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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Disappointed at Lovatts low-margin adult colouring title

lov-colLovatts has entered the adult colouring space with Inklings. They are late. Adult colouring took off ten months ago. While I didn’t receive the title other newsagents have and they needed to find space in full magazine departments. They also had to deal with yet another low margin title in a category from which we can easily earn 50% gross profit.

Newsagents with the title will be frustrated to know Lovatts has placed the title in supermarkets.

Smart newsagents want adult colouring titles through which they can leverage a point of difference over supermarkets. This is where book and art supply suppliers help us.

Magazine publishers need to not be overloading newsagents in this already full segment.

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magazine distribution

Refreshed main adult colouring promotion

IMG_9730We refreshed the front of store adult colouring display in the newsagency today. The photo does not do the A1 posters above the display justice.

We are still selling more than $200 a day in adult colouring books not including the partwork launch – we have sold 130 in just over a week. While the range selling is diverse, it is the non magazine titles that do better. I like that, of course, because of the margin from the real books.

I was considering using this space for something else from today but sales demand it stay here for at least another week. I am watching space and inventory investment as there are at least fifteen shops in the centre with adult colouring products now.

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art supplies

Promoting adult colouring and That’s Life

IMG_9734We have the latest That’s Life magazine on the lease line to leverage the mini adult colouring book with this issue and the Win a $5,000 Shopping Spree newsagent only promotion.

Since we are right out the front of Coles, I’ll leverage any magazine point of difference I can.

The floor display unit is space efficient making it easy to justify the prime space allocation.

The placement is opposite our adult colouring front of store promotion.

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magazines

New Lotterywest retail fixtures welcomed by newsagents

IMG_9708I like the prototype of the new Lotterywest counter unit I saw on show at the Lotterywest Retailer Conference in Perth yesterday.

The unit features housing for state of the technology Lotterywest will be rolling out next year and fixtures for customer service and product merchandising.

The release of the prototype yesterday in Perth was a first-look opportunity for retailers. The next step is in-store trial of a prototype with feedback to inform fine tuning prior to staged roll out across the state.

The consultation being undertaken by the folks at Lotterywest is considerable – with retailers at the heart of this.

Technology plays a vital role from the digital screen to the ticket checker to the customer display to the terminal itself.

Note the scratch ticket unit. Lifting it from being flat allows the featuring of twenty tickets rather than the current sixteen.

Newsagents I spoke to were most positive about the new fixtures.

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Lotteries

How newsagents lose money selling a $2.95 magazine

Magazines in supermarkets are add-on purchases rather than destination purchases whereas in for many newsagents, magazines continue to be destination purchases.

As an add-on purchase a $2.95 magazine can work for a supermarket while the same magazine in a newsagency is likely to be loss making.

In my own business with a magazine pocket costing $1.15 per week for the space alone, I need to sell two of these magazines a week for the month-long on sale to cover the real estate costs and labour associated with the title. If I don’t achieve this I lose money.

Indeed, if you look at the financial performance of magazines in most newsagencies, no more than 20% of magazines are cash-flow positive.

While publishers like to promote low cover prices, they tend to not work for newsagents – especially those of us in shopping centres. We need higher cover prices, especially with unit sales falling.

The only option for a $2.95 magazine where I am selling less than two copies a week is to fit three such titles into two pockets or two titles into one pocket. This is not always possible because of the sick model supplying me two and three times what I will sell.

Unfortunately, magazine publishers and distributors are not having these types of discussions with thoughtful newsagents.

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magazines

At the Lotterywest conference today

I am grateful to be at the Lotterywest Retailer Conference in Perth today. The agenda is full with practice sessions to help Western Australian lottery agents grow stronger businesses not only in the lottery category but beyond.

Session 1 / Grow
‘Australian retail innovation trends’ with Bernard Salt
What’s happening at Lotterywest
Keeping you up to date on the Retail Transformation Program
Session 2 / Connect
‘Creating Passionate Customers’ with Keith Abraham
‘Connecting with today’s consumers’ with Tenille Bentley
Session 3 / Make it work
‘Get more from change’ with Warwick Merry
Workshops
‘Your guide to a win-win leasing negotiation’ with Brian Childs
‘Take a step into the online world’ with Tenille Bentley
‘Recruit, train and manage your staff for greater business growth’ with Renae Catalano
Q & A with presenters / Let’s talk

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Lotteries

The disconnect between politicians and small business

The more I hear politicians speak the more I realise the extent of their disconnect from small business and everyday people.

While we talk about real issues in our businesses and engage is genuine two-way conversations with our customers, our politicians from the major parties ignore questions from journalists and fail to listen.

Watch or listen to any live interview with a politician and you hear them say what they want rather than answer the question. In such a situation, the journalist is our representative as they have direct access where we do not. We expect journalists to ask the questions we would want asked. Moreover, we expect the politicians to listen to the questions and to answer them.

This is not what happens.

Politicians front the media with a message to put and they put it regardless of the questions they are asked. They play us for fools. Too many journalists and media outlets let them get away with it.

We know in small business that authenticity matters. Your customers soon figure out if you are faking happiness, the value of a deal or something else in business. Faking it is not possible in small business.

Faking it is what politicians do and we elect them and let them get away with it.

Every time politicians dodge a question or fake support for something they do not agree with and only go along with because of party rules they fail us. Whereas in small business such faking costs us business, in politics we let them get away with it.

I want to see politicians say what they think, on any topic. It’s okay if they say things I don’t agree with because I don’t expect to vote in a 100% clone of my views.

I want to see in my politicians the authenticity I see in small businesses, like newsagencies. Australia would be all the better for it.

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Ethics

The new home of specialist magazines – not a newsagency

IMG_9687I was in a train hobbyist shop a few days ago and found a terrific range of model train magazines. It reminded me of the range I had in my Forest Hill business five or six years ago. The difference in the range in the train shop and the newsagency a few doors away left me wondering if others are noticing this – fewer model train magazines in newsagencies and more in specialist hobby train shops.

I am certainly seeing this in garden centres where there are plenty of garden magazines I am not seeing in newsagencies.

While I am not saying this is a trend, it is something to watch out for.

Specialty publishers naturally want to be closer where those interested in their topics shop.

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magazines

When do you put out boxed Christmas cards?

I like to get boxed Christmas cards out early to make the most of the opportunity right through the season. My experience is that between early September and late January a range of different customers purchase boxed Christmas cards. Having a good range of stock out and in the right location is key to leveraging the opportunity.

This post today is about the kick off of boxed Christmas cards. When do you put them out in your newsagency?

For me boxed card season starts now to get the early movers … they are lucrative shoppers. The early sales help you spot trends from the range you have in-store.

Footnote: the display of boxed cards is not important. Flat on a table works fine for us.

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Greeting Cards

Art Therapy partwork supply update for newsagents

Talking with a manager at Gordon and Gotch yesterday about the status of supply of the popular Art Therapy partwork following a query I received on behalf of a newsXpress member. Here is their update:

As expected this will be a sell out as EDI sales to date are higher than anything I have seen in partworks.

As of yesterday the store had sold 6 out of 10 and we have been topping up sell-out stores over the last two days and have exhausted all stock in Qld.

We are moving some additional stock overnight from NSW and are actioning EDI stores first. [REMOVED] should get picked up from this but again the stock is very limited.

We are speaking to the publisher about moving Part 2 on-sale earlier due to the demand and as soon as a decision is made will communicate to all stores.

I hope this response from Gotch, which I share with permission, is helpful to other newsagents.

It is good to see the TV commercial running in high rotation – going newsagents an strong reason to ensure the title is displayed at the front of the shop, next to the broader adult colouring range in-store.

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magazines

Paywave / tap and go payments under the spotlight

I am pleased to see discussion among law enforcement and government about pay wave / tap and go technology with police calling for it to be optional. Customers need to have the option to disable Paywave / tap and go facilities on their cards.

The banks are awful when it comes to card fraud. I have experienced this myself – with the ANZ bank.

While my own experience related to card fraud through a website, the area of the ANZ Bank that manages it is the same as handles Paywave fraud claims.

In my own case, a customer used a website run by one of my businesses to make a purchase of $3,000. Payment was via credit card. The site itself does not handle payment – instead, it links to ANZ E-Gate, which processes and verifies payment. It is only when ANZ E-Gate returns ANZ approval that the transaction can proceed.

The good were shopped. We were paid.

A couple of weeks later the ANZ took the funds out of our account and advised the card had been stolen. Today, more than a year on, we are in a losing argument with the ANZ Bank. They say it is my responsibility even though they completely handled and managed the payment including verifying the card and advising us it was approved.

The experience fuels my distrust for the banks, the ANZ especially.

I have been with the ANZ for more than thirty years. I am now looking to move all my business elsewhere as a result of their poor handling of this matter.

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Ethics

Diary season in the newsagency

IMG_9681We are promoting our range of 2016 diaries mid way into the newsagency, in front of the magazine department. This location worked well for us with Financial Year diaries this year – our sales were up 47% this year on the back of a solid base.

The display in the photo is one of two of diaries in-store. The second is close to this display. It is placed so those leaving the magazine aisle heading to the counter pass.

Shopping basket data analysis shows magazines and diaries are often purchased together in the newsagency. I use analysis such as this to guide ranging, product placement and other business decisions.

I urge newsagents to undertake the type of basket analysis I describe for themselves as each business can perform differently. This is simple using newsagency software – it should take a minute or two to create a basket analysis report for the last year. I think a year of analysis is reasonable for the types of decisions I am discussing here.

I am a firm believer that we make our own success in our newsagencies as in any small business. Success starts with good data and is facilitated by thoughtful analysis of your own business data and acting on what the data guides.

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Diaries

Leveraging the 7 network Peter Allen TV show for newsagency sales

photoWe are riding on the back of the promotion by the Seven Network of their Peter Allen mini series that starts Sunday night with this promotion in-store of a special DVD pack of: The BOY from OZ.

The promotion leverages the huge investment by the Seen Network. It also pitches us as being relevant.

We invested in the stock and space on the basis that the mini series will refresh interest in Peter Allen. Early indications are that it will.

On TV, at the movies and on social media we can see many opportunities for us to pitch products not being actively promoted by the majors and from which we can make good margin in our businesses. Some opportunities work as new traffic generators while others work as basket depth drivers.

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marketing

Tough time for Newcastle area newsagents

Media Watch on ABC TV last night detailed the considerable cuts to reporting and editorial services at the Newcastle Herald.

69 full time jobs across the Hunter will go at Fairfax mastheads, 46 of those will be straight from the newsroom. More than half of the cuts will come from the Newcastle Herald, which has already had jobs slashed in recent years.

This story is sure to result in a loss of sales of newspapers in newsagencies in the region. How could it not with fewer resources to produce content readers want to trust.

You can find the story here.

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Media disruption

Study reveals link between e-cigarettes, smoking

A US National Institutes of Health study of 222 students shows a possible link between the use of e-cigarettes and the initiation of tobacco use.

Students who have used electronic cigarettes by the time they start ninth grade are more likely than others to start smoking traditional cigarettes and other combustible tobacco products within the next year, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health. E-cigarettes deliver nicotine to the lungs by heating a liquid solution that contains nicotine and other chemicals to produce an aerosol that the user inhales, a process often called “vaping.”

The results of the study have been published widely including in medical journals and The Wall Street Journal, where I first read about it. The Conversation has a report on the study, lending an Australian voice to the discussion and explaining why regulation of e-cigarettes is necessary.

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Tobacco sales

What do you do with unsold seasonal greeting cards?

IMG_9694We put unsold greeting cards from seasons on sale for a couple of days after the season . The usual discount is 50%. We pick up extra revenue and bank margin dollars considering the rebate from the card company. We also discount gifts in this sale that very specific to the season that will not rest well in the everyday gift department.

This approach works well for us in a shopping centre where many of our customers are not regulars.

If the business was in a country town or a high street situation with more regular customers, I might not engage in this practice as it could educate shoppers to wait for the discount.

Our Father’s Day experience shows how our approach works for us.

With little stock left, the empty pockets on the card stand played into the discount opportunity. Some customers purchased for late Father’s Day cards while others purchased for next year. Given many of our customers are not local or regular, the impact on next year will be minimal if at all.

Talking with suppliers and retailers here and overseas, it is common customers who purchase cards for future purposes lose them or forget about them.

While revenue from post seasonal sales is small, it is worth reducing the cards we return and attracting bonus traffic for the sale we run for a couple of days.

I would be interested for others to share their experiences.

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Greeting Cards

The hot pink magazine cover stands out

IMG_9692 (1)I love the hot pink cover on Colour Spring, a Better Homes and Gardens branded adult colouring one shot from Pacific Magazines. It sure stands out. We are leveraging this with placement in the middle of the magazine aisle as well as on a display at the front of the shop to draw attention to adult colouring titles. It is not often we have a magazine start stands ut like this from the sea of magazines.

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magazines

Launching the Art Therapy partwork in the newsagency

IMG_9693Here is how we are launching the Art Therapy partwork at Knox today. We have located the floor display unit next to the colouring book ‘department’ – with 22 adult colouring titles – that has been moved to the lease line, facing into the busy shopping mall.

We also have stock of Art Therapy located near art titles further into the business. Plus we are promoting the launch online to people mobile nearby.

With adult colouring titles everywhere, range is key – hence our placement of the best range in the centre at the front of the business and a secondary display deeper inside.

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partworks

Looking behind the scenes in selecting seasonal marketing material for the newsagency

IMG_9676Two years ago newsXpress moved away from noisy seasonal posters urging people to buy for a season. The decision was made to table a more artistically stylised yet subtle approach that connects with the emotion of each season, with no specific call to action.

A good example of this approach can be seen in the Father’s Day 2015 poster with the words Love Your Dad. You can see that the newsXpress branding is subtle, at the bottom of the poster.

Choosing this artwork takes several months from start to finish. It starts with the brainstorming of themes. This guides the creative team to consider colours, images and words. This feeds into the creation of several drafts of options, which are considered by as many as ten people as well as a couple of supplier representatives. The draft options are slowly revised until one stands out. This is then shared with all newsXpress members and their feedback considered before final revisions made and a proof prepared. It is a highly consultative process, one that has lead to this approach of focusing on the emotion of the season rather than the usual shrill call to action we see in many retail businesses leading up to major seasons.

What I like about the Love Your Dad collateral is the simplicity of the message. Saturday at the newsagency, I saw a couple of kids drag their dad to in front of the posters and hug him. His smile could have lit up a room. It was heartwarming to see.

Sometimes, the best way to encourage engagement is to not chase it.

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marketing

Using a mannequin to drive sales in the newsagency

IMG_9670It was not until we took an apron we had for Father’s Day off the shelf and placed it on a mannequin that people started to notice and purchase them. The result is a reminder of the retail maxim: tell a story. The mannequin is proving to be a useful tool in the newsagency as it holds a range of products, is easily moved and presents a pitch not expected in a newsagency.

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Newsagency management

If you stock IF Magazine…

IMG_9659If you stock IF Magazine I urge you to place it where it will be seen by ore people. The cover story on the new Australian movie Holding the Man will be recognised because of the publicity blitz surrounding the launch. This is a good title with which to show off your magazine specialisation.

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magazines
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