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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Pitching Valentine’s Day in the high street

One of the benefits of having a newsagency with no agency lines is the flexibility to pitch what we want to passers-by how we want.

Here is out front window Valentine’s Day pitch in the high street store we have It is working a treat:

The concept is to kind of wrap the business in the love of the season. It is working in that people are coming in to check out what we have inside … plenty of new faces too.

Being the only shop in the strip shop location this committee to Valentine’s Day helps the business get noticed.

I think it is vital that we pitch seasons like this, out to people in the street as getting them to step through the front door is the most important action you can have them take. Once inside, the shop does (or, hopefully does) the rest.

Give the situation off th store sand the location of the counter we cannot display products in a boxed window. Hence the pitch las you see it in the photo.

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Greeting Cards

How to avoid hiring the retail employee who has failed elsewhere

It is only natural that people do not include anything in job applications that may hinder them getting hired when applying for a new position.

As employers we have to be vigilant in our review and research of each candidate on the shortlist for final consideration.

Here are some suggestions of steps you could take to reduce opportunities for hiring mistakes:

  1. Reject any applicant with unexplained gaps in their resume.
  2. If you have a good pool of applicants, reject friends of people who already work in the business.
  3. Ask them to bring photos from their previous retail roles showing things they have done.
  4. Contact employers for the last three years. Verify start and end dates. Again, be wary of gaps.
  5. Reject any applicant who only has traditional (old-school) newsagency experience.
  6. Ask specific questions:
    1. Do you have a police record?
    2. Have you ever been sacked? If so, why?
    3. Have you ever been put under performance management – i.e. issued a formal warning?
    4. Has a customer ever made a complaint about you? If so, what was it?
    5. Tell me two things you think could be changed in this business to improve it?
  7. If you have any doubt, don’t proceed.

Always hire with a period of probation. Use this to terminate anyone you are not complexity satisfied with.

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Hiring employees

Chasing interstate newspapers

I have been copied on a series of sixteen emails from Kenny Lu, a passionate newspaper reader, to publishers seeking easier access to Melbourne newspapers when interstate. I have also had several calls from Kenny on the matter. Below I share, with his permission and at his request, one email from Kenny that best lays out his request and proposition:

Dear Kammeron, Michael, Damian, Robert, Bryce, Venetia and Mark,

Firstly Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast also North Queensland that look I don’t want the Herald Sun to withdraw from the Queensland Market because I am a regular reader as a Home Delivery Customer in Melbourne that if I go to Brisbane, Gold Coast and Noosa I still get the Herald Sun but the problem is some Newsagency on the Gold Coast and Noosa shuts early than 1.00pm I have to say and the Sunday herlad Sun don’t arrive in the Gold Coast or the SUnshine Coast on time therefore that they should come in at 10.00am in Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Brisbane I have to say then and it annoys me well I will be annoyed if the Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun is no longer selling in the Queensland Market and I wanted the Herrald Sun to be sold in Queensland Markets as well as Cairns, Port Douglas and Townsville to be sold there.

I read that on the Australian Newsagency Blog there are:

https://www.newsagencyblog.com.au/2012/02/08/there-go-the-sales-of-the-herald-sun-interstate/

Well we wanted strong sales of the Herald Sun to be sold at all Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast newsagents and therefore for Victorians are holidaying or living in Queensland can get the Herald Sun and the Sunday Herald Sun easily then but we wanted it to come in the Morning like 10.00am in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast Newsagencys.

For an example Tuesday’s Herald Sun comes on a Tuesday and no firm sales for the Newsagencys across Queensland and Yes we wanted the Sunday Herald SUn to come on a Sunday I have to say then.

Yes we wanted all Herald SUn and Sunday Herald Sun to be sold in Queensland Markets to arrive at 9.30am in the morning so Victorians can buy the Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun and I wanted the paper to arrive on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast to come at 10.00am for Queensland Markets and Brisbane as well.

Also for Brisbane that we wanted the Sunday Herald Sun to be sold at all Brisbane Newsagents for Victorians living in Brisbane or are on holidays and also at Airports.

Also we wanted all Brisbane Newsagencies to sell the Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun to be sold at Brisbane Newsagents on the same day so as Brisbane CBD all of them including the Sunday Herald Sun sold on a Sunday.

I do get the Herald Sun in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Noosa so far I get it at Rankins on the Mall, Benowa Gardens Newsagency, Pacific Fair Newsagency and Australia Fair only on a Sunday, Brisbane Airport Newslink at Qantas Terminal and the Terminal, Noosa Junction Newsagency and Noosa Heads Newsagency that is where I get the Herald Sun with THe Courier Mail and The Sunday Mail I get it there.

Yes we want to make it clear for Victorian visitors are in Queensland or lived in Queensland that we wanted the Herald Sun to be sold in all Queensland Newsagencies as well as Cairns, Port Douglas and Townsville because I want Queensland sells the Herald Sun and Sunday herald Sun and be arrived at 9.00am in the Morning for Victorians who wanted to read that paper.

I don’t want a demise of sales of the Herald Sun in Queensland so we wanted for Queensland to sell the Herald Sun and have more people from Victoria can get it.

I don’t want this crisis to happen or Victorians in Queensland won’t come and it will be hard for them so we wanted Victorians in Queensland to get the Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun.

Have they being any high and increased sales of the Herald Sun in Queensland? I get it there including Airports in Brisbane.

I being requesting what we want and Yes we would like a request for all Melbourne Newsagencies that they should sell The Daily Telegraph/Sunday Telegraph, The Courier Mail/The Sunday Mail/Gold Coast Bulletin and The Advertiser/Sunday Mail to be sold in Melbourne at all Melbourne Newsagencies for tourist and visitors can get their Newspapers also at Airports to be sold there.

I wanted this considered that we don’t want any demise of selling the Herald Sun sold in Queensland we wanted it on the same day so Victorians can get the Herald Sun like I get it in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast can you please bring this e-mail up at the meeting because we don’t want this crisis that we don’t sell the Herald Sun anymore at Newsagents in Queensland we wanted more sales of the Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun to be sold at all Queensland Newsagents and more importantly they should arrive at 9.30am in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast and at Airports.

I wanted all Queensland Newsagencies to continue to sell the Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun at Newsagencies and come earlier like 10.00am so Victorians can get the Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun there.

I supported the move and the continuation to sell the Herald Sun in Queensland Markets for Victorians getting the paper are tourists or living there.

I would like a response regarding this for News Queensland and HWT and this is serious and if I go to the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Noosa I get the Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun there as well as The Courier Mail/The SUnday Mail.

I love reading papers so much I enjoyed it.

I will hear from you soon.

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Newspapers

Understanding the model train enthusiast and opportunities for growth

Model train magazines continue to sell well. In some newsagencies they are among the titles achieving good year on year growth.

Model train enthusiasts are passionate about their hobby. Money is often not an b=object for feeding their passion.

Newsagencies with strong model train magazine sales have an excellent opportunity to leverage this with allied product purchases, often with good GP north of 50%.

I was fortunate last week to be at Spielwarenmesse, the international toy fair in Nuremberg/Germany, the world’s biggest toy fair. This fair is massive. The Melbourne and Sydney gift fairs , for example, would each be less than 10% of the size.

One hall of Spielwarenmesse is dedicated to model trains. I was fascinated by the range and the potential for businesses. I was looking at in relation to my work with newsX0press, researching growth category opportunities.

The most interesting part of the model train hall was watching the people there, mainly guys. They wandered around like kids in a lolly shop, in awe of what they were seeing … and, it was easy to get drawn into their passion.

Passion is important in retail. The more we can serve the passion of a cohort of shoppers the more rememberable our businesses will be. When it comes to model trains, some in our channel have the traffic already. The next step is to use this as a base for growth.

The trains hall was one small part of what what I was at Spielwarenmesse to check out.

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magazines

75% of website use guides in-store purchases

Through my work with newsXpress I see data for multiple customer-facing websites representing several international brands. One data point that is fascinating to me is the in-store shopping by people that is guided, encouraged, through using the websites.

While online sales are excellent and growing, one site did more than half a million dollars in revenue last year, in-store sales are growing as a result of sites.

With the websites detailing products available and the stores from which the products can be purchased right away with certainty. they drive shoppers to stores.

On Saturday, one store had a shopper drive almost two hours to spend over $300 on items they knew the store had thanks to one of the websites. The website found the customer and guided them to the store. This is a customer who would otherwise have not shopped in the store.

This is one of many examples off where websites drive in-store purchases.

Through data analytics I can see where online browsers come from, where they go on the site and where they leave to.  This is what gets me saying that 75% of site business flows in-stroe rather than online.

With the sites being mobile friendly and easily accessible, shoppers can check the sites out when they are out shopping,. This is a key factor.

Another shop over the weekend won a $250.00 sale late at night for collection today. 

This is another example of how websites, when fully functioning and engaged with at the local business level, can drive traffic and revenue for local shops.

Any retailer can do this with the right site and an appropriate live data feed. It’s necessary in retail today.

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Newsagency management

Does your newsagency need a phone line customers can call?

I think every business needs a phone number customers can call, a phone number answered in the business, by a human.

Do you think your newsagency needs a phone line customers can call?

I ask this as a I am aware of a newsagency that has had the phone cut off, with the owner thinking it is not such of a big deal as no one calls the business anyway.

I was shocked. I can’t imagine any retail business not having a phone number any customer can call.

What do you think?

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Newsagency management

The New York Times offers augmented reality experience

The New York Times has launched an augmented reality offer. They explain the benefits:

Integrating augmented reality into our work expands New York Times journalism in a few important ways.

First, by using your smartphone as a “window,” we are extending stories beyond the inches of a screen, by digitally adding objects into your space at real scale. And those objects — a border wall or a work of art — can have provocative explanatory value, because you can get close to them.

This technology also allows us to explore the evolving nature of how we share ideas and tell stories. Next week, The Times will debut AR in an article about the Winter Olympics. Just like with the honor box, your phone will allow you to see the athletes three-dimensionally, from different angles. This is all part of our effort to lean toward the future of storytelling. We invite our readers to come along.

This is a smart move as it leverages handheld technology to enhance the news engagement experience. Innovation like this is vital for publishers for the future.

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Media disruption

Moving newspapers to the wall of the newsagency

I like this wall hanging newspaper unit that I saw in retail last week.

While it would struggle with the Saturday weight and quantity of The Age or SMH, it could certainly work on weekdays and in lower volume sales stores.

I like the stand as it reduces the floorspace needed for newspapers and floorspace is a considerable cost of low-margin newspapers. Reducing floorspace overhead is valuable action we can take.

Years ago, many of us had the boat anchor newspaper stand front and centre, in prime position at the entrance to the business. Many of those have gone because the floorspace costs can no longer be justified, in this time of year on year sales declines.

Placing newspapers on the wall, maybe the back wall, good be a way of financially justifying stocking newspapers for a while yet.

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Newspapers

VM TIP: displaying mugs

If you sell mugs, consider placing them like in this photo, with one mug sitting on an angle in another mug. This is a common approach in bigger businesses where they have research the best approach to pitching mugs to browsers.

Oh, and if you do not currently stock mugs, consider it as they are in the top ten gift items purchased.

If your business is a destination for birthday cards, it should be a destination for gifts.

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Gifts

Displaying papers and magazines in Germany

While in Germany earlier this week for the stationery fair in Frankfurt and the Toy Fair in Nuremberg, I got to se some retail.

Here is the newspaper / magazine display in a local supermarket outside Frankfurt. I like the integration of papers with magazines.

Here is a high street news / tobacco / lottery / convenience business with their key news and magazine offering out the front of the shop.

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retail

Ten reasons why Australians should buy cards at their local newsagency and not the supermarket

Next time you want to buy a card , shop your local newsagency first.

Whether looking for a card for birthday, sympathy, thank you, new home, bon voyage or just because, your local newsagency will be better for you than anywhere else.

Here are my ten reasons why shopping for cards at your local newsagency is better than shopping at the supermarket, or elsewhere for that matter.

  1. Range. Newsagents have a better range of cards than supermarkets. More cards. Better quality. More options for you to consider. Brands you can trust. For occasions often not covered by supermarkets.
  2. Quality. Newsagents have better quality cards. Some supermarkets have cheap cards, which they charge too much for. Like anything in a supermarket, stock gets picked over. I think cards in a newsagency are cleaner, neater.
  3. Help. When you want advice on selection, newsagencies have staff who can and will help, willingly. This is fantastic for people who are not sure of what to buy.
  4. Comfort. No trolleys pushing you or people trying to get past doing their weekly shop. The local newsagency is more relaxed. Take your time. Choose the card that says what you want to say.
  5. Price. Newsagencies have cards covering a broader price range. You can shop the range depending on the occasion. You have more choice.
  6. Service. If you cannot find an envelope, need a pen to write on the card or some other help, the service is there in a newsagency. It is less likely to be there in a supermarket.
  7. Loyalty. Your local newsagency is more likely to offer rewards for your loyalty. Sure, supermarkets may give you points, but what are they worth? Who knows!
  8. Community support. Your local family run newsagency is more likely to invest more support back into the local community than a supermarket.
  9. Guy friendly. The local newsagency is a more guy friendly shopping destination than a supermarket.
  10. It’s good business. Your local newsagency will be a small business, a family business. The money you spend there will have a more direct economic impact than if you spend it with a national supermarket change. Spend to make that difference I say.

Local Aussie newsagencies have excellent ranges of cards, backed by wonderful, knowledgable, personal service.

Next time you want / need to buy a card for someone you care for, go to a newsagency first. Oh, and let them know that you deliberately did this instead of shopping at a supermarket.

Thank you.

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Greeting Cards

News Corp. late in supporting newsagents for Enid Blyton campaign

News Corp. has been late in providing newsagents and some who support newsagents, like software companies, with information vital to the success of the Enid Blyton campaign.

Software companies had to chase News for data to provide to newsagents so their systems could be setup correctly and ready.

No time was provided to newsagents to seek out allied product to supportive campaign. This denies newsagents the opportunity to maximise the potential of the campaign. It also denies newsagents the opportunity to leverage the Enid Blyton campaign to its full potential.

The inaction by News Corp. comes across as selfish at worst, ignorant at best.

Early warning allows engaged newsagents to be data ready and to have allied product, which is displayed well can help drive greater engagement with the newspaper promotion. There are gifts, activity products and other lines that could have been brought in, with which a broader Enid Blyton story could have been told.

News Corp. needs to understand how little value newspapers are to many newsagency businesses now. They should work harder to enable newsagents to transact newspapers more cost effectively and with greater value-add opportunity.

Years ago, News Corp. was better at this stuff.

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Newspapers

Why you need more than one Valentine’s Day display

Look at the store of any major retailer during a season and you will see multiple pitches for the season, no matter how small the store is.

Even in a store of 100 sq metres you will see a key season pitched in at least three locations. I have seen this in gift shops, card shops and similar.

Each placement is visually connected to the other, but different, an advancement even.

This is on my mind today as I have been talking with a newsagent who says seasonal sales are declining in their business. They do one display per season. While it is is in a good location and looks good it is only one display, there is only one opportunity for people to connect.

By having at least three displays, you reinforce the message, hopefully getting through.

It starts with a bold, signature, statement at the entrance.

This is followed by a secondary display behind, usually at a key traffic destination.

This is followed by a third display placement, at or near the counter, where you can impulse pitch.

We should be growing seasonal sales, not only in cards but gifts too. To achieve this, we have to match and better our competitors. This is why I say for this Valentine’s Day, take a look at your pro motion points in-store. Make your you have at least three, they they connect and that they give you excellent opportunities to pitch to shoppers.

It is easy to look at the declining sales for a season or a promotion and blame the economy, suppliers or other factors. The reality is, it is on us as the retailer. We are responsible for the success or otherwise. It is on us.

Valentine’s Day 2018 is a good opportunity to start. Take a look at what you have done and see how it can be improved for greater success. Ensure all team members are on board. Then, make a similar, layered, pitch on social media.

Know last year’s numbers, so you know what you have to beat this year. Involve all team members in this, in the actual number you are out to beat. Everyone in the business should be invested in achieving this.

For me, multiple displays is a key factor for success and changing the displays as the season unfolds is also important. Multiple displays combat store blindness, which is common among newsagency shoppers.

Oh, and take note, people don’t often look up. In fact, there are plenty who do not even look straight ahead.

A single display does not cut it anymore.

For context, here is how my high street newsagency promoted the recent jigsaw offer fro outside the shop to behind the counter to the counter to inside the front door. It could not be missed, and it worked a treat.

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Newsagency management

How we pitch Australia Day is challenging

All of us in business want to connect with major holidays, for business and for community connection. It is challenging with holidays meaning different things to different people.

Australia Day is challenging as we learn more of what happened on that day, especially that is marked the start of the systematic reduction of the 700,000 aboriginal population down to 70,000.

Without wanting to enter the politics of change the date, through my newsXpress business and my POS software business we sought to recognise the day in two different ways, away from the usual green and gold and barbie approach.

The reaction to each was terrific. We received some wonderful feedback.

I have written this post in the context of earlier posts about the need for us to evolve how we pitch our businesses. This involves us playing beyond the traditional, giving people other reasons to consider us.

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marketing

Newsagents need to be prepared for the day daily newspapers close print editions

Regardless of the spin from newspaper publishers, we are approaching the day when capital city and major regional daily newspapers will cease to be published daily.

As the largest single channel retailing print newspapers in Australia, small business newsagents need to be prepared for this, we need to ensure, today, that our businesses can sustain such a move.

This will happen. Daily newspapers will close. The decline in sales is driving it. The decline in advertising revenue makes it unavoidable.

The print model for news has run its race. The costs of printing the product and distributing it to shops and homes is too high.

I appreciate plenty in the newsagency channel will disagree with me or will hope I am wrong. The thing is, there is now downside in business planning on the basis of me being right. This business planning would / should focus on making the business attractive for people who do not visit today and on how to attract those people to the business.

New business and new traffic are key to success in 2018 as fewer people will walk through your front door for traditional newsagency products. So, we need non traditional newsagency products, promoted outside the business, to attract new shoppers.

Acting now, hopefully, long before now, gives you the best opportunity for successful trading through what I think will be a very disruptive couple of years, far more disruptive than the last ten years combined. In disruption we can find opportunity.

However, my call is that you do not wait for a daily newspaper to close. Act now. Rely less, today, on newspaper traffic.

Acting now looks like this:

  1. Placing newspapers in a lower cost location, away from the entrance and high value real-estate.
  2. Sourcing new product categories that you do not carry today.
  3. Pitching the new categories in marketing outside the business.
  4. Getting the business known as a destination for multiple sought-after categories in your area, categories people would drive at least an hour to shop and purchase.
  5. Spending less time on what is declining and more time on what could be.
  6. Doing everything possible to ensure your business does not look traditional.

I appreciate that no one involved with the newsagency channel wants newspapers to close. However, it will happen. The test is whether you have, by then, created a business that will flourish without daily newspaper traffic.

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Media disruption

Using social media to reach new customers

POS software can be pretty boring, especially to small business retailers who are passionate about their family and about their specific type of business.

The marketing folks at my newsagency software company, which also develops and sell software for other specialty retail channels, create social media posts to reach out to retailers who might not look at a traditional POS software ad.

I share some of the images here as inspiration as they reflect ways to change how a traditional business might be considered.

There are many tools available today that enable businesses to create visual messages like these. While it takes creativity to come up with the ideas, execution is easier than ever.

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marketing

Humanise your business with shopper photos

More and more retailers use using photos of shoppers in-store to personalise their businesses. Toms (see photo) is one example. This is something we can do in newsagencies, especially regional / rural newsagencies.

The photos could be of events, customers with purchases, charity engagement, competition winners, local happenings or photos people have brought in that are somehow relevant to the business.

Over the course of a week in the US recently I saw at least fifteen stores with shopper photos like those I have included with this post. I was drawn to look at the photos as were others ion the stores.

I have seen photo walls placed in high profile locations as well as dead space locations. The where can be stored out. Starting somewhere is smart.

A photo wall shows your business as supportive and engaged beyond simply trying to sell stuff. I think there are enough who would appreciate this to make it work the try.

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Newsagency management

Visiting an Amazon shop for magazines

I am grateful for the opportunity to visit two Amazon shops in the US a couple of weeks ago, one in New York and one in Los Angeles. While I will have more to say about the shops and shopping experience at my newsagency workshops soon, I want to share today what I saw in relation to magazines.

The layout is not that different to what you see elsewhere:

It on a closer look that where you can see the online pitch. The stores exist primarily to facilitate online sales, rather than the other way around.

On the shelves are these signs, too.

This is how they approach the rest of the business. Simple, easily understood messaging. Like everything Amazon does, their approach to magazines is data driven. Their mix of titles is determined by online sales data, in the area surrounding the store. Their size gives them considerable power in their dealings with suppliers.

What Amazon is doing throughout their retail businesses is disruptive in several categories, including magazines. We are yet to see anything like this hit Australia.

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magazines
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