We are benefiting from integrating Eftpos with each register. Customers like that they don’t have to move to enter a PIN. Team members like that they can provide better service. I expect that we will see an increase in basket size as a result. It makes sense – the more convenient the payment options the less people, think about what they will spend. For business customers, using a business credit or debit card, this is even more true.
Ziff Davis, once the darling of technology magazine publishers, last week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US, citing a decline in print advertising revenue as one of the reasons. MediaPost has the story. PaidContent rightly points to debt as the issue. On top of the considerable challenge of disruption, today’s media companies have to deal with the cost of debt. This was less of a problem with older media company structure, before the era of private equity.
I was disappointed to receive advice from the ANZ, a bank which has done well out of its relationship with Bill Express in newsagencies, announcing a change in merchant terms and conditions. They have removed the $500 break fee if the merchant agreement is broken within two years and replaced with a break fee of $250 regardless of when you break. Given that many agreements entered into when Bill Express guided people to an ANZ merchant relationship would be more than two years, it’s another fee newsagents need to navigate.
I am curious that the ANZ would send out this announcement following the announcement a couple of weeks ago to Bill Express newsagents taking away the marketing subsidy which, for many, was the difference between losing money or breaking even on the service.
It’s as if the ANZ has heard opf the newsagent anger, anticipated a mass exodus and sought to place a barrier in front of newsagents considering quitting Bill Express and the ANZ merchant arrangements. Why else announce what is effectively a new break fee right now?
It’s free book time again for magazine publishers. We have two titles on the shelves with free novels: Eve and Woman & Home.
While I understand the need for a premium to drive sales from time to time, there has to be a better way which does not obstruct browsing. Oh, and does not restrict our we display the product. Where possible we are displaying magazines with free books next.
I’d expect The Monthly to sell well this month thanks to its Kerry Packer related cover story on the fate of The Bulletin magazine.
The cover itself is stunning and stands out on the shelves. We have placed the title at our newspaper stand since it attracts more traffic than the usual area where would display The Monthly.
I’d love to hear from anyone who recognises this chap. The video footage shows that he left without paying for a boxed pen. I’d like to get in touch, show him the video footage and see how he would like to settle the account.
Every time this happens we learn some more about how people who steal from retail businesses operate.
I received a call late last yesterday from a newsagent who is handing his newspaper home home delivery run back on Monday. He asked for a fuel subsidy (for the fourth time) and was knocked back. It was essential to him breaking even on his 300 deliveries a day – this run has some challenges. Anyway, he’s giving it back and concentrating on retail. He tried to sell it but no one was interested.
This is an issue newsagents and publishers need to get together and discuss. There are ways to fix this.
Victorian newsagents are facing a choice: do they pursue a relationship with Intralot or not? Those with Tattersalls lottery products have space and some operational challenges to navigate. Newsagents without lotteries have the issue of fear of becoming a slave to a different retail dynamic to consider.
I think we (newsagents) sometimes overthink these things and end up missing out on opportunities. Maybe I am naive but as I see it pursuing a relationship with Intralot is important. They will want to make a splash when they go live. Being part of the network they promote when they make that splash will be good for business. Being part of something new could be the refresh some newsagents to look to the future – we spend a lot of time on past related issues.
At the very least, a decision about Intralot is about change. Embracing it has to be what we do. Others are around us and to the impact of our businesses so we need to play the change game ourselves. Intralot is an opportunity too good to pass. But, then again, maybe I am being naive.
I flew from
Small business newsagents are blocked by newspaper publishers from passing the cost of fuel. Where is the fairness in that?
eziPass, the phone recharge alternative for newsagents has passed 300 locations.Â
We have been involved in three sales based replenishment trials in the magazine category on behalf of newsagents through Tower Systems over the last four years. Two of these trials also involved our newsagency. While I cannot comment on the specifics of the trials for confidentiality reasons, I can say that the process is more certain now than ever before.
Newsagents are able to rely on not selling out of high volume titles based on a supply model which is driven by the sales cycle in the newsagency. This is very exciting for newsagents since it provides them with a supply model along the lines of what works for supermarkets and other key competitors in the magazine category. Properly implemented, SBR will help newsagents cut costs out of their business – that’s what the latest trial is showing according to newsagents I have spoken with.
While I am not privy to roll out information, I’d expect more newsagents to be part of the sales based replenishment model later this year as this approach to magazine supply moves from trial to implementation.
The key to SBR is accurate sales data. Newsagents without current version Windows based software will not benefit from SBR and that will make their businesses less competitive.
Tower Newsagents have led the field in the many trials. (Yeah, I know, it sounds arrogant – we and our newsagent partners have every right to be when it comes to good data management.) We’ve helped publishers hone SBR over the last three years and made it easy for the others will start participating soon.
SBR will be important for newsagents to embrace when it is more widely released as it makes us more competitive. Newsagents who are not ready or do not provide sales data will potentially hold the whole channel back. So, this is call to action – if you don’t comply with todays IT standards for newsagents, sort it out. The whole channel is relying every participant being up to scratch.
Last year I complained here about Mont Marte, the art supplies company in Queensland – I wrote about how how getting stock was a challenge and that they were competing with us through their own retail store which appeared to not have stock challenges. We closed that relationship and sat out of art for a few months. We’re thrilled with a relationship with Canson. We have just completed installing their range in Frankston. The photo shows part of the art suppliers and a small portion of the cardboard display. It’s been in less than a week and has already lifted the back corner of the shop in terms of sales and how we relate to it.
In Frankston we have a strong plush offer capping the card aisle with our Easter card offer. Sprinkled in with the plush is an easter themed children’s book distributed by Gotch yesterday. The photo below shows this display.
Behind where the photo was taken is a bold Easter egg display. So, for us, Easter is cards, eggs, plush and books. I like the fact that we are able to work across a variety of categories.
Newsagents are wondering what to make of the response from Bill Express yesterday to queries from the ASX in the light of the decision by them to reduce their financial commitment to and support of newsagents. On a related matter, some I have spoken with who have advised Bill Express of their decision to exit the relationship say they are having difficulty actually moving this forward. The extraction process seems broken at the Bill Express end.
This week’s magazine promotion at our busiest sales counter made me laugh when I saw it. It’s fun, innovative and, well, different. Jason, the manager at Forest Hill came up with the idea to feature magazines connected with models.
On the left we have fashion magazines with models on the cover. On the right we have magazines with a different set of models on the cover – boats, planes, trains. How funny is that!
It shows we have a sense of humor. While many customers don’t notice what Jason has done, some do and they have a good laugh. I bet they tell someone else because it is so unique.
While I doubt this display will win us any awards or kudos from publishers, it is exactly the kind of display newsagents should encourage in their businesses. It demonstrates our diversity brilliantly. I love it!
According to a report The Guardian, the UK edition of FHM is to come out in a compact ‘travel’ format – 70% of the size of the original product. I’ve heard FHM will not be alone in embracing the smaller size. If this trend reaches Australia we will need make some changes in how we display magazine product in newsagencies. You can’t put these smaller format titles in regular fixturing.
Our Wednesday lottery syndicates tick along nicely for what is a soft lottery night. From what customers tell us, we are unique in our area offering the syndicates and while the margin is not enough to retire on, it reinforces a point of difference and a commitment to lottery customers and to Tattersalls. It certainly drives additional traffic for us. We don’t use corporate type syndicates, we prefer our home-grown approach – this works for our customers.
We received a letter from ANZ today telling us that to break the current ANZ merchant arrangement which was put in place with the Bill Express relationship some years ago will cost us a $250 break fee. Up until this advice, a break fee only applied if the agreement was broken in the first two years. To have this fee imposed retrospectively is disappointing. that it’s times immediately after bad news from Bill Express is even more disappointing.
I will be releasing the results of our latest newsagency retail sales benchmark project this Friday. The benchmark dataset covers eight months to January 31, 2008 and compares this with the same eight months a year earlier. The results are very interesting and represent the most up to date set of comparative sales numbers available for newsagents.
An interesting story about Bill Express was on page 61 of yesterday’s Australian Financial Review:
Small fry that nearly got away
The earnings announcements of many small financial services names may appear to have slipped by unnoticed in the February reporting season. But they yielded noteworthy results – some good, some ugly.
Bill-payment network Bill Express released its results on friday after the market closed. It revealed a net loss of $2.05 million for the six months to December 31, against a net profit of $3.9 million last time.
The company had a $1.8 million accounting loss on its investment in prepaid technology providor ETT, as well as $3.4 million in marketing costs for its bopo prepaid Visa card business.
Bill Express said, however, that the loss on ETT would be offset in the second half, when it sold the investment at an expected profit of more than $2.5 million.
Bill Express is using newsagents, its key retail network with 3,500 outlets, to help turn the financial situation around. Two weeks ago they announced the removal of a marketing subsidy of $250 a month paid to newsagents. This subsidy was like an income guarantee. Many newsagents only took on Bill Express because of the minimum income guarantee. The guarantee was not part of any agreement between Bill Express and the newsagents.
In response to the removal of the marketing subsidy, many newsagents are looking at how they can quit the Bill Express network. If this happens in any numbers, the pressure Bill Express is under in terms of share price will escalate. With its shares down 46.9% over the last year and 30% in the last six weeks, the last thing Bill Express would want is further share price pressure.
Tower Systems is again running football tipping competitions for the AFL and NRL seasons. The competitions are open to anyone. Entry is free. The prizes are: First $350.00; Second $100.00; Third $50.00. To join, please follow these instructions:
Each week, go to the Tower Systems’ web site – www.towersystems.com.au – click on the AFL and/or NRL tipping links, enter your username and password and tip away.
Rules:
1. Anyone can participate.
2. Tips must be in by 5:30pm EST on the evening before the first game of the round, either Friday’s or Thursday’s. (No late tips will be accepted this year, no exceptions , none, nada, nope, no way, your late – you’re out for the week)
3. Failure to enter you tips will see you get the lowest score of the round minus 1 tip. (So if the lowest score tipped for the round was a 0 you will receive a score of -1 for the round)
4. To play you need before the start of the season (NRL – 14/3/08, AFL – 20/3/08).
5. Have fun.
Any newsagent near a Priceline store ought to check out their Easter card range. Their new card supplier relationship has brought consistency to their greeting card offer. While the cards are cheap, they are packaged in such a way as to make them appeal to someone walking by.
A newsagent I was talking with a couple of days ago said he would respond with a spinner of $2.00 cards at the front of his shop. I don’t think this is the right approach. I have a Priceline opposite one of my newsagencies and I’ll leave them to play in the cheap card space. I’d rather focus on the more serious card shopper who knows quality when they see it and who wants a decent range from which to choose – the Priceline offer is very limited.
newsXpress has started a national TV campaign promoting its exclusive Hot Ink offer. Running on eleven Foxtel, Optus and Austar channels, the campaign is the first I can recall by a newsagency marketing group outside the noisy Christmas, Back to School and Mid easy Sale seasons. It’s exciting to be part of this.
The TV campaign supports the direct mail pitch put into the market two weeks ago. It also ties in with the new in-store layout based around the Hit Ink branding. All of this is designed to let people know that newsXpress newsagencies are price competitive. This is important because of consumer research indicating that newsagencies are considered expensive.newsXpress members I have spoken with are excited to be part of the TV campaign. They are proud too – it is not often that newsagents are the focus of a TV campaign.
Disclosure: I am a Director of newsXpress.
I like this new fixture from Parker which enables us to get pens out from the pen cabinet and into the store, closer to greeting cards and closer to customers more likely to be buying pens. For decades newsagents have built pen units into their shopfits. While they look nice, they are not flexible. This Parker unit is flexible, it can be easily moved and thereby help keep the offer fresh. This is what we need in newsagency shopfit design now – flexibility. So, even though I am not a fan of spinners, this table-top spinner from Parker works a treat.
We have sourced some nice small bunnies for sale at our counter. They are proving to be a successful up-sell. Several customers have commented that it’s good to find an Easter gift which is not chocolate. We figured, what’s the point of trying to look like a supermarket or one o the national retailers. This product places us in a different space – it’s harder to price compare and there is a better feel-good factor. Some of the bunnies zip when you pull their string and others don’t do anything.