The robots aren’t coming, they’re here
Check out this video from a supermarket pick and pack facility in Andover in the UK. There are many facilities like this around the world, plenty even more high tech.
My thoughts on the Award underpayment stories in the news
With the news last week of Woolworths reportedly underpaying employees by hundreds of millions of dollars, I published a thread on Twitter that seeks to bring some challenges relating to this matter into focus. You’ll need to click on the link to see all the tweets in the thread.
Journalists writing about the underpayment of retail employees should read an award, like the General Retail Award: https://t.co/6kYacHl9mA This tweet is not an excuse, rather it is a sharing of important research on this topic.
— Mark Fletcher🧢 (@emef) October 31, 2019
Note: I have spoken with Fairwork folk about this several times, the most recent being 7pm Friday last week. That conversation was the clearest, the most unambiguous about classifications. The test is what they were hired for, what makes up most of their duties. If they fit with level 1, then that is their pay rate. However, nothing stops a challenge, where you will have to defend your position.
Video key to social media engagement for small business retailers
Videos rule on social media right now thanks to better facilities on Instagram and Facebook and exponential growth in platforms such as TicToc – even though this is not yet really being leveraged for business.
The best videos are those that are funny. Successful, too, are videos that do not overtly sell. In fact, selling should be the last goal you have – even though it is the business measure of success.
Create what people enjoy and love and selling will happen as a result.
I shoot videos on my iPhone and use different platforms and Apps for editing, depending on what I want to achieve. I don’t overthink them as all social media content is disposable – consumed quickly and moved on from, shared if you are lucky, to reach more people.
Here is a video I shot recently at one of my stores. I then used iView on my Mac to wash the video for a particular visual tint I felt was effective. I also used iMovie to remove the original sound recorded with the video. I then used a premium service, Promo, to add text and then lay an appropriate licence-free music track underneath to create what you can see and hear.
newsXpress Knox City – Christmas.
This video shows a decorated tree we have in-store. It is part of our entry into Christmas 2019, located on the lease line.
I made the video to demonstrate a different look for Christmas compared to what shoppers might expect from a newsagency. For my stores I am keen to embrace opportunities to pitch in ways that are not traditional for newsagency shingle businesses.
On Saturday while at the shop I shot videos for five topics / product categories. For three of these I shot two videos – to give be options for how I could use them. I mention this as some videos work well as a square frame while others work better in a landscape frame.
I appreciate all this feels like hard work. The thing is, it can be successful work. A video I shot a week ago and used during the week reached thousands of people and directly generated more than $1,000 in online revenue. All from a time investment of less than 15 minutes.
Okay, not all videos deliver this payback. indeed, not even a quarter. However, when it does happen it propels you to do more and do better.
If you are not using videos on social media I encourage you to experiment with the medium.
The American Mall Act
Andrew Yang is running for the nomination of the Democratic Party for the upcoming US presidential election. He is not a politician. He has a business and not for profit background. One of his policies is interesting as it flows from challenges being experienced in retail in the US. He calls the policy The American Mall Act. I am sharing this here as there may be some interested in this topic.
Tips on calculating the best price for inventory items over which you have sale price control
Setting your sale price for new inventory items is challenging. There are many factors to consider: margin, what an item will sell for, your sales volume need, the labour cost of each sale and more.
In considering what to sell something for, ask your colleagues in-store how much would you pay for this? This can be a good guide, or at least a data point to add to your thinking.
Do your research, too, and see what others nearby sell the item or similar items for. Research online too, locally and elsewhere.
Finally, consider carefully your objectives for the product – is this a volume play or a margin play?
Your pricing choice may not be as clear-cut as it would seem. For example, you could set a high price knowing that with a discount voucher on purchase the item appears to cost less. You might have volume pricing: $xx.xx for one, $yy.yy for two. You could have the item bundled with another to differentiate your offer to that of a nearby competitor and thereby offering you the opportunity to break free on pricing.
Pricing is not black and white. Indeed, it plays to your advantage if it is not black and while as this makes price comparison more difficult, which is good for you. Zee my other notes on discount vouchers and multi-buy pricing.
Think carefully about where in a price band you price an item. For example, Items priced above $7.99 could probably sell at $9.99. Items above $19.99 should either be $24.99 or $29.99 and no other number in between. Above $29.99 more often you should target $39.99.
Avoid nothing prices that can cost GP. For example: $21.95 should be $24.99; $112.50 à$119.99; $6.50 à$7.99; $8.75 à$9.99; $132.50 à$139.99; $36.50 à$39.99, and so on.
Choose to go to a higher price point rather than lower. Independent retail businesses, newsagencies especially, are expected to be more expensive. If you counter this with a consistently offered and generous discount voucher program then erring on the higher side of pricing works for you as your voucher sets value perception for your shoppers.
My recommendation is that you always end your prices with a .99 and price at above RRP. I see no value in a .00 price point. Indeed, I see that as an opportunity lost.
Here is what this post is really about: think about and determine the pricing policy you want for your specific business and establish this as a guide for your business. This can make it easier for anyone in the business faced with setting a sale price for new items. Without it, pricing will take longer. Worse, you could make mistakes
Woolworths to open a cashless store in Sydney
News is reporting that Woolworths is set to open a cashless store in Sydney.
If your usual idea of a Woolworths is a large store with multitudes of aisles, a deli, and a liquor store to the left as you leave, you may need to think again.
Woolworths is putting the finishing touches to a new concept store that is so tiny it has only a single aisle.
About 40 times more compact than a usual store, Australia’s smallest ever Woolworths has been shoe-horned into the site of a former coffee shop at the bottom of an office block.
The store will also be Woolies’ first ever completely cashless store – with no notes or coins accepted. But it’s slight nature means there is one big selling item that will be missing.
The company hadn’t made an official announcement, but news.com.au spied an under-construction store in inner city Sydney which sported the never seen before “Woolworths MetroGo” branding half hidden under plastic. Inside staff were scurrying to fill the shelves.
The next step will be no scanning of products by you or them, no counter. Walk in, take what you went, leave. This already exists in the US.
We have to keep up.
Tabcorp boosts Lucky Lotteries
Tabcorp has boosted the price money for Lucky Lotteries in a move that appears to seek to drive sales. The prize pool usually stars at $1M and increases $240,ooo each time it is not won. Tabcorp intervened at $2,680,000 and boosted the prize pool to more than $6M.
The unexpected boost makes the product more interesting, more easily pitched, and that’s mission critical for Tabcorp and, I am sure they hope, their retail partners. Certainly, plenty of retailers are pitching it one social media.
A simple Halloween pitch in the newsagency
This display pitching Halloween Beanie Boos has been terrific showing off these popular kids products as being relevant to the Halloween shopper looking to dress the desk or home of the the occasion. The display has also worked at pitching gift opportunities for grandparents and others in the shop looking for an easy low cost gift.
I like the display as it looks more effective than is usual in retail with products placed on a shelf. This display offers a sense of theatre, which attracts attention.
The display also pitches a Halloween difference in a centre with plenty of outlets offering the usual low price point Halloween items.
New traffic: the mission critical need for newsagents and all small business retailers
Definition: New traffic for a retail business is shoppers who are new to the business. New traffic is traffic other than what you would receive simply by opening your doors.
Pursuing new traffic is the single most important business management activity for small business retailers today.
Why? because of the growth in online shopping, greater competition on the high street, consumer confidence challenges and growing business operational overheads. Oh, and because a more valuable business is easier to sell, when you decide to sell.
Please take a moment to think about that.
Pursuing new traffic is the single most important business management activity for you and your business.
Without wanting to sound weird or new-agey, I suggest this as a meditation point … new traffic, what it is, what it means and how you can attract it.
When you approach any management or strategic activity in your business, think about what this task or activity will do to attract new shoppers.
It is not enough to do something in your shop for that is only seen by people in your shop. What are you doing to promote this outside your shop? … because that is where new traffic is to be found.
This is not something for your suppliers to do. It is up to you. Only you and your actions can attract new traffic.
I’d say that less than a third of retail newsagents today are actively engaged in attracting genuine new traffic. While most will not adversely suffer in the short to medium term because of lack of engagement, they will at some point for sure. New shoppers are key to revenue, profit and upside for the business.
Pursuing new traffic is about far more than putting new products in your store. Indeed, stock is only one of several steps that are all connected in pursuing new traffic. However, stock is the start. Stocking new lines never offered in the business are the best first step to take too bring in people who do not shop with you today.
A New Traffic Strategy relies on you in actively reaching outside your four walls and deep into your catchment area, the area from which you can attract shoppers, to bring people to your business who other might not visit … to generate for you new traffic.
Footnote: this is the opening section of a broader paper on the opportunity of new traffic for newsagents.
Every retailer can embrace Halloween
This Halloween pitch from Koala mattresses is a reminder that Halloween is a season any retailer can engage with. It is a good excuse for a flash sale or similar. It works because it is date related and because the occasion is visual, enabling you to have fun . What Koala has done here is perfect for connecting the business with a season for which you might think they would have no connection.
Here are the details of the simple offer:
So, even if you have no Halloween specific products, this is a season with which you can engage.
Christmas 2020 already
While Christmas 2019 is ramping up, I have been finalising orders with some suppliers for Christmas 2020 – for products where we can join production runs for retailers in other countries and leverage their volume for better pricing.
The challenge of ordering so early is the lack of data on trend opportunities appropriate top Christmas 2020. The thing is, we are not alone in the challenge. So, seeing what others are going harder on can be instructing to purchasing.
With our major and large competitors ordering this way, for independent small business retailers to be competitive on price and hero product and brand access we need to engage early as well. This is why I have been focussed on it over the last week with several suppliers.
This is an area in which the larger groups can play by leveraging critical mass of 200 or more retailers to order centrally and at sufficient volume to enable access to products that otherwise might not be available in less volume. Anything less and you are too small. While suppliers will order this way, it is less likely that they pass on benefits to individual stores at the time of offering access because of the cost of warehousing, pre-payment and more.
What has been particularly interesting through the process is the storyboarding by some suppliers, sharing access to forecasts of colour and texture trends for the 2020 Christmas season.
Responsiveness key to online
I wanted to purchase from a US based online coffee related store but they did not ship to Australia. They had figured it was too hard and that Aussies would not pay shipping.
I sent them an email and 24 hors later Australia was added as a shipping destination. I placed my order.
They emailed me to say that in that same day, three others ordered. They had not realised the sales they were missing until they turned on Aussie shipping.
In business, we don’t know what we don’t know often.
Great to see ABC Grandstand supporting local Aussie newsagents to 143,000 followers
Not just one here:
🏏 Which is your favourite cricket format and fixture?
📰 The summer cricket schedule has never been busier, @GeoffLemonSport explores the threats to ODI Cricket in the latest ABC Cricket Magazine, available now at newsagents and https://t.co/CLF9ckxPRE pic.twitter.com/mU8wkHVvMR
— ABC Grandstand (@abcgrandstand) October 25, 2019
But, here too:
🏏Should cricket become an Olympic sport?
🥇🥈🥉 The idea of T20 Internationals being played at the 2028 @Olympics is covered in the latest ABC Cricket Magazine by @JournoMatCleary, available now at newsagents and https://t.co/nRw9nrplJR pic.twitter.com/fnXsvFKaKw
— ABC Grandstand (@abcgrandstand) October 24, 2019
It is terrific to see publishers directly promote the channel.
Drop in magazine titles helps retailers better focus
At the Bauer Media Connections conference on the Gold Coast yesterday I was interested to see data shared by Ovato about the reduction in magazine titles being circulated over the last 3 years. I appreciated seeing the drop broken down by local / UK / US.
While there have been some magazine launches over the 3 years, the reality is we have less titles in circulation today compared to 3 years ago. This is a good thing in my view.
Shopper interest in special interest and more m mainstream titles is easily satisfied by the reduced range on offer today. Indeed, we could see a cut of, say, 25% in some segments without a negative impact on sales.
What often happens in a business with more titles in the same segment is a more diverse mix of titles sold rather than a desired increase in total revenue for the segment. Competing titles can cannibalise each other. Retailers do not benefit from this.
So, I am pleased to see this data from Ovato showing a net reduction in the range of titles available.
Full face Christmas cards on the lease line attract shoppers
We are appreciating the terrific reaction from shoppers to the placement of single Christmas cards full face on the lease line. While this is one of four placements of Christmas cards in this particular shop, it is the only one on the lease line for attracting passers-by and pitching Christmas cards.
Impulse and early Christmas card purchases are valuable.
We made the stand to have 100% control over what cards are placed here.
Picture and People magazine to close
This report, from Amanda Meade at Guardian Australia on the closure of Picture and People:
Softcore magazines the Picture and People to close amid sale ban and falling circulation
Exclusive: Hundreds of service stations recently banned the magazines from sale, saying they demeaned women and girls.
Australian men’s magazine the Picture and the 69 year-old People magazine will close at the end of the year, ending decades of printed weeklies featuring topless models and readers’ sex stories.
Publisher Bauer Media was forced to axe the magazines after retailers lined up to ban them from sale at service stations; and readership fell to 0.02% of the population over 14 for People magazine and 0.01% for The Picture. They are already banned from sale in supermarkets.
“Discussions to close the Picture and People magazines have been taking place, as the magazines have lost ranging [visibility], which has affected their commercial viability,” a spokeswoman for Bauer Media told Guardian Australia.
“As closures impact a number of people, including some staff and suppliers, they need to be well considered and timed appropriately.
“The magazines will be closing at the end of the year and we’re working closely with staff to find suitable redeployment.”
I expect minimal impact on the newsagency channel from the closure of these two titles.
How one publisher encourages print to digital migration
The cover price for the UK Autosport magazine has been more than doubled for over the counter purchase in a move that appears designed to drive migration from print to online.
Magazine cover prices need to increase to reflect cost increases for retailers. Or, newsagents ought be paid a higher percentage of cover price.
The price increase for Autosport, however, is nuts.
What could the Bauer Media acquisition of Pacific Magazines mean for newsagents?
While there are regulatory processes to play out and finalisation is anticipated to be months away, the news yesterday that Bauer Media and Seven West Media had reached agreement for Bauer to acquire Pacific has captured the attention of plenty in our channel.
Bauer media and Pacific Magazines are the two largest magazine publishers in Australia.
The most common question in emails and calls that I received yesterday from newsagents was what does this mean for us?
I think asking this question now is late. I say this because rationalisation of print media businesses has been happening for some years and has been discussed widely here and elsewhere in our channel.
If you are asking today what it means, you are already behind. If this is you, I encourage you to invest time now to catch up.
If the Bauer / Pacific news has come at a shock and you are wondering about the impact, act now, make decisions that focus on propelling your business forward. No supplier will do this for you – putting your business first in every decision.
While I don’t know what a Bauer acquisition of Pacific will or could mean, we can reasonably speculate that there will be changes over time. It cannot 100% be business as usual.There will have to be changes given the challenges faced by some of the titles involved. One benefit of single ownership of an expanded stable of titles at Bauer would be co-ordinated management of all titles. This could mean less cannibalisation between competing titles through more thoughtful and complementary coverage.
Many of us in the newsagency channel have been actively working on chasing net new traffic for categories outside of legacy product categories for our channel for years. There have been hits and misses through. Such is the experience of chasing change.
There is no doubt we are in a period of extraordinary change in print media. Change is being driven by how news is delivered into our hands, how and when we engage with news and information, what constitutes news and entertainment, what people will and will not pay for, who is a publisher (all of us?) and how print mastheads and stories are packaged and priced.
The Australian market is small. I think that is a factor playing out here too. Print media products need critical mass. We miss that in some markets here.
Thinking about what could change as a result of the announced acquisition… It would not surprise me to see: the days of magazine delivery changed, maybe to one a week; the closure of some weekly titles; the launch of a new weekly title; changes in monthly titles; greater accessibility for over the counter purchase of titles.
What should matter most to newsagents today is focus of the business changing net new shopper traffic, broadening the shopper appeal through new products, driving overall business GP%, growing online sales so the business is less reliant on local shoppers and chasing opportunities through pursuing what we don’t know our businesses can achieve.
The Bauer / Pacific announcement is an encouragement for us to work on our businesses, to pursue change, to make our businesses more valuable in the future.
All of this, of course, means more focus away from the newsagency shingle.
Bauer to acquire Pacific Magazines
Here is the announcement from Bauer in full:
MEDIA RELEASE
BAUER MEDIA GROUP TO ACQUIRE ICONIC AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND MAGAZINE PORTFOLIO FROM SEVEN WEST MEDIA
Sydney and Hamburg, 21 October, 2019: The Boards of Bauer Media Group and Seven West Media are pleased to announce an agreement for Bauer Media to acquire Pacific Magazines, which publishes a leading portfolio of iconic Australian and New Zealand media brands – including Better Homes & Gardens, New Idea and Marie Claire.
Combining Pacific Magazines with Bauer Media Australia’s existing multi-platform publishing portfolio brings together over 50 highly complementary titles.
The enlarged business will boast deep expertise in the Women’s Entertainment & Lifestyle, Fashion, Beauty & Health, and Food & Homes categories, and be well placed to maximise reach and engagement with consumers while continuing to invest in new, must-have content.
Brendon Hill, Bauer Media Australia CEO, says: “We are delighted to be able to combine our talent and resources with one of our most admired and respected industry peers. More than ever, scale and superior content is emerging as the differentiator of success in publishing. This transaction will bring the Bauer and Pacific teams greater opportunities to innovate, create and collaborate – and continue to delight their audiences.”
Bauer Media Group is a global owner of assets ranging from radio, print and digital content to online comparison platforms and marketing services. This acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy to capitalize on its leading position in publishing, investing in new launches, concepts and business models around its strong brands, whilst actively participating in the consolidation of the industry and pursuing opportunities in new areas.
The transaction is expected to close during either late 2019 or early 2020, subject to ACCC approval.
-ENDS-
Here is the Seven West announcement in full.
Appreciating local shoppers
I have been working with a designer on a range of unbranded collateral to express appreciation for local shoppers. I’m frustrated with the usual shop local pitch I see as it reads somewhat entitled / demanding. I prefer a more subtle and genuinely appreciative approach.
This image is part of the series. It’s designed for in-store as well as digital use. I am pretty happy with how this is developing.
Buskers
I love this clip that I saw on Twitter. It’s a reminder of how good buskers can engage. In a high street situation, good buskers out the front of the shop are awesome. Now to find buskers like these two…
I’ve watched this a lot and it just gets better👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/VwLms3ve3c
— san (@sanosbo1) October 19, 2019
The start of Christmas in-store
Here is the first crack at Christmas in one of my stores. It runs from this front of store display behind for around three metres. I say first crack because this will change weekly as new stock is added, early hits sell out and the narrative is evolved.
In-store is only part of our Christmas pitch this year. Already Christmas has been terrific with online sales, to people will never see in-store.
For those wondering, this shop does not sell lotteries, tobacco or candy. It is pop culture / card / gift / sarcasm focussed store with mags and papers still represented, but not front of store.
It pays to check social media
I did a search Wednesday night for newsagents on Twitter and found this post.
While it references newsagents, it specially mentions www.myornaments.com.au, a website connected to one of my shops. Finding it by accident as I did I was able to understand another question – what caused a noticeable spike in sales from October 16.
What happened here is a good example of customer endorsement. It is also an example of the value of checking out what is said. In my own case, it allowed me to respond:
I am grateful for the endorsement and grateful to have found it.
Search your business, and the channel from time to time and appreciate support shown on social media and elsewhere.
