Refusing to participate in the GFC
I saw this sign in a shop window over the weekend. It speaks for itself.
Vogue Living sell out in Frankston
We will probably sell out of the Catherine Martin guest edited edition of Vogue Living in our Frankston store. Yes, Frankston! The sell-out will occur because of the excellent collateral provided to support the title – as the photo shows. I know of newsagencies where this issue will not sell out because the marketing support is not equal to that which we received in Frankston. As comments on another post have shown here recently, newsagents would appreciate an opt-in situation for marketing collateral for magazines. While there would be some work involved in making this happen, the resulting in-store effort by proactive newsagents is bound to drive sales … as we are seeing in Frankston for Vogue Living.
Stationery sales down in the US
Further to my post on Thursday, US stationery group Office Max overnight reported a 17% fall in sales – within one point of the fall experienced by Office Depot.
I suspect that the majors in Australia in stationery are experiencing similar falls, Officeworks, Corporate Express and others. This is where newsagents can benefit. While people will not go to Officeworks to do a $500 stationery shop, they will come to a newsagency for the incidental items and, hopefully, pick up other stationery items. Whether they do, however, is entirely up to us.
We maximise the stationery opportunity by presenting professionally, adopting an enticing pricing policy, focusing on brands and backing all this will brilliant customer service.
Right now, our stationery sales ought to be growing. I know from the recent benchmark study that they are growing in half the newsagencies. It is the other half I am concerned about.
Promoting Rainy Day activities
On a rainy day last week, our team at Forest Hill setup this display near our photocopier. I like it because it guides customers to a purchase for a purpose, especially if it is raining outside. It also brings together products from several categories: kids magazines, craft products and activity books. In most cases, the items promoted are usually located further away from the main traffic area of the shop. The only item I’d add if we carried them would be an umbrella.
Finding space to promote Wheels magazine
Finding space to promote Wheels magazine near where the guys browse at Frankston was a challenge. By using the back of the ACP magazine basket builder stand the display in the photo was created and located adjacent to our men’s magazine section. Sometimes this stand is placed against a wall and used from one side and other times it is used on both sides.
While I am biased, the Wheels display looks stunning. It has been selling magazines too.
Thief makes a second visit
Someone who stole several items from one of our shops last week visited us again on Tuesday. One of our staff members identified him from the photo we have from our security system. I am surprised that this chap would have the gall to come back in. He was clearly preparing to steal again. Our staff member approached him and he left. They followed policy and called centre management. What bothered me was that this thief was shopping for specific items. Talking with someone in centre security, they say that theft is on the increase based on their call-outs.
Money for Mum
The marketing collateral from Intralot promoting scratch tickets as gifts for Mother’s Day looks enticing when placed with greeting cards. While this is not how it was intended to be used, I saw it at our Frankston newsagency today – in with Mother’s Day cards. Enterprising! I’d love a camera trained on this and see how people react.
Calendar relief for bushfire victims
Talking with customers at our Epping Sophie Randall store we discovered that bushfire victims were buying calendars to replace those which were lost in the fires. Through the relief centre at Kinglake, we have donated calendar stock we had left for distribution as they see a need. I am sure that newsagents with spare calendar stock would find welcome homes through the Kinglake or other relief centres.
Promoting Lovatts Mother’s Day crossword title
Christine’s BIG Crossword from Lovatts which went on-sale today is a special issue for Mother’s Day. In addition to the usual location for BIG, we have it on display in the stand (as shown in the photo) next to our newspaper stand as well as part of our Mother’s day display in our card and gift department. We know that promoting seasonally connected issues of magazines can achieve a lift in sales when the promotion is outside their usual location.
New Scientist Swine flu cover timely
The Swine flu cover story in New Scientist which went on-sale today is timely. We have placed this issue above in a display unit The Age in our newspaper stand. This location has a successful history in boosting sales of magazines which connect with the day’s news. The Swine flu coverage is a great opportunity to bring New Scientist out into our mainstream customer traffic.
Newsagents seek to participate in sale of NSW lotteries
NANA, the Association representing newsagents in NSW and the ACT has announced its intent to participate in the sale of NSW Lotteries. While short on details, the plan appears to be that NANA will join with other parties to bid. It will be interesting to see if newsagents stump up the cash to be a stakeholder.
News Ltd pitching online newspaper subscriptions
I was surprised to see the Adelaide Advertiser make noise the other day about their online subscription offer. Smart Edition, as it is called, costs $2 for a single copy – less per copy for a longer commitment. News Ltd has offered this for some time for titles like the Herald Sun and The Australian. So, I am not sure what is new about this.
They are using the Newspaper Direct platform. This is used by over 1,000 newspapers.
While I have doubts about the consumer interest in accessing newspapers in this way, newsagents ought to be across this pitch from News and the challenge it presents to our retail channel.
Selling mince recipes with a lottery ticket
We are using the empty space below one of our Tattersalls screens to promote the new Mince cookbook from ACP this week. I picked up the idea from one of the comments made by another newsagent here a week back – they sold out. The greater value we extract from high traffic areas like Tattersalls counters the better for us and all of our suppliers. We will change the offer weekly – essential given the frequency of visits by regulars.
Where is the stimulus package newspaper offer?
With most Australians $900 better off this month thanks to the hand out from the Federal Government, I am surprised that newspaper publishers have not pitched a stimulus bonus subscription offer. They could have easily and cheaply promoted an offer which chased some of the $900. A well pitched offer would have helped their businesses as well as thousands of small business newsagencies. Perfect use of the stimulus payment I’d say.
Do newsagents have the guts to fight for their future?
The treatment of newsagents by News magazines over Alpha magazine is, in my view appalling. We built this title on a promise of partnership with a significant financial carrot as our return. News magazines has taken that carrot away and handed the title to NDD, a magazine distributor with a less than clean track record for equitable supply of magazines and with a history of refusing to cut titles – that it my experience at least.
So, here we are, shafted. My question for newsagents is what are we doing about this in our businesses? Are newsagents writing to NDD to cancel the title and copying the correspondence to News Magazines? Are we complaining here and in other places but putting Alpha on the shelves as usual and thereby saying to suppliers that it is okay to whack us again and again? Or, are we doing nothing? Traditionally, newsagents have done nothing when suppliers have changed commercial arrangements to the detriment of newsagents.
One day, newsagents will stand up for themselves. I wonder if that day is now.
Mother’s Day in newsagencies
Mother’s Day is the second biggest season for greeting cards on the newsagent seasonal calendar. It is beaten only by Christmas and is around 50% ahead of Valentine’s Day. While card sales equal only 20% of Christmas, is a very important season, generating considerable additional traffic in newsagencies.
Like most newsagents, we are pursuing every opportunity to maximise sales. We have had our Mother’s Day gifts in display for several weeks. The photo shows only part of our range. Going out early with key seasons like Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day is an important strategy. It shows off our range to browsers and provides a selling opportunity for those who like to get in early.
We grew Mother’s Day card sales by 22% in 2008 over 2007. We are chasing double digit growth this year.
Chasing early Women’s Weekly sales
Rather than wait for marketing collateral, we went out early yesterday with an Australian Women’s Weekly display in the mall in front of our shop. Given that our competitors are Coles, Safeway and Big W, it makes sense that we go hard early in the on-sale for this title. AWW is achieving good success this year and we expect that to continue with this issue. I just wish we received a good range of collateral material with the magazine.
Tully Times gets behind stimulus campaign
The Tully Times has got behind the stimulus campaign which I promoted here and reproduced the poster in their newspaper this week. It’s good to see the poster getting used. Newsagents are encouraging other retailers nearby to put it in their windows. I am happy for it to be used anywhere to promote local businesses.
Optimism in the gloom
There is plenty of gloomy news out of the US overnight which relates to categories important to Australian newsagencies.
US stationery retailer Office Depot reported a sales drop of 18% last quarter. The Wall Street Journal says this is due, in part, to newcomers in the stationery field. Most newsagents reported a drop in stationery sales in the last quarter based on my sales benchmark study. Those achieving growth produced excellent numbers. Newsagents ought to be growing in stationery in the marketplace as consumers pull back on their visits to the bigger outlets where they know they will buy more. The WSJ article is interesting in this regard.
American Greetings (owner of John Sands) reported a 14% fall in sales for the quarter. The tough US conditions are making people think twice about card purchases according to a Forbes. Cards are another tough category. Some newsagents do very well with cards while others are experiencing poor results. The key appears to be direct engagement. Newsagent who ‘own’ their card department are more likely to produce better results based on the data I am seeing. Our small businesses are more able to respond to conditions than the nationals.
Time Warner has reported a sharper decline in magazine advertising revenue than forecast. We are seeing this here. There was mention in the Australian Financial Review yesterday of this impacting PMP results. If advertising revenue continues to fall through the year we will feel an impact in newsagencies on several fronts.
While these reports read like bad news. They ought to encourage us to exert more control over our businesses, to be more versatile and be on the move. I am meeting more newsagents bucking the trend and producing good results be refusing to let stuff happen around them. They are cutting their own path, taking risks and, often, enjoying good success. For example, one newsagent cut 30% of magazine space and increased overall magazine sales. Another went from three card companies to one and increased sales. Another got on his bike and chased stationery business outside his four walls and trebled stationery sales in six months.
Watching the sunset
I am in Perth tonight and was fortunate to witness a glorious sunset. The sky rolled through grey, pink, red, orange and, finally, black.
Sunsets for me are like smelling roses can be for others. Outside our four walls, life goes on.
Alpha off to a rocky start with NDD
Alpha allocation by NDD for my Forest Hill and Frankston newsagencies today was good. I have received calls from several newsagents advising that NDD has increased allocation by between 25% and 50% on the back of a previous sell through of 50% or less. This is what newsagents feared from NDD.
Promoting Better Homes and Gardens
We are promoting Better Homes and Gardens at the counter from today. The enhancements to the magazine and its popularity early in the on-sale period make the investment of space sensible for us. In addition to this prime counter location, we have Better Homes and Gardens in its usual location and in a couple of pockets above our weekly magazines.
I told you so – a new line of greeting cards
We have been testing a new line of greeting cards at our newsagencies and our Sophie Randall businesses.
The I told you so range was conceived and written by Jason Schwarten, manager of our newsXpress Forest Hill store. The original artwork is by Vienna Chen, our graphic designer at Tower Systems. The cards are published under the Sophie Randall brand. The project has been project managed by Tower Systems Marketing Manager Andrew Halpern.
It has been interesting navigating the development and release of the new card line. We have a deeper appreciation of the work of greeting card publishers as a result.
While it is very early days for the I told you so line, we are encouraged by customer interaction – it seems that most people can think of at least one occasion when they would like to have been able to send an I told you so card.
Customers are enjoying the range – one customer at our Melbourne Central location bought one of each design and assured us she will be back because she regularly needs to tell her friends I told you so. Others browse, laugh and comment – the I told you so range evokes a good response!
US newspaper circulation declines 7%
US newspaper circulation fell 7% on a year on year basis. PaidContent) has more on this grim story. While there is a considerable difference in the US and Australian marketplaces in terms of newspapers, the factors impacting newspapers in the US will impact us here but to what extent is unknown. Publishers show they know this by their distribution and marketing initiatives. We need to balance our newsagency businesses so we rely less on newspapers for traffic and revenue.
Magazine labels in the spotlight
On April 22 at the Tower Blog I wrote about the value of professional magazine labels. For years at Tower we have recommended laser labels to newsagents but also supported thermal labels printed in a single strip on the Blaster and other printers. We encourage newsagents to choose what is right for their needs.
Yesterday, POS Solutions blogged that they now have laser labels too. It is good they are now offering a choice.
Professional magazine labels help you save time in managing magazines. Certainly this is my experience. Just about every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when handling new magazine stock and looking for what is due to be returned, the label is the best guide for shop-floor decisions.
The difference between Tower and POS for the last twenty years on labels is, in my view, one functional reason why the Tower newsagent community is three times the size of the POS newsagent community.