Growing wrap sales
When developing the layout for our card and gift shop we decided to move from the traditional wrap fixtures. Instead we went for this unit:
We are so happy with the results that we are using an expanded version of this display in a new newsagency we are involved in. Customer feedback has been wow! and that is enough for is to copy the idea.
Certainly we notice that customers are more likely to touch the product and any retail expert will tell you that once a customer touches a product they are more likely to purchase.
Magazine Club Card coverage in the UK
The Magazine Club Card which I created in 2004 is the subject of a report in the respected Circulation Briefing newsletter by Jim Bilton at Wessenden Marketing. This is very respected international coverage for what is a local low-tech magazine marketing initiative.
The many newsagents who have implemented the loyalty program can be proud of the attention this program is now drawing.
When we first launched the magazine Club Card in August 2004 we expected it to run for six months. It continues today without a break. Unlike a greeting card loyalty program, this one works on a continuous basis – especially if you stick with the rules we developed when we launched.
Every day we receive positive feedback from our customers about the program. A newsagent who is using the program said that the Magazine Club Card is the single most valuable marketing initiative he has seen in 30 years. That is what matters to me – that newsagents are able to use this simple program to grow their magazine sales and demonstrate a rewarding value proposition to customers.
This card is better than a VIP Card or some similar points based loyalty program. It connects with our customers in a more timely and practical way. I know of a newsagency which ditched the VIP Card for this and makes more money as a result.
It would be good to see Australian newsagent journals cover the Magazine Club Card as Circulation Briefing has in the UK.
Blogging for an outcome
The situation with T3 magazine is frustrating: the two editions pull focus from each other on the shelves in a segment of the magazine space which is already challenged. I would prefer to see one edition closed down – not just in my newsagency but across the network.
I have seen enough data to form the view that newsagents are not winning by having two titles. The problem is that with each from a different distributor there is no perspective at the supply end.
I figure that by blogging about this those responsible for T3 will at least look at their situation. Sometimes I find that blogging achieves more than dealing direct with a supplier.
Ads on the front page
Mark Friesen, a news designer at The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon reports at his blog about the consideration being given at The Los Angeles Times to start permitting advertisements on the front page.
I should send Friesen a copy of The Age with ads and a post it type ad stuck on the masthead.
I wonder what designers within Fairfax would say about the debate in the US.
Australia Post shuns retail
Australia Post demonstrated the benefits of government ownership at their Forest Hill (VIC) corporate store on Saturday. While other retailers in the centre embraced the VIP shopping night to promote the opening of Meyer, Australia Post, opposite our newsagency, was defiantly closed. The Minister responsible for Australia Post, Helen Coonan, says that Australia Post competes in the retail space without any benefits of government ownership. That they can get away with closing on Saturday as well as their usual closure on Sundays is proof that Government ownership has its benefits.
If Australia Post was serious about retail and did care about its customers they would embrace opportunities such as VIP nights. Instead they revert to their public service mentality and hide behind the Australia coat of arms.
We are not car makers
Further to my post a week ago about Fisherman and Boatowner, the editor has gone to ground and is not expanding on his comments that the distributor, NDD, is to blame and that he did not mean to attack newsagents – not to me and others I have spoken with at least. The Fisherman and Boatowner situation, gross oversupply for many and undersupply for others, supports the claim that newsagents are treated poorly by the magazine supply chain – particularly in the long tail, titles outside the top 200 sellers.
No matter which KPI you use, return on investment, return on floor space, stock turn, or cash flow, smart newsagents are able to measure the cost to their businesses of the inefficiency in the magazine model. That they are denied the opportunity to make good business decisions about magazine supply is an appalling situation. Those presiding over the current supply model in the magazine distribution businesses ought to give entrepreneurial newsagents the tools to =run their businesses as they see fit – I suspect that the result would be an increase in overall sales.
Maybe Fisherman and Boatowner should close down – from retail at least. That newsagents are effectively funding the title by providing free shelf space and labour ought to be enough to see it removed from supply in all but the locations where it pays its own way. If such a move leads to the demise of the title so be it. I don’t see anyone providing financial assistance to keep struggling newsagencies open – we are not car makers after all.
Leveraging lottery jackpots
We have lottery jackpots across all games in Victoria at present including the Wednesday game: OzLotto $8 million; Wednesday Tattslotto $2.1 million; Powerball $20 million; Saturday Tattslotto $21 million. Given past success we are running a joint game syndicate based on Powerball and Saturday. This allows promoting a $41 million first division pool. No matter how we mix then, syndicates sell well as punters appear to be happy to have more chance even if their piece of the pie is smaller.
Jarryd Moore makes an interesting comment about this at his blog, asking whether going too early with a jackpot hurts sales. Our experience is that it does in the short term but once you have built a good pool of syndicate customers it does not hurt. As for regular over th counter sales, we have not compared the impact.
UPDATE: We sold eight shares in 24 hours. Today we will add another syndicate.
The blessing of Myer and Jennifer Hawkins
It has been forty three years in coming and today it finally arrived. Myer opened at Forest Hill Chase where our newsagency is located. Some say this brings the respect the centre deserves.
Myer has taken the space formerly occupied by Harris Scarfe and while they are a reasonable department store, the Myer brand counts for more. All day the centre has been crowded, long before Hamish and Andy and Jennifer Hawkins arrive to bless our good fortune. Here is the crowd from earlier today outside Myer:
Up a level and at our corner of the centre, far away from Myer, we have been enjoying Christmas like crowds. The boost is most welcome following five months of poor traffic due to major construction all around us.
I guess what is interesting to me the most about the arrival of Myer is the talk of people – shoppers and people working in the centre – about Myer adding respectability as some call it to the centre. The morale boost among shoppers and store owners is bound to have a good knock-on effect for all businesses in the centre. we can’t wait! And all before Christmas! Between now and then a bunch of national brands new to the centre will arrive.
Being in a major centre leaves small businesses, such as newsagencies, at the mercy of the strategies of the leasing manager and the major tenants. No matter how hard a small business markets itself, it is difficult to overcome challenges of the location and the tenant mix. At Forest Hill at least we are looking at the best of times in our eleven years so far.
Boosting Donna Hay
Nothing against Donna Hay but the magazine bearing her name does not sell that well in our newsagency. The Donna Hay kids issues, however, sell exceptionally well. So, the brand is not the problem with our sales.
Looking at food titles generally, Delicious sells well (sells out since our supplies have been cut) as does Gourmet Traveler. Donna Hay is the weakest of the mix yet we receive more copies than the other two – ah the magazine supply model starving and drowning all at once.
We are planning a promotion for the next issue of Donna Hay to reintroduce the title to our customers. This will happen at the same time we relay our food related titles – it is time for a major rethink of how we display the range. We want a better point of difference.
Famous makeover
Famous magazine has had a makeover and as a result it stands out better when in the mix on the shelf with competitors Who and NW.
We are going to use our magazine loyalty program to support the new look with a double clip option on Famous next week. While the merchandiser has created a good in-store display I feel that an over the counter offer to draw attention to the new look could help more.
The offer will also remind our team of the new look – it is hard sometimes to keep up with the changes in product at the counter.
Prince flips the model, goes free with a newspaper
With print media and the music industry both chasing rainbows online it is interesting to see Prince giving away 3 million copies of his new CD, Planet Earth, with The Mail in London this weekend. Here is what his website has to say, in part:
Always a musical innovator and icon, Prince is once again leading the charge into a new music distribution landscape, redefining tradition and setting new precedents. As well as having taken the innovative step of giving copies of his new album “Planet Earth” away with concert tickets to his London O2 dates, Prince has new plans of putting music directly into the hands of fans. In association with the Mail on Sunday publication, Prince will deliver his new album “Planet Earth” to nearly 3 million readers in the UK on July 15th.
This plan has shocked the music industry and set local retailers into chaos causing major controversy about the new future of music retailing as presented by Prince.
Kenyon Farrow makes some good points about the move by Prince at his blog.
While a free CD from Prince will not, of itself, alter the commercial fortunes of newspapers or music, it will be disruptive enough to get music and newspaper bosses looking outside the square as they navigate their future in challenged marketplaces.
Emap digital revenues up
The BBC is reporting Emap as reporting digital revenues up 34% in the June quarter. Print revenues are down in the same period.
Fair Trade chocolate
Interesting to see this petition seeking to make it law that UK newsagents and sweet shops have to stock at least one line of Fair Trade chocolate.
Why stop at the Trading Post and Google ACCC?
The announcement yesterday of court action against Google and the Trading Post by the ACCC has shocked many. The case appears to centre around the names of businesses which compete against the Trading Post appearing in the title of sponsored links (ads) for the Trading Post on the Google website. In plain English, people using Google might see, say, company A, click on that expecting to get to company a and find them selves at company B.
How does this connect to newsagents? Earlier this year, as I blogged here previously, RSVP, the Fairfax owned business, paid for a campaign with an affiliate of Commission Monster which targeted my 3loves site. Here is how it looked on a Google search:
3loves is a social networking site connected with Find It, the online classifieds model created to provide newsagents with revenue from online classifieds.
The scam against 3loves appears to be similar to what Google and the Trading Post are charged with.
People searching for 3loves were presented with what appeared to be a link to the site. When they clicked that they were taken to Google. Now I don’t know if Fairfax had any knowledge of this. What I do know is that they were the beneficiary of the action – or at least their RSVP site was. Fairfax approved the use of Commission Monster. Commission Monster manages its affiliate relationships. Each of the companies involved ought to have known about campaigns like that which benefited Fairfax by targeting my 3loves site.
My question is, if the ACCC can take Google and the Trading Post to court, why not Fairfax and the other parties involved – plus the scores of others who have engaged in similar tactics? I doubt that the Fairfax press would out their involvement in something similar to the current ACCC action.
FiFi breaking
FiFi’s World is a very popular new partworks magazine. Sales are very strong – thanks to the target audience (young girls), the school holiday launch and a good TV campaign.
The problem is that many newsagents are having to refund customers who return folders which have broken. The importer tells me they are going back to the UK publisher to seek replacement stock. With some newsagents reporting a 50% product failure rate the rectification cost could be extraordinary. I’d note that my shop has been lucky, we have a less than 10% failure rate.
Big W to rollback magazine prices?
Big W at Mittagong in New South Wales is a concept store for the group, a place where they experiment with and refine ideas before rolling them out nationally. At Big W Mittagong you will see a professional and broad stationery offer dominated by national brands – essential for unlocking money from the brands for fixtures, rebates and marketing funds. There is also a compelling greeting card offer, well signed with the John Sands brand.
It is the magazine display which would interest most newsagents – many magazines in their display are on rollback prices, discounted. Rollback pricing is a feel good offer consumers love – look at what Coles are doing at present with rollback pricing on grocery items. I know from working with the magazine club card for the last three years that magazine buyers like a deal. The rollback strategy will work.
Big W Mittagong and the similar concept stores for Officeworks, Target, Coles and Safeway will all show that these big business competitors we so often complain about invest heavily (as do their suppliers) in navigating change. They experiment, gather data, tweak and ultimately find the model which they run with nationally.
While it would be easy for a newsagent to walk in, see the magazine rollback price offer at Big W Mittagong and get angry. the reality is that there is nothing stopping newsagents making similar strategic moves. It starts with us being entrepreneurial, exerting more control over our businesses and stopping busy work – things we do for the sake of being busy.
PS. Check out the Big W website and how they are promoting the new Harry Potter book. There is a clock counting down its arrival. Nice.
Promoting outside the shop
Apparently a My Business magazine ad playing on Australian Newsagent Satellite Radio yesterday promoted the title as being available in newsagencies as well as by subscription. This would be like the CSI producer running an ad on Channel 9 saying it is available for download elsewhere. My Business would do well to revisit their ad copy for in-newsagency ads.
Fat wedding magazine
Take a look at the Wedding and Bride – it is four times the thickness of Australian Women’s Weekly. One more page and it would not squeeze into traditional newsagent magazine pockets. While it is an impressive publication, space allocation is a challenge in an already full wedding segment in newsagencies. We are playing with co-location next to our high traffic women’s titles for a week to see what happens. It is wedding season after all.
Supporting diabetes week
Ben Kay has come up with an excellent promotion in support of Diabetes Week at my newsagency.
Ben, the manager of the newsagency, has brought together a range of titles including the excellent Diabetic Living from the Better Homes and Gardens team at Pacific magazines and Annette Sym’s Symply Too Good cookbooks to create this excellent display.
In the middle of the display Ben has placed information sheets takes from the Diabetes Australia website.
It is this kind of local marketing which newsagents can use to better connect with customers and to demonstrate to publishers their relevance.
Diabetes does not attract the glamour and glossy marketing support of, say, breast cancer at Mother’s Day yet it affects so many. What Ben has done in our shop reflects well on the cause.
OH&S and newspaper home delivery
The current situation, in my view, is unsafe and modifications to the weight, dimensions and volume of papers distributed per person need to be reduced to provide a safe system of work.
This is from the Nery report – an ergonomic assessment of the manual handling of newspapers by newsagents in South Australia by David Nery. The study was commissioned by the Australian Newsagents’ Federation and the resulting report published in July 2006.
My understanding is that the Nery report was provided to News Ltd shortly thereafter. I was given a copy in November 2006 by someone not encumbered by any confidentiality agreement.
To my knowledge there has not been any change to the weight of newspapers – meaning that on some days people are delivering newspapers which are of an unsafe weight. Nery pulls no punches when we says:
There is also, in my opinion, and as outlined in the South Australian Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations (1995) an obligation for the manufacturers of the newspapers, News Corporation in this case, to provide a product that is safe to handle by the members of the Australian Newsagent’s Federation.
I am concerned for newsagents and their employees and hope that this post may add to pressure on publishers to address the problem of overweight newspapers and the health and safety of those working with them.
In 2004 while on the Board of the ANF I pushed for that organisation to call for a Productivity Commission Inquiry into the deregulation of newspaper and magazine distribution in Australia. Such an inquiry is as essential today as it was then for the Government, publishers, distributors, newsagents and consumers to understand the implications of the policy of deregulation. The handling of heavy newspapers is one example which could be cited.
Famous tights
Customers have been asking if our newsagency is giving away a free pair of tights with Famous as is being promoted at Safeway. We’re not and I am okay with that as I know publishers need to offer premiums at different times in their various channels. What is interesting is that we are being asked. I see this, in part, as a consequence of our Magazine Club Card, a loyalty program which is pulling customers who would traditionally purchase their magazines at a supermarket.
Our comeback to the question is what’s a pair of tights when you can get a free magazine.