Click here to see a letter from Steven Ciobo to a newsagent responding on the EFTPOS issue. I am interested in the proposal to tie consideration of action the the EPAL licence.
ATTENTION NEWSAGENTS – the more you engage with your local parliamentarians, the greater the opportunity to get the attention necessary of those in a position to help our position.
Newsagents were yesterday advised of a twenty cent price rise for the cover price for The Age, The Saturday Age and The Sunday Age newspapers. The challenge is that The Age price rise takes effect next Monday (April 18) while the other two kick in after Easter (April 30 and May 1), after the bumper edition.
By splitting the price increases in this way, Fairfax has doubled the workload for newsagents, doubled questions from customers, doubled the cost of communication and presented more opportunities for mistakes.
A publisher concerned about customer service and the workload newsagents are placed under would have applied all price increases at the same time.
I have heard that 7 Eleven expects to open 200 new locations in Australia this year. I am not sure if this includes their take over off the Mobil footprint. Regardless, the growing convenience channel is a considerable challenge for newsagents – a challenge that I suspect many are not aware of.
I understand for some newsagent suppliers, particularly in the circulation space, that convenience is the fastest growing retail channel. I can certainly see this at the top end of the market.
The risk, of course, is that convenience grabs growth in top selling titles, resulting in fading sales newsagencies of non top selling titles due to the migration of the traditional newsagency customer from newsagency to convenience. This has been a consequence of publishers going direct into supermarkets fifteen years ago.
The magazine model in newsagencies depends on browsers. Top selling titles and other very popular product categories (lotteries, transport tickets and newspapers) generate the browser traffic we need. More top selling magazines in more convenience stores will likely result in less traffic for newsagencies. The result will be an even more challenged magazine distribution model. Suppliers helping convenience grow need to understand the consequences of their actions.
While there are some newsagents playing well in the convenience space, their numbers are few.
Overseas, there is significant growth in convenience store numbers.
I have been talking with one of the people being GPS Australia, a new magazine set for launch in a couple of months. You can see a mock of the cover on the launch issue on the left – click on the image for a larger version.
The publisher is keen to hear from newsagents about the new title: would you carry this? What quantity would you carry? Where would you see it being located?
There is currently nothing like this title in the marketplace. It’s launch offers us an opportunity to reinforce the unique range of magazines we carry.
They would like newsagents to make direct contact on these questions:
You can contact Nick at: octapc@gmail.com. I urge newsagent to engage in providing feedback.
It is not often that we are consulted prior to a magazine launch.
We are promoting AFL cards and albums behind the counter to further drive already good impulse purchases. The display looks stunning, better than in the photo. You notice it as soon as you enter the store.
We had been using the space to promote part works but sales were not as good as we needed to justify using this premium space.
I love the use of colour by our team for this display – assisted by the red sign in the middle. This is what grabs your eye.
Also, notice the lack of clutter. This is how the behind the counter space is kept. It works a treat for most promotions.
It is interesting watching the phone tapping scandal in the UK involving News International unfold. Over there there are plenty of non News affiliated newspapers prepared to cover the story. Here, the running is pretty much left up to Fairfax newspapers. I am relying on the coverage in The Guardian and The Independent. This story feels like it has a ways to go yet. It makes one wonder how far it will reach.
This Ultimate Guides Disc Burning title was first sent to newsagents in September 2010. The exact same product has just been re-issued to newsagents. The title is from Media Factory, a publishing company which produces titles which are, in my view, of dubious value compared to competitive titles in the marketplace. That they have re-issued this Disc Burning issue is frustrating, especially for one newsagent who has a customer who wants copies of the Ultimate Guides putaway. The customer was not happy when discovering that this ‘new’ issue was the same as one they received in September last year.
I’d like to know the basis on which the title was re-issued as well as answers to some other questions which newsagents should be asking:
Re-issues are a challenge for newsagents. We rely on magazine distributors making re-issue decisions which respect us. Unfortunately, there is no transparency around re-issue decisions so we can only go off what we see. All too often, a re-issue decision does not make sense. It is entirely appropriate that we demand that magazine distributors provide appropriate information to enable us to decide if our interests are well served by the re-issue decision. Unfortunately too often, I suspect this is not the case.
Media Factory continues to be a problem publisher for newsagents.
We are taking the heightened interest in weddings, well the imminent royal wedding at least, as an opportunity to promote the Melbourne Wedding Guide in our best magazine promotion location this week capping one of our magazine aisles and facing toward the front of the newsagency. The collateral for the display was created in-house by our creative team. It gabs your attention when you enter the store … anyone planning a wedding will be encouraged to pick up the title on impulse, especially given our promotion of the good value price point – $6.95.
This display is an example of the challenge of the ‘required’ display versus a decision in-store about what is best for the business. This title would not be promoted by many newsagents as it is not on the required to display list – not that there is a formal list as such. We choose to display it because we will get sales which make our investment worthwhile.
Someone with a good sense of humor at a closing Borders store in Chicago posted this sign on their restroom door. Source: [e-reads].
While I don’t think that Amazon and other onnline stores are responsible for the demise of Borders, many are still running this line.
Mike Smith has been getting a bit of attention in the media recently. First this week he was on the attack about the government decision to not let the Singaporeans buy the commpany which manages the Australian Stock Exchange. Next, he was saying that the federal government is weak.
It bothers me that the opinions of the CEO of one of Australians big four banks is considered news. His sole interest is the share price for the ANZ. Corporations law dictates this. What is good for an ANZ shareholder, and his personal hip pocket, may not be good for Australia or the businesses which are tethered to the ANZ through home mortgages and small business lending facilities.
The ANZ gouges its customers at every opportunity. Its decisions and the decisions of the other big banks do more harm to families and small businesses than anything this or other governments have done wrong.
I wish that Mike Smith’s opinions did not get the news coverage they do. I would prefer to see a more balanced representation of opinions on matters like the possible sale of the ASX to Singaporeans. Personally, I don’t see the sense of this. The operation of the ASX is fundamental to the economy. We have sold off enough of this country, why sell off our stock exchange as well? Who benefits. Okay, maybe the shareholders. But do investors benefit? I don’t see it.
Mike Smith and his big bank CEO colleagues need to be put in their place. We should stop paying attention to what they say.
I feel better now. I’m going out for breakfast.
Check out the 3 Live Shop video below and see for yourself a major leap forward in the online shopping experience. This video was released a few days ago and is creating plenty of discussion including questions by some as to whether it was authentic.
3 from B-Reel & B-Reel Films on Vimeo.
While Gerry Harvey and hiss mates have been in full shrill swing railing against the government of GST, the Swedes (and others probably) appear to have been genuinely innovating in the online space.
The placement of the ad for Mainland Vintage Cheese (only at Woolworths) was perfect on my copy of The Saturday Age yesterday. It covered the crest of the newspaper as well as a key part of the masthead of the newspaper, the name. I guess getting a few bucks from a cheese company advertising a product which is only available at one of the two biggest supermarkets in Australia is more important than respecting your own brand. This would never has happened ten or fifteen years ago. Back then, they respected their product. It would not happen today in many newspaper companies around the world.
Crikey.com published a rumor yesterday that Fairfax and News were considering sharing the News printing plant at Chullora:
Print merger for News, Fairfax. Watch for a possible merger of News and Fairfax print site in Sydney in the next two to three years. It will operate from News Limited’s Chullora site. Friends have said they spotted top-level Fairfax bosses as well as Fairfax print site managers walking around the Chullora site measuring the room available. It was extended recently to accommodate an extra two presses. The same will happen in Melbourne — rumour has it that they have agreed on a block of land to build a greenfield site in the Somerton/Campbellfield area with a completion date of three years.
If true, it would be big news for newsagents on a range of fronts from efficiency through to the possibility of publishers setting up for direct delivery.
Both Fairfax and News are currently reviewing their current newspaper home delivery structure and considering future plans.
Check out this video promoting Timbuktu, a new magazine for children published for the iPad. Timbuktu is currently available free in iTunes.
The navigation of the magazine is interesting. They are not using the usual page flip. Instead, you navigate down when a new section starts. It’s worth checking out not only for content but also for design and other innovations.
We have been promoting Cosmopolitan magazine on an aisle end facing a reading nook we have for woman’s magazines. While toward the back of the store, we certainly see shoppers browse and purchase off displays we place here. We find that people who get to the end of our magazine aisles and into this reading space tend to be the more avid magazine customer – hence the value of good displays to help drive impulse purchases. I guess my point is that displays don’t always have to be in a high traffic location to work. In our case, down here in this location, the lack of visual competition works to the favour of the title on promotion.
I had a good discussion with an advisor to a local member of parliament today who asked excellent questions on the EFTPOS issue. He was well across the issue for small and independent businesses like newsagencies and was working on a strategy to get the issue in front of the right people. He gets the challenges for small business people in this. He will also talk with the ANF before developing a briefing paper.
I have been talking with the publisher of frankie magazine about the opportunity given the decline of Borders and that the title was a hit for them. This is an excellent opportunity for newsagents.
The latest issue of frankie magazine goes on sale next week. This is the title which delivered a 35% increase in sales in the latest circulation audit. Newsagents near a Borders store should consider contacting Gordon and Gotch today to get supply increased. A process has been established in Gordon and Gotch to handle this.
I urge all newsagents to check their sales of frankie and request in increase in supply if they sold out of the last issue. If you didn’t sell out, start panning now for active promotion of the next issue. With this title achieving excellent growth it is not something you want to sell out of early in the on sale and miss sales you could have achieved.
I have asked for a 25% increase in my newsagencies as I know I can achieve this with additional promotion.
Morrison Media, the publisher of frankie, is making aan A2 poster available for stores with the space and who want to get behind this issue.
What I have found with frankie is that tactical placement works well. Place the product where younger female shoppers can see the cover. Do not hide it in regular magazine fixturing.
If you want to make the most of the opportunity next week, contact Gordon and Gotch today.
This is an opportunity for newsagents to demonstrate that we are serious about magazines and that we will engage when given an opportunity with a pull model – where we can order extra stock prior to the on sale. If we all act on this opportunity we could show other publishers the power and opportunity of the newsagency channel.
The image is of the current issue of frankie, issue 40.
Check out the amazing display crated to promote the Woman’s Day Royal Wedding souvenir at newsXpress Deception Bay. At the centre off the royal looking display is a signature book which customers can sign. This will be sent to London to pass on the good wishes of Deception Bay shoppers. Very innovative!
Click on the image to see a bigger version of the photo.
I am not sure what is going on with our supply of Great Walks magazine. I like this title but not to the extent of being supplied to achieve a sell through of only 30%. This month we received 7 copies. We will probably sell the usual two copies. I have looked back at sales data for the last six issues – given the supply algorithms I am told are in place, we should have received maybe four copies, not seven. We will give all seven copies of the latest issue a crack but will look at early returning three copies if we do not see movement by the start of week three.
As I noted, I like Great Walks. I just wish that it was a destination title, that shoppers would come in asking for it. But I could say that for a ton of special interest titles.
On Tuesday, ASIC revealed that on March 17 it had banned Ian Christiansen, a former director of Bill Express, from managing a company for five years. I suspect that the same fate would have befallen Ian’s brother Hal had he been alive today. Fairfax papers have the story. No news yet on the fate of Julian Little, the Bill Express director who managed the relationship with newsagency.
Newsagents sunk more than fifty million dollars into Bill Express, signing five year agreements.
There were complaint of false and misleading information being used to get newsagents to sign these long term agreements. Nothing ever came of complaints about tactics used in the field to get newsagents to sign what we now know to be unfair and grossly expensive five year agreements.
Bill Express was promoted to newsagents by the ANF. The ANF got a commission from Bill Express. The ANF Board endorsed Bill Express in 2003 with lavish promotion and support, having done no due diligence on the company or its offer. In 2008, when Bill Express was collapsing, the then ANF Board continued to support Bill Express, providing advice to newsagents to continue to pay for Bill Express equipment without seeking legal advice as to the appropriateness of this advice.
The behavior of the ANF in 2003 and in 2008 damaged the organisation. The ANF today is not the ANF of 2003 or 2008 thankfully for newsagents.
Go into the back room of many newsagencies and you will find some of the old Bill Express hardware stored away.
As ASIC and others work through their processes and put the Bill Express mess to bed, maybe newsagents can too. It is truly time to move on. the past is the past.
The administrators for RED Group last night announced the imminent closure of another 16 Borders stores. The move reinforces the some challenges in retail at present. However, it opens more opportunities to nearby newsagents as we are well positioned to pick up the Borders magazine business. They keys here are range, service and encouraging browsing.
Smart newsagents near these closing Borders stores will refresh their magazine rage, relay their store, renew staff training to lift customer service and promote their magazine range externally.
Now is the time to promote Donna Hay magazine folks. Donna’s first TV show is on the air PLUS the latest issue of the Donna Hay magazine (out yesterday) comes with a free timer – a good gift for a food title. We are promoting this issue with an aisle end display as well as placement in with our weekly titles. Oh, and in with our food titles.
We will scale this multi location activity back after the weekend once we assess sales for the title and consider demands on our space.
Our competitors with this title – supermarkets,, petrol and convenience, will do nothing more than place the title where they are paid to place it. We can grab incremental business with good placement early in the on sale.
We are promoting the Woman’s Day Royal Wedding one shot right at the front of the newsagency, facing into the shopping mall. This is the kind of title which will draw traffic – even though marketing collateral is light on. Ugh. We are reusing the I Love Magazine stand from ACP. We, like plenty of newsagents, are chasing more stock as we expect to sell out of what we received. (Click on the image for a larger version of the photo.)
Dun & Bradstreet has picked up the push by the ANF, newsagents and COSBOA for justice and fairness for small business on the EFTPOS fee issue. See their news report here.
