Here is a Mother’s Day display that I saw when overseas last week. I love it for the terrific range of products and the fun of the display and that it does not look like a usual retail display. This is why I say it is inspiring.
Mother’s Day is a season that can be boring if the product mix and in store pitch is the same old. The starting point for a fresh pitch is a display that looks different, like the inspiring display ion this photo.
This article from Digiday is an interesting look at Target in the US and their store of the suture project. Specifically, I appreciate the comments about evolution rather than a big launch of a future concept.
Brick and mortar retail has a bright future in my opinion … as long as it continues to evolve to engage shoppers how and where they want such engagement.
Small step changes, continuous changes, are the key, even in local newsagencies.
The days of set and forget retail are over. We have to see regular change otherwise we lose relevance and the revenue associated with this.
This correspondence was emailed to GNS newsagent customers today:
Dear GNS levyholders,
Firstly, on behalf of the GNS Board of Directors, let me thank you for providing the working capital that has enabled GNS to provide its services for so many years.
The levy, collection of which was ended on 30 June 2016, enabled GNS to provide low prices and serve you – our newsagent customers.
The levy amount now held by GNS is of the order of $6.5m.
Your own levy balance will appear on your statements from next month.
Many of you have asked for access to your levy sooner than when you leave the industry – currently the only way your levy balance can be reclaimed.
In response to this we are now preparing to offer levy holders the opportunity to convert their levy balance to a mix of credit against purchases over a two-year period and shares.
Of course, you need not do anything and your levy balance will be paid out in accordance with the agreement when it was charged i.e. paid when you exit the industry.
The offer however will be designed to reward levy holders by allowing you to use your balance to buy GNS products and become shareholders. Shareholders of course enjoy any capital growth in the share value, any dividends that are paid and access to share buyback when exiting the industry.
Full details will be available after July this year once GNS’ audited financials are completed.
Martin Hartcher
Chairman GNS Ltd
I was at a magazine retail business in Los Angeles two weeks ago where they were arriving new stock in for the day. I got to see an invoice. This shows gross profit of 34% from the magazines supplied. yes, the model is sale or return.
Where there is an extraordinary difference between the magazine distribution model in the US and that of Australia, this gross profit percentage is interesting.
Retail space in the US costs less as does labour. These two data point differences compared to Australia highlight the challenge of the 25% GP we see in Australia today. We are far worse off that our US colleagues. This needs to change for magazine sales in newsagencies to grow, which I firmly believe they can.
For those who have not seen two Tatts screens in action being the counter in an outlet, here is a video I shot yesterday in a newsagency in Sydney.
It looks good, impressive. However, and it is a big however, the content I saw did not reflect the average shopper wait and counter time. In the time I was at the store, 20% of customers looked in the direction of the screen and no one appeared engaged with the content on the screen.
Bauer announced Monday that Shop Til You Drop is to close. I am grateful for the opportunity to be interviewed by Crikey for this story. It covers the topic well:
Closure of Shop Til You Drop signals ongoing crisis for Aussie mags
EMILY WATKINS
Crikey media reporterThe long death march of print is continuing with the closure of fashion mag Shop Til You Dropannounced by Bauer Media yesterday. Just over a year ago, Bauer was still insisting the magazine would not fold, despite closing its website in December 2015. It’s just the latest in a slew of closures both for Bauer and publishers generally across the industry.
Director of newsagency marketing group NewsXpress, Mark Fletcher, told Crikey the news of the closure was not surprising to newsagents around the county.
“Magazine closures are something that have become commonplace,” he said. “We are not getting destination traffic for a title anymore in the newsagencies.”
Fletcher went on to say that the high-volume weekly and monthly titles were the most vulnerable.
“The special interest titles are strong and are doing well because they have their own communities,” he said. “But the sorts of things I’m able to read in (the weekly and monthly) magazines, I can get much better content and more diversity of content online … Why am I going to buy a magazine for this?”
Media analyst Steve Allen said Bauer’s Australian CEO, Nick Chan, is likely to make more cuts to make to the business’s magazine titles.
“He’s been given a very clear direction from the German owners — every masthead’s being looked at and those that aren’t profitable will be closed,” Allen said. “I think there will be more, but we think they’re getting to the end of this clean up.”
Allen believes the titles now most at risk would be motoring magazines, like Wheels.
“A lot of people who are buying motor vehicles now will get roadtest information online, they don’t need to buy these magazines anymore,” he said. “They used to be very important.”
Allen told Crikey that once the motoring manufacturers realised that consumers were no longer relying on reviews in the magazines, they vastly reduced their advertising.
“They always had a difficult relationship with these titles because they couldn’t control them. When they started to drop in circulation, about seven to 10 years ago, a lot of the manufacturers decided they didn’t need to advertise in them anymore,” he said.
It’s been a bad year or so for print editions of Aussie mags. Bauer closed Cleo magazine in February last year, and Dolly’s print edition was axed in December. Back in October, Bauer Media also sold off five adventure titles and their websites.
And the closures aren’t limited to Bauer — Pacific Magazines’ FAMOUS closed in April last year, and Australian Property Investor closed in December.
Newsagents are dealing with the lack of traffic by diversifying their businesses. Fletcher said that, for most, this has meant reducing the space in their shops dedicated to magazines by up to 40 per cent over the past 18 months or so. He said one newsagent he’d spoken with today had, over the last 12 months, culled the 1,400 magazine titles he once stocked down to 600.
Now before magazine publishers call and ask me to not talk down the category, the numbers are the numbers. We retailers need to run our business pursuing the best return on space and labour possible. The 25% GP sets us up to watch what happens with magazines more carefully than growing product categories from which we can get 50% GP and more.
I think magazines have an excellent role in our businesses. Niche magazines, more mainstream special interest titles and magazines with content people want in print form, content they can trust.
Shop Til You Drop has been dropped not because it is a bad titles, but, rather, because the economic model on which it was based has fundamentally changed thanks to technology and direct designer / manufacturer relationships with consumers.
Every couple of days I get asked what I think of GNS and whether I think the business has a future. If I can getting these questions others must be as well.
Whereas a year or two ago such a question was along the lines of GNS being a supplier, today the question usually relates to share value and sale options.
Unless there is communication in the marketplace I have not seen, GNS needs to arrest the concerns being expressed by outlining a leadership strategy that newsagents can feel connected to and optimistic from, strategy that breaking into tactical opportunities with which individual newsagents can feel connected.
I am posting about this today in response to a call yesterday afternoon from a concerned newsagent. They asked I put this post up to see how people here comment. So, here it is.
The range of crossword titles I am seeing at US transit locations this year is down on last year and considerably down on two years ago. It is as if a tap has been wound back. Whereas previously there would have been twenty to thirty titles in good locations, now there are a few titles at the bottom of a magazine unit, looking neglected:
I am not sure if we can safely ready anything into this as the US magazine route to market is completely different to ours. However, there has been a considerable decline in transit where category representation was consistent for ages.
This is terrific support from the folks at Ride magazine. I love the video:
New magazine. In newsagents today. #RIDE75
All about cycling.
Bikes of the #peloton.
Get your copy. pic.twitter.com/6b4zS6mDyy— RIDE Cycling Review (@ridemediaHQ) March 26, 2017
Other indie magazine publishers please take note!
Here at another of my stores is the lease line Easter gift pitch. This also flows to cards, plush and more items that connect with Easter opportunities.
This is the third wave of Easter in this business. The gifts in the first two waves sold out.
We have some of the same items you can see in the photo at the counter as some people need to see things two or three times to get them to register.
The Anzac coin collection yet to launch in newsagencies is available on eBay. Click here to see an ad. Click here to see and ad for the Victoria Cross medal. Here is someone else selling the Victorias Cross medal.
These activities diminish the value of the newspaper promotion. Right now everything should be about the mastheads connected to the promotion.
What do you think?
This photo is a terrific example of how to promote cards in the front window. This is a wonderful display – attractive, engaging and emotional. Look at the detail in the display. Whoever did this took care to tell a story. This is a perfect pitch for cards to people on the street out the front of this business. Inspiring!
Click on the image for a full size version you can zoom in on.
We can sell more cards in our businesses.
I got an email this week from an employee of a newsagency business I have no connection with. They wanted to know what you happen to their pay as their roster includes Sundays. They are too scared to ask the owner and wanted to know what other newsagents are doing.
My post on penalty rates brought them to this site where they found my contact details.
If you have not done so already, talk with your employees about your plans following the decision on Sunday penalty rates.
If you are an employee reading this, ask the owner about their plans. Discussions like these don’t need to be confrontational or stressful. The key is to get to the facts so everyone can make informed decisions.
Here is how we are pitching Easter on the lease line of the newsagency.
This lease line Easter pitch segues into plush and other items the Easter shopper could enjoy.
We are also promoting the excellent range of new Easter cards on social media to connect with a new community of shoppers who could be first time Easter cared shoppers. We are giving the a reason to engage.
As I mentioned yesterday, Hudson News in the US is a terrific business with well run retail stores that are consistently good at what they do.
I got to one of their stores yesterday in an airport location and saw the perfect pitch for this location of the business.
In the photo below note how they use the front of the store to attract shoppers while their shingle, their name, remains old school.
The main traffic driving unit at the centre of the entrance is promoting travel accessories for those listening to music and watching content on their devices.
Magazines and newspapers are there in the product mix but not front of store, not even where passers-by can easily see them.
This image and what Hudson News is doing is a good example of what I have written about here plenty of times, using products to tell people about your business, to attract them to the store.
The future offer businesses is less about the shingle and more about how the business under the shingle behaves. A brilliant named business that is not forward acting will be a poor business. A forward acting and shopper centric business with a name drenched in history will have a brighter future.
The folks at The West Australian were the first with details to newsagents abut the Anzac Coin promotion from what I can see. Here is what they provided newsagents Wednesday.
What we sell in our retail businesses defines us more than the shingle above our door. Likewise, product ranging decisions are how we can recast out businesses and how shoppers see us.
Take lotteries. No matter what else you put in your shop or how amazingly diverse your product mix is how locally connected your business is, the Tatts or Lotterywest corporate image is the first thing passers-by will see and this will define your business in their minds. It is what will define how they engage with and consider your business while inside and after they leave.
No, I am not saying get rid of lotteries from your even though that is what I choose for my businesses. That decision is yours you to make alone.
My point is, be aware of what it is that really brands your business, and be aware that the name you trade under is not as important as you might think it is.
It is your products and / or services that people see a the front of the shop in prime position. This is why I often write about what you need to display at the front of the shop. What you can pitch to change the conversation is key to attracting new shoppers.
Even with lotteries there are things you can do in-store to divert eyeballs to what else you have.
The one place where you are in control and define your business on your terms unencumbered by the branding and other demands of the lottery businesses is online, on Facebook and elsewhere.
Sadly, many newsagents blindly promote lotteries online, ignoring the freedom they have to be smarter.
Tatts and Lotterywest don’t force you to give space there so go for it. Recast your business online. Make a pitch that speaks to how you see your business outside of agency lines for it is in these places where you will find new shoppers.
Every time you make a lottery pitch online your remind people you run a newsagency. If that is not what you want to do, stop pitching lotteries and traditional newsagency lines online.
So, what type of shop do your customers think they buy from? Try and change their impression through what you stock and what you pitch online in the fresh clean space that you control.
Now more than ever you have to play against the history of the shingle and the expectation of agency lines that will not play as big a role in the years ahead.
I am grateful for the opportunity this week to have been immersed deep into conversations, presentations, workshops, introspection and plenty more on ecommerce and retail of all shapes, sizes and types at the SHOPTALK conference in Las Vegas this week.
This conference is the best ecommerce / retail business conference this year in thew world. I know because I did it last year and that is how good it was. SHOPTALK 2016 resulted in two tangible business changes in my businesses, changes that have helped us connect with new shoppers, raise brand awareness and evolve to more current models.
I am here with six colleagues from Tower Systems and newsXpress, and more than 5,000 other retail and ecommerce practitioners. Each of us in our group has different takeaways as well as group wide, whole of business, takeaways.
Inspirational, exciting and terrifying are words that describe the experience of SHOPTALK.
We have heard from the best of the best and those who want to disrupt those best businesses with fresh and engaged online and retail models that turn tradition on its head.
I appreciate that it can feel like this is a world away from the retail Newsagency where everyday challenges are the most important thing to you right now. The reality, however, is that this world of online is taking more shopper attention every day and you will probably not know the extent to which this is happening right now and will happen in the near term.
SHOPTALK has been excellent in helping us understand where these unseen online competitors are playing and strategies they are using to attract our current shoppers.
For a bunch of reasons I am not going to share specific information here as it is an advantage being here, attending the sessions and networking with so many innovative large and small retailers. Another reason is that with a conference such as this the most valuable insights take time to evolve into actionable items.
I do have one point to make though and that is: having an online shopping strategy is key for this is the most important and valuable way to find new shoppers and, of course, new customers are gold in this world.
Ignoring being online in multiple engaged ways is not an option for any retail business today large or small.
While one word I used was terrifying to describe what I have learned at SHOPTALK, the reality is that is a massive motivator … it is exciting.
The changes in retail today are at a faster and larger pace than in recent decades. This certainly is a time of extraordinary shift. And that is outside the changes and tectonic shifts occurring in the newsagency channel.
What is happening is happening. It is real. It will affect you. And, businesses of any size and in any location can be part of it.
Friction in retail is a hot topic at retail business conferences right now, in particular removing friction that can get in the way of shoppers doing business with you.
Here are key points of friction that if removed or addressed could improve customer relationships and increase revenue achieved in your business – if they apply to you:
I appreciate some of these will be controversial. The objective is to present ideas to be though through and evaluated as to suitability.
