The move by Emirates to move to a paperless plane is interesting – they are replacing printed material (magazines, menus etc) with digital content to save fuel. I think we will encounter more conversations about the environmental impact of printed material in the coming years from the cost of distribution to the waste once we are done with the product. The news coverage of the move by Emirates shows there is considerable interest.
Steven Denham has launched a Magazine Club Card in his newsagency at West Chiltington, West Sussex in the UK. This card is modeled on the card we launched four years ago. I am excited to see how it travels in the UK marketplace. Our original plan was to run the card for six months and then rest it. Resulting sales have seen us maintain the card for four years. It is a pleasure to introduce the card to a customer for the first time see the appreciation. This is what brings them back to us and not to the supermarket for magazines. I hope the card is a great commercial success in the UK.
Tattersalls is running a radio ad campaign in Melbourne for tomorrow night’s $15 million OzLotto jackpot. The tag at the end encourages listeners to buy online at lotto.com.au.
Jane Schulze writing at The Australian explains the extent to which the fall in classified revenue for Fairfax newspapers contributed to the recent decision by the company to cut 550 jobs. The recent research by Goldman Sachs JB Were to which Schulze refers offers more evidence of why newsagents need to look at the revenue balance of their businesses. While newspapers will be important for years to come, their level of importance will change, as Fairfax is experiencing already.
We love British magazines at our Forest Hill store. This time of year it is a challenge to find space for the Summer issues, special editions catering to summer reading in the UK. Here are four popular titles currently requiring an extra pocket of space.
We have found the space because the sales will be there. It just means care when placing stock out – management level decisions are necessary.
We have a table of small desk calendars on display between our diaries and calendars. This is a considerably bigger range of desk calendars than we had last year. It is different to what you would expect to see in a newsagency – because we have sourced this from non newsagent suppliers. It is part of our strategy of broadening our range of calendars and related lines, part of the newsXpress calendar offer. Calendars have grown for us over the last three years and we are chasing more growth this year.
The newsagency I blogged about a year ago – reporting that they often closed early – is closed for a week. The sign says it is closed due to family circumstances. With the number of relieving newsagents available, this newsagency does not have to close, especially on this busy street. It makes all newsagents look bad.
The Federal Government yesterday released an issues paper on unit pricing. This will be of interest to newsagents because of possible legislative changes. Read the brief paper and consider a submission if appropriate to your newsagency.
Earlier this week I blogged about the competition the Trading Post is running in
I would see how far I could stretch the $1,000 by using it as a motivator to get jobs done which require labour, which have been put off and which would add to the business. I’d focus on small projects in the business which help improve efficiency or sales. For example:
These are two example of how we could stretch the $1,000, improve and the business and generate revenue from the investment.
I’d look for small projects like these which have been put off and which have a labour component – and thereby I get to stretch the value of the $1,000.
I have other ideas but these two are where I would start.
I was surprised to see fifteen Supanews newsagency outlets listed for sale by the company at Seek Commercial. Supanews is a franchise model where franchisees pay a percentage of turnover as the franchise fee.
Just Health & Beauty is a new health magazine – which you will not find on newsagent shelves. It has been produced by and exclusively for the Chemist Warehouse stores. Free magazines like this, in tough economic times, could pull some consumers away from their usual paid-for title.
Pepper Homeloans has written to some newsagents claiming to act on behalf of the trust to which they claim Technology Business International assigned rights in relation to the rental of Bill Express equipment. The Pepper letter requests that Bill Express equipment rental arrears be paid. It lists a contact number for newsagents to call to discuss the matter.
The QNF continues to the newsagent association providing good leadership on this matter. Below I publish with their permission what they have sent to members today:
Please find attached (below) Hank Spier’s advice regarding Pepper Homeloans correspondence received this week.
We further suggest that all newsagents may wish to contact their Bank and give notice that any direct debit for the amount mentioned in your letter of demand from Pepper Homeloans should not be allowed to go through on the 25th of this month (QNF are unsure as to which company may attempt to debit your account as they have used different company names, previously using TBI & CHP).
The attached advice was to go out to only those newsagents represented by Hank Spier but the QNF & Hank feel that it is important that all newsagents are informed.
As Hank Spier representing 100’s of newsagents with this issue and the ongoing issue of Bill Express, he is presently being inundated with phone calls and emails.
If you wish him to represent you simply email him with your details, he is unable to reply but will include you on his list.
The details required are:- Full Name & Company Name, Business Name (shop name), Address, Phone, Email address
For wording in the email:- “we wish to be represented by you with regard to this Bill Express issue”
If you have any specific questions you can direct them to the QNF via email.
Here is the advice from their legal team:
Pepper Homeloans.
Some of you will have received letters from Pepper Homeloans headed Over Due Notification and demanding payments.
These letters follow on from similar letters some time ago from Mobius.
I have today written to Pepper along the same lines as I did to Mobius, namely we regard the claims as invalid and their action unlawful. We have also asked them to prove the validity of their demands.
We have also said to Pepper, as we did to Mobius, that should they take any legal action against anyone in our group we will immediately move in Court against them.
In relation to the letter you have just received from Pepper I suggest that you either write back to Pepper saying that the matter is with solicitors acting for newsagents and newsagents associations or simply do not respond.
ACCC
I met with ACCC last week. Their investigation is well underway.
Hopefully some positive action will be announced very soon by the ACCC.
Hank Spier. Special Counsel. Sweeney Commercial.
For those interested, Pepper is owned by Oakwood (Luxembourg). Merrill Lynch is a major shareholder in Okawood.
We are actively promoting TV Week at the counter this weekend in an end of on-sale push. It has the free DVD of six TV show samples so it meets the criteria of offering a free gift.
Sales have been good so we figured why not aim for a sell out with a display over the weekend when we get a different mix of customers through.
Our team at our Frankston newsagency refuses to let the big old column at the front of the shop get in the way of promoting product.
They have just wrapped the column in black as a background for a four-sided calendar display. This is in addition to product filled calendar stands at the front of the shop.
The side showing in the photo shows mainly TV show themed calendars. This will change as the calendar season moved toward Christmas. I especially like that they have created a display which facilitates such easy change at the front of the shop.
Other sides use perspex shelves to display desk and other smaller calendars.
Retail Newsagent magazine in the UK has a feature this month on newsagencies in Australia. Steven Denham covers this at his Village Counter Talk Blog. Jarryd Moore and I have been covered by the journalists who put the article together.
It is good to see the UK interest in the newsagency model here. The channel in each country can learn from the other.
My software company, Tower Systems, has been delivering free online training and user meetings this year in addition to the seventy or or face to face user meetings around the country. The online series is proving to be a great success with close to full attendance at most sessions. We have a cap of fifteen attendees. We have purchased access to the Web Ex platform – this is a widely used conferencing platform and provides good management of video and audio to create a professional and comfortable online meeting experience.
Next week we are repeating one of our most popular online training events – a Meet The Experts session where we make available one of the mist skilled Tower team members:
We are offering these sessions to help our users more directly connect with our most senior people and thereby get more from your software. Participation is free. All you need is a phone for a toll-free call and a computer with broadband connected. Please book by emailing bookings@towersystems.com.au.
What is really good about these sessions is that we get to connect newsagents who would not usually meet.
We are offering Christmas cards in time to meet overseas mail deadlines. We have these near a good range of Australian themed calendars – an ideal gift to be sent with such cards. While this may seem commonsense to some, others will think we are too early. Sales show it is not.
All of our card decisions are made from the view that we see ourselves as the greeting card specialists.
The QNF continues to lead newsagents on Bill Express matters. here is their latest advice on the moves by the publicly listed Swish Group to access the Bill Express screens:
Please see below an email received from the Administrators of Bill Express regarding the SWISH group’s intention to use the large screens for advertising in your stores.
Good afternoon Ann,
Thank you for informing the Liquidators of this matter.
As it stands, Bill Express Limited (In Liquidation) and/or the Liquidators have no agreements in place with Swish TV, nor have they provided any information to Swish TV.
The ownership of the screens mentioned in Swish TV correspondence is still unclear and the Liquidators continue to investigate same.
irrespective of the ownership of the screens, a number of finance companies and secured creditors are also claiming rights to various equipment noted in the Swish TV correspondence.
The QNF advise that newsagents DO NOT enter into any contract or agreement with this group, at this time and await further information from your State Association.
This advice from the QNF is sound. Check out the Swish Group ASX announcements and try and make sense of this business, their ASX code is SWG.
Newsagents need to ask why the ANF remains so quite on Bill Express matters.
We have diaries in three locations in-store. The locations are based on the diary purpose. Our business diaries, for example, are located around our photocopier, near our newspaper stand. In years past we have placed all diaries together. I like this new approach from our team – it means that most customers will pass three diary propositions walking in and out. It also means we can have greater variety on display at any one time without the store feeling too cluttered.
We have been supporting the Very Special Kids fund raising efforts conducted in association with Tattersalls for years. We display the Pink pigs and other fund raising items in prime position at the counter. Yesterday, I was fortunate to be in the car when I heard an interview on 774 ABC radio Melbourne, on the Conversation Hour, with one of the people running the organisation. It was moving listening to the work they do with families caring for children with life threatening illnesses. Knowing more about the box of pink products at the counter takes it being beyond another counter-top fund raiser. I am proud newsagents are supporting Very Special Kids.
Conde Naste’s House & Garden South Africa is the latest title we have added to our House & Garden range. This is another brand we are building with multiple editions. This approach has worked well for us with Vogue, Bazaar and others. By building around a respected brand we can demonstrate a depth which other retailers in the magazine space will ignore.
We see ourselves as magazine specialists and make ranging decisions accordingly.
Home Beautiful is the poor cousin of the in the Home and Lifestyle magazine category. It is often beaten for display space by Notebook, Real Living and Vogue Living. The latest issue of Home Beautiful, out Monday this week, came with good collateral to support a $40,000 new kitchen competition.
Good collateral means that Home Beautiful gets a good position and, hopefully, a good sales boost.
