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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Pitching the BOPO replacement

frank_visa.JPGWhile we have been offering prepaid Visa debit cards for some time, we have only recently installed the counter display unit. This has boosted sales. Customers can see the four products available and understand each. These are sold and recharged directly through our software. They are a great replacement for the BOPO product from the recently collapsed Bill Express, especially the Canvas card. The margin is good. Selling the card and starting an account connects the business with the recharge opportunity.

I like this type of recharge business because of the habit basis – this is something newsagents are good at.  Also, there is good research suggesting that selling the card means you are more likely to be used for recharge in the future.

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Financial services

Promoting the Bathurst winner

bathurstwinner.JPGWe have placed Men’s Health with Craig Lowndes on the cover with the Herald Sun to connect with his Bathurst race win at the weekend.

Even though this Men’s Health issue is close to coming off the shelf we figured it is worth a pitch.

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magazines

Lay By now for Christmas

With credit so much in the news, now is a good time for newsagents to promote a lay by service for Christmas purchases. Promoted well, this should attract sales which might otherwise have gone to a larger business more known for Lay By. Ure to take care of record keeping.

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retail

This is an open conversation

The comments made here recently have attracted the attention of respected Australian blogger Trevor Cook. This attention ought to serve as a reminder that this is a public place and that any comments posted reflect on the community as well as the person making the comments.

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Blogging

OFIS opens in Melbourne

hnofis.JPGOFIS, the new stationery model from Harvey Norman, opened in the Melbourne suburb of Mentone yesterday. It is easy to say that OFIS offers nothing new, that it is a clone of Officeworks and therefore dismiss it. What is new is that stationery has been flogged hard on Melbourne radio this past week. The arrival OFIS puts stationery on the radar and lets people know there are other outlets and that price is an issue.

Newsagents heavily into stationery and located near to the OFIS business will be affected. Newsagents who focus on stationery as a convenience service are less likely to be affected.  This distinction will become more important to us over time.
The Melbourne incarnation of OFIS is an advancement on the first stores of this new group.  The layout has been refined as has the core product pitch.  They have some categories which I did not see in the Sydney store, categories which newsagents could play with.

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Newsagency challenges

The value of discount vouchers

The Sunday Age today has a story (page 4 in the print edition) about the importance of discount vouchers in tough times.  Smart newsagents will make sure that every customer leaving their shop has an offer which aims to lure them back.  The voucher could be something printed on the copier in-store or printed using your point of sale software.  While I can’t speak for others, I know that our Tower Systems software prints vouchers – based on what has been purchased for for all sales.  I like this because the voucher becomes automatic.

I plan to take a careful look at the vouchers being issued by other businesses with a view to developing a strategic plan for the next three months.  This is something we need to be consistent with. The article in The Age is right – it is times like this that customers will be drawn to businesses offering deals.  For newsagents that has always been a challenge.

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newsagency marketing

Tattersalls copies Intralot again

hs_tatts.JPGI was interested to see the ad in the Herald Sun today for the new Tattersalls Monday and Wednesday games.  In addition to their use of the cloud art, which is a feature of Intralot marketing, Tattersalls is using an orange background – orange is the corporate colour of Intralot.  I do not recall Tattersalls using cloud artwork or orange as a key colour prior to their use by Intralot.

Looking at the ad this morning, I wondered if we will get to a point where Tattersalls and Intralot products are marketed in a unified way.  Either co-operatively or through some jointly owned vehicle or one under contract to the other.  There could be some sense in that.  Tattersalls copying Intralot suggests they like the idea of common theme.

For the record I note that Victorian Tattersalls outlets still have no viable use for the scratch ticket bays.  These prime retail position bays, next to each Tattersalls machine, have been useless since July this year. The most logical use for them is the Intralot scratch ticket products. Without Tattersalls agreement that is not possible.  They next alternative is impulse purchase product.  If Tattersalls cared about their retail partners they would open these bays up so we could gain some return on the expensive space.  Using them, as we are supposed to today, for posters is nonsense.

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Lotteries

The value of change

frank_bazaar.JPGA few weeks ago at our Frankston newsagency, we moved the ACP magazine display unit from the front of the shop to next to newspapers. This unit has been provided by ACP as a basket builder – to drive impulse purchases. For it to work it needs to be seen by customers. Leaving it in the one place too long means it becomes invisible to regulars. Our move has worked well for the magazines on display in the unit. It has also worked well for the magazine we feature on the back of the unit.  Harpers Bazaar is the current title benefiting from thisadditional display space.

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magazines

Financial Review cover-up

afroct11.JPGThis weekend’s Australian Financial Review has a post-it type ad for BRW subscriptions stuck on the front page. At least they have not covered a major headline or the masthead. However, it again shows that advertising is more powerful at Fairfax than editorial. I wish that Fairfax would invest as much in helping newsagents grow subscription sales for in-store pickup as they do for these hand delivered subscriptions.

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newspaper masthead desecration

Sony announces new reader

Sony has announced a new reader – a device on which you can read books and other content. This new device is lighter, more stylish and has a touch screen for easier reading. Check our Forbes for the story. Borders will sell this new device in the US. There is a lesson here for newsagents – a bookshop selling devices which could make print obsolete in the book category.

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Media disruption

Hatred and blog comments

It is disappointing that a few commenters at this blog spew hatred instead of rational comment.  The comments posted on Thursday evening by one person using seven different names served to make himself or herself look stupid and for readers to therefore disregard their view.

The purpose of my original post was to open a discussion about the future representation of newsagents on the national stage given the failure of the ANF.  That it deteriorated into the childish drivel it did does not hold much hope for the channel.

With around 1,500 visitors to this place each day including prospective newsagents and suppliers, I’d urge newsagents to take care with comments – unless you want our channel to look like a bunch schoolyard thugs who hate each other.

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About us

A wordle cloud for this blog

I was playing with Wordle yesterday – a website which creates a word cloud based on the content of a website. Here is what it came up with based on the content at this blog:

word_cloud.JPG

Wordle gives greater prominence to words that appear more frequently.

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About us

Collateral for newsagent TV ad

Newsagents wanting to support the TV ad campaign which starts this weekend can click here for an A3 colour poster or click here for an A4 colour poster.

This kind of campaign relies of consumers seeing and hearing the message multple times.  Hence the invitation for newsagents to engage and place the poster in their window or behind the counter.

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newsagency marketing

Smart lottery pack

ilot_triple.JPGIntralot has put together two Triple Pix packs to connect with Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival. Each pack is made up three products, providing an opportunity to introduce customers to products they may not usually purchase. I like that it mixes two online games with a scratch ticket game.

I may be mistaken but I cannot recall such a packaged offer in Victoria. The point of sale material is bright and enticing.

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Lotteries

Melbourne Observer supporting newsagents

mo_naad.JPGNewsagents in Victoria should check the inside back cover of the Melbourne Observer on the shelves this week. There, you will see the free ad they are running in support of newsagents. This promotion in the Observer has been co-ordinated to coincide with the national TV commercial which starts on air this Sunday.

It would be terrific if newsagents were to thank Ash Long and the team at the Observer for supporting newsagents.

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newsagency marketing

Saying no to dud calendars

family_organiser_dud.JPGWe are early returning this and other calendars to Network Services having previously advised them that we do not wish to receive non magazine title calendars through them. We have a similar themed organiser calendar from another supplier delivering more than double the margin of the network supplied product. There is no point in offering a poor margin product when you have a more viable alternative.

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Calendars

When to kill a magazine

cmyk.JPGCMYK magazine perfectly illustrates the challenge Australian newsagents face. In all but a handful of newsagencies it will sell one copy an issue if you are lucky. It has a cover price of $24.50. I like CMYK because it reflects depth of range. I don’t like that it is loss making for us, selling one copy every two or three issues. There are several hundred titles like this around which we and other newsagents need to make a decision.

Newsagents I talk with are more likely today to make the decision to quit CMYK than they were two or three years ago. This is because they see less support from publishers or newsagents. Lack of support by one publisher – because they moved into petrol and convenience – makes newsagents less inclined to support other publishers.

The newsagency channel is finely balanced. The pain inflicted at one was always bound to hurt at another. Hence the pain which will flow for fringe publishers of small volume titles which do not pay their way.

If we can eliminate these low volume fringe titles, newsagents will be better resourced to handle the other titles some of which are delivering tremendous growth.

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magazines

Why the ANF should stop looking for a CEO

Further to my post on Tuesday about the Australian Newsagents’ Federation, I was disappointed to read tonight that the ANF is advanced in reviewing applicants for the CEO role. This search is being undertaken at the same time that the ANF is in deep discussion with at least two state associations and others about their future. Restructure scenarios have been put on the table, some a radical departure form the current structure. The ANF Board is kidding itself if it thinks it can tell the states it wants to discuss a new structure and then go ahead and appoint a CEO without knowing what the new national body looks like.

Given the failure of the ANF to serve the needs of newsagents over Bill Express and the multi million dollar cost of that mess to newsagents and for the reasons I outlined Tuesday, newsagents would, in my view, be better off ignoring the ANF and creating a new national body to serve their policy and some national representational needs.

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Newsagency challenges

Top Gear tops

topgear_nov08.JPGUnlike then TV show which has dropped dropped audience share since its debut, our experience with ACP magazines’ Top Gear is that it is powering along.  What I especially like is that Top Gear sells easily as an impulse item.    This is why we offer it at multiple locations – in the car area and near one of our key register points.  My experience is that women tend to purchase Top Gear on impulse.  It stands to reason since they are less likely to be shopping the car / men’s magazine aisle.

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magazines

Dealing with Pepper Home Loans

Some newsagents are still unsure how to deal with letters they have received from Pepper Homeloans chasing payments they claim are related to the Bill Express equipment.  The advice from the legal team behind the Bill Express class action is to write to Pepper and request details of the debt and to ask how they can be sure that no other party will make any claim in relation to this.

I am not aware of any newsagent who has paid money to Pepper Homeloans in response to their letter of demand.

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Bill Express

Halloween in full swing

frankhallow.JPGHalloween sales have been strong since we put out a range of novelties and party favors last week. As with previous years, our focus is on lighthearted fun and giving kids some good costume choices. Having the best range in the area helps, customers remember that from one year to the next. It is good to have a mini cookbook from ACP for the season as well as one or two other magazine related lines.

The photo shows part of the shop front for our Frankston store. It is a stunning embrace of the season!

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retail

What’s with free playing cards?

dsc04641.JPGPlaying cards are a favorite giveaway with magazine publishers at the moment. Indeed, the number of magazines using cards dilutes the value of the gift and therefore its ability to pull incremental sales. Also, for some titles there is no apparent sense in playing cards as a gift. Look at Road Rider magazine and Playstation magazine. Besides some basic branding, the gift itself does not have much connection.

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magazines

Gifts hot in New Zealand

Some of my team from Tower Systems have just returned from a busy Gift Fair in Auckland. As we experienced here in Australia, the gift marketplace is very active. Suppliers and retailers are busy building stronger businesses. In NZ we saw plenty of newsagent type businesses looking at gifts. As in Australia, they are achieving good growth from this category. Gifts are a great way to deepen the basket with good margin product in a newsagency.

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Gifts
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