Sneaky magazine is generating good interest. It’s a fresh title offering a unique mix of stories. The covers are especially appealing, standing out in the sea of colour in the magazine shelves. We give Sneaky a full cover facing because of the unique covers. Sneaky is a tile we are using to reflect the diversity of titles in our newsagency compared to the less diverse range in supermarkets nearby.
The latest National Geographic should be placed by newsagents where people can see the full cover. If you have calendars, day-t-a-page and other collectible items from The Walking Dead tv show, place them with the magazine. This is an excellent cover that we can use to drive incremental sales of the title.
This is not a new story. What I describe here happens in newsagencies across Australia every week, many times over. It’s been happening for years. This is a crime. There appears little or no interest in key spiller businesses in fixing the issue.
Shame on those involved as you are the people hurting small business newsagents and making us less competitive than others selling magazines. Shame on you.
Newsagents are pressured and penalised to provide sales data to magazine publishers so that those publishers can respond to demand and supply more appropriately. That’s the spin. Sadly, there is little evidence from some publishers that it is more than spin.
Bauer Media has been caught out again this week ignoring newsagent data and oversupplying a title with no justification for the supply.
While Bauer allocations people will have excuses, they are worthless as we have heard them before. Many newsagents feel that the company deliberately oversupplies to serve its won purposes.
Take a look at the image. You can see the initial supply of 8 copies of AWW Slow Cooker 4 on June 6, 2014. 1 copy was returned and 3 copies were sold on June 6, June 14 and July 20. yesterday, Bauer supplied an additional copy. The newsagent early returned it – incurring freight and labour costs. The newsagent was effectively fined by Bauer for Bauer’s own oversupply.
Warehouse, trucking and newsagent resources were wasted in this. It’s shameful.
Take a careful look at the image. This is data from the newsagency software being run in this newsagency treated so poorly by Bauer. Take a careful look at the detailed data in this small business. If this small business has access to such well-organised data and can access it in seconds then why not Bauer? Are newsagent IT systems better than Bauer’s IT systems? It would seem so. Either that or Bauer has the data and deliberately ignores it.
The example from this newsagency is one of many I receive regularly from our channel.
Okay it is only one extra copy of one title. Multiply that across our channel and not that it happens many times a year and you soon see the financial cost on newsagents for labour and freight plus the cash flow impact which I’d say is in the millions of dollars.
The newsagent held data is great for business management but it is bad in that it proves consistently poor allocation actions by Bauer against newsagents.
My experience is that no amount of complaining about institutional oversupply by Bauer will drive change within the business. Plenty of newsagents think this too and it’s a reason they strike out at the company with aggressive early returns of Bauer distributed titles.
Early returning is the only way we can effectively deal with this oversupply.
Publishers using Network and who are concerned about early returns could consider this when wondering why newsagents early return their titles.
Smart newsagents like the one who provided me their data have the evidence and they are getting angrier. I can understand them wanting to strike back.
Footnote: I have masked identifying details to protect the newsagent.
Kudos to the folks at the print edition of the Cairns Post newspaper for so strongly promoting their print product on the front of their building in downtown Cairns. While many Australian newspaper publishers pitch their digital platform ahead of print, this bold support of print is welcome to see. Cairns newsagents should be happy with this support.
The issue of Yours magazine which I saw in a Woolworths supermarket on the weekend had a gift with purchase which is not on the newsagency channel copy. The Christmas card pack is a good gift delivered with ideal timing, something that would have helped drive sales in newsagencies had we been given it.
Check out the report in The Courier Mail on Saturday saying it was the only newspaper to report an increase in the latest audit.
The Gympie Times reported a similar feat.
Is someone not telling the truth? Both of these reports cannot be right.
We are supposed to be able to trust newspapers!
Mumbrella reports the Monday to Friday edition of the Courier Mail dropping 5.5%.
Someone or some group in the US is running a Stop Staples campaign to encourage people to NOT purchase school supplies from Staples. The campaign is connected with the move of US Postal service outlets into some Staples stores:
Staples and the U.S. Postal Service have cut a deal that jeopardizes thousands of living-wage jobs – as well as your mail service. A no-bid deal between Staples and the Postal Service set up postal counters inside 82 of the office-supply stores in four test markets – staffed with untrained, low-wage Staples employees. Staples and the USPS plan to expand the program to Staples’ 1,500 locations nationwide.
Beyond the campaign itself, their approach is instructive on how a campaign could be waged against a gaint of a business.
Given the growing presence of Staples in Australia the Stop Staples campaign is something which could interest Australian newsagents who are involved in school booklist supply.
The irony of money wallets being the most stolen Christmas cards is not lost on me. We have responded by adjusting placement to make capture of those involved easier.
Theft by customers is part of retail. While the figures vary between stores due to local factors such as placement and management, the overall average for the Australian newsagency channel is that theft costs us between 3% and 5% of turnover.
Reducing the cost of theft starts with knowing for sure what is being stolen – like the Christmas money wallets.
With the publisher perpetually marking down the price of Mother & Baby magazine in Coles supermarkets I see no point in offering this title in the newsagency.
The saved pocket is better used to promote titles that are not seeking to make supermarkets look cheaper than newsagencies.
Hopefully one day the publisher will realise that their support of supermarkets over newsagencies is not the best move for their title.
It does not make sense to me that a widely available magazine title has dual pricing like this. They could only be doing it to make Coles look more appealing and all other retailers of the title more expensive.
The Gympie Times has another good audit. As I noted a few months back they were the only daily to achieve growth. They have done it again with this latest audit and the editor took some space in the paper to record the result and thank readers.
This is a good newspaper story worth sharing beyond the Gympie community as it says something about locally focussed newspapers connecting with their local community.
Well done not only to newsagents involved!
The top selling item in your newsagency may be among your least efficient.
In a recent study of newsagency shopper basket data where a daily newspaper was the top selling item, it was the item most often purchased alone.
In a typical Australian newsagency, the main daily newspaper is purchased alone 79% of the time. This makes the newspaper inefficient for the business. Efficiency is gauged by the number of items in a basket.
Knowing product efficiency empowers newsagents to act as it’s a retailer problem, not a publisher problem.
These questions reflect some opportunities for driving efficiency. Smart newsagents will think of others.
Some years ago in one of my newsagencies newspapers were purchased alone 80% of the time. Over several months we pulled that back to around 65% through engagement at the newspaper stand.
Low margin traffic generating products are only useful if we leverage the purchase of other items with them. This is retail 101. It’s essential for today’s newsagent.
Our shop windows and front entrances are the most important real estate in our businesses. We have seconds to grab attention, to get noticed.
Getting a passer-by to turn their head is a bankable result because a percentage of those who notice will come in and a percentage of those will purchase. We are competing with other retailers plus we are competing with mobile devices people are spending more time looking at while walking today.
The sole role of front window and or entrance of your shop is to get noticed – to get people turning their heads, stopping and walking toward your business because of what they have seen.
Newsagents in every situation face this same challenge for attention: in shopping malls, on the high street and in rural and regional locations.
We need to offer stunning displays and use light and sound to catch attention in our newsagencies – especially at Christmas when every retailer lifts their game chasing the attention you want.
Average displays will deliver average results. Displays that are the same as other nearby businesses will not help us break away from them and achieve our own greatness.
Our front of store traffic-generating display is just about the most important marketing statement we make yet too often retailers don’t treat it as such.
The photo shows the display on the main table facing into the mall at one of my newsagencies. The tree-shaped display is a computer controlled display standing 182cm tall. Each small rectangular box is a light box. Each character lights up. There are multiple coloured lights per box. It plays Christmas songs and lights up in sync to the music. We are the only shop in the 250 or so shops in the shopping centre with anything like this. It’s attracting terrific attention.
The display cost us $230.00 and two hours to assemble. Already we think it’s a valuable marketing investment for the business.
The July – September magazine audit results will give the folks at Pacific Magazines encouragement and the folks at Bauer Media reason to reconsider their discount packs. In key head to head competition, Pacific won out on key fronts:
There is a fundamental problem with the Famous / NW type of title and unless the publishers urgently recast these titles for today’s marketplace, there must be a doubt about their future. The same is true for Zoo Weekly which suffered a decline of 27.90%.
On the Pacific vs. Bauer competition, the results are all the more interesting when you consider that Bauer does considerably more discounting than Pacific.
We must expect magazine closures with these circulation declines and an accompanying decline in ad pages.
As my newsagency sales benchmark results will show next week, there is good news in magazine sales with some newsagents achieving growth. Smart publishers will want to find out more about how they are doing it. The gap between success and failure is widening.
Read more at Mumbrella.
The decline in daily newspaper sales in Australia continues apace according to the latest audit. While all capital city dailies recorded significant declines, the Fairfax mastheads were hit hardest. While I am no newspaper publisher, I doubt Fairfax is making money from The Age at least several days a week. The year on year decline of 19.6% would have to be hitting the company hard.
It’s a matter of time, months maybe, from when we see a capital city daily retreat from daily publication of their print product. Newsagents need to factor the real prospect of this into their business planning.
I am surprised (maybe I am not surprised actually) that newspaper publishers are not more creatively and actively engaged with retail newsagents in driving over the counter sales. These are the times we need fresh initiatives and not the same old.
The audit results are reflected in the latest benchmark study results.
Read a full report at Mumbrella here.
We started selling the new range of Grump Cat products as we were putting them out this week. Customers love this little cutie. With the moving coming out and plenty of social media coverage, the Grumpy Cat is well-known and very popular.
This is another example of leveraging a worldwide brand to drive impulse purchases. Shoppers purchasing the Grumpy cat are not coming in with this purchase in mind.
The more we leverage known brands in our businesses the more we can drive impulse purchases and make our businesses more meaningful to a broader cross-section of shoppers.
We have the floor display unit promoting Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle and the BHG Christmas cookbook at the end of the main magazine aisle. The placement is the third location for each of the promoted titles. It’s designed to draw shoppers down the aisle. This location is the best place currently available for promoting the titles without too much distraction around.
I don’t offer Bauer Reader Rewards in my newsagencies and so cannot answer this question. I’m asking it here because a non circulation product supplier asked me today as they are considering an app based loyalty program.
My view is these brand based loyalty programs are not helpful to newsagents as our businesses are not at the heart of the promotion. Our business should be at the heart of any loyalty offer in our business.
Also, any loyalty program must be easily understood and simple in execution. The Bauer program is neither.
Magazine Publishers Australia and representatives of Pacific Magazines, Bauer Media, Network Services and Gordon an Gotch have been working on a possible code opt conduct for the supply of magazines to newsagents. This work was initiated by the publishers and has been in discussion for a year.
Any code is a complex process because it must have approval from the ACCC. Even the suppliers talking together requires ACCC approval.
As I have written here many times, a code is essential for the competitiveness of newsagents. Most recently, on August 30, I published my suggested magazine supply KPIs – these were first presented to publishers at a breakfast meeting in 2005.
Newsagents need to be part of the discussion of any possible code of conduct. Here is a draft of the MPA code of conduct. It may not be a current draft. I am not positing it here as a declaration of what will be put in place. No, I am publishing it here so newsagents can comment more generally on the topic of KPIs.
If you compare this code of conduct to my suggested magazine supply KPIs you will see the MPA draft is biased to serve the publisher whereas mine is biased to serve the newsagent. I think the MPA code needs some more work but it is a start. For example, the financial viability of a title in a newsagency has nothing to do with the size of the print run … the ideal sales efficiency has nothing to do with the size of a print run.
I’d also note: early returns are essential to cash-flow management in newsagencies. If Network and Gotch want to be paid they must allow early returns. If a title has not sold in two weeks it ought to be a reasonable candidate for early return.
Publishers and distributors need to understand that delayed billing is of little benefit to newsagents.
Since we carry the space, labour and financial obligation, we need a supply model that allows us to take on such obligations.
Here is a draft of what the MPA has been discussing:
1. Minimum Sales Efficiency
A Distributor will ensure that no Title has a Sales Efficiency of less than the minimum Sales Efficiency set out in the table below.
Distribution quantity per Issue Minimum Sales Efficiency
>..30,000 copies 55%
20,000 copies – 30,000 copies 50%
10,000 copies – 20,000 copies 45%
1,000 copies – 10,000 copies 35%
< 1,000 copies 25%
2. Consecutive Nil Sales
A Distributor will cease to distribute a Title to a Retailer for a minimum of 12 months if the Title has experienced consecutive nil sales at that Retailer for, in the case of:
a) a weekly Title, six consecutive Issues;
b) a fortnightly or monthly Title, four consecutive Issues; and
c) any other Titles, two consecutive Issues.
3. Returns
A Distributor will not require Retailers to provide Full Copy Returns, except in relation to Partworks.
A Distributor may require that Retailers provide, at the Retailers’ expense, Mastheads as evidence of unsold copies of an Issue and may require that Retailers:
a) package such Mastheads separately from any permitted Full Copy Returns; and
b) clearly mark packages containing Mastheads or Full Copy Returns as ‘Mastheads’ or ‘Full Copy Returns’, as applicable.
4. Early Returns
A Distributor will not be required to accept Early Returns from Retailers, except where such Early Return is made by a Retailer to correct an error in allocations quantity.
5. Redistributions – Packs & singles
A Distributor will not Redistribute an Issue on more than once occasion.
If a Distributor Redistributes an Issue, the Distributor will ensure that:
a) the prior distribution of the Issue has Closed;
b) at the date of the Redistribution, less than 12 months has elapsed since the Recall Date applicable to the first distribution of the Issue;
c) the number of copies of the Issue provided to a Retailer is less than the number of copies provided to that Retailer as part of the first distribution of the Issue (unless the first distribution of the Issue was a sell-out at that Retailer); and
d) the On-sale Period for the Redistributed copies of the Issue is no more than three months.
If a Distributor Redistributes an Issue, the Distributor will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that:
a) the Issue does containing cover offers that have expired; and
b) if the Issue is bagged and no current Issue is included (e.g. a “Value Pack” of two old Issues), this is clearly communicated to consumers on the packaging.
6. New Titles
For each launch of a New Title, a Distributor will ensure that:
a) each Retailer receives notification of the launch prior to the On-sale Date for the Launch Issue; and
b) the number of copies of the Launch Issue distributed to each Retailer is determined reasonably having regard to the total print run of the Launch Issue and the average sales of 1 or more equivalent Titles (provided that a Distributor may distribute at least 2 copies of the Launch Issue to each Retailer).
For Issues of a New Title subsequent to the Launch Issue, a Distributor will, to the extent such data is available, use EDI sales data to determine the appropriate number of copies of those Issues to be distributed to each Retailer until a regular sales pattern for the New Title is established.
7. Maximum shelf life
A Distributor will ensure that the On-sale Period for an Issue does not exceed twelve weeks unless at least two of the following are applied to the Issue:
a) delayed billing, being the process by which …;
b) Retailers are offered an extra sales margin for sales of the Issue on top of the standard sales margin normally paid by that Distributor to Retailers; and
c) Split Deliveries.
8. Split Deliveries
A Distributor may utilise Split Deliveries for an Issue.
If a Distributor utilises Split Deliveries, the Distributor will ensure that:
a) to the extent such data is available, the Distributor uses EDI sales data to determine the appropriate number of copies of the Issue to be delivered to each Retailer for the second or subsequent deliveries; and
b) based on the rate of sales, if a Retailer has sufficient copies of the Issue available for sale to consumers, then a second or subsequent delivery should does not occur.
Here are definitions from the Code which could be useful reading this:
Closed means, in relation to an Issue, ….
Code means this Distributor Code of Conduct.
Distributor means a person engaged in the business of distribution of Titles and who is a signatory to this Code.
Early Returns means the return of a copy of an Issue, in the case of:
Full Copy Returns means:
as the context requires.
Issue means an issue of a Title.
Launch Issue means the first issue of a New Title.
Mastheads means headers, the front cover or the barcode of a copy of an Issue that have been excised from the copy of the Issue.
New Title means any Title that is distributed under a Product Code that has not previously been used.
On-sale Date means, in respect of an Issue, the date, determined by the relevant Distributor, on which the Issue is first made available for sale to consumers by Retailers.
On-sale Period means, in respect of an Issue, the period commencing on On-sale Date and ending on the Recall Date.
Partwork means ….
Product Code means ….
Recall Date means, in respect of an Issue, the date, determined by the relevant Distributor, on which the Issue is required to be withdrawn from sale to consumers by Retailers.
Redistribute means the distribution to Retailers of an Issue that has previously distributed and recalled (using refurbished Full Copy Returns or mint copies of the Issue).
Retailer means a newsagency, supermarket, convenience store or other retailer to which Titles are delivered by a Distributor as a regular distribution channel.
Sales Efficiency means the total number of copies of an Issue sold by Retailers expressed as a percentage of the total number of copies of the Issue distributed to Retailers [averaged over, in the case of:
Split Deliveries means the distribution of an Issue by more than one delivery of copies of the Issue to Retailers during the On-sale Period.
Title means a magazine or similar periodical and, for the avoidance of doubt, excludes books.
Bauer Media advised newsagents today about another duplicate barcode issue. This time it’s TechLife and APC affected. Newsagents need to ensure they have the right advice from their software supplier for handling this so that returns are processed correctly. here is the announcement:
Please be advised that AUTRALIAN PERSONAL COMPUTER went out today with the incorrect barcode on the magazine. The incorrect barcode is the same as TECHLIFE, which you may also have in store. Please be aware of this when scanning sales and processing returns, especially if you use XChangeIT.
TITLE: AUSTRALIAN PERSONAL COMPUTER
BIPAD: 3167 ISSUE: 1412
RRP: $9.95
Incorrect Barcode on magazine: 9313006001416 12
Correct barcode for magazine: 9313006 001362 12
Release date: 13/11/2014
Recall date: 15/12/2014Conflicting title you may have in store:
TITLE: TECHLIFE
BIPAD: 3781 ISSUE: 1413
RRP: $9.95
Barcode: 9313006001416 12
Release date: 30/10/2014
Recall date: 27/11/2014
Thirteen UK brokerages have given WH Smith PLC, a publicly traded company, a ‘buy’ rating. This is relevant to Australian newsagents as WH Smith is in acquisition mode in our channel here as we have seen with the acquisition of Supanews this month and a couple of card and gift groups earlier in the year.
The Grocer had a report last month on their trading results which feeds into this latest analysis. Australia gets a brief mention.
The anger from the newsagent reporting receiving this Ripley’s book from Bauer’s network Services this week was palpable. The RRP $29.95 title had no place in the scale out from a magazine distributor.
Newsagents can get books like this elsewhere at 50% and more GP and with more control over supply. Any book supplier using a magazine distributor to access newsagents should think twice.
This title was early returned – what a waste of time and money!
