Powerball slows Lotto superdraw sales
The $22 million Powerball jackpot this Thursday has slowed sales of tickets in the $30 million superdraw scheduled for Saturday December 29. If Powerball jackpots again the impact will be even more significant.
Why does this matter? Well, it alters the traffic patterns in newsagencies. Thursday this week will be up between 10% nd 20% because of the jackpot. Even more so next week if it jackpots again. And all this at Christmas! It pulls focus from the Saturday superdraw and risks making it an average Saturday.
So, what’s the answer? None really. You can’t change the lottery results, as far as I know. So, we embrace every opportunity and cop it if it means superdraw sales are affected. The key this time of the year is to remind people of the opportunities – without being pushy.
Moving Christmas cards works
It is gratifying when you see immediate results for a change. This morning at our Frankston newsagency we moved the table and other units displaying boxed cards to at our main entrance. The result was an immediate kick to our already good boxed Christmas card sales.
We undertook the move as part of our commitment to regular change – too many newsagencies are set-and-forget businesses where little product is moved once it is set down. Beyond the table in the photo you can see how we’ve embraced a column in the shop, in front of the counter to the left, with more boxed cards.
We are chasing double digit year on year growth for Christmas cards – so far so good.
Magazine specialists or what?
Now is the time for all cricket magazines to be in a column, next to each other, same with soccer. While this may seem like common sense, not all newsagents appear to agree. I was in a newsagency today and saw five cricket titles dotted through the sports section. This kind of almost random placement means fewer titles in the category will be sold.
If we are serious about magazines we have to display them right. That means clean column based displays like in the photo for cricket and soccer titles – and other categories. Anything less says we are not magazine specialists.
Also today I visited a 7-eleven store, just near the newsagency. Their display was awful. Titles in the wrong pockets and some empty pockets. I’d expect this from a retailer not committed to magazines. in a newsagency it’s unacceptable in my view.
The interactive sales display
This brilliant and interactive Post_It display makes excellent use of the space in front of our photocopier. As you walk past, the screen at the top of the display starts running a commercial for the product – yep, that box at the top is a small LCD screen and it plays video with sound!
People stop and watch and often pick up one of the products and check it it out.
This the type of in-store sales tool usually reserved for major retailers. We’re fortunate to be in a position to test its effectiveness in newsagencies. Since the stand is also located near our main newspaper stand in one store I will be particularly interested in sales basket data.
It’s good to see 3M prepared to experiment with us.
The two products on offer – a wrapping paper cutter and a handy tape dispenser – are ideal for this time of the year.
Liberals fighting for Vic. Tattersalls outlets
It is good to see Michael O’Brien, Shadow Minister for Gaming in Victoria, drawing public attention to prospect of existing lottery agents losing business following the decision of the State Government in Victoria to shift some lottery products from Tattersalls to Intralot.
O’Brien has also drawn attention to the prospect of lottery products being sold by mobile phone – further cutting out the retail network.
O’Brien late last week wrote to Victorian Tattersalls agents to advise us of this activity. Sure he is a politician jumping on an issue he knows will interest us? Nothing new in that. That O’Brien wrote to agents and briefed us on his activity is most welcome. It’s more than others have done on this issue.
Bah humbug
We are getting a good reaction to the bah humbug t-shirts – as modelled by Simon Frost, manager of our Frankston store.. People get the humor of a retailer saying bah humbug when, in fact, we want people to wholly embrace Christmas. The other t-shirt design says HO HO HO. For the most part it;’s getting an equally good reaction but then some people follow the guidance of media reports and say it’s rude. Innocence is bliss sometimes. I especially like the Bah humbug t-shirt because it is different. With every retailer going for tradition at Christmas, playing outside the square is a good place to be.
Is Zoo Weekly suffering from supply cuts
I’ve noticed fine tuning of supply of Zoo Weekly since ACP magazines took over and while it may be coincidental, it is unfortunate. In one of my stores, Zoo fluctuates. Not having enough stock to co-locate – as is now the case due to recent supply cuts – means some weeks we are not able to reach our sales potential. This will push supply down … the spiral continues. Zoo Weekly is one title I am happy to be oversupplied, within reason.
Commercial rape of newsagents by Reader’s Digest and NDD
Reader’s Digest and their distributor, NDD, are engaged in what I consider is unconscionable conduct with my newsagency and, I suspect, hundreds of others.
As I blogged here in December 2006, they increased supply without justification in the sales data for such action. Reader’s Digest and NDD have just done it again and increased supply based solely on their cash-flow goals and not on my sales data.
This is commercial rape. The weakest party in the magazine supply chain, newsagents, are being systematically abused by bigger bullies like Reader’s Digest and NDD. They conspire to supply at a quantity far beyond what we can sell. They increase beyond this unsaleable quantity without any justification. They do this for their own pleasure. Newsagents are helpless. Calls to the ACCC to act fall on deaf ears.
Newsagents have all but given up and focus instead of titles which do not abuse newsagent generosity.
I understand that calling this behavior by Reader’s Digest and NDD commercial rape is inflammatory. Despite promises that the behaviour will be modified it has not. The abuse continues. So, what is left but to bring focus to two companies so intent of harming small business newsagents?
I have data to support my claim – not only from my newsagency but others too. If only the ACCC had an interest in stopping clearly unconscionable behaviour.
More real-estate advertising to move from print
The graph, reflecting research by the respected Borrell Associates organisation, predicts growth for online and contraction for offline advertising in the real-estate category. With newspapers relying on real-estate ad revenue, this contraction in revenue must impact on their model. I suspect this is what is driving many city and regional newspapers in the US to contract and new free dailies to start up – even with home delivery models.
There is no point in ignoring these challenges. Newsagents rely on newspapers and and these trends in the US will hit here eventually. Planning today for a bright future with less reliance on newspapers ought to be part of our mission in 2008. Sure publishers tell us it’s business as usual. They need to. Facts from the US and Europe paint a different story, a story we need to pay heed to.
We can face the news as reflected in the research from Borrell Associates as would a Kangaroo staring in the headlights, and freeze. Or, we can digest this and other signpost information and act like business people and embrace change.
Cranky Tech driven away from newsagencies
Paul Wallbank, Sydney based computer writer and broadcaster, writing at his Cranky Tech Blog today, talks about a customer service experience at his local newsagency. Paul tried to use a credit card to pay for two newspapers and a magazine – $12 all up. he was told that there was a minimum charge of $15 for credit card payments.
In my newsagencies there is no minimum. Indeed, unlike some other retailers, there is also no surcharge for using Diners or Amex. Our view is there should be no barrier between yo can getting the sale.
Paul’s experience this morning has cost our channel a customer. He says he’ll get his newspaper at the supermarket or petrol outlet now. I bet he not alone in making the shift over this issue of barriers at the counter.
Why do some newsagents do this? Why get in the way of business. Sure there are fees. However, losing 1% – which is the max it should be – on a $12 sale is nothing. 12 cents! A lousy 12 cents is what this is about.
Yes, we have tight margins. But 12 cents? I make that up with a an upsell focus on the floor of the shop. My unresearched view is that the newsagents charging a surcharge or enforcing a minimum for Eftpos are more likely, but not always, those who do not configure their shops to achieve an upsell.
Paull Wallbank makes a point we need to take note of every day in retail:
Businesses need to remember that customer convenience is everything. The harder you make it for a customer to buy from you, the less likely it is that they will.
Extending the reach of the brand
More publishers are doing what ACP Magazines has done with their Take5 brand. This Take5 Ingredients title leverages the awareness around the Take5 brand with a popular food based offering.
Our challenge as newsagents is to leverage the existing brand connection while at the same time pursuing category opportunities. So, where to put this title. Some newsagents will place it in the food section and others near Take5. Both decisions are right.
The challenge with placing Ingredients near Take5 is space. The weeklies space is tightly managed with no room for new titles. There is more flexibility in food.
My approach is to give premium space to the title for a week or so in the hope of it selling well, out even. Based on the experience with Woman’s Day and Women’s Weekly related sister publications having these one off titles next to the parent works better.
Extending the reach of the brand as titles like Take5 Ingredients does is good for newsagents as long as we work at maximising the opportunity.
Reader’s Digest title rips off newsagents
No wonder newsagents suffer from high blood pressure when Reader’s Digest and magazine distributor NDD combine to dump a title like this on their shelves just before Christmas. First up, this is a book and not a magazine. Unless newsagents are in the book space, it is unlikely they will have the appropriate space for display. At $29.95, the cost to a newsagent for shrinkage would be too high to risk putting the title on the shelves. Further, a four month shelf life is ridiculousl.
Once again, NDD grabs newsagent cash for a title which will be cash-flow negative in all but 1% to 2% of newsagents. This is unconscionable behavior. Newsagents ought to complain to the ACCC as NDD has no data basis on which it can justify sending this title.
Shame on Reader’s Digest. Shame on NDD.
Australia’s Best Cars Magazine rips off newsagents
NDD, the magazine distributor which claims to be expert in this area ought to know better than to send more Australia’s Best Cars Magazine to newsagents with an expected shelf life of eight months. What is worse is that this title was supplied too late for early return in December so we are out at least a month in terms of cash-flow.
From the scale out I have seen, it appears little attention has been paid to the sales of car magazines – meaning gross over supply. Not that the RACV, NRMA, RACQ et al care. Their hands are all over this unconscionable conduct because, as publishers of the title, they set the size of the print run and this is, I suspect, what NDD must scale out contractually – with little regard to what will actually sell.
So, Happy Christmas newsagents, enjoy being ripped off by a magazine model which is stuffed at this bottom end of titles, a magazine model which despite rhetoric, is not changing. There is no need for meetings and conferences to agree on a best practice model, if it won;t sell, don;t send it, if it has a sell through rate of less than 50%, send less. NDD abuses the system and says it will talk about changes and every month the talks go on they abuse newsagents as they have with this title.
What’s worse is that the auto clubs have created a website to promote the title and do not list newsagents as outlets carrying the title. This is offensive.
Cards as impulse
We had this display unit designed for our Sophie business – we’re using this at the store entrance to display boxed cards. We wanted a unit which felt like a hall table – so that as people enter they feel like they are entering a person’s home. We also wanted units which did not act as a visual barrier to the rest of the business. The key goal, however, was a unit which efficiently displayed considerable stock which was accessible. While we are yet to put the hooks on the front, the unit is already working very well in each location. The shelf down below helps with storage too.
After Christmas we will use the units for gifts and social stationery suited to the impulse opportunity.
An amazing supplier
We have a card supplier who, once they have sales data on Christmas-card designs which work, visit and move cards in their boxed packs to put the popular design on top – thereby maximizing sales for the rest of the Christmas season. This is an extraordinary level of service and excellent use of sales data for mutual benefit.
In this era of focus on rebates, it’s good to receive such practical and valuable service.
Our Christmas boxed card sales are up extraordinarily this year at Forest Hill and Frankston and this is, in part, due to the efforts of this supplier.
Election boost for magazine sales
I’ve been looking at data from eight newsagencies and each is showing good growth in the Current Affairs and Business magazine category. I put this down to a combination o the election, and strong property interest. The other category which performed well in November is Buying & Selling with double digit growth being achieved in several newsagencies. This is a surprise to me as the category has been tracking down for around two years.
Benchmarking among a group of newsagents around magazine categories is fascinating and leads the newsagents participating to go back to their stores and adjust on what they have seen others achieve.
Sophie Randall opened Epping Plaza today
We opened our third Sophie Randall cards and gifts business today, at Epping Plaza in Victoria. Our plan was to get three Sophie locations open by Christmas and we have achieved that. Now, we;re looking forward to the learnings from this new group. We are already benefiting through experience with a single database IT platform across all stores – facilitating moving stock and reducing in-store management time. We are also benefiting from better buying which is also driven from this single IT platform.
The photos below are from our Epping store today.
While each of the stores has the same layout and elements, there are differences driven by landlords and space challenges.
The range is consistent to around 70% of stock with 30% reflecting the local demographic.
Sophie blogs about the products at www.sophiesblog.com.au.
While I own these initial stores, the Sophie Randall concept is part of the newsXpress group and will be offered to others from early 2008. Some newsagents are already benefiting from Sophie learnings in the gift space. Others are keen to look at getting their own location.
At Forest Hill where we own the newsagency as well as the Sophie store we have first hand experience on the impact of a Sophie store on card sales in the newsagency – nil. Indeed, card sales in our newsagency are delivering double digit growth year-on-year while Sophie is pulling excellent card numbers. Each business offers a different shopper experience.
Bill Express Tattersalls link slow
The speed, or lack thereof, in the Bill Express technology when selling Tattersalls products is a problem. From when you hit the Tattersalls button on the hardware there is a five second delay before you see the next screen. Thankfully we have Tattersalls terminals for selling Tattersalls product. I’d hate, in a busy newsagency, to be relying on the implementation on this bill payment terminal.
Successful stickers
I hate spinners in retail but this sticker stand and another from the same supplier (Fun Products) works a treat.
In the last year we have reduced our sticker range back to one supplier – cut our stock investment, reduced floor space and increased sales. Four spinners down to two.
To generate $6,000 a year from one quarter of a square metre, as the two remaining stands do for us, is an excellent result – our overall goal is $8,000 a square metre and this beats that.
By reducing range we are able to more easily move the stickers, as they need to be, to ensure impulse purchase.
Reusing old stands
Everyone does it so this photo will not be that special for some readers. The stand for our Christmas hats and reindeer is a recycled battery stand.
Simon, the manager of our Frankston newsagency, came up with the idea. He wanted something with visual impact at eye level so rather than toss the stand he created this. Cool huh? It’s working a treat!
At this time of the year in newsagencies all bets are off in terms of corporate look and feel. Our excellent traffic demands we fill our stores with opportunities to maximise the potential of the traffic.
The Age losing identity
The Beaurepairs Direct ad stuck on the front page of The Age newspaper today obscures a chunk of the name of the newspaper.
This is a disappointing win for the advertising sales department and bean counters over what should be a proud newspaper masthead.
In the US and Europe newspaper editors would not allow this to happen and if it did, there would be a public outcry.
Music magazine of the future?
Check out idiomag for a new model in music magazines. As their website says:
idiomag is a high-quality, digital magazine currently personalized to each individual user’s interests in music. It keeps them “in the know” about the artists and genres they love, as well as finding new artists that they might like. It includes feature articles, reviews, galleries and interactive elements in an engaging format that users can access whenever and wherever they want it. Users can read the article, play the track, view the video, check for gigs, and go off to buy the mp3 or ticket or share their views with their friends.
We utilise all the knowledge this generates about our users and their interests to deliver the most relevant experience and to target the most compelling advertising.
Very impressive. Their Facebook integration is an excellent example of using web 2.0 social media to connect friends based on music stories they are reading.