Before you post a photo of a lottery ticket anywhere, blur or hide the unique identifying barcode. If you do not do this, the photo could be used to claim a prize.
Advise everyone working in your newsagency and your customers – in-store and through your newsletter of business Facebook page.
There is enough petty crime in the world without criminals being assisted by publishing photos of live lottery tickets.
I heard from a newsagent this morning that they have received 285 copies of the Christmas issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly to go on sale tomorrow. Last year they sold 145.
Based on trend data from 2015, a supply of 185 would have been reasonable. If there is something truly amazing and unexpected about this issue then maybe 200 copies would have been okay.
285 copies is ridiculous, a waste of paper, time, space and money.
Some magazine allocations genius has decided to send this newsagency a 36.6% increase in supply. There is no explanation, no reason for the newsagent to think it is warranted.
I know if I speak with the folks at Bauer they will have an explanation, they always do. However, this type of oversupply continues and newsagents carry the cost. It is not good enough.
Bauer is part of the MPA and the MPA is making a big deal about a marketing campaign they are running next year to promote newsagencies. I think that investment is a waste unless they fix the oversupply issue, unless they respect newsagents through their actions.
I am constantly asked why newsagents are cutting magazine space. Here in this blog post is an explanation of the key reason.
Independent publishers need to pressure all publishers to stop this oversupply nonsense.
Here is exactly what the newsagent wrote to me. I am sharing it here to show the frustration they are experiencing:
Just arrived tomorrows mags as we received them today, we received 285 AWW ! Now I know it is the xmas issue but last xmas we got 209 and returned 64 copies. This would have to be the most blatant oversupply I have possibly seen. Plus there would have been approx 6 different Adult colouring mags as well. I might make a call to AWW today and make a complaint, not only is it wasting their money ( we top all mags ) its wasting mine as well
Is this unconscionable conduct?
Newsagents, like many small business retailers, often place more importance on the relationships with those who represent a supplier than the products they source from the supplier.
Put another way, a supplier with the best products and a poor representative can fail while a supplier with poor product and an excellent representative can succeed.
What makes a good supplier representative? The answer all depends on who you are. A supplier will say it is someone who gets results for their business while a retailer will say it is someone who gets good results for their business. This is what some call a win win. The reality is a win win is rare in business, especially between two businesses of vastly different sizes. That is not necessarily bad, the assessment of a win will be different to each side.
The newsagency channel has some excellent representatives in the supplier community and some appalling ones. It is the appalling ones we remember and talk about.
I am interested in what makes a bad rep a bad rep. Is it them, the rules of the company they work for, their manager? These are all factors to consider.
Just as a bad employee in your newsagency is your responsibility since you hire, train, motivate and fire them – it is on you to have good employees, you are in control.
The same is true for our suppliers. They are in control, if they want to be. It is their obligation to have good representatives with whom newsagents want to do business.
But back to the question I want to contemplate today: What makes a good supplier representative? I think it comes down to them exhibiting the following attributes in all their contact with newsagents, their customers. A good supplier representative is someone who:
I did not intend the list to become this long. But it did. In fact, I could add more.
For our part, we newsagents have an obligation to supplier representatives to match the above list with our side of each point. For example:
In fact, the last point here is at the heart of the newsagent / supplier relationship. Most frustration I hear relates to one or the other party, or both parties, not making the money they need to make in order for the relationship to be of optimal value.
There are two sides to every relationship. However, since suppliers rely on us to agree to take on their stock, the onus is on them to serve us better for without us, they have fewer retail outlets through which to promote and sell their products.
I expect this Hallmark Christmas card, a money wallet, will sell out quickly. It is a terrific card out at the right time of the year, in time for the release of the new Star Wars movie.
This is a card to place with Star Wars licenced product as well as with your Christmas cards. However, it is best displayed with the full card on show. If you can get more stock, I suggest you do – based on sales so far of Star Wars licenced items.
I like the card because people will buy it for family and friends at Christmas. It is an easy sell.
NewsLifeMedia is part of the MPA and as such they are participating in an initiative next year to promote newsagencies because they want to help our channel grow. Well, here is one way they can help us grow:
Do not send stock we do not need.
Take their new adult colouring titles. They entered the market too late, months too late. The product is not appealing to those buying multiple copies. Also, smart newsagents are sourcing their own product from which they make 50% and more rather than the 25% we get from magazines.
So, if NewsLifeMedia wants to help newsagents, they ought to behave in a way that is more commercial respectful of us.
To any magazine publisher thinking they can enter this adult colouring space and ship product off to newsagents: don’t! We are saturated with magazine titles and our own product we have sourced from book publishers for better margin. Do not abuse the magazine distribution model and newsagents with stock we do not need.
South Australian newsagents are being asked to run another Christmas promotion by News Corp. in addition to the promotion I mentioned yesterday. Customers are required to purchase four newspapers, cut out tokens, hand these in with $8.00 in return for the bag.
Inside the Christmas bag is a Santa sack, actually this is the bag itself, colouring book, pencils, reindeer hat, snowflake, Christmas card kit and wrapping paper.
The items in the bag do not look like $8.00 worth to me. However, I am not the customer. Maybe some mms and dads here could comment on the perceived value of the promotion.
If I am right and considerably more that $8 in value is not obvious, this promotion will not work.
Newsagents in regional locations will be hit hard if the promotion failed as they will be required by News to freight unsold bags back to Adelaide, most likely wiping out any margin on the bags sold.
This promotion feels wrong: poor selection of products, poor value, wrong time of the year, high compliance cost – all to support low margin product when smart newsagents are primarily focused on other product categories from which they easily make 50% and more.
Victorian newsagents who sell Citylink toll account recharge – please click here to take a short survey. The results will better inform the discussions I am having with Transurban.
A newsagent in Queensland was sent an email yesterday that reads like a scam. I am posting the contents here in case others received it. Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated.
Someone has nominated you as Newsagent Retailer of the Year! This means you will be invited to the annual awards night dinner in Noosa, and will be in competition with other retailers in Queensland to represent your state at the national awards night. Just for being nominated, you have gone into the draw to win two nights accommodation at the beautiful Sheraton Hotel in Noosa, and also dinner for two at award winning restaurant Wasabi! You have a one in twenty chance of winning! To ensure your entry remains valid, please send back the following details to hairykerry@gmx.com to accept your nomination. Full Name Date of Birth Business Name Business Address Phone Number ABN We look forward to seeing you at the awards night! Kerry Harrison State Newsagency Media Manager 0730302222
My advice if you did receive the email is – do not respond.
Plenty of newsagents have complained about recent supply of the Simply Too Good cookbook series while they either have current stock that is not selling or have returned old stock that did not sell. The frustration of inefficient supply is made worse in that poor quality stock has been sent in some circumstances, stock that is not of merchantable quality.
The photo shows two items received in one newsagency last week. The price stockers are from different newsagencies. This is poor form by all involved. Supermarkets would not accept stock in this condition.
News Corp. in South Australia is encouraging newsagents to promote a luck dip bag of previous promotional products the company must have in a warehouse. The packs look cheap. They resemble similar packs I have seen some newsagents create using gifts taken off the cover of magazines.
Besides poor execution, this promotion is being pitched at the wrong time of the year. Newsagents are focussed on gifts, even stocking-stuffers, from which they can earn more substantial gross profit and longer term business benefit.
Here is the pricing pitched by News:
Charging
Cover price: $2.00 per copy
Advertiser $1.40 per copy
Lucky Dip Bag $0.60 per copy
Agents’ rate: $1.50 per copy
Advertiser $1.05 per copy
Lucky Dip Bag $0.45 per copy
Sub-agents’ rate: $1.75 per copy
Advertiser $1.225 per copy
Lucky Dip Bag $0.52.5 per copy
The Australian themed Christmas decorations we sourced from Gibson are popular among the early Christmas shoppers. We have had people purchasing these to send to family and friends overseas. To make the most of the opportunity we have them placed together in an Aussie Christmas section. They will sell out for sure.
The current issue of Yours magazine is worth promoting outside the usual location for the title because of the Magda Szubanski cover. This cover stock should get people browsing and purchasing the magazine who might otherwise not even consider purchasing it. Placement next to newspapers is my suggestion – in addition to the usual location.
List the top five categories of products you sell in your business. If yours is a typical newsagency they will account for 85% of your revenue.
Next to each of the top five categories, note down the details of the typical customer: male / female; age and other criteria.
Now take some time to think about the customers attracted to and buying products in these top categories.
You have control over the people you get into your business based on what you stock and how you promote what you stock outside your business.
Newsagents using the tyro broadband eftpos facility, and that is the majority of newsagents, can cut their merchant fees for debit cards if they include cash out in a transaction. It’s is a simple question to ask when processing the card, a question that could add significant dollars to your bottom like. Would you like cash out today?
In my experience in a shopping centre situation, most cash outs are for $50.00 or less so it is not much of a burden on the cash holdings in the business.
We a ‘breathing’ plush dog on the corner of the Christmas display, just under the tree. It is working a treat at attracting shoppers to the business and driving sales. The small rise and fall of the dog’s chest is all it takes for this item to be a hit this Christmas.
Too often we think of marketing being advertising or some promotional activity we undertake. As our experience shows this week, product placement, of the right product, can be a valuable marketing activity.
There has been a spike in virus dissemination recently as a result of computers in newsagencies becoming compromised. All it takes is for someone to click on a link in such an email and their computer can become infected and the virus reach even further.
Check your virus software, make sure it is up to date, do a scan. Allowing your data to be compromised puts your business at significant risk.
I got to see Boar It Up Ya on several newsagency shelves this week. It’s popular up north and deep into Queensland and New South Wales. This is the type of niche title that is important to newsagents.
One newsagency has a massive stack – and they will sell through.
Boar It Up Ya is a specialist title that is best served by specialist retailers – like newsagents.
It is a title that generates traffic, traffic from which newsagents can make more than the GP from the magazine sale. This is why I say it is valuable and why we need more magazines that we as specialist retailers can help and leverage.
The publisher of Boar It Up Ya actively supports newsagents. It is good to see!
I have been working on behalf of Victorian newsagents to address issues flowing from the decision by Australia Post to not offer Citylink top-up service. Newsagents have seen a spike in transactions, often incurring card processing fees that wipe out the small commission earned.
Rather than newsagents abandoning the service I have sought to talk with Transurban since they control the fee paid to newsagents.
The time-consuming process of exploring the matter and lobbying on behalf of newsagents has resulted in an opportunity to meet with Transurban to discuss resolving concerns of newsagents re credit card fees and related matters.
I have been asked to harvest information from newsagents. Please click here to take a short survey. The results will better inform the discussions with Trandurban.
I need your responses by mid next week. The more responses the more informed the discussions.
My goal is to achieve a better commercial outcome for newsagents.
We have gone all out with the Better Homes and Gardens gift pack that arrived in-store yesterday. Yes, we have this magazine in four locations in-store including a run along the floor of one side of our main magazine aisle and a double waterfall up the middle plus stock located at the sales counter.
Click on the image for details.
Coles is the only other retailer with this title and Coles managers in the store Coles supermarkets in my centre have allocated extra space to the title. I don’t want them to grab impulse purchases I could grab. So, for the first week of the on-sale I am maintaining these four spots to make the most of the excellent box of cards packaged with the magazine.
I have had a conversation with the folks at Pacific Magazines yesterday about this BHG package with the gift cards. The BHG publisher decided to fund a Christmas gift with purchase. The challenge was they could not offer all retailers. There was a debate about which retailers to offer. Those representing newsagents won for our channel – this is why the promotion is limited to newsagents and Coles.
Pacific has released two national email campaigns to drive traffic to newsagencies for this product. This is support exclusive for our channel.
On the size of the BHG and Home Beautiful package – we have the same problem as Coles. Sure it is a pain but we can live with it. The more we sell the less of a problem.
To newsagents frustrated with this promotion I say – consider the alternatives: a supermarket only promotion, no promotion at all, a boring same-old gift. This promotion is Pacific Magazines giving newsagents what we have asked for: a high-value gift, not in every retailer, backed with traffic-generating support.
Please please please DO NOT early return this title.
Today at the newsagency we have received more than double the usual Thursday volume of magazines. The storage units are overflowing. We are not alone. Every newsagent in Australia would be experiencing this.
While an increase in range and individual title size is common this time of the year, on the back of the extraordinary overload of unrequested adult colouring titles and other new releases, there is no room at the (newsagency) inn and most of us do not have a barn to house the extra stock.
No one is managing the newsagency channel. Whereas supermarkets are supplied to a specific number of pockets, Gotch and Network pay little attention to this in our channel. They supply expecting our magazine department to be able to contract and expand based on what they decide to send us.
With many newsagents reducing magazine floorspace allocation, the flexibility for handling more or less titles is gone. There is no room for days like today where we receive double what is usual for a Thursday. If there is no store room, the only option is to early return existing titles to make space. Some newsagents will early return some of today’s titles for this reason.
This is a frustrating and avoidable situation.
Magazine publishers and distributors ought to be discussing this issue of retail space allocation as it sits at the heart of the anger newsagents feel around magazine supply issues.
The MPA yesterday announced plans for its member publishers, Bauer Media, Pacific Magazines and NewsLifeMedia to work together to run three newsagency business-only promotions in 2016.
This will be the first time the three publishers have worked together on a newsagent-only promotion.
While we do not have details of the promotions, that they are working together to drive and traffic is good.
As I have written recently, I would love to see Bauer Media, Pacific Magazines and NewsLifeMedia provide titles exclusively to our channel, to support us as magazine specialists. This would be the most valuable support they could offer for us as being destination retailers.
Cotton On retail group is opening 150 stores in 120 days around the world. This group, which includes Typo – a major competitor of our channel, is a force to be reckoned with. The growth Cotton On is pursuing is extraordinary in a time when retail is talked down in many media outlets.
From a newsagency channel perspective, we ought to look at the Cotton On expansion as an encouragement for us to embrace change ourselves – change in locations, format and product mix.
There are still too many newsagency businesses today not much different to what they offered ten to twenty years ago. The Cotton On model is to have multiple formats, fresh locations and a pitch relevant to today’s shoppers.
