.  We have done this previously at this time of the year and achieved a good uplift in wedding titles.  Our goal is to get the add-on sale where someone has come in to buy a weekly title.  We have 27 pockets dedicated to wedding titles in their usual location further down this aisle.

We will leave the column of weeding magazines for two weeks – longer if sales warrant the placement.

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magazines

Michael Jackson sales about memories

Sales of Michael Jackson related products have migrated from being about the story of his death to items which focus on his legacy.  This is evidenced by exceptional sales in newsagencies for current issues of Rolling Stone, Time and Who.  We could have sold four times our Time and Rolling Stone allocation.  Hopefully, publishers will reprint as I suspect the appetite for Michael Jackson restrospectives is a way off being satisfied.

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magazines

Stunning Rolling Stone display

water_jaackson.jpgThis display featuring the Michael Jackson special issue of Rolling Stone and the special issue of Who was created by Renee at newsXpress Watergardens.  It looks stunning.  It was a key reason for us selling out of Rolling Stone today – hence there are none on display until Monday when we get more stock.  This display is different to what you’d see in most newsagencies and different to what a visual merchandiser would create.  It is simple and leaves the poster to speak for itself.  The red backing card makes both posters pop.

The display faces into the mall – it is drawing people to our shop. Magazine customers at Watergardens are efficient for us, often purchasing more than one title or buying from another category.

Watergardens is a newsXpress corporate store.  It runs under management.   It is rare to have such proactive local management as we have and for that we are grateful.  The team follows the newsXpress principles and embraces the newsXpress opportunities.

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magazines

Mapping the future of newspapers debate

The Independent has published an interactive map which is reflective of the debate around the future of newspapers.  By interacting with the map you are able to navigate the diverse views and through this develop a better understanding of the challenges faced by today’s newspapers.

This excellent map is a fascinating tool, especially for people still working through their position on the future of newspapers.

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newsagency of the future

Tax pack in newsagencies

fhn_tax_pack_09.JPGNewsagents around Australia have the Tax Pack available now.  To better handle the customer queries this week and next, our team has placed the Tax Pack in an easy to access location in a small display with financial year diaries.  While we are giving over valuable retail real-estate to this loss leader, we know from past experience this this placement provides better customer service and is appreciated by our customers.

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Customer Service

275 US magazines closed already in 2009

Folio reports that 275 US and Canadian magazines have closed so far this year.  In the same period, 187 new magazines have launched.  525 US and Canadian magazines closed in all of 2008.

if you are planning a shop fit, do not include purpose built magazine fixtures.  Go, instead, for flexible fixtures which can be easily reconfigured by any staff member.

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magazines

Gift Fairs this weekend in Sydney and Brisbane

gha_sydney.jpgTower Systems, my newsagency software company is exhibiting at at the GHA Home and Giving Fair in Sydney and the Reed Gift Fair in Brisbane.  The photo is of our stand GHA Home and Giving Fair at Homebush.  Both of these fairs will be of interest to newssagents because of the cards, gifts and associated lines on display.  Upwards of 10% of attendees are newsagents – which is great is it demonstrates that newsagents are playing outside their traditional categories.  I find attending gift fairs to be terrific because you are constantly challenged as to what you could sell in a newsagency.

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Gifts

John Hartigan is wrong about blogs and bloggers

Then there are the bloggers.In return for their free content, we pretty much get what we’ve paid for – something of such limited intellectual value as to be barely discernible from massive ignorance.Andrew Keen in his book The Cult of the Amateur cites Hurricane Katrina as an example when: “reports from people at the scene helped spread unfounded rumours, inflated body counts and erroneous reports of rapes and gang violence in the New Orleans Superdome – all later debunked by mainstream news media”.

Citizen journalists, he says, simply don’t have the resources to bring us reliable news. They lack not only expertise and training but access to decision makers and reliable sources.

The difference, he says, between professionals and amateurs is that bloggers don’t go to jail for their work – they simply aren’t held accountable like real reporters.

This is another extract from News Limited chairman John Hartigan’s speech to the National Press Club on Monday.

Hmm, I guess this is why  journalists, myself included, are called for information on stories triggerd by blog posts.

In terms of intellectual value, I wonder if he has picked up the Daily Telegraph recently. I find myself recalling how News Limited newspapers handled the Pauline sex photos story from earlier this year.

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Blogging

Promoting The Retiree magazine

fhn_retiree.JPGWe are promoting The Retiree magazine next to our main newspaper stand for the next few days.  This is one of those magazines which needs to hunt down an audience.  There are not too many people who would ask for it.  So, next to the newspapers, The Retiree will be seen by more people and, hopefully, purchased.  Our newsagency is certainly in the right location to reach retirees.  The other reason for the high traffic placement is that Stephanie Alexander is on the cover – she will appeal to our foodie customers.

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magazines

Promoting the latest Michael Jackson magazine features

fhn_jackson_jul03.JPGWe are promoting the Rolling Stone, Who, Time and The Week special Michael Jackson magazine issues at the front of our newsagency today.  Each magazine has a catching poster which should draw attention in this high-traffic location.  Newsagencies are the best retailers in Australia for Michael Jackson coverage.  We have the best range and offer titles across multiple categories.

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magazines

How do you process your returns?

I heard of a newsagent yesterday who sorted magazines by distributor before scanning returns because the software they used required this.  They were adamant that they had no choice.  I was shocked. Returns has to be simple – easy for anyone to do with little training.  Smart software will let you scan in any order.

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newsagent software
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