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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Retrospective billing for magazine returns freight

Newsagents on the Central Coast of New South Wales are reporting that freight company 1st Fleet Express has issued accounts which apply an increase in their fees for collecting unsold magazines, returns, by 66% and applying this increase retrospectively.

NANA, the state association representing newsagents in NSW is right on to this issue and has advised newsagents:

We strongly suggest that Agents effected by this increase contact 1st Fleet Express (Mr Paul Rowe Executive General Manager Ph 133040), and advise him, in the absence of any prior advice indicating any increase to rates, their invoice will be paid at the rate of $3-00 per carton up to and including the date of the account received.

The retrospective billing goes back months from what I am told.  If true this is appalling behaviour.  Newsagents need to follow the NANA advice.

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Ethics

Using Kevin Rudd on the cover of The Monthly

monthly_feb09.JPGThe Monthly hit the shelves in newsagencies perfectly timed yesterday given the coverage of the Federal Government second stimulus package.The Prime Minister is on the cover as The Monthly publishes his essay about the global financial crisis. The production is exceptional, making the magazine stand out even more than for the content itself.

We have The Monthly displayed at the counter, above our newspapers as well as with current affairs titles – overkill maybe but our view is that with the stimulus announcement top of mind we have a window of opportunity for around a week to promote The Monthly.

We need to be opportunistic in our magazine promotions, allowing a great cover to guide our choices.  I have seen countless examples of such opportunistic choices achieve incremental sales.  We don’t always promote the mainstream titles or titles from the biggest publishers.  Our approach with The Monthly this month is a good example of this – capitalising on the big news of the week.

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magazines

Donna Hay magazine expensive for newsagents

donnahay_feb09.JPGThe new issue of Donna Hay magazine arrived in newsagencies yesterday but the old issue is not due to come off the shelves for another month. While the publisher will say that it may sell, they don’t pay the retail rent or the labour to manage the additional stock. Delaying the return a month is a cash grab from which I suspect the publisher and distributor benefit. The process of managing a new issue of a magazine ought to be straightforward – the new issue goes out and the old issue is returned. To require newsagents to hold an old issue for a month after a new issue arrives is an unfair financial impost on small business newsagents.

If a publisher believes that having an old issue on the shelf next to a current issue will generate sales then they should back their judgement and not bill newsagents until the old unsold stock is due to come off the shelf.  In other words, they should take the risk with their money and not rely on newsagents to be their bank.

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magazine distribution

AFL Prospectus for season 2009

aflprospectus.JPGMy blog post about the AFL record season guide earlier this week generated plenty of emails and calls from newsagents wondering where they could source this so I thought I’d let people know that another publication, the AFL Prospectus for season 2009 is now available in newsagencies.

Distributed through Network Services, the AFL Prospectus is published by Champion Data and has a retail price of $29.95.

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magazines

Newsagents embracing selling cards with music downloads

Newsagents are flocking to Cardplai, the greeting cards which are sold with music downloads as the gift. My software company, Tower Systems, has exclusively partnered with Cardplai through our eziPass software. We have done this work pro-bono for the benefit of newsagents. We were offered a cut of every sale but preferred to see this invested in newsagent margin and marketing.

Monday was a big day in the Cardplai launch as it is when software was turned in the many newsagencies which have taken up the offer. The days since have been busy helping newsagents navigate the finer points of activating Cardplai cards.

One POS Solutions user reported a problem with Cardplai running on their hardware running the POS software. We logged into their system, found the incompatibility between our eziPass and the POS software and made a software change to address this.

Cardplai is a terrific opportunity for newsagents to get something exclusive for their channel which is being advertised extensively. Since it is new there are bound to be teething opportunities from which we can improve the offer.  Newsagents say they want to be relevant in the changing world.  Cardplai is such anopportunity with little risk.

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Ethics

Covering Sydney in the name of the newspaper

smh_feb4.JPGThe post-it type ad stuck over the masthead of The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper today is the worst damage I have seen done to a newspaper masthead in time I have been chronicling this activity here.

This desecration of their brand demonstrates how little value Fairfax places in what was once a great newspaper brand. Maybe they don’t think Sydney is all that important.

At some point in the future there will be a question of when media companies changed their view of the value of newspaper mastheads. I hope that the photos I have posted here of the use by Fairfax of this cover-up advertising will be of some assistance.

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newspaper masthead desecration

Buy a newspaper day

Chris Freiberg, a reporter at the Daily News-Miner in Fairbanks, Alaska, created Buy a Newspaper Day the day with a site on Facebook.  It took place on Monday this week.  Editor and Publisher has some coverage on the idea.  I like the initiative.  A check of Google News shows that it did not receive much coverage in newspapers. The blogosphere has considerably more coverage.

Like Magazine Week in the UK, Buy a Newspaper Day is designed to (re)focus the mind of consumers on print media.

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magazines

Valentine’s Day in Frankston

frank_val_09.JPGThe team at our Frankston newsagency have created a wonderful display for Valentine’s Day, part of which can be seen in the photo. The centrepiece is the coffee machine which one lucky customer will win. Around this they have placed a selection of our Valentine’s Day gifts and behind is the start of our Hallmark Valentine’s Day card range. I had not seen the shop for a week and was immediately drawn to the stunning display when I walked in.

A good display is about theatre.  It is also about shopping.  This display delivers on both fronts – it looks great and is easy to shop.  Of course, the proof will be where we stand by February 14.

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Greeting Cards

Newspaper half price offer misses opportunity

While on the Gold Coast yesterday, I saw the coupon being used in the Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper to attract consumers to the half-price offer. Prominent in their pitch is a drive for subscription sales. Given the retail only status of some newsagents involved in the campaign, this ultimate goal of taking sales from retail to home delivery is cheeky.

While I accept that the publisher has to try and drive sales, I think the Gold Coast Bulletin publisher is missing an opportunity to build loyalty around consumers who prefer an over the counter newspaper purchase. I am certain that newsagents would embrace such a campaign.

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newspaper home delivery

Vodafone selects e-pay

Vodafone has announced that it has appointed e-pay Australia as its exclusive distributor of Vodafone prepaid recharge products via retail channels. For some months Vodafone has also supplied through TAFMO. This relationship appears to be at an end. Newsagents using the eziPass platform from my software company can access Vodafone recharge product direct from e-pay.

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phone recharge

OzLotto jackpots to $40 million

With $40 million now in play for division 1, OzLotto is going to attract serious consumer attention over the next week. This is an excellent opportunity for newsagents to leverage additional traffic. I’ll some thoughts on that in the next few days.

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Lotteries

Harvey Norman OFIS to close

Harvey Norman announced to the ASX today that all five OFIS stationery and office products stores would close by the end of this year and that no further investment would be made in the OFIS brand.  Here is part of my assessment of their first store from my April 10, 2008 blog post:

The store itself felt, well, bland. The pink logo is the strong visual but even then it’s only in the uniforms, plastic bags and at the front. In-store signage, which may be temporary, was not the bold message I expected.

To support the opening they give you a brown paper bag and anything you can fit inside during your shop you get 15% off. While it’s not a new idea, the execution at Ofis is good – I was offered the bag three times and told to fill it up. I know the idea has been used in at least one stationery outlet in the US with good success.

So, what does Ofis mean for newsagents? If Harvey Norman is committed for the long haul, and I am yet to be convinced of this given what I saw, newsagents need to be prepared for more competition in the stationery space. We need to get back to basics – the best range, keen prices, exceptional service and marketing our offer outside our four walls.

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Newsagency challenges

Participate in our January sales benchmark study

I am undertaking a sales benchmark study comparing January 2009 against January 2008. Tower Newsagents can participate by sending a Monthly Sales Comparison report: tick the box to exclude home deliveries, and tick the box for a category breakdown. Set your first date range (on the left) to January 1, 2009 to January 31, 2009 and the date range of the right to one year earlier. Once the report is on the screen, click the PDF button to save this as a PDF, go into your email software and send a copy of the PDF to me at mark@towersystems.com.au. Newsagents not using Tower software should email for a spreadsheet template. I’ll publish the benchmark results here and elsewhere so all newsagents can benefit.

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Newsagency opportunities

Officeworks sells stamps now

officeworks_stamps.JPGI was surprised to see stamps advertised as being available at Officeworks. When we applied for one of our newsagencies Australia Post refused. They said we were too close to one of their shops. I know of an Officeworks next to an Australia Post shop. I bet they have stamps. It is wrong for Australia Post to do a deal with Officeworks yet refuse an individual newsagent for being too close.

That said, I am not surprised as I expect the two businesses have ties elsewhere which were leveraged to make this deal happen.

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Australia Post

The Age modifies subscription model

The Age notified newsagents yesterday that they are changing the subscription model, or how they deal with newsagents at least.  They are moving from fixed-term subscriptions to open-ended subscriptions.  Beyond giving newsagents only seven days notice to make considerable data and system process changes, there are questions customers will have when the previous fixed-term subscription continues.  While The Age ‘manages’ the customer relationship, newspaper home delivery customers often like to talk about these things face-to-face.  Of course, in this day of subscription based home delivery the newsagent no longer owns the customer.

As a retail newsagent, I would prefer The Age invest in over-the-counter customers.  They are as loyal yet cost significantly less than home delivery customers … except that the margin for The Age on retail sales is not as good as their home-delivery model where newsagents share the cost of subscription campaigns.

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newspaper home delivery

Promoting the Wiggles magazine

fhn_wiggles.JPGWe have decided to promote The Wiggles magazine at the counter at our newsXpress Forest Hill store this week.

We selected this title because it is back to school week in Victoria and I figured that education will be top of mind. The Wiggles magazine is educational like the show. It also has freebies which come with the magazine so it fits our criteria for use of this space.

I love how bright the display is – it’s hard to miss at the counter.

From yesterday’s sales we know this display will be a success, it is at perfect kid-in-the-trolley height.

The sales will further demonstrate the value of placing carefully and locally selected titles at counter within a well presented display.

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magazines

AFL Season record 2009 now available

afl_record.JPGYou know the year is well under way when the AFL Record Season Guide 2009 is published and available in-store. Even though the price is chunk at $39.93, we expect this to sell quite easily – we have it at one of our lottery counters as it is more an impulse item.  Curiously, I spoke with a couple of newsagents in Victoria today who did not receive any copies of this.

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magazines

Using the newspaper poster space

noposter.JPGWith no poster at all for The Age today we are improvising with the New Idea poster in its place and with a small stand of copies of New Idea below.  While we are happy to promote the magazine this way, we’d prefer a poster which relates to the content of today’s Age.

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magazines

Cramming Golf Magazine into a confined space

cramming_pocket.JPGThe quantity we receive of Golf Magazine usually fits nicely into a pocket, usually. This month, thanks to the publisher sending the current issue with a “bonus” magazine, the one pocket allocated to the title is insufficient. If we leave it as shown in the photo, product will be damaged and the publisher would be rightly annoyed at the poor representation. The alternative is to give this title an extra pocket but that means double the real-estate for the same sales.

While I could store excess stock in the back room and bring it out when space in the pocket frees, this would mean another title-specific process and with around 1,300 titles on the shelves who has the time for this?

So, what is the answer? If it were my call I would ensure that the product itself has the best possible value rather than relying on old stock (in a sealed bag!) to achieve this. But I am not the publisher. I wish publishers would think through the implications of their actions: some newsagents will leave spare stock in their back rooms and it will never make it to the shelves, others will shove more into one pocket and others will give the title more space at their own cost.

The ideal would be a more considered retailer-friendly approach to pursuing incremental sales.

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magazines

Melbourne Gift Fair report

I spent time yesterday at the Reed Gift Fair in Melbourne looking at product for our shops, catching up with some newsagents and checking in on the Tower Systems stand.

There were plenty for products suitable for newsagents who want to expand their gift range. This is a view shared by other newsagents I talked with. While the stationery related items I saw are easy to fit in our stores, I preferred some of the homewares products which could easily be sold in newsagencies.

Entrepreneurial newsagents are tapping into fashion related gift items and driving a better return from floor space. This Melbourne Fair shows off those opportunities for newsagents open to change. If you come along with newsagent eyes then you will think it is a waste of time. As some people would say, this fair, for newsagents attending, is about new money. That is why those I spoke with at the fair liked it so much.  New money = new customers, better margin and more control.

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Gifts

Sunday Mail National Geographic DVD mess

It has just gone 9am in Queensland and many newsagents have already exhausted all of their stock of the National Geographic DVD which comes with today’s Sunday Mail newspaper. I have heard of customers abusing the newsagent when it is Queensland Newspapers at fault. They should not run a promotion unless they have sufficient stock for all newsagents.  Even one newsagent being out of stock by 9am on the first day is enough to label this a mess.

When the Herald and Weekly Times ran this National Geographic promotion in Victoria last year my experience was that stock availability was good. It worked for us and the newspaper brand. This does not help Queensland newsagents, many of whom have a day of frustration ahead.

News Ltd lets each state handle these things. For years they have known of problems with promotions in some states yet they do not intervene. In the meantime, newsagents and consumers lose out.

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Newsagency challenges

January newsagency retail sales benchmark study

I am undertaking a sales benchmark study comparing January 2009 against January 2008. Tower Newsagents can participate by sending a Monthly Sales Comparison report: tick the box to exclude home deliveries, and tick the box for a category breakdown. Set your first date range (on the left) to January 1, 2009 to January 31, 2009 and the date range of the right to one year earlier. Once the report is on the screen, click the PDF button to save this as a PDF, go into your email software and send a copy of the PDF to me at mark@towersystems.com.au.

I’d like to complete the benchmark by the end of the week so the sooner I receive data the better.

Newsagents not using Tower software wishing to participate should email for a spreadsheet template.

I’ll publish the benchmark results here and elsewhere so all newsagents can benefit.

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Newsagency challenges

Home and Away magazine a runaway success

home_and_away.JPGThe Home and Away magazine, celebrating 21 years of the TV show, has been a runaway success for newsagents with many reporting selling out within 24 hours this last week. We could have easily sold two or three times the quantity we received in our newsagencies.

The success of the Home and Away magazine says something for the success of the show. It also shows nostalgia sells – the magazine covered the 21 years of the show.

The success also set me thinking about other one-shot titles which could be successful:

  • A Neighbours retrospective. (Obvious suggestion I know)
  • Great Woman’s Day or New Idea cover stories from the 1970s. If successful go with the 1980s etc.
  • When royals visit – a retrospective of royal visits to Australia.
  • Where are they now – there could be several issues and themed.
  • Sports hero nation – great sporting moments when heroes were made.

The (incomplete) list of titles I have in mind are those which can be culled from existing content held by publishers (and their associated entities) and on topics which are highly commercial and could easily sell as low cost entertainment.

It would be easy to come up with a list of twenty or thirty titles from which a top list could be developed.

The key with one-shots like this is to lock newsagents as the retail channel (of course I will say that), to promote the title heavily on TV and to ensure there is stock to meet the demand. How newsagents could make this work is through pre-orders. We have the capacity in our technology to take orders in advance and these could guide the size of the print run. Some software systems already advise magazine distributors of pre sales so there are mechanisms in place to help everyone make the most from the opportunities smart one-shot publishing offers.

I, and I am sure others, would be thrilled to work with a publisher on this.

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magazines
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