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

Warning on magazine returns

Magazine distributors in Australia are serious this year in enforcing rules around magazine return claims.  Whereas in the past they have permitted paper, fax, website and EDI claims, they have eliminated fax and will eliminate paper claims.  This brings the website and EDI returns claims into sharp focus.  In each case, they require all data to be provided.  Newsagents submitting returns without issue codes or returns on the wrong EDI form (supplementary versus regular) risk missing credits.

I know a bit about this because I own Tower Systems.  Tower serves more than 1,600 newsagents and have met the evolving EDI standards since they were first introduced more than ten years ago.  We work closely with the magazine distributors and XchangeIT on changes to ensure that our newsagent community is able to process returns with certainty.  Millions of dollars are involved.  This is why we sunset our DOS software ten years ago.  DOS is dead for newsagents and has been for years.

I have also been helping several newsagents in the last week who have missed returns because inaccurate data provided via they software they have used. In three cases, the software is at fault – one did not include return codes and the other system involved did not differentiate between supplementary and regular returns. In the case of the second software company, they have not sought to understand the returns handling process and have thereby missed ensuring that their software protects newsagents from missing returns credits.

Now is the time for newsagents to contact their software providers and request immediate and guaranteed continued compliance with current EDI standards and seek up to date training on how to make this work operationally in a newsagency.

Tower Systems is currently running free EDI / XchangeIT training nationally – face to face and online.  By the end of the current cycle hundreds of newsagents will have participated.

The magazine returns process ought to be easy and certain.  Sometimes, poor technology and a lack of training can make it expensive for newsagents.  I will gladly help any newsagent missing return credits regardless of they software they use.

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newsagent software

The pen testing station

fhn_pen_tester.JPGCustomers browsing pens in newsagencies tend to test pens on anything including stock. To combat this, our team at Forest Hill came up with this simple yet brilliant pen testing station. So far, we are noticing fewer test squiggles on other stationery, the boxes of ink nearby and the labels on our pen displays.

The pads are our own newsXpress branded pads left over from a New Year promotion – this reinforces where the customer is shopping.

The result of this initiative is a far tidier pen offer.  We are certain this will help drive sales.

While this may seem to be a small initiative, it reflects the structure we are keen to apply throughout our business.  We want to feel like a well organised consistent business yet back this with the friendly personal service you would expect from an independent retailer.

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retail

Discounting Mother’s Day stock

mday09.jpgHappy Mother’s Day for tomorrow to all the mums reading this. On a business note – I have been surprised to see some newsagents and other retailers discounting Mother’s Day products for the last week, even longer. One shop I saw was offering Mother’s Day cards for 25% off from two weeks ago. What is that about? Mother’s Day is our second biggest greeting card season in Australia. This year is looking good based on the sales numbers I see. Why give away margin if sales do not warrant this?

The key to a discount strategy is to have a strategy: a reason, an entry point and an exit point. Discounting early in an historically successful season does not make sense to me.

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Greeting Cards

All bets are off

In a shopping centre, as in a high street situation, small business competitors usually respect each other so that each business grows. I have experienced a situation recently where a competitor retailer in the greeting card category has moved their outpost to within a few metres of the front of one of my newsagencies. This makes me less inclined to consider them before selecting products or undertaking marketing.  While the landlord has played some role in facilitating this, the retailer has the ultimate decision as to whether trade in n outpost location or not.

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retail

Incorrect date on Woman’s Day next week

ACP magazines released advice today that thewrong issue date is on thecover for Woman’s Day on sale Monday 11th May 2009. The issue is cover dated 18th April 2009.  This should be dated 18th May 2009. There are no problems with the barcode and this will scan as the correct issue. The returns form will have the correct issue date of 18th May 2009 on it.

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magazines

Newspaper mastheads covered by lamb roast

age_may8.JPGThe masthead of THE AGE today is obscured by a post-it type ad promoting lamb for Mother’s Day stuck over the word AGE. While love a good lamb roast, I like to see brands like THE AGE treated professionally even more.

smh_may8.JPGThe Sydney Morning Herald masthead is covered in the same way by the same ad.  I cannot understand why a respected brand allows itself to be covered up in this way.  Money obvioulsy talks more with the folk at Fairfax than brand and editorial.

This is not the way to treat a newspaper masthead.

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newspaper masthead desecration

The Australia Post gift shop

auspost_mothers.JPGThe bear and other items on display in the Government owned Australia Post shop say nothing about postage, the core product of this business. Not content to pursue independent newsagents through their stationery and greeting card offers, this Government owned business is also pursuing traditional seasons such as Mother’s day by offering items you would usually expect to find in a newsagency at this time.

One way the Prime Minister could help small business newsagents would be to turn Government owned Post Offices into, well, Post Offices.

The Act does, after all, say that postal services are the core and the rest are to be incidental. Visit a Government owned Post Office and see how they treat these incidental items compared to their core products.

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Australia Post

Managing magazines in the morning

fhn_magazine_process.JPGI have been asked by several people about our process for unpacking, labeling and putting out magazines on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at our newsagency. We have this process complete by no later than 8:15 each morning – having started at 7am. Returns are done the same day, by mid morning. The process runs to military precision. Behind the counter two of the team label stock, by distributor. Labeled magazines are put into columns based on the aisle in which the title is situated. The shopping trolley is for rubbish – this keeps behind the counter clear. I or whoever is putting the stock out takes titles from the customer side an aisle at a time. New titles are put out, unsold stock is put in another trolley which is wheeled to the side of the counter for returns scanning mid morning.

The business turns over around $450,000 a year in magazines. I mention this for those comparing the timing with their own business.

We have tried several approaches to magazines over the years. The approach described above has been followed for the last five years and it has proved to be the most efficient and consistent.

The most common comment we get from people who see our process relates to placement of stock to be put out by aisle.  We found this significantly reduced the time it takes to put stock out.

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magazines

Too many local wedding magazines

hunter_wedding.JPGLocal is a  successful strategy with magazines.  People like reading about their local community.  SA Life is tremendously popular in South Australia, Tasmanian Life is tremendously popular in Tasmania.  What frustrates me is the range of local wedding magazines which are sent far are wide, way beyond the local community reach.  I doubt that someone in Forest Hill, 45 minutes out of Melbourne is going to buy a magazine which focuses on weddings in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.  Maybe someone in the wedding game visiting our shop will but this title but not a bride to be – the target market for the White magazine in the photo.

Local magazines are meant for local communities.  Publishers ought to understand the cash-flow cost on newsagents when they use the low cost magazine distribution model to send us product like this.  The weak relevance to our customers and the long on-sale (six months) make White of dubious value to my newsagency.

The publisher’s website makes their target market for White clear: Wedding magazine for Central Coast, Newcastle, Hunter Valley. I wonder what they have pitched to their advertisers. If they sell, say, 500 copies through newsagencies like mine (as real sales or shrinkage) are the local Hunter Valley advertisers thinking these are sales in their area?

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magazine distribution

Volt magazine makes a statement

volt.JPGVolt is a BIG magazine.  I didn’t know this when I said we would stock it.  I quite like the size because it makes a visual statement and draws attention further down the aisle than if all titles were the same size. We are working with a magazine distributor to expand our range in several categories and are finding some unusual titles available. NOTE: This is not an invitation to magazine distributors to send large format titles to me.

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magazines

Gifts damage Real Living

real_living_damage.JPGReal Living is pulled down by the Natio gloss provided free with the magazine this month.  The cards the gloss is attached to have either fallen out of become ripped.  The free gift is more likely to hinder sales than help.  I am tempted to remove the gift altogether.

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magazines

Amazon launches Kindle DX

kindle_dx.jpgAmazon launched the Kindle DX reader yesterday in the US.  This new device is being touted by some newspapers as a device which could help save newspaper publishing.    Amazon said that three newspapers, The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, will offer the Kindle DX from mid this year at a reduced price to subscribers who sign up for long-term subscriptions.

The New York Observer quotes Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times:

Mr. Sulzberger called the Times Company’s embrace of the Kindle DX “an important milestone in the convergence of print and digital.”

“We at the New York Times company are delighted to make use of the Kindle DX,” Mr. Sulzberger continued. “We know that the e-reader can offer the same satisfying experience [as the print edition].”

The Kindle is not currently available here as it operates through a wireless network and the Australian marketplace reportedly presents some challenges in this regard.

Looking at the US situation, newsstands and other newspaper vendors play no role in the new distribution model.  In a Kindle relationship, the publisher offers the subscription through Amazon.  Production costs beyond the first copy are nil. No wonder publishers see the Kindle DX and other e-reader type devices as crucial to their future business plans.

I would expect publishers to say that customers accessing newspapers through the Kindle are different to those purchasing print.  Film, TV and music producers said that too many years ago.  The iPod changed that.  Only time will tell whether the Kindle is the iPod of print and changes distribution forever.

In the meantime, my view is that no newsagent should sign up for a shop fit which includes purpose built newspaper or magazine fixtures.  These parts of our shops need to be able to be changed without any capital expenditure.  we have a tremendous opportunity here compared to our counterparts in the US, an opportunity to lead change.

PaidContent has good coverage of the launch of the DX.

The photo is from the Amazon website.

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Media disruption

How are Tatts products performing for 7-eleven?

tatts_7eleven.JPGI first heard four weeks ago that sales of Tattersalls lottery products in 7-eleven convenience stores were not as good as expected.  Since then I have heard it from several more people, some of whom I would expect to have good market intelligence.  Maybe my concerns and those of others have not been realised by this marriage or, maybe, the new offer is taking longer to gain traction than anticipated.  Maybe what I have heard is not accurate.

I would be surprised if sales are not good. Advertising for the offer has been strong and this is supported by good in-store collateral.

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Lotteries

More than one Mother’s Day card

I have put in some counter time this week and have been surprised by the number of sales of Mother’s Day cards where two or more Mother’s Day cards are purchased.  Even guys were buying two or three cards.

This may be premature but Mother’s Day feels very strong this year.

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Greeting Cards

Is $32.50 too expensive for a magazine?

tuscan_style.JPGTuscan Style is a nice magazine but it is not worth $32.50.  I flicked through the pages looking for gold dust but found none.  Given the range of interior design and fashion titles in-store for under $10, I don’t expect Tuscan Style to sell.  That said, we’ll support it for a couple of weeks at least – but keep a careful eye on theft.  This is the kind of title I’d like to have available but not in stock.

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magazines

Hearst discounts magazines to $5 for a year

Hearst magazines has run a One Day Sale, offering a bunch of magazines for US $5 for a year-long subscription.  This is an amazing deal for titles like: Cosmopolitan (6 issues), Country Living, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s BAZAAR, House Beautiful, Marie Claire, O, The Oprah Magazine (6 issues), Seventeen, SmartMoney and Town & Country.  Hearst has done this before so it must work.

hearst.jpg

This amazing discount by Hearst is odd because their chief marketing officer is on the record as saying that their products are undervalued.

“We’re realizing that the product is undervalued,” said Michael A. Clinton, the chief marketing officer of Hearst Magazines, which raised cover prices on more than half of its magazines last year and plans to raise subscription prices this year.

While magazine subscription deals here in Australia frustrate me from time to time, I am glad they are not as desperate as what Hearst runs in the US.

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magazine subscriptions

Better bugs for loyal customers

fhn_choosing_bugs.JPGPutaway customers get bigger and better bugs with their real Life Bugs magazines in our newsagencies.  When setting aside put away product, we choose the best looking bugs for our putaway customers.  Click on the image for a larger version and see for yourself.  The bug on the left is better, it is for a putaway customer, as the label shows.  We do this because customers compare bugs when buying this series.  Once we realised this, it was an obvious decision to make the selections when we do our early morning allocations.

Putaway customers are among the most efficient in a newsagency.  Our data shows they are 33% more likely to purchase other product than a regular magazine customer.

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magazines

Build efficiency from newspaper sales

fhn_recession_mags.JPGWe have recycled a display unit to host three recession related titles – Money, Australian Property Investor and Your Investment Property – and placed this next to The Age.  This will remain for a week, longer if sales justify.  Better Homes placed next to the unit will also draw attention.

What we build around our newspaper stand is all about chasing greater efficiency from a newspaper sale.  Around 70% of newspapers sold in newsagencies are sold alone!

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magazines

Promoting Health Smart magazine

fhn_health_smart.JPGWe are featuring Health Smart magazine at our counter, between our wto busiest registers.  The free shopping bag meets our criteria for this space – we promote titles with a valuable free gift.  In this case, the bag folds into a compact space. Our sales history shows that Health Smart achieves a good uplift early in the on-sale when a gift is on offer. Our only frustration is that we were not provided with any marketing collateral to support the promotion.

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magazines

Promoting the gift shop

sophie-newsletter-may-2009.jpgClick the thumbnail here to see the May customer newsletter we have produced in-house for our Sophie Randall card and gift shops.  We have evolved from the news style newsletter we have used for the last two years into something which is more shopper/shopping focused. These newsletters are placed in a stand in front of our shops.

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marketing

Will the new Kindle help US newspapers?

The prospect of Amazon releasing a larger screen version of its popular Kindle has media outlets abuzz.  A common thread of reporting is whether this device can save US newspapers.

In the context of newspaper distribution and retail businesses, the Kindle will not help.  However, the buzz this week is yet another reminder to Australian newsagents that distribution is what is changing most in the US right now.  Those changes will eventually come here.  This is one reason I questioned whether newsagents need contracts with newspaper publishers.

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Media disruption

Books and newspapers on your iPhone?

Apple who are set to launch a brand new touch screen, tablet type device in June that will be available with a 15″ screen, have been exploring the concept of delivering morning newspapers and books to the device in an easy to read format that eliminates the need to click through to separate pages on a web site.

Smart House has more on this story.  They say that Apple and Sony met with newspaper publishers in the US earlier this year to discuss this.

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Newsagency challenges

Is there a change in instant scratch ticket sales?

I have been working through business data for a newsagent and noticed a change in scratch ticket denominations sold over the last year. Customers are buying more of the lower value tickets in their store. That is, more $1 and $2 tickets and fewer $5 and $10 tickets. They are buying cheaper entertainment. This is not a Victorian shop so it has nothing to do with a change of lottery company.  I am curious as to whether other newsagents have noticed this in their businesses.

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Lotteries
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