Newsagents are regularly approached to carry locally published book. We, proudly, have this book of Bayside Beaches of Port Phillip by Raymond V. Lewis in our Frankston newsagency.
Being local and connected with the community means newsagents often get behind local publications like this.
The challenge is where to display since we are not active in the book space. We’ve gone for the counter and hope people purchase on impulse.
This 2008 paper plane making calendar is a great gift idea for boys and boys at heart. It’s ideal for newsagencies – we have it in our Frankston store along with a range of desk activity calendars which connect with magazines categories: beading, crochet, knitting, sudoku and crafts. We have the market already with our magazine range so why not leverage that for the calendar upsell.
I like the paper plane making calendar especially because of the connection with newspapers – newsprint has made been used for some of the best paper planes ever.
If you have a team member working the floor of your newsagency, give them a prop to carry in their hands. This prop shows that they were on the floor working – and not stalking browsers. It also gives them a reason to leave the browser and not stay for too long. The prop is the destination and not the browser. Also, be sure to change the prop and that props chosen are good impulse purchases.
Train your people to NOT ask if they can help the customer. Instead, train them to make a comment about the product or category being browsed. The comment could be along the lines of: we have more of xxx over here too.
We are not good in newsagencies at serving customers on the floor. Part of that is because we, many of us, are not trained retailers. Tips like walking the floor with a prop are basic retail – try it, it works.
Every week in the Tower Systems email newsletter we include tips. I thought the tip above, published in the newsletter today, could be useful for some who read this blog.
In addition to a Hot Ink promotion and the usual Christmas offers, we are participating in a massive Christmas Book Sale and it’s working a treat. You know you have a hot promotion when customers walk in clutching a catalogue with the items they want circled. It’s the same with Hot Ink. It pays to advertise! We distributed 10,000 flyers with the local newspaper.
This book sale, coupled with cards, calendars and diaries is proving better for us than the traditional mix of Christmas products – tinsel and the like – which you see everywhere.
In Auckland today on a flying visit I have been reminded again of how good we have it back in Australia with our newsagency channel, especially in the magazine and greeting card categories.
Here, in New Zealand, there is no national network of magazine or greeting card specialists except for Whitcoulls and Paper Plus: cards, magazines (smaller range), Books (lots), stationery, social stationery and, often, travel products and related products.
This lack of a magazine specialist network makes it tougher for publishers and distributors.
Australian Newsagents need to better understand the value of the network they (we) have – differences in value propositions and service levels notwithstanding.
I’d like to see greater magazine distributors demonstrate the value of the newsagent network through fairer treatment of newsagents – in us you have an efficient and compliant network yet the way you deal with us sometimes it makes me wonder.
The model in Australia, which good, risks breaking up because of supplier abuse.
The photo is of the Auckland Whitcoulls store.
Suppliers to newsagents need to review how they interact with the channel. With some newsagents receiving upwards of twenty-five unsolicited sales visits in a week, the time being wasted being courteous in nuts. To find even five or ten minutes in a busy and long day is an unfair impost and often unnecessary.
Better more efficient communication is needed. The current freedom of access sucks too much time out of an already time poor channel.
More newsagents ought to put up a sign – no unsolicited rep calls accepted.
The November benchmark project I blogged about yesterday is drawing considerable attention. It is good to see newsagents prepared to share business data for the betterment of their fellow newsagents.
Newsagents are pressured by some influential suppliers to give over window space. As the photo I took earlier this week shows, suppliers are successful. Here you have a magazine publisher, lotteries and newspaper publishers succeeding in getting their product on the window to the detriment of business.
The question is my mind is: how appealing would this newsagency be to a passer-by if you could see into the store?
Retail is all about theatre. This store is keeping the curtains closed – in part because that is what the suppliers want. It’s a billboard for three or four products – theatre is nowhere to be seen.
We newsagents need to resist suppliers who want to block the windows of our businesses. Our decisions need to focus on the whole of the business and not a product or two.
We are experimenting in two of our locations with a less poster strategy. I expect to find that smarter, more theatrical, placement supported by less poster real-estate works.
People’s Friend magazine is wonderful. Its readers are loyal, often happily waiting if an issue is late because of a delay getting stock from the UK. While the good price ($2.95) helps the success of People’s Friend, the content is the real key – it perfectly targets its demographic. I use the title to build good sales of other titles – People’s Friend is one of those honey pot titles I talk about, titles which draw people and off of which you can boost other titles.
This blog post is not about People’s friend however. It’s about those titles which stand out in their category, almost unexpectedly, off of which you can build more success.
All entries of the blog have ben transferred to our new home. We’re still working on images so things may not all come up as planned for the next day or so. Sorry.
In Canberra today I saw first-hand the Australia Post commitment to gift cards. This stand is impressive – four sides of gift cards for all manner of businesses. They are driving traffic through bold ads in newspapers. It’s a compelling pitch for a space newsagents ought to have been strong in years ago.
I was fortunate to attend the Western Union Global Agent Summit in Colorado Springs in mid 2004 and heard first-hand about the tremendous growth in gift card sales in the US. It was clear that this was a space in which retailers, especially financial services retailers (such as newsagents) ought to operate. I came back excited by the opportunity for newsagents.
Australia Post was represented at the conference as they are also a Western Union agent. Clearly, they heard the message. Kudos to them.
While newsagents have a gift card offer today, any fair assessment would be that it is lame. Not because of the cards offered but the return delivered.
Following a question from a colleague newsagent in NSW about retail trade in November, I’ve decided to gather and analyse newsagent sales data for November from as wide a pool of newsagents as possible.
Participation is open to any newsagent. The 1,450 using Tower Systems software can participate by providing a report outlines below and others can participate by using a spreadsheet template I am happy to provide.
For Tower newsagents I would like a Monthly Sales Comparison report: tick the box (lower left corner) to exclude home deliveries, set your first date range (on the left) to November 1, 2007 to November 30, 2007 and the date range of the right to November 1, 2006 to November 30, 2006.
Once you have the report on the screen, click the PDF button to save this as a PDF. They go into your email software and send a copy of the PDF to me at mark@towersystems.com.au.
I am focusing my attention on the core pillars of our newsagency businesses: newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, stationery and, if you have them, lottery products. For some, it is about unit sales and for others it is about revenue.
If you have switched your newsagency to the MPA magazine categories, and I hope you have, I’d like a second report, the Monthly Sales Comparison again, but this time only for the magazine department and with the category analysis ticked (lower right corner). This will facilitate category level analysis of the magazine department and allow even deeper analysis.
I will keep all detailed responses confidential but will report overall results back to the participants. I’ll also post a summary here. It is possible this will lead to a series of round table business discussions early in the new year – we can learn plenty from benchmarking current sales data and discussing the businesses performing well in such a study.
For Tower Newsagents I can dig deeper with other reports and to ensure consistency in reporting. Non Tower Newsagents should email me on mark[at]towersystems.com.au for the spreadsheet template – the more participating the better.
I have looked at reports already for several newsagencies and the differences for November are illuminating.
In our Frankston newsagency we are challenged for space around the women’s weeklies so we’re using a thin strip between newspapers and the weeklies to promote different categories. This past week we have had crossword titles on display. They are working well (even though the display situation is not ideal) – just as we found at Forest Hill when we added a column next to the weeklies.
In the UK, crossword titles are displayed next to women;s weeklies and over there crossword purchases per capita are much higher than here.
How sad is this for newspaper folk around the world – the Coles Online ad on the masthead of my copy of The Age today blocks out the coat of arms of the newspaper.
The $22 million Powerball jackpot this Thursday has slowed sales of tickets in the $30 million superdraw scheduled for Saturday December 29. If Powerball jackpots again the impact will be even more significant.
Why does this matter? Well, it alters the traffic patterns in newsagencies. Thursday this week will be up between 10% nd 20% because of the jackpot. Even more so next week if it jackpots again. And all this at Christmas! It pulls focus from the Saturday superdraw and risks making it an average Saturday.
So, what’s the answer? None really. You can’t change the lottery results, as far as I know. So, we embrace every opportunity and cop it if it means superdraw sales are affected. The key this time of the year is to remind people of the opportunities – without being pushy.
It is gratifying when you see immediate results for a change. This morning at our Frankston newsagency we moved the table and other units displaying boxed cards to at our main entrance. The result was an immediate kick to our already good boxed Christmas card sales.
We undertook the move as part of our commitment to regular change – too many newsagencies are set-and-forget businesses where little product is moved once it is set down. Beyond the table in the photo you can see how we’ve embraced a column in the shop, in front of the counter to the left, with more boxed cards.
We are chasing double digit year on year growth for Christmas cards – so far so good.
Now is the time for all cricket magazines to be in a column, next to each other, same with soccer. While this may seem like common sense, not all newsagents appear to agree. I was in a newsagency today and saw five cricket titles dotted through the sports section. This kind of almost random placement means fewer titles in the category will be sold.
If we are serious about magazines we have to display them right. That means clean column based displays like in the photo for cricket and soccer titles – and other categories. Anything less says we are not magazine specialists.
Also today I visited a 7-eleven store, just near the newsagency. Their display was awful. Titles in the wrong pockets and some empty pockets. I’d expect this from a retailer not committed to magazines. in a newsagency it’s unacceptable in my view.
This brilliant and interactive Post_It display makes excellent use of the space in front of our photocopier. As you walk past, the screen at the top of the display starts running a commercial for the product – yep, that box at the top is a small LCD screen and it plays video with sound!
People stop and watch and often pick up one of the products and check it it out.
This the type of in-store sales tool usually reserved for major retailers. We’re fortunate to be in a position to test its effectiveness in newsagencies. Since the stand is also located near our main newspaper stand in one store I will be particularly interested in sales basket data.
It’s good to see 3M prepared to experiment with us.
The two products on offer – a wrapping paper cutter and a handy tape dispenser – are ideal for this time of the year.
It is good to see Michael O’Brien, Shadow Minister for Gaming in Victoria, drawing public attention to prospect of existing lottery agents losing business following the decision of the State Government in Victoria to shift some lottery products from Tattersalls to Intralot.
O’Brien has also drawn attention to the prospect of lottery products being sold by mobile phone – further cutting out the retail network.
O’Brien late last week wrote to Victorian Tattersalls agents to advise us of this activity. Sure he is a politician jumping on an issue he knows will interest us? Nothing new in that. That O’Brien wrote to agents and briefed us on his activity is most welcome. It’s more than others have done on this issue.
We are getting a good reaction to the bah humbug t-shirts – as modelled by Simon Frost, manager of our Frankston store.. People get the humor of a retailer saying bah humbug when, in fact, we want people to wholly embrace Christmas. The other t-shirt design says HO HO HO. For the most part it;’s getting an equally good reaction but then some people follow the guidance of media reports and say it’s rude. Innocence is bliss sometimes. I especially like the Bah humbug t-shirt because it is different. With every retailer going for tradition at Christmas, playing outside the square is a good place to be.
I’ve noticed fine tuning of supply of Zoo Weekly since ACP magazines took over and while it may be coincidental, it is unfortunate. In one of my stores, Zoo fluctuates. Not having enough stock to co-locate – as is now the case due to recent supply cuts – means some weeks we are not able to reach our sales potential. This will push supply down … the spiral continues. Zoo Weekly is one title I am happy to be oversupplied, within reason.
Reader’s Digest and their distributor, NDD, are engaged in what I consider is unconscionable conduct with my newsagency and, I suspect, hundreds of others.
As I blogged here in December 2006, they increased supply without justification in the sales data for such action. Reader’s Digest and NDD have just done it again and increased supply based solely on their cash-flow goals and not on my sales data.
This is commercial rape. The weakest party in the magazine supply chain, newsagents, are being systematically abused by bigger bullies like Reader’s Digest and NDD. They conspire to supply at a quantity far beyond what we can sell. They increase beyond this unsaleable quantity without any justification. They do this for their own pleasure. Newsagents are helpless. Calls to the ACCC to act fall on deaf ears.
Newsagents have all but given up and focus instead of titles which do not abuse newsagent generosity.
I understand that calling this behavior by Reader’s Digest and NDD commercial rape is inflammatory. Despite promises that the behaviour will be modified it has not. The abuse continues. So, what is left but to bring focus to two companies so intent of harming small business newsagents?
I have data to support my claim – not only from my newsagency but others too. If only the ACCC had an interest in stopping clearly unconscionable behaviour.
The graph, reflecting research by the respected Borrell Associates organisation, predicts growth for online and contraction for offline advertising in the real-estate category. With newspapers relying on real-estate ad revenue, this contraction in revenue must impact on their model. I suspect this is what is driving many city and regional newspapers in the US to contract and new free dailies to start up – even with home delivery models.
There is no point in ignoring these challenges. Newsagents rely on newspapers and and these trends in the US will hit here eventually. Planning today for a bright future with less reliance on newspapers ought to be part of our mission in 2008. Sure publishers tell us it’s business as usual. They need to. Facts from the US and Europe paint a different story, a story we need to pay heed to.
We can face the news as reflected in the research from Borrell Associates as would a Kangaroo staring in the headlights, and freeze. Or, we can digest this and other signpost information and act like business people and embrace change.
Paul Wallbank, Sydney based computer writer and broadcaster, writing at his Cranky Tech Blog today, talks about a customer service experience at his local newsagency. Paul tried to use a credit card to pay for two newspapers and a magazine – $12 all up. he was told that there was a minimum charge of $15 for credit card payments.
In my newsagencies there is no minimum. Indeed, unlike some other retailers, there is also no surcharge for using Diners or Amex. Our view is there should be no barrier between yo can getting the sale.
Paul’s experience this morning has cost our channel a customer. He says he’ll get his newspaper at the supermarket or petrol outlet now. I bet he not alone in making the shift over this issue of barriers at the counter.
Why do some newsagents do this? Why get in the way of business. Sure there are fees. However, losing 1% – which is the max it should be – on a $12 sale is nothing. 12 cents! A lousy 12 cents is what this is about.
Yes, we have tight margins. But 12 cents? I make that up with a an upsell focus on the floor of the shop. My unresearched view is that the newsagents charging a surcharge or enforcing a minimum for Eftpos are more likely, but not always, those who do not configure their shops to achieve an upsell.
Paull Wallbank makes a point we need to take note of every day in retail:
Businesses need to remember that customer convenience is everything. The harder you make it for a customer to buy from you, the less likely it is that they will.
More publishers are doing what ACP Magazines has done with their Take5 brand. This Take5 Ingredients title leverages the awareness around the Take5 brand with a popular food based offering.
Our challenge as newsagents is to leverage the existing brand connection while at the same time pursuing category opportunities. So, where to put this title. Some newsagents will place it in the food section and others near Take5. Both decisions are right.
The challenge with placing Ingredients near Take5 is space. The weeklies space is tightly managed with no room for new titles. There is more flexibility in food.
My approach is to give premium space to the title for a week or so in the hope of it selling well, out even. Based on the experience with Woman’s Day and Women’s Weekly related sister publications having these one off titles next to the parent works better.
Extending the reach of the brand as titles like Take5 Ingredients does is good for newsagents as long as we work at maximising the opportunity.