Blamed for the imminent divorce
We sold our of Wife Christmas cards a couple of hours ago. This is good for us and our card supplier. Selling out with a few hours of Christmas shopping to go is good. However, the husband keen for the purchase was not happy.
What am I supposed to do now, he said.
There is always Coles, I said pointing to the Coles a few metres away.
I hate Coles. No, I was not going to challenge that.
You’re supported to have Christmas cards, he said.
We do have Christmas cards, I said, pointing to the range left. Just not a Wife card.
She’s going to divorce me now, you know what don’t you!
Maybe that’s your Christmas gift. I was pretty sure I could get away with this.
Then she’d kill me. Hmm he didn’t think it was funny.
Look, why not a card For the One I Love, I suggested.
That’s taking it a bit far. He folded his arms.
He stood there expecting more from me. So, we talk through options. It was a Disney sound card that got him, His wife loves Disney. That and a Disney licenced Hallmark Keepsake.
Problem solved. Divorce averted. The choice showed he knew something about her and that was more important that the Wife label on a card.
Last minute shoppers can be challenging.
How single Christmas cards worked at the counter
I checked in with the move from last weekend of putting a selection of single Christmas cards at the newsagency counter.
It has worked a treat.
Some customers swapped cards they had selected for cards we had at the counter. Others added cards to their purchase.
The keys to selection were the careful selection of the cards in the unit and their specific placement.
This is a small step move by us, one which has paid off with extra Christmas card sales. It is the type of move all of us in retail need to make more often – small moves at key traffic stops to get shoppers buying that extra item or two.
I hope others tried this move.
The important last two days of Christmas in the newsagency
We made some moves in the newsagency yesterday to make the most of the last two days. This is the fifth major change in the Christmas season. Such changes are vital as the reflect the progression of the season to the climax of this act, which is today, Christmas Eve.
I call it act one because for city centre and major regional centre stores, act two starts Boxing Day.
Yesterday’s reset included a more convenience focus and a reduction in visual merchandising. Those shopping at this point of Christmas want less friction, easier shopping and fast service. Our changes deliver this.
I am excited for today and what it will bring.
A perfect gift for those who can’t have a dog
It is not often you get a Christmas product hero product from a previous year be a hero again the next year. These life-like dogs that breathe are exactly that – a hero two years running.
We have this one on the counter. People love it. And, no, damage has been negligible. We chose the counter location as it is an unexpected sight in a business that also sells papers and magazines.
Leveraging Nicole Kidman on the cover of magazines
I was thrilled to see the latest issues of Australian Women’s Weekly and Australian Vogue placed next to each other in the newsagency yesterday. This is smart placement in retail, leveraging that Nicole Kidman is on the cover of both titles.
This is the type of move newsagents can make that shoppers will rarely see in any other business that sells magazines. Publishers take note.
This is the week for suppliers to shine
We were all but out of single Christmas cards having achieved a 20% increase on what we did all of last year up to Christmas Eve. Things looked bleak, we preparing to take the stands off the shop floor. Then, our core card supplier found product from nearby major retailer and a secondary supplier filled some gaps. This means we are able to maintain close to a full range through to Christmas Eve and this is important so we can see how far we can take it.
Suppler support like this is invaluable, especially in this last week before Christmas. We are grateful to ur suppliers for their help, especially going to a competitor business and moving stock from them to us.
It’s the Christmas spirit!
Winning the price comparison with Wild by WH Smith
At $49.99 our Cards Against Humanity packs are priced $20.00 less than the product is available for at the nearby Wild store. Wild is owned by UK giant WH Smith. Our strategy with this product this year has been all about driving traffic.
We have had plenty of product available at this price. It has worked a treat. These customers are valuable too as they purchase other items to complete the gift.
Gordon and Gotch forecasts changes to newsagent magazine distribution model
Gordon and Gotch sent this message to newsagents earlier this week:
Dear Newsagent
Since the industry consolidation in March this year we have been reviewing a number of processes that have been in place in our industry for many years. In our survey in July newsagents again said the work involved in processing and returning physical returns was cost prohibitive and time heavy.
We have now completed a six month review of EDI sales versus return data processed and the outcome of this has been encouraging. Approximately 350 newsagents have been identified as fully compliant as well as meeting the gold level standard through XchangeIT.
We will be advising these newsagents in January that as of February 2017 they will not have to make any physical returns excepting partworks and specific trading cards.
The full criteria on how you can meet the standards required will be posted on our website in January but an overview is:
- GGA will use the services and technical support of XchangeIT for this program to generate the initial integrity, timing and continuity checks on the data files received.
- XchangeIT will also run monthly variance checks across a sample of GGA titles for each newsagent and produce a regular customer classification.
- GGA will use the top tier customers (Gold Members) from the XchangeIT classification process and run further validation checks for all returns processed.
We believe this to be a step in the right direction and hope that the number of newsagents participating will increase throughout 2017. We will be doing quarterly reviews and adding newsagents who meet the criteria.
We will contact you again once the details have been posted on our website in January.
May I also take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Sincerely
David Hogan
General Manager
Gordon and Gotch Australia Pty Limited
While this move has taken a while to happen, that is has been made is welcomed by plenty of newsagents. Gotch needs to not stop here though. I have pitched that in my discussions with them this year and prior. They need to keep evolving.
On the decision 350 are fully compliant. I suspect the number is greater than this. The challenge is the reliance on XchangeIT to measure compliance. There are instances where this is less than ideal.
Why I don’t pitch shop local support small business retail in my business
I don’t promote the shop local message from my local small business shops. You know the message I mean – the signs saying what small businesses mean, how it keeps people in work locally and similar.
I understand the messages and how they make local small business retailers feel good when they pitch them. However, I suspect the messages are not cutting through – nowhere near as much as small business retailer want.
We are not entitled to demand people shop with us because of our size, our location or who employ. Regardless of the role we play in the local community and for the local economy. We are not entitled.
Yet too often the signs are put out, posters put up and posts published on social media with an air of entitlement.
It would be terrific for people to support local small businesses. The benefits for the local community are obvious and plentiful. But does telling people to support make any difference, like really make a difference? I don’t think it does. In fact, I think with so many of these messages out there people have become blind to them, making the marketing wasted.
People get the intent. They get that small business matters. But they are time poor like us and choose what works best for them in the limited time they have available.
The best thing we can do is show the value of our businesses to our local community. We can do this in many small practical ways, hoping some of them are noticed enough for people to talk about and thereby become word of mouth local marketing that helps our businesses.
We can demonstrate local community support by things we publish on social media, things that support and serve the local community. we can provide practice help to loved local groups.
These actions I think are more important than a poster in the shop or out the front telling people why they should support local small business.
Garnering local support is best achieved by the local support we demonstrate. It is the whole actions speak louder than words message. If we are acting local then our message its more likely to be heard.
I’m not against people putting the support local small business posters up. The objective of this post is to encourage thinking abut whether it really makes a difference.
NANA says Tatts has relaxed retail image requirement for newsagents
NANA, the NSW newsagents association, released this yesterday:
The retail franchise administration group at Tatts Group Lotteries has advised lotteries outlets in NSW and ACT which have a 30 June 2017 deadline to upgrade to the Generation One DigiPOS Retail Image that an across the board extension to 30 November 2017 is now in place. The extension gives Newsagents and other lotteries outlets in NSW and ACT previously due for the upgrade by 30 June 2017 a five-month extension.
If I was a Tatts retailer I’d be frustrated at the moving targets over the course of this project. The moving targets have altered the costs and this could have disadvantaged those who moved earlier.
Also, their decision to put in place a delay now is odd given the heavy handed notices sent out last week.
Maybe Tatts could use the delay to gather evidence of the commercial benefit of their demand retailers install DigiPOS. For the size of the spend retailers deserve more than a hope of a revenue increase. tatts should have evidence from the retailers who have it already. My suspicion is there is no noticeable increase in revenue that justifies the increase cost imposed on small business retailers by Tatts.
Christmas cards at the counter to drive impulse purchase
We have a carefully selected range of single Christmas cards at the counter of the shop. Each card has been thoughtfully selected and placed to get a laugh and grab attention in pursuit of impulse purchase.
This is in addition to our larger single and boxed Christmas card range in two locations in the shop.
The dog and cat cards at the front are there to grab attention. In fact, each row of two cards has been very carefully selected to appeal to the customers we most often see at the counter of this specific business.
We have to obsess about moves like this, to make the most of the bonus Christmas traffic.
At the counter we also have boxed cards, money wallets, gift tags, wrapping paper and tape – all a last minute shopper could need.
Socks help broaden the appeal of the business
We have sold more than $4,000 worth of socks in the last month. On top of the revenue from sales, the socks have been a terrific net new traffic driver for the business. Several times I have seen people bring their friends in to show them the socks for a good laugh. Older women particularly like them.
We got into the socks based on observation in retail overseas where we have seen them work with another category of product with which we are having terrific success.
In addition to being a different gift, the socks are a perfect gift to post.
This is another example of a product category through which we can broaden the appeal of the business and play way beyond what people expect from a business selling newspapers and magazines.
Employers beware: $20 sick certificates!
It is disappointing seeing Chemist Warehouse promote $20 medical certificates. If they are successful and increase the number issued, the cost of business owners, especially small business owners will be considerable.
I spoke to the pharmacist where I took the photo and they said they take a professional approach. Hmm…
I think it sucks that pharmacists can write absence from work certificates.
All we can do as employers is factor in the cost of sick leave when we budget for the labour costs for our business.
The Leunig calendar customer
I got a call yesterday morning at 10:05am asking if we had the 2017 Leunig calendar and how many copies we had. By 10:30 the caller had come in and purchased all five remaining copies.
There was a discussion at the counter as they wanted a discount for purchasing all five. Given the slim margin on the product and nature of supply I resisted. We had a chat about the margin on the calendars.
The experience was a reminder of old school newsagency business in that the customer figured they could only get the calendar from a newsagency and that we were protected. It was an opportunity to set the record straight. Try as I did, I could not make the Leunig calendar purchase more valuable though.
Leveraging the charities we are supporting
Here is how we have had one of the stands at the front of the store set for the last eight trading days before Christmas. We wanted to ensure shoppers understood the variety of charities we are supporting.
While not for everyone, my experience is boxed cards sell well when stacked flat like this.
The display is being tidied and topped-up hourly.
Sunday newsagency management tip: track unit sales
Tracking unit sales is vital in comparing year on year performance in product categories where price fluctuate. In a retail newsagency business, for accurate year on year performance comparison, unit sales tracking is vital in newspapers, magazines and cards. Your newsagency software should be tracking unit sales for you.
The Trump factor and magazines
It seems each time US President-elect Donald Trump criticises a newspaper of magazine title, engagement with the title, including subscriptions, increases – as they discovered at Vanity Fair this week. They had their highest number of new subscriptions in a day as a result. Is this a business model for publishers? … criticise the thin-skinned Trump and wait for him to attack you and thereby invite support for you.