We are promoting the latest issue of Family Circle magazine with newspapers as well as in food. It’s already working well from this newspaper location. We will leave it here for up to two weeks as it performs. We created this single pocket with an opportunity of an acrylic pocket next to The Age. Free space like this next to papers works a treat.
Two South Australian newsagents are in the news for the wrong reason.
I hear often from newsagents seeking advice on how to get out of their Hubbed contracts. While getting out of Hubbed itself is usually achievable, the associated finance agreement for equipment and / or software has reportedly been the challenge.
I’m told that Hubbed will now pay out the finance agreements. If this is true, newsagents who want to get out of Hubbed can do so without being left with the burden of a finance contract.
Newsagents wanting to quit Hubbed and who have not found a way out of the finance contract should talk with those who endorsed, promoted and operated the service: the ANF and Hubbed.
I was disappointed to see this as in The Australian yesterday promoting an exclusive to Woolworths gift opportunity with Delicious, Australian Country Style, Taste and other News Corp. magazine titles. News Corp. should be investing in the newsagency channel instead of Woolworths. We do more for their magazines than this supermarket giant.
This week I will publish five deliberately provocative suggestions on aspects of retail newsagency management and operation. My goal is to challenge newsagents and their suppliers to break free from the past and engage in more present day retail
Suggestion #2: get rid of your newspaper stand.
For decades newspaper publishers required newsagents to place large corporate image stands at the front of the shop. Often, we were required to hand a light box above or include it as part of the stand.
With newspaper sales in decline, free fall for some, the value of the stand for a retail newsagency is less today than a few years ago – even with the recent price rises on cover prices.
While gross profit contribution from major capital city newspapers is good, traffic to the stand is declining. There is no point in giving prime front of store space to a declining category.
Get rid of the stand. Replace it with a more space efficient fixture to the rear of the shop. Use the released space at the front of the shop for anew ad more relevant product category – to attract new shoppers to the business and around which to redefine your business.
Even if you don’t have a firm plan, remove the stand from the shops you can see the new space you have to deal with. This process alone should be liberating. Indeed, the process of removal is about much more than the stand itself. The action is a metaphor for a bigger move you can make on your business.
To those who would say that moving newspapers away from the front of the store will speed decline I;d say no. I have seen such a move done in several newsagencies with no impaction sales attributable to the move.
Are you up for this revolutionary suggestion?
While I am publishing the suggestions I am not necessarily advocating them for all newsagents. I see this blog as playing a role in challenging how we look and manage our businesses and from that encourage newsagents to think carefully about decisions they make.
Please complete a single question survey: how newsagent suppliers can help you improve your business. Answer anonymously and as often as you want.
This week I will publish five deliberately provocative suggestions on aspects of retail newsagency management and operation. My goal is to challenge newsagents and their suppliers to break free from the past and engage in more present day retail
Suggestion #1: remove all magazine posters.
Magazine sales have been declining between 5% and 9% year on year for at least the last five years. You cannot deny the data. The trend is down and unless publishers start publishing content to drive sustained increased interest, the trend will continue. My view is that the key reason for decline is content and not the medium itself.
Why put up posters for a declining category? Why spend the time and give over your front window and other locations promoting products which are suffering from declining interest.
I think if all newsagents did not put up any magazine posters for three months sales in your newsagency would not fall. I say this based on my own experience.
I suspect one reason we are encouraged, bribed and pushed to put up magazine posters is drive awareness of the mastheads and not necessarily to drive purchases in our businesses. None of our competitors give away promotional space and staff labour time like we do to promote magazines.
Imagine the new uses you could make of the open windows, aisle ends, columns and other places you fill with magazine posters.
I don’t use magazine posters and have not for five years. My magazine sales are growing. I think other newsagents could have a similar experience.
So, my provocative suggestion today is to not put up magazine posters. Instead, use that space for something more useful to your business. Use the space to differentiate your business, to promote products and services which are unique for you in your area. Use the space to attract shoppers who may not usually walk through your front door.
Sure, it’s tough to have to work out what to put in a window or what to promote on an aisle end but since you pay for this space surely you want to get maximum value from it?! Magazine posters for a slowing category are not good use of the space, especially since the display is not promoting something even remotely unique to your business.
This action of not putting up posters could be the beginning of a revolution in your newsagency, the start of you looking at your business differently.
My own experience is that the posters are not necessary. If we all found this publishers save money on printing and on merchandisers (for the newsagencies that are visited by merchandisers).
Are you up for this revolutionary suggestion?
While I am publishing the suggestions I am not necessarily advocating them for all newsagents. I see this blog as playing a role in challenging how we look and manage our businesses and from that encourage newsagents to think carefully about decisions they make.
Please take a moment to complete a single question survey: how you think newsagent suppliers can help you improve your business. You can answer anonymously and as often as you want. If you are writing about a specific category, please start with it … for example: Magazines: or Newspapers:. While how you respond is up to you, I suggest you keep responses to categories and not specific suppliers.
Here are some left-field marketing ideas for Easter in case you want to kick up interest over the next three weeks. I have deliberately not included traditional ideas such as colouring competitions:
Easter is considered by many to be a small season. I see it as big and full of opportunity and primed for fun in the newsagency.
A newsagent recently experienced a major computer malfunction and required access to a backup to load recent data onto the new computer. They did not have a backup as they said it was taking too long every day so they stopped doing it a year earlier.
Now, thanks to cloud based services, continuous local backup drives and other devices there are many options. There is no excuse for not backing up.
My management advice today is to check that you are backing up and that it is working. If time is an issue, enquire about services that eliminate the need for your time.
Please take a moment to complete a single question survey: how you think newsagent suppliers can help you improve your business. You can answer as often as you want.
I’ve kept it free form so as to not restrict your responses. If you are writing about a specific category, please start with it … for example: Magazines: or Newspapers:.
While how you respond is up to you, I suggest you keep responses to categories and not specific suppliers.
Your responses will form part of the round-table newsagent supplier forums next week.
53 newsagent suppliers have booked so far to participate in the forums I have organised for next week to discuss how they can help newsagents navigate to a brighter future. Click here to download a booking form. I’d love to see more suppliers participating – and newsagents too. Book here: Melbourne. March 17, 9am. Best Western, Kew. Sydney. March 18, 9am. Bonnie Doon Golf Club. Brisbane, March 19. 9am. River View Hotel.
The attendee mix is a good correction of old and new suppliers.
Customers love cheeky product – they react well in-store and this gives a good vibe to the shop. We are hearing this a bit with the cheekier bags from Hallmark. I heard a customer say I could use a bit of that with a nod of her head to kids in tow. Interactions like this can open to conversations and conversations can lead to sales. It’s why I like having products people talk about. Chatter around and about products drives sales.
We are making the most of these bags and similar cheeky products with them on show so the full message is seen.
We have sold 84 of this rabbit from our Easter display, putting us on track to get to between 120 and 150 for the season. The success of the rabbit plays beyond its sales though: it attracts shoppers to the business who browse and purchase other items. In the basket data I can see the rabbit sold with magazines, cards and other items. Some of these items would not have been purchased has the rabbit not attracted shoppers.
The success of this one item is a good example of how we can play outside what is traditional for newsagents. This is a branded collectible rabbit which can get kids onto collecting more from the range. Collector kids will bring in parents who will purchase other items.
Stack em high watch em fly is what retailers are encouraged to do to drive sales. For many product categories in newsagencies today it is true – a full display works best, much better than a half-full display which can hamper sales.
I encourage newsagents to maintain full magazine displays as I think they work better than half full displays. It is worth the time investment to shuffle placement or to compact placement so a display looks full. A full display will deliver a better result for you than a less than full display. A full display shows your business as alive.
I was in a newsagency recently where they had 30% more magazine space than they needed so they spaced out titles as they had nothing to sue the space for. After some shuffling we introduced other products to the magazine fixtures and compressed magazines so the part of the display for them looked full. The result is a more visually compelling magazine offer.
I encourage newsagents to look at their magazine displays and adjust where necessary to make them look full, appealing and like they will satisfy shoppers. I think full displays pay a role in good magazine results in my store.
It is tiresome writing posts to document the appalling behaviour of a magazine distributor for knowingly oversupplying a magazine at a level which is unjustified in the sales data the distributor has. A check of our sales of Farms & Farm Machinery indicates what we should get one copy of this title yet network sends us three. They’d say we should get two because we occasionally sell one but I’d say one is okay as selling out occasionally is fine. Sending three makes a mockery of the distribution model as it wastes our cash, space and time.
This behaviour by Network is not socially responsible is it disadvantages newsagents.
I was in a newsagency a few days ago where their sell through is well under 50%. That is appalling. Shame on Gotch and Network for condemning this business to such extraordinary waste of space, time and cash.
Selling on average a single copy makes Farms & Farm Machinery loss making for us. The $1.875 in gross profit from the single copy. Each magazine pocket costs around $7.50 a month as its portion of the lease cost. The numbers alone tell me to put something else into the pocket to try and either make a profit or less of a loss. However, the magazine distribution model does not give me the ability to do this. It gives our competitors the ability to do this but not us.
I encourage newsagents to have the full cover of That’s Life on show to get value of the No Sugar Diet free booklet. With sugar being in the news,this free booklet is timely and should help drive extra sales of That’s Life. If you put the magazine in a traditional magazine fixture you’ll not show off the free booklet.
The British parliament has today voted to adopt plain packaging of cigarettes similar to what has been adopted in Australia.
I’ve met plenty of UK newsagents who rely on tobacco sales in their businesses. One told me it accounted for 75% of revenue.
This move is a reminder to run our businesses such that we do not rely on one single supplier or category for the existence of our business.
On the health front, tobacco sales in Australia continue to fall.
