Retail Newsagent magazine in the UK has a feature this month on newsagencies in Australia. Steven Denham covers this at his Village Counter Talk Blog. Jarryd Moore and I have been covered by the journalists who put the article together.
It is good to see the UK interest in the newsagency model here. The channel in each country can learn from the other.
My software company, Tower Systems, has been delivering free online training and user meetings this year in addition to the seventy or or face to face user meetings around the country. The online series is proving to be a great success with close to full attendance at most sessions. We have a cap of fifteen attendees. We have purchased access to the Web Ex platform – this is a widely used conferencing platform and provides good management of video and audio to create a professional and comfortable online meeting experience.
Next week we are repeating one of our most popular online training events – a Meet The Experts session where we make available one of the mist skilled Tower team members:
We are offering these sessions to help our users more directly connect with our most senior people and thereby get more from your software. Participation is free. All you need is a phone for a toll-free call and a computer with broadband connected. Please book by emailing bookings@towersystems.com.au.
What is really good about these sessions is that we get to connect newsagents who would not usually meet.
We are offering Christmas cards in time to meet overseas mail deadlines. We have these near a good range of Australian themed calendars – an ideal gift to be sent with such cards. While this may seem commonsense to some, others will think we are too early. Sales show it is not.
All of our card decisions are made from the view that we see ourselves as the greeting card specialists.
Check out this You Tube video showing e-ink at work on the front cover of the latest issue of Esquire and the ad inside.
The QNF continues to lead newsagents on Bill Express matters. here is their latest advice on the moves by the publicly listed Swish Group to access the Bill Express screens:
Please see below an email received from the Administrators of Bill Express regarding the SWISH group’s intention to use the large screens for advertising in your stores.
Good afternoon Ann,
Thank you for informing the Liquidators of this matter.
As it stands, Bill Express Limited (In Liquidation) and/or the Liquidators have no agreements in place with Swish TV, nor have they provided any information to Swish TV.
The ownership of the screens mentioned in Swish TV correspondence is still unclear and the Liquidators continue to investigate same.
irrespective of the ownership of the screens, a number of finance companies and secured creditors are also claiming rights to various equipment noted in the Swish TV correspondence.
The QNF advise that newsagents DO NOT enter into any contract or agreement with this group, at this time and await further information from your State Association.
This advice from the QNF is sound. Check out the Swish Group ASX announcements and try and make sense of this business, their ASX code is SWG.
Newsagents need to ask why the ANF remains so quite on Bill Express matters.
We have diaries in three locations in-store. The locations are based on the diary purpose. Our business diaries, for example, are located around our photocopier, near our newspaper stand. In years past we have placed all diaries together. I like this new approach from our team – it means that most customers will pass three diary propositions walking in and out. It also means we can have greater variety on display at any one time without the store feeling too cluttered.
Simon at our Frankston store has placed this small screen running a TV commercial for a Scotch paper cutter on the slat-wall next to the cutter itself. The sound and movement from the TVC draw attention to the products – a subtle yet clever promotion.
We have been supporting the Very Special Kids fund raising efforts conducted in association with Tattersalls for years. We display the Pink pigs and other fund raising items in prime position at the counter. Yesterday, I was fortunate to be in the car when I heard an interview on 774 ABC radio Melbourne, on the Conversation Hour, with one of the people running the organisation. It was moving listening to the work they do with families caring for children with life threatening illnesses. Knowing more about the box of pink products at the counter takes it being beyond another counter-top fund raiser. I am proud newsagents are supporting Very Special Kids.
Conde Naste’s House & Garden South Africa is the latest title we have added to our House & Garden range. This is another brand we are building with multiple editions. This approach has worked well for us with Vogue, Bazaar and others. By building around a respected brand we can demonstrate a depth which other retailers in the magazine space will ignore.
We see ourselves as magazine specialists and make ranging decisions accordingly.
Home Beautiful is the poor cousin of the in the Home and Lifestyle magazine category. It is often beaten for display space by Notebook, Real Living and Vogue Living. The latest issue of Home Beautiful, out Monday this week, came with good collateral to support a $40,000 new kitchen competition.
Good collateral means that Home Beautiful gets a good position and, hopefully, a good sales boost.
The Trading Post is running a good competition at the moment offering a $1,000 prize to the newsagency which submits the best idea for how they would invest $1,000 in their business. I like the competition because of the opportunity for newsagents to engage with their staff in how $1,000 could be invested to improve the business. Any discussion about how to improve the business has to be worthwhile.
Speaking at the PANPA newspaper publishers conference on the Gold Coast yesterday, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was the only member of the family reading newspapers. This from the ABC report:
“But I am the ‘last of the Mohicans’ in our family,” he said.
“Neither my wife or any of my three kids read a newspaper. They read it all online. And that’s just the way it’s been for the last several years.”
Yet our shop-fits continue to reflect the view that the best retail space belongs to newspapers and magazines and that this space is best filled with purpose built units which cannot be easily changed with the times. If the Prime Minister is talking about change then maybe we do need to take notice.
The San Diego Union Tribune has published a good report on the launch yesterday of the Plastic Logic device. This report provides context for people new to the news about reader devices and electronic newspapers. The rate of disruption to the print media business appears to be increasing if the media coverage of developments is anything to go by.
Sales of horoscope magazine titles have all but collapsed based on data I see. Year on year falls of 33% in sales are not uncommon in newsagencies. The situation invites newsagents to cut the category. Sometime soon we will have the guts to take such initiative and finally realise that it is our cash, labour and real-estate being invested in some dying magazine categories.
These two top selling computer magazines show, again, how far off their original track they have got. While there are some purist computer titles still around, they are few and far between. APC and PC User are all about gadgets. People interested in computers have stopped buying them. We almost need to locate them with T3 and other gadget titles.
Plastic Logic has launched a plastic electronic reading device which is set become a platform for electronic newspapers and magazines. The press release from the company says that users can connect the device using wireless technology. This new product launch is getting plenty of favourable press. Click here to see the International Herald Tribune story. YouTube has footage showing the flexibility of the screen:
Plastic Logic is right to call this a game-changing device. The scenario here, if it plays out as far as current day technology is capable, a consumer will buy a device and pay for a subscription. The device is updated during the day with content from newspaper and magazine publishers. The current supply chain is out of the loop on this as it is a publisher / consumer relationship. It makes sense. This is where the technology is leading the relationship.
Today was the first time saw the redesigned Daily Telegraph newspaper in person. They are promoting their website at the top of every page.
Many stories also mromote extra content online.
While the Telegraph is not the first newspaper to make this move, that they have demonstrates the commitment by News Limited to leverage growth for their online offer off the back of the currently successful print product.
Newsagents with an online presence ought to be actively promoting this through their shops. However, the key is that the online presence is different to what one experiences in-store – as it is with the Telegraph.
I saw a display of these Father’s Day themed cupcakes at my local cake shop on Sunday. In the time I was there, six of the ten customers bought one or more of the cupcakes along with what they came to buy. What a perfect up-sell. One of the team told me that they do this for other holidays and seasons in the year.
Beyond the cupcake itself, which was delicious, there are several levels on which this works. It is an easy basket build; the margin is good; it shows the shop as local and connected; and, feels good.
We newsagents need to find our own cupcakes – things which connect with seasons and events, are an easy basket build, have good margin, shows us as conncted and feels good.
While finding our own cupcakes is a challenge, it is a worthwhile goal.
While on Future publishing, their website makes a strong pitch to lure consumers away from the retail channel. It is one thing for them to promote their online subscription service and another entirely to discredit their retail partners. I have reproduced part of their pitch here.
Newsagents operate with slim margins with a fixed cover price and with a supply model which does not reward entrepreneurship. If Future was smart, they would look at the magazine supply model and create a more businesslike relationship with retailers around driving sales. This would certainly be better than whacking them as they do at their website.
T3, the guys gadget magazine, has launched a compact edition in the UK exclusively through WH Smith stores. As the company press release says, this is a first for mens magazines. I am not a fan of compact editions in newsagencies. There are display issues as well as the cost of additional stock.
Obituaries are being redefined at the Herald Sun website. The facilities available represent generational change compared to the usual obituary service of a newspaper. They will lure print consumers online. Kudos to the people behind this.
I have been in Sydney today working on the TV commercial for newsagents. The challenge at the moment is to get the right voice to read the script. The ideal actors cost thousands to read. We have a shortlist which will be finalised prior to the recording session tomorrow afternoon. Because of delays finding the right voice, the commercail will now not start airing until September 21.
The Real Life Bugs and Insects paperwork released today is sure to be a hit, especially with the dead insect included with each part. We have it at the front of the shop to connect with the TV campaign supporting the launch – although I have not see this and don’t therefore know if newsagents are tagged. Regardless, we have high hopes for the initial issues.
Retail real-estate is going to be a challenge between now and early next year. Diaries are in, calendars too as well as some Christmas product. Finding space to professional display products like Real Life Bugs is difficult in newsagencies.
We are promoting Women’s Health at the front counter at Forest Hill this week. The free fitness book – 31 Days to Your Best Body – with this issue is a nice giveaway and meets the requirements for this premium space. Women’s Health is an easy title to promote – the category is strong and the brand one of the best in the category.
We have a low hanging fruit approach to decisions like this – it is easier to drive greater success from a successful title than a low volume title.
We are actively promoting September’s BIG Crossword magazine from Lovatts because of the Andre Rieu tickets being given away in a competition. This is a competition which connects well with our demographic. It also connects with our strong crossword sales – more than $30,000 a year. Newsagents serving an older demographic or with strong crossword sales ought to get behind this. This is an ideal counter offer. It will equally work well promoted with the daily newspapers. And before anyone asks, the folk at Lovatts have not suggested I promote this.