We are promoting marie claire magazine at the front of the newsagency this week to leverage the free bag which comes with the title. We’re short of space right now so finding this location for what is a good offer was a challenge. We have this display near our busiest lottery counter. It will be up for at least three or four days – longer depending on demands on space.
Check out FLYP. As they claim, it is more than a magazine. It offers magazine like content in a fresh from combining video, audio, animation and interactivity. Stories will cover just about anything including politics, music and science. Two issues a week. Purely digital.
We had a good August for magazines compared to last year, especially for womens weeklies – unit sales declined just 23 copies off a considerable base. Given the volatility in sales of the weeklies this past year, a decline of 23 units for the month on a year-on-year comparison is good. Gifts, books, stationery and ink also recorded solid growth. The surprise of the month is the 262 calendars we sold – all at full price (yep, no discounting here) and all with an excellent margin.
While best practice around the world is the open competition for the postal service and retail post offices being dominated by, well, postal services, successive governments in Australia have allowed and even encouraged the 100% government owned and protected Australia Post to compete more with private enterprise.
Yesterday’s news that Australia Post is to sell insurance is more evidence of selective interpretation of what is permissible under the Act which governs Australia Post.
Let me declare my interest. One of my newsagencies is directly opposite a government owned Australia Post shop. Here, the federal government directly competes with me for stationery, greeting card, ink and toner, book, calendar and other sales. Government owned post offices have no role in taking more and more business from private enterprise.
Australia Post benefits from government protection. Their retail outlets get rent deals, special landlord treatment, better buying and cheap access to customers who have nowhere else to go for the right to stand in a line for mediocre service.
I don’t blame the Australia Post executives. They are probably on a nice bonus scheme. This is a policy issue which can only be fixed by politicians. That they refuse to even consider the issue demonstrates their lack of care for small business.
7-Eleven is promoting a Cosmopolitan and NW magazine bundle this week. What is interesting is that they are using header cards in their magazine rack to promote the bundle. Two 7-Eleven stores I have visited have the headers randomly placed in the magazine rack – covering other magazines. Their merchandising is usually much better than this. that said, I do like the idea of trying bundling without creating a new pack with the two titles bundled.
The free pedometer on one copy of Healthy Living magazine which arrived yesterdaay was missing from the packaging.
Note to publishers – if you are going to use a tip on to promote a magazine make sure that it is delivered in a way which enhances the title (and sales) rather than detracts from it. Besides the lost pedometer, the cards to which they are attached arrived bent on many of the magazines. These cards also stick up so much they cover other magazines in the display.
Our sales of Ultimate Nintendo magazine from Derwent Howard have collapsed with the latest issue. One copy sold in seven weeks on-sale. This makes Ultimate Nintendo loss making for us by the time we cost in retail real-estate and labour. This magazine may go the way of some computer game magazines overseas … gone. At the very least in our store based on sales numbers, we need to significantly cut supply.
The Australian published a report today that a winding up notice had been issues against Derwent Howard. The report also notes that Ultimate Nintendo has been transferred to another company.
Here is the full text of a release sent out earlier today from the announcing the departure of CEO Anthony Matis from the Australian Newsagents’ Federation.
Board Expresses Appreciation to Outgoing CEO
The Board of Directors of The Australian Newsagents’ Federation (ANF) has expressed its appreciation to outgoing CEO Anthony Matis for his valued contribution during the past nine months.
Chairman Peter Allpike said Mr Matis has successfully completed the important groundwork in a much needed re-structuring of the newsagency body and has set its steady course for the future.
“In reflection I must say it’s going to be business better than usual.When we appointed Anthony to look at how the ANF could be restructured, we needed a person with a certain set of skills,” Mr Allpike said.
“The organisation needed rationalisation and modernisation and Anthony’s accounting background in mergers and takeovers has proved extremely valuable.
“Anthony is moving on, but I am pleased he has accepted the Board’s offer to remain as a special consultant to the ANF.”
Thanking the Board for their kind words, Mr Matis shunned attention to instead praise loyal ANF staff for the cooperation and hard work they have shown during his time in the role. Further to this Mr Matis thanked State and Federal Governments and senior executives within industry partners.
“I have made friends at the ANF and I have made friends among the many newsagents I have met during this time,” Mr Matis said.
“The staff has been absolutely wonderful and I would like to thank those key people who put in a great effort and had no problems working on weekends when the challenge called.
“The ANF has good people and now has a stronger foundation to better represent its members in the months and years ahead. I believe this industry has an extremely positive future and newsagents who choose to be a part of the National body will be better placed.”
Mr Allpike said Mr Matis was appointed to the CEO role at the ANF at a time the industry faced new challenges.
“We’ve had the NSW Lotteries announcement, News Limited contracts, we have had Collective Bargaining negotiations, and the Small Business Summit among a host of other things and the ANF has done well in a very tough year.
Mr Allpike said part of the restructuring of the ANF was the creation of the position of National General Manager which saw the appointment of Alf Maccioni to the role.
“Alf has filled this role well and has proved to the Board that there needed to be such a position created. Alf has provided good management at Head Office and will continue in this role as the Board of Directors embarks on a robust search for a permanent replacement for Mr Matis.
“A lot has challenged the newsagency channel since the economic downturn and we know in this world there is nothing more certain than change. The ANF has undergone important backroom modifications and is now in a prime position to meet the issues ahead and more importantly to assist newsagents grow, develop and prosper.
“We thank Anthony for his valuable contribution, wish him well and look forward to working with him in the future.”
Since the departure of Paul Waite from the CEO role in 2005, the ANF has had three CEOs. Given the failure of any CEO to deliver meaningful change to the representation of newsagents, newsagents need to ask if the problem has been the CEOs or the Board. Sure, the Board has changed, but not as much as it may seem.
Nothing of substance or value to newsagents has been achieved in the last year, despite the list in today’s announcement. I wonder if this is a reflection of failure of the CEO or failure of the Board.
At the ACP Connections Conference in Cairns last week the ANF Chairman and CEO looked like a unified team. Much has changed in the last five days.
We will never know because, as the press release shows, the ANF is a master of spin.
Today, once again, newsagents have to ask themselves if the ANF serves any purpose.
We are opportunistically promoting the latest issue of Vanity Fair, out today, at our main newspaper stand. The Heath Ledger cover story makes this issue appeal to a broader demographic than usual for Vanity Fair. It is this approach which drove excellent results for us with the Ben Cousins issue of GQ magazine.
We are pitching the latest issue of That’s Life at the counter today because of the $20,000 scratchie promotion with the magazine. This display will stay up until Friday. Somone asked my why we run That’s Life so often in this prime location – it’s a top 5 magazines for us. Gaining extra sales is easy. Decisions about what to display where and for how long are about the return we can achieve.
Walmart, the gorilla of retail in the US, has added one million to walmart.com. Check out the details of this story ar Reuters.
While more newsagents are getting online, my view is that many are missing the opportunity to attract new customers. Just shifting your newsagency and its name online will not work. To achieve real growth you need a new brand unconnected with your newsagency. Walmart can get away with their approach because they are Walmart. We are too low down the food chain and the word newsagency means too many things for this to work for us online.
At one of our Melbourne Central Sophie Randall store on Monday I served a customer who spent more than $70.00 purchasing eight cards. In conversation, the customer explained that she would spend this much on cards at least once a month. She loves giving cards and always buys up when she discovers cards she likes and has not seen before.
We have a wall of unique feature cards, on full face display, as well as an excellent range of everyday cards. While we are trying to appeal to a broad range of card buyers, it is the unique cards which attract the deeper shopping basket.
The card shoppers we encounter in our specialist card and gift shops is quite different to the card shopper we see in our newsagencies. Newsagency card customers buy fewer cards each visit based on the sales data we see. There is also a difference in captions. This is why card companies often supply different ranges to newsagencies versus card and gift shops.
As newsagents move more into gifts and become a hybrid somewhere between a newsagency and a gift shop, care will need to be taken on the management of the card range.
Now if only I could easily attract $70.00 card sales to my newsagencies.
Pacific Magazines has put together a flyer for newsagents to want to promote Prevention magazine ahead of the launch next week. Click here for a copy of the flyer in Microsoft Word format for local customisation. Click here for a PDF of a sexier PDF version we did at the office.
I like the idea of promotion in advance of the launch as it positions us well for when the TV and other media campaigns kick into high gear. We are enjoying success with our pre launch promotion of the Michael Jackson calendar. This is encouraging us to use a similar approach with other new products – such as Prevention.
XChangeIT successfully completed a server upgrade today to address recent issues. Network & NDD files for tomorrow have been sent successfully. Gordon & Gotch has advised that there server is down (unrelated to other XChangeIT problems over the last week) and that every available resource has been pursuing a resolution.
UPDATE: I am told that this is fixed but at the time of poting am yet to have this confirmed.
Further to my post last month about NSW Lotteries, there is more media coverage today on the disagreement between the ANF and NANA on the preferred approach on the privatisation. While this disagreement does make us look like a disorganised rabble, the difference offers newsagents a means of comparing the ANF with NANA.
The rollout of the new XChangeIT Link platform to newsagents has been slowed following a series of issues which were experienced by newsagents and suppliers last week. this is a welcome move as it allows everyone to focus on sorting out platform related issues without needing to help newssagents migrate.
We are promoting the new range of Hallmark sound cards in each of our stores. Even though they have only been up a week, sales are strong – I have seen customers buy two at a time. What I especially like about this range is the depth of occasion coverage – this is key to driving more than single card sales. I have had a couple of customers comment positively about the price point too – this should generate good word of mouth.
This is like a major magazine launch for us – exciting and an opportunity for us to refresh our offer and our commitment to the category. It changes gear for our card department and shows us moving with the times.
While I have seen sound cards from others and indeed sold them, this new range from Hallmark is genuinely fresh.
Father’s Day season shopping is always quite last minute. This year is no different. While we have achieved some sales, good business did not start until yesterday. It will get busier through the week and peak on Saturday. The best indicator of Father’s Day kicking in is when Darrell Lea Dad’s Bags take off – this started yesterday. They are a great gift, easy to sell and easy to merchandise.
We have replaced our old Konica copier with a new unit from Toshiba. In addition to a considerably faster operation, we have been able to cut our per copy cost and introduce new services such as scanning and emailing. We did look at a Konica unit but leant to the Toshiba based on a better deal.
In our own case, we do $15,000 a year in colour and black and white copying. Cutting our per copy operating costs by 20% significantly improves the return we achieve from this traffic generating service.
I am not blogging to say go with Toshiba over other brands but, rather, to highlight that there are good copier deals out there which can cut operating costs and therefore improve margin on copying and other services.
The key to finding the best deals are: prepare – know what copying demand you have in your store, shop around, don’t take the first price offered, and understand the features available and assess their value to your customers.
TVNZ reported yesterday that Gordon & Gotch NZ has entered into an agreement to purchase key NZ competitor, Independent Magazine Distributors.
My view is that we are in a period of change in the magazine distribution model. The change will reach beyond the distributors themselves and into other businesses which serve the category.
It has been two months since The Age has a post-it type ad stuck across the newspaper masthead. Today’s ad, for the Royal Melbourne Hospital Home Lottery, is like all the others – peel it off as they ask and you tear the front page of the newspaper. It is disappointing to see a respected brand treated in this way.
With more newsagencies operating as retail-only businesses, newspaper publishers need to review how they handle distribution of giveaways designed to drive sales. Some distribution newsagents refuse to provide retail-only newsagents with suffiicient stock while others provide plenty.
By sufficient stock, I mean enough of the gifts for their own newspapers as well as for supermarket customers who will visit the newsagency and ask for the giveaway.
I have seen a situation where the distribution newsagent operates in competition to the retail-only newsagent and restricts supply of the gifts in a way which stops the retail-only newsagent providing the level of customer service the newspaper publisher would want to see. Such restriction defeats the purpose of the gifts.
We are promoting Burke’s Backyard to shoppers leaving our busiest maagzine aisle this week. While not the prettiest display from a visual merchandising perspective, the display will work well as it is placed next to the waterfall display of the Burke’s Backyard magazine. We will leave this display up for at least a week – longer if sales and supplies warrant.
We are promoting ACP Magazines’ 30 DAYS OF FASHION at the front of our newsagency this week. This is more a billboard positioning for than a display to sell off – although we are hoping to raise sales for Grazia from its positioning. We are a bit soft on this promotion because it is really about engaging with opportunities outside newsagencies.
I have been talking to some magazine publishers recently about different sales models, in pursuit of more economic terms for newsagents than the current sale or return system controlled by Australia’s three magazine distributors.
The contact usually comes in the form of a question: which magazine distributor is recommended by newsagents?
This question is more complex than it sounds and is not one I am comfortable answering without knowing more about what the publisher wants to achieve by getting their magazine in to newsagencies. Some publishers want to be in front of browsers in newsagencies. Others want sales to drive subscription uptake. Others want real sales and to develop a long-term mutually beneficial relationship with newsagents.
It is this third category of publisher I am most interested in as they are more likely to invest in the newsagency channel and reward our investment in their titles.
It is clear that there are some independent publishers looking for an alternative which provides them with more direct to newsagent contact. They are usually open to a direct supply relationship on a sale or return basis for a better than usual margin a firm sale arrangement for an even better margin.
That some independent publishers are looking for alternatives which better suit their business model is good for newsagents. Our goals and the goals of publishers ought to be more closely aligned than the goals of the magazine distributors. This is not a criticism, just an acknowledgement of the services they are paid to provide.
Reducing the supply chain will cut costs and leave more money on the table for newsagents and publishers.
The question is whether an independent publisher is willing to break the system and try a evolve a direct to newsagent model. I am certain there are newsagents who would be willing to try this.