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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Inspiration

I talk with newsagents every day in all sorts of situations. This clip of past of a speech by actor ohn Krasinski at Brown University, which came upon win my Twitter feed, speaks, I think, to the challenges many newsagents face today. I hope you find it interesting. Oh, by the way, the full speech is online too.


I especially love these quotes…

Remember to be scared.

Take chances, fail big, and take chan yes again.

Before you do something special, just do something.

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Optimism

Magazines. Keeping newsagents unique.

Click here to see Magazines. Keeping newsagents unique. a terrific guide published by the MPA, Magazine Publishers of Australia, in June 2003.

As you will see in throughout this document, the MPA offered comprehensive advice on magazine range, display, promotion and management, advice that was ideal for that time.

My first every magazine relay in-store flowed from this MPA work.

While magazines play a lesser role today in terms of foot traffic and financially, I see value in a similar supplier driven document that draws on shopper and other data, to help newsagents what remains an important category.

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magazines

Single touch payroll now required

Single touché payroll compliance is now required for businesses with 5 to 19 employees. Click here to read information from the ATO about it. Included is this information on how it works:

STP works by sending tax and super information from your payroll or accounting software to the ATO as you run your payroll.

When you start reporting:

  • you will run your payroll, pay your employees as normal, and give them a payslip
    • your pay cycle does not need to change (you can continue to pay your employees weekly, fortnightly or monthly)
  • your STP-enabled payroll software will send us a report which includes the information we need from you, such as salaries and wages, pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and super information

You will be reporting super liability information through STP for the first time. Super funds will also be reporting to us. They’ll let us know when you make the payment to your employees’ chosen or default fund. This is an important step toward making sure employees are paid their correct entitlements.

The way STP information is sent will depend on the software you use. STP reporting will be offered in one of the following ways with:

  • an end-to-end solution, which allows you to run your payroll and send the STP information directly to us from your software
  • a solution which allows you to run your payroll and send the STP information through a third party sending service provider (SSP) which is integrated into your software
  • a solution that allows you to run your payroll and requires you to send the STP information through a third party sending service provider (SSP) outside your software.

ATO systems will match the STP information to our employer and employee records.

Your employees will be able to see their year-to-date tax and super information in ATO online services, which can only be accessed through myGov. Their data is updated every time you report (each pay day for most employers). Without STP reporting, employee data is only reported at the end of the financial year.

If you make mistakes in your STP report, you can correct it in your following report. We won’t penalise you for making mistakes you correct.

At the end of the financial year, you’ll need to finalise your STP data. This is a declaration to the Commissioner to state you have completed your reporting for the financial year.

It is important newsagents are across this and live already.; Putting it off is not an option.

For what int is worth, in my own shops our POS software is connected to Xero and Xero manages STP requirements.

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Newsagency management

Small business pledge in UK leadership race interesting

Jeremy Hunt’s pledge to scrap tax for a bunch of small businesses is an interesting and practical pledge to support small businesses, UK high street businesses. This, from The Telegraph:

Jeremy Hunt has pledged to exempt hundreds of thousands of firms from business rates if he becomes prime minister, in a bid to save Britain’s ailing high streets.

In an extension of Philip Hammond’s £1.5bn plan to regenerate town centres across the country, the Tory leadership contender intends to scrap taxes for nine out of ten high street shops.

The move will save newly exempted businesses up to £6,500, and will benefit an estimated 24,500 businesses based in Birmingham, Manchester and three other large English cities.

The announcement builds on his recent promise to cut corporation tax from 19 percent to as low as 12.5 percent, the same as Ireland, a policy which is set to cost an estimated £13 billion a year.

Plenty of Aussie retailers would agree with this:

“It was once said Britain was a nation of shopkeepers. But if we don’t act this will no longer be the case

“Too many small businesses are being put out of business by tax bills they can’t afford to pay. “While many people choose to shop online, there is a clear demand for a local choice too.

“And the current system leaves the taxpayer out of pocket, shopkeepers out of a job and can deprive local people of places to spend time with friends and family.”

What I like about this announcement is the specific detail. It goes beyond  the usual platitudes of small businesses are the backbone of the country during cam pains followed by years in government of inaction.

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Social responsibility

Macquarie Bank bans use of cards of gambling products

The AFR reports that the Macquarie Bank has bans credit cards for gambling.

The changes, to start on July 1, will mean any transactions classified under the merchant codes as gambling will be blocked when the card holder tries to pay.

The move is in response to growing regulatory and government concern, both in Australia and overseas, about easy access to credit by problem gamblers.

Other card providers, including ANZ, Bankwest and CBA offering cash advance rates on credit cards, typically charge interest rates of more than 21 per cent. It is not known whether these, or other banks will be introducing a ban.

This story will continue to evolve. A benefit for physical shops is that they can easily take cash as a form of payment. Also, software used in shops that sell items from multiple categories does not differentiate what is in the basket.

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Lotteries

Blyeshyft crypto in the news

ROGUE BOT: Australian exchange loses, then recovers, $1 billion in crypto

An Australian exchange has lost more than $1 billion worth of crypto in an hour – but the owner of a trading bot kindly gave it all back.

CEO Kain Warwick responds to billion dollar loss

“There are currently a number of trading bots actively trading on Synthetix.exchange using different strategies, one of these bots was able to detect this price error and exploit it to trade into and out of sKRW during the window where the API was incorrectly reporting the price,” said founder Kain Warwick.

Warwick, who is also the CEO and Co-founder of Blueshyft, added, “This resulted in several trades with profits of 1000x, resulting in over $1b in profit in less than an hour.”

Blueshyft allows customers to purchase cryptocurrencies on exchanges like CoinSpot and BinanceLite over the counter at over 1300 retailers across Australia.

Click here for the story.

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Social responsibility

Delivery knows no bounds

With 7-Eleven now offering a delivery service to more than 2m000 hot spots such as beaches and parks, the gig delivery world just expanded.

The retailer told The Associated Press that more than 2,000 7-Eleven “hot spots” including New York’s Central Park and Venice Beach in Los Angeles will be working starting Monday. Customers need to download 7-Eleven’s 7NOW app and select “Show 7NOW Pins” to find a hot spot near them.

The chain foresees eventually having 200,000 hot spot locations, said to Gurmeet Singh, 7-Eleven’s executive vice president and chief digital information and marketing officer.

See the Dallas News story here.

The company says there’s no minimum order required. The same fees apply to both delivery services. The chain charges a flat delivery fee of $3.99. And for orders under $15, customers pay an extra $1.99. For all orders, it promises average wait time of 30 minutes. For both services, the orders are fulfilled from its 9,100 stores.

This move from 7-Eleven is extraordinary and demonstrates the power of having a phone that pinpoints your location for delivered of even something as simple as a Slurpee.

The gig economy is alive and well. Maybe 7-Eleven could take over paper delivery with this service. Hang on, US$3.99 per delivery indicates not. That US$3.99 figure reinforces that newsagents price their delivery service too low.

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Newsagency challenges

Beware LayBys in retail

While LayBys have been around for decades in retail, the rules are not what they used to be. This came home recently to a retailer I know who was left with a $550.00 value item that a customer had been paying off over two months but then changed their mind. This issue for the retailer is that the item was of launch interest for that licence. They will struggle to get half the retail price now.

Click here to access the ACCC advice on LayBys. See this advice on termination fees:

You can only charge the customer with a lay-by termination fee if they cancel the agreement.

There is no set amount or percentage for a termination fee, but it must not be more than your ‘reasonable costs’ relating to the lay-by agreement (for example, storage and administrative costs that apply to the lay-by agreement). What is ‘reasonable’ will depend on the circumstances and you should be prepared to justify that your costs are reasonable.

If the customer’s lay-by instalments do not cover the termination fee, you are entitled to recover the outstanding amount as a debt. This should be clearly stated in the lay-by agreement along with any other details of termination fees so that your obligation to have a transparent lay-by agreement is fulfilled.

Apart from the termination charge, you are not entitled to damages or any other remedy for the termination of the lay-by agreement.

And this on a LayBy agreement:

An agreement is considered to be a lay-by if the consumer:

  • pays for the goods in at least two instalments (when the agreement is called a lay-by), or
  • pays for the goods in at least three instalments (when the agreement is not specifically called a lay-by), and
  • does not receive the goods until the full price has been paid.

Any deposit paid by the consumer is an instalment.

You may have obligations under the laws about lay-by agreements even if you do not call the agreement a ‘lay-by’.

If you offer LayBys, check your agreement, ensure it is referred to on your LayBy receipts and ensure that you follow the ACCC guidelines. Alternatively, go with another approach that is less risky for your business than LayBy.

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Newsagency management

Buy Now Pay Later options for small business retailers

With the tough two weeks for Afterpay, several retailers have asked be about alternatives.

While Afterpay is the name in this space of buy now pay later, Humm (formerly Oxipay) and Zip Pay (and Zip Money) are all worth a look.

Humm is part of the ASX traded Flexi group.

Each of these platforms can be integrated with your POS software as well as with any website you run. Plus, you can integrate more than one of them.

I suspect we will see more news about the buy now pay later model, in addition to the wash up of the current challenges reported for Afterpay. As retailers, it is important we keep our options open and that me make shopping easy for our customers.

There is some interesting reporting on those who use buy now pay later. Millennials are interesting to us. hence, our need to offer this and to o9ffer brands shoppers trust.

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Newsagency management

Free shop local video

I make videos for Tower Systems and newsXpress for social media and other marketing. For some I use original video and still image content while for others I use premium stock videos. Through Tower we also offer unbranded visited for any retailer to use to provide brief entertainment fun content for use on social media. Here is a new one from last week. It’s designed to be simple, fun something people will watch to the end. I find short fun videos work well, and by well I mean customers comment in-store and, yes, new customers can be attracted.

Click here to download.

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marketing

Forward leaning newsagencies popular with landlords

I have noticed a shift in what landlords of small, medium and large centres are looking for from newsagency businesses.

Whereas in the past they sought restrictions to control the businesses to traditional offerings, today more are wanting to partner with retailers who are actively playing beyond the traditional boundaries.

This is especially true in regional centres. They want businesses that are focussed on generating valuable traffic for the centre beyond their businesses. Whereas in the past papers, magazines and lotteries did that job, today I am often asked what a business might bring that is unusual, that shoppers could be willing to drive an hour to see.

In the last week I have received approaches from three landlords with such requests. They want newsagency businesses, but ones that genuinely add value from what has been traditional for the channel.

This is a good trend in my view, line that encourages optimism.

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newsagency of the future

Chasing new traffic this week for newsagents

newsXpress stores are this week chasing new traffic with a national TV ad campaign for Beanie Boos. Ranked in the top five revenue generators in their category, Boos are valuable at attracting shoppers, driving impulse purchases and boosting basket value.

I think it is important we promote our businesses externally through products we are not naturally thought of as stocking. By all means promoter legacy products in-store and locally, but for broad mass media attraction, we need a fresh pitch to reflect our fresh and relevant businesses.

There are two TVCs running – the one below and another that is “C” classified brand positioning, without a value offer.

I was directly involved with the production of the TVC and want to comment that we worked hard to get the right voice, to speak to the target shopper. The script was thoughtfully developed to pitch not only the value proposition but also the fun of the brands of Beanie Boos and Flippables. The images are deliberately diverse as Boos appeal, primarily, to boys and girls from as young as 5 to and old as fifteen, sometimes older.

One final point before we get to the TVC. Some may think that Boos are only one part of their business. They are right. However, there is evidence that they work at attracting new shoppers who are valuable beyond the Boo purchase. They buy cards, toys, gifts and more. Plus, these shoppers return. So, Boos work as a lure.

I’d also add that no other business runs a Boo only TVC. This is a differentiator,. We could promote stationery, but, hey, many businesses do that already. Swimming in the blue ocean is something I like.

Oh … the TVC is working. Reports of sales boosts are terrific.

Here is the general target TVC:

Now, in case you are wondering, here is the “C” release TVC. Producing this considerably enhances the return on ad spend for us.

This ad plays in prime kid viewing times.

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Newsagency marketing group

Retail management advice: reduce visual noise

Visual noise can block sales in retail, especially in a shop with products that themselves are colourful, like a business with cards and magazines.

Suppliers add to the visual noise challenge with suggestions (demands from some) for displays focussed on their products.

Your visual noise strategy for your business needs to serve your business.

Less is more, usually. Less noise means that the messages you do have are more likely to be noticed.

Stand outside your retail business and count how many different messages you pitch from the front of the shop through to the counter. Look at how organised they are, what they demand of the customer, what they pitch, the ease of understanding them.

Make a list.

Start cutting.

You have a few seconds to get attention. the more focussed you messages the more likely they will be understood and acted on.

What does all this actually mean? Less posters. Less signs. Less feature displays. Less visual noise. So what you want noticed is more likely to be noticed.

Finally, an oldie but a goodie: show, don’t tell.

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Management tip

Driving relevance for the newsagency

Here is our in-store pitch in support of the new Toy Story film out this week. Online, too, we are similarly engaged.

Connecting with blockbuster movies is lucrative, especially using products with 50%+ GP and that offer net new traffic.

Finding new traffic starts with product. It works well when you can connect with a popular licence. That is the motivation for this Toy Story pitch. The franchise is strong and the advance buzz for this new movie is terrific.

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Gifts

OzLotto $80M

Okay so OzLotto did not go off and next week’s jackpot is now $80,000,000. This offers a nice traffic boost that lottery retailers can leverage. It’s an opportunity to seize.

From the front door, within the rules of what is allowed, pitch what differentiates your business, what can be easily understood and what could bring them back.

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Lotteries

The ethics of sales reps and those they work for

Some sales representatives who call on newsagents and other indie retailers will do anything to get you to buy their products or service.

Retailers would know who I mean – they are the sales people who try and win business by lying about the competitors.  It’s their point of difference.

I am talking here about outright lies and not just tough competitive positioning.  It speaks volumes for their belief in their own product that they focus on the competitors more than themselves. Thankfully, business won this way often bites them sometime down the track.

If a supplier representative says anything to you about a competitor of theirs, ask them to prove it.  This will soon shut them up.  Better still, go to the company or person they are speaking about and let them know – it is what you would want if it was you they were talking about after all. Or even better still, write down their claims in front of them, with date and time and their name. Make it clear you will hold them to what they have said.

It is essential you have evidence down the track should you need to confront them or their boss about claims made.

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Ethics

Independent media gathers steam while mainstream struggles: latest numbers

At Michael West’s excellent indie news and analysis site is this terrific report about the growth in engagement with independent media:

Independent public interest journalism continues to attract larger audiences. Growth in online readership at www.michaelwest.com.au jumped 67 per cent in the last quarter. Kim Wingerei at theIndependents.org.au reports.

AUDIENCE GROWTH at michaelwest.com.au is part of the broader trend — the latest report for independent digital media shows overall growth of 21.7 per cent in the 27 sites in the index, while the “big four” – Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian and News.com.au – continue to decline in print and battle to get enough subscribers behind their paywalls to fund their newsrooms.

In the week when Crikey announced much welcome additions to its journalism ranks, it is great to be able to report the continued growth of online independent media(1) in Australia. In the third quarterly report, the 27 online sites(2) tracked grew their web traffic numbers by 21.74 per cent from February to May 2019. With the previous period growth of 10 per cent, that is a whopping 33.9 per cent compound growth over the last six months.

Crikey is another one of the outstanding performers on the list with 49 per cent monthly growth in visits – to 446,000 in May (despite having a paywall) according to SimilarWeb – an online audience measurement service. Crikey will need that kind of growth to help support the addition of a dozen journalists in their new INQ unit (”Inquiry Journalism”), but they seem to have found the right balance with their subscription model and funding from high net worthers Cameron O’Reilly and John Fairfax.

This is not only happening in Australia. Around there world there is growth in subscriber and reader engagement with independent media. This is a healthy trend in terms of news access. It is an interesting trend for retailers of news products, like newsagents.

I subscribe to four independent news outlets in Australia. I appreciate their independence. What these sites are doing for news is similar to what our businesses can do for retail. We are independent, competing with big business.

Read more of the above article here.

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Media disruption

Magazines as stationery

Typo has a range of journals that look like National Geographic magazines, as part of their front of store stationery pitch. I have see it in three of their stores in the last two weeks.

They have gone for iconic covers that resonate. It’s a smart move by this forward leaning retailer. It would work well in our channel.

While we continue to pitch functional stationery, stores like Typo are growing sales through fashion related moves that encourage purchase beyond need.

This is the future of stationery growth. As paper is used less, we need to expand the reasons for people to purchase stationery products, if we want to remain in the category. No, a cute looking journal will not cut it.

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Stationery

Smart move to pitch a lottery ticket as a gift

I love this pitch in a Wellington, New Zealand, lottery outlet of cards next to the lottery terminal. It guides shoppers about a lottery ticket (or product) as being ideal for slipping into a card, subtly encouraging the shopper without in-your-face marketing. It’s show, don’t tell.

I suspect that the placement of greeting cards next to the lottery counter helps in some way drive lottery product purchase – and not distract from general lottery product purchase.

It would be interesting to see this tested in a structured way in Australian lottery outlets, to see if the placement benefits card and lottery product sales. Such tests could be run in association with the lottery companies given the mutually beneficial outcome being sought.

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Lotteries

Should we consider armed security guards to cut theft?

Gerry Harvey has called for consideration of this.

“In a lot of our stores overseas, where we’ve got the security people, they’ve got guns on them.

“Now if those kids knew there was a security guard there with a gun on him, they would not have gone in.”

In my experience employee theft is a higher cost to retail businesses than shopper theft. But my data is from indie small businesses. Maybe in Gerry’s stores, people do walk out with washing machines and fridges.

I think the last thing we need is armed guards in retail. But, hey, Gerry loves a headline and he sure got that this week with this pitch of his.

I’d like to see evidence on what is being stolen by store type. This could inform a more educated and less shrill discussion.

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theft
Trending Articles

Fairfax changes approach to TV Guide, disrespects newsagents

Published on April 20, 2011

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Published on February 16, 2018

IPS releases new magazine contracts

Published on June 21, 2011