At my software company yesterday we received this envelope with a USB stick containing business data. The sender is lucky the stick was in the torn and damaged envelope. While the best way to access the data is via the net, in some situations this is not possible and mailing is essential. If you ever need to post a USB stick, take care to protect it and package it in an appropriately strong and secure mail unit.
GNS CEO Alex Stewart provided the following in response to comments by others to a post here about stationery. I am posting the response in full. I’d note that my post was about a whole of store approach, hence my focus on Typo in the post. Here in the GNS response in its entirety. It has been written in relation to comments by a newsagent:
We have reviewed your comments and would like to provide a response where we see it corresponds to specific comments made. For that reason we have included extracts of your post in red to establish a reference point. We are addressing this as GNS only. Where Ancol is referenced we can only speak for GNS in context.
Whilst GNS and Ancol may introduce a range of “fashion” stationery it’s usually confined to notebooks and other associated lines.
There is no whole of stationery range concept.
We have introduced Skweek and Urban ranges and have been selling in hundreds of Newsagencies for almost 1 year now. It does cover a wide range of products within the fashion category, including Notebooks. It was introduced to allow Newsagents who would like to provide customers with a lower cost alternative to existing brands, with a sustainable margin position for Newsagents (see link to Facebook page and the many great examples of SKWEEK at Newsagencies https://www.facebook.com/skweekaustralia/ )
Skweek newsXpress Kyneton
newsXpress Sunbury Square
The range includes pencils cases, calculators, exercise books, scissors, lunch bags, gift sets, stickers, sharpeners, erasers, bag tags, key rings, pens, puzzle rulers, our big foot highlighters and more. The Colour blocked range across the 4 colours, provides plenty of opportunity for repeat purchases and provides attractive margins to Newsagents.
Similarly, our ‘Urban by Modena’ range, designed for teens and adults, has been ranged by hundreds of Newsagents and ANCOL have also taken up this range. This is a tighter range that focuses on core products, including pens, pencils cases, note books, journals and memo sets. Again, this offers attractive margins to Newsagents.
We will continue to develop products based on market demand but ultimately need support from Newsagents to justify the investment in developing, sourcing and stocking these products.
Just look at Sovereign brand, seriously, is that the best they can do , the packaging and presentation of that brand is doing a disservice to Newsagents.
Much could be done with new and bold colours enabling colour blocking and a new look to or shelves.
Invoice statement books, time books, ect ect yes they are boring ,but with a revamp you shop would have a new fresh feel.
It seems to me that GNS and Ancol do not have the will to look at stationery as an opportunity to create new and exciting ranges and designs.
Instead they stock product which looks the same as it did 20 years ago.
We are assuming here Mark that you have not seen the new Sovereign Packaging? This is progressively being introduced across the entire range. We think it represents a major advance in presenting the brand in a contemporary and consistent image. The previous Sovereign branding was very out-dated and a rebranding exercise commenced last year, with over 100 products now rebranded and available at GNS e.g. envelope range, packaging tape range etc.
Here are some examples:
We will continue to update and review the ranges and expect to have the full Sovereign re branding exercise complete in 2017. GNS will eventually disappear from all products and be replaced with Sovereign (e.g. Scholastic/ Exercise Book range last Back to School).
There has been a culture within our stationery suppliers to not change but instead wheel out the same product year after year.
Playing it safe has been their game, however this attitude will not cut it in today’s competitive market.
When you have Newsagents suggesting to our wholesalers, they need new products/designs and all you get back is every reason why not to do it , well then you have a problem a big problem , I have encountered this attitude many times over the years.
I can only speak for GNS when I say we have spent considerable time, effort and money to develop new products, brands, ranges. I would like to know recent examples of where GNS has not developed new products or introduced new lines for Newsagents.
There are many current and recent examples including Star Wars® products, improved Art and Craft ranges, Tombow® products, Giftware, Fashion Diaries, Sluben™, Marvel® products, better Xmas Toy lines, improved packaging, Adult Colouring Solutions, Tech Accessories, Impulse Medicines, Lonely Planet™ Travel Accessories and many more items.
We would be happy to hear from Newsagents about suggested ranges and if it makes sense, we will do it. If you believe otherwise, please let me know.
I was talking with a newsagent last week who had no idea the business was close to a step-up in card company rebates. The step-up is worth thousands if achieved. The thing is, they were denying themselves the step-up by preferencing other companies in some displays where their may company could have served the need.
Knowing how your card rebates are calculated and understanding the steps can help you make more valuable business decisions.
Next time you are talking to a friend in another retail channel, ask if you can tag along with them to a trade show specific to their channel.
Some of the most inspiring ideas I have implemented have been revealed at trade shows for retail channels far removed from newsagency businesses.
With borders between retail channels more blurred than ever, we need to look for inspiration far away from places traditional to newsagents.
I was thinking about this while at Gift HQ in Brisbane yesterday. It’s a good, but small, show but not inspiring enough to really challenge the traditional newsagency business, to take you outside your comfort zone. Being outside your comfort zone, what is close to being usual for your business, is where you find gold.
The biggest mistake I see newsagents making in their marketing is promotion of the business in a way that is traditional for a newsagency.
The best way to find new traffic is with a new message. The same old message will deliver the same old result.
Switching from the old message to a new message starts with new products = then pitched in a fresh way. In writing about this I am talking about displays in-store, social media posts, window displays and advertisements in media outlets.
Is your message new or ol, traditional or seeking people who do not currently shop with you?
New pay rates came into effect on July 1. The best source for these is Fairwork. Newsagents certainly do not need to be part of any association to get up to date pay scale information since Fairwork provides free access.
I have observes the new way Tatts requires its retailers to sell instant scratch tickets and wonder if there is an occupational health and safety issue.
In stores where I have observed in the last couple of weeks, talking with employees, there are several extra steps involved now in selling scratch tickets. Besides the additional labour cost involved, there is movement at the counter, a level of movement an OH&S specialist ought to look at in my view.
It could be that an OH&S expert would say the additional movement across the counter in okay. They may also say it is not okay.
This is an issue since Tatts controls what is placed where, their placement decisions and their subsequent changes in how scratches are sold have forced a workplace change that ought to be at the very least assessed.
Workplace health and safety is a big issue for any employer. In this situation where how you operate, the processes you follow and the layout of the workplace are controlled by another organisation … well it complicated things.
I hope those with Tatts have considered this from an OH&S perspective.
The Australian Women’s Weekly out yesterday is an opportunity for us – if we all act right away. Magda Szubanski’s appeal makes promoting this issue essential. Place it with newspapers, at the counter and promote it outside the business – especially if you run a magazine loyalty program.
AWW sells best in the first week. This is why I suggest we all ought to urgently act to embrace the opportunity.
Gift HQ is on in Brisbane starting tomorrow and running for three days. With 153 suppliers participating this is an excellent event for Queensland newsagents to meet with suppliers without having to navigate the massive Melbourne and Sydney Fairs and the crowds at those.
I will be there and would love to catch up. I’ll be on or near the Tower Systems. I’ll have my phone with me: 0418 321 338.
There were 300+ at the Bauer Media Connections conference in Brisbane yesterday. This will be the largest gathering of newsagents in 2016. All marketing groups were represented too, in response to their strong member representation.
While the sessions were terrific and offering practical guidance to attendees, the real takeaway for me was the upbeat mood of the room and at networking. Newsagents are optimistic, embracing change and focussed on the future. There was good talk in some groups of excellent GP achievement.
The optimism speaks to the difference between change-focussed newsagents and those running traditional businesses, achieving traditional GP.
It is tiresome talking with a newsagents, or any retailer for that matter, where theft has occurred and only recently been discovered, and where the business has few or no rules around the processing of cash at the end of the shift.
I say tiresome because my advice has not changed in years. It is advice I have shared here before and elsewhere. It is also basic business management advice.
Retailers who are sloppy with cash management and end of shift reconciliation are more likely mohave employee theft in their business that is undetected for longer.
Using your computer system and taking a structured rule-based approach to end of shift processing means you are more likely to detect theft sooner. You also provide fewer opportunities for theft to occur, because of the structured checks and balances.
Balancing the register is easy if you and your employees are disciplined in how they transact business the=rough the day and to the end of the day. Get this right and the cost of theft in your business will be less.
Video is an effective tool for promoting the newsagency in-store, in the window, on Facebook and other social media platforms as it allows you to bring to life the business in a way that challenges traditional views about that the business and what it stands form.
Here is one of four new marketing videos produced by newsagency marketing group newsXpress in the last month to launch new products. This video is one of two launching the Teeny Tys range where newsXpress stores represent 25% of all outlets nationally.
This and other videos are provided in two forms: a YouTube link and an MP4 file. The MP4 file can be loaded to Facebook for autoplay while the YouTube link is good for websites and other places where you prefer integration.
The videos are professionally produced, exclusively by the newsXpress marketing team for the group. This gives the group control over the intellectual property and enables it to speak with its own voice rather than relying on supplier created content.
Here is another video produced to launch new Britto Disney product.
The videos are deliberately short to fit with social media user expectations. They are also non newsagency like – this is vital.
There are several suppliers pitching to newsagents with excellent deals at the moment that sound too good to be true. One newsagent received the stock and no invoice. When they asked for an invoice the request was ignored for a week. Eventually, they received a spreadsheet of the items supplied but no invoice. Further digging revealed the company’ they purchased from is no company. GST has not been paid and the provenance of the goods is not certain.
If a deal sounds too good, it probably is. Always get a tax invoice.
Contingent on regulatory approval, News Corp. is acquiring APN’s regional division, giving News Corp. an extraordinary footprint in Queensland as Mumbrella reports.
There was a time such a concentration of media ownership would concern Australians. No more. Maybe that is as a result of the level of concentration of media ownership we already have in Australia.
From a newsagent interest perspective, the Mumbrella article includes this:
Potential areas for News Corp to examine in which savings could be made include:
Price rises are coming in several key product categories for our channel. In everyday stationery and ink suppliers have started talking about price increases due in August.
The price rises are not unexpected given the situation with the Australian dollar compared with when prices were last looked at. That and the increase in labour and other business costs, it makes sense prices will rise.
My suggestion is you reach out to your key suppliers and ask the question. If they know about a price rise from their supplier early advice to you could help you purchase inventory ahead of the rise being hit.
Some suppliers, like Dynamic Supplies, have been on the front foot, encouraging retailers to get in ahead of the planned price rise.
A word of caution though, buying stock at a lower price can be false economy if you hold the stock for too long. You only make money when you sell the item and even then it has to sell at a good price. This is why I think a back room or a warehouse can be dangerous – because you are likely to fill it.
So, by all means buy today to beat a price rise, but make sure such buying will result in sales in a reasonable period of time.
In terms of finding out about price rises in advance – check in with your marketing group as they will know.
There used to be a time we could ignore the $2 shops and similar as the quality of what they sold was poor, their layout akin to a junk shop and their customer service left wanting.
Things have changed. Discount variety stores in Australia have lifted their game.
The changes we are seeing here are in-line with what is happening overseas. You could call it the Aldi effect where price does not compromise quality as it once used to. It is far more than the Aldi effect. In categories related to us there are plenty of overseas deep discount businesses challenging in cards, wrap, gifts, stationery and more.
The photo is from a discount variety store I saw in Canberra last week. This terrific display of wrap is a metre from the lease line. The main message to shoppers is we have the range. This is backed with at a price you will love.
This shop is the type of business newsagents would often disregard as a $2 shop or a junk shop while, in fact, their offer is more comprehensive, better situated and more satisfying to the shopper than the average roll-wrap display in a newsagency.
We have to look at shops like this as competitors, businesses we need to understand and compete with, businesses we need to be challenged by. Ignoring this type of shop would be folly in my view.
Wrap is in play, as are cards – as the year on year sales data is showing in newsagencies across Australia. The challenge from discount variety is part of the reason this is happening, not all, but certainly part. They have lifted their game. We need to lift ours.
We need to look carefully at where wrap is placed. We need to consider our value proposition. We need to make shopping easy. we need to make impulse purchases easier.
My advice to newsagents is do not underestimate discount variety stores, treat them as a well-resourced professional competitor. To do otherwise could see you lose sales you might otherwise have won.
Twice in the last month I have suggested to individuals who have contacted my for my opinion that they not proceed with the purchase of the newsagency business they were considering purchasing. In each case the red-flags I saw were similar.
For one business the owner did not have current financials. The only reasonable evidence of income was a lottery terminal report. The rest was a claim in the form of a spreadsheet for which there was not evidentiary support including BAS statements. Without basic bookkeeping as required by law my feedback was the business does pass due diligence. By all means purchase it for stock value, but nothing else.
In the case of the second business, the owner claimed income they could not verify as it was not shown in the POS software reports because they deleted a couple of departments to reduce their tax. The prospective purchaser believed the vendor and argued with me when I said I would not purchase a business based on unreported income. They were desperate to buy a business and were bedazzled by the profitability of the business. The problem is the profitability relied on the unreported income.
Each of these situations damages our channel in my view. Business owners operating businesses without proper recordkeeping and basing a sale price on unreported income deserve to not achieve the price they seek.
There are plenty of well run newsagencies for sale out there, good businesses backed by accurate data. These businesses sell more easily than those with key data missing.
Coles supermarkets are offering access to News Corp daily newspapers at half price when people spend $30 or more in the supermarket.
I noticed the promotion at the checkout counters in three different Coles outlets over the weekend. In two cases newsagency businesses are located less than 100 metres away from a Coles.
This News Corp. / Coles promotion makes our channel look expensive.
The half price newspaper promotion is a campaign that could break the habit of someone who used to regularly purchase their newspaper at the newsagency.
While News Corp. employees regularly say how important our channel is to their business their actions challenge belief in those words.
It is one thing for a supplier to have products located in a nearby competitor business it is another thing for them to support that competitor in a half price campaign such as that we see here.
News Corp. folks may respond to this saying this is a Coles run promotion. While I have no evidence about how it is being paid for, I doubt Coles is funding the 50% discount.
This campaign will be another factor newsagents consider when they assess their commitment to newspapers in-store.
I am often asked by newsagents for help in finding new traffic. The traffic you get through your front door depends on what the business stands for. Click here for my advice on working out what to stand for.
Bringing a retail display alive, really alive, attracts shoppers and drives sales. This display created by one of the team at my newsagency is perfect, or should I say purrfect, as it shows the kittens getting up to mischief everyone who has had a kitten understands.
The display is fun, engaging and alive and this is key to successful retail theatre – a display looking alive, the products looking like more than a product with a barcode on the shelf.
I was talking with a shopper in the store on the weekend about the display and they had a story to tell about a kitten they had as a child. This 80 something gentleman is not your usual plush customer. The display and the memories it jogged led to him purchasing a kitten for a great grandchild. He came into the shop for a birthday card into which he was going to put $20 as the gift. Instead, he spent $29.99 with us.
This type of conversion, turning a browser into a purchaser, disrupting a shoppers plan to purchase something unexpected, is vital to all retail businesses today but more vital than ever in newsagencies.
Take a look at your shop and how you display products you could otherwise bring alive to have people see them differently. Next, get your best VM person in-house to create something engaging. Finally, engage with shoppers on the shop floor yourself to learn from what they see, their stories can be inspiring.
Every branded spinner or stand you have in your business is a representation n to only of the health and professionalism of your business it is also a representation on behalf of the brand of the stand.
A broken stand looks bad as does a half empty stand as does a branded stand with products other than for the brand. Such a stand can turn shoppers off. It gives off a message of a business that does not care and this can tell shoppers you do not care about them.
If a stand has a place on your shop floor it has to add to the business not detract from it.
It does not take much to ensure stands look good, strong, full of the right stock. Sure you could argue you don;t have the money for stock. The thing is – the stand is looking empty because you sold the stock, you have the money.
My advice is to set a policy for all who work in the business to follow:
