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

Author: Mark

Guaranteed minimum sales for magazines?

How would newsagents feel if they discovered that a competitor in the magazine space was financially compensated when a title did not achieve the retail sales projected by the publisher or distributor?

Just asking…

I am not naive enough to think that all newsagent retailers have the same terms. There are many factors in play in negotiating terms including financial, operational and business clout.

It could/should be in the interests of publishers and distributors to at least seek to negotiate similar terms for newsagents if their commercial goals can be met.  Otherwise, newsagents, who account for 50% of magazine sales yet sit at the bottom end of the magazine sales channel, ought to stop aspiring to improve their businesses. If we are all paid the same then we all aspire to act and work the same. That’;s not business.

Maybe magazine publishers and distributors would see an improvement in the performance of magazines in newsagencies if newsagents had the opportunity of more attractive commercial terms.

Just sayin…

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Ethics

People’s Friend, Circular Quay, magazines and print media disruption

Walking along Circular Quay in Sydney early in the morning a couple of weeks ago I noticed a homeless lady eating some breakfast and reading before hitting the road with her shopping trolley for the day. She was reading People’s Friend magazine. Then I noticed that she had a stack of People’s Friend issues in her trolley.

I didn’t have the guts to approach this connoisseur of People’s Friend on this morning. Now, two weeks on, I wish I had. I find myself thinking about her every couple of days. Partly because my mum reads People’s Friend and partly because this has been one of our top selling weekly magazines, number 4 in out top sellers in fact – between 55 and 70 copies a week.

On the main thoroughfare at Circular Quay that morning many people walking past my lady were connected to their iPhones or iPods, devices which challenge print. She was oblivious to the digital world and enjoying a story in People’s Friend. Long after our batteries are out of juice she will be able to enjoy the next story in the magazine. While so many of us need the next device in our hands to define our social status, this lady and plenty of others I am sure will get plenty of pleasure from the printed word.

I have realised that I keep thinking about what I saw that morning because it represents the intersection of two issues I often think about. People’s Friend is an old style weekly magazine where words matter and which owes nothing to garish design, celebrities, fads or free gifts. It is a print product which engages the consumer without the use of batteries and in a more engaging journey than much of the content one accesses on the i devices from Apple.

Change is inevitable. Print as a medium will be used less over time. Along the way, it is important for us to take the odd moment to recognise the importance and value of print to some. It is a vitally important medium for our businesses after all. In the short to medium term, print continues to present excellent opportunities for newsagents … for proactive newsagents that is.

What has this got to do with anything? Nothing I guess. I am sitting on a long flight listening to some nostalgic music, yes – on my iPod, as I write this. I wanted to write about the lady I saw at Circular Quay and try and share the warmth I feel when I think about her.

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magazines

Classic cake cookbook sales take off

magbdaybk.JPGNo sooner had I published my post yesterday about the Classic The Children’s Birthday Cake Book and a customer came in and purchased six copies.  She had noticed the title on display at our counter and when she sought it out a few days later she could not find it.  So, we sold six copies as a direct result of our counter display.

Yesterday, our team created a higher impact display, to leverage which is proving to be a popular and unique product for us.  W3e have ordered more stock as a result.  This is where newsagents have a real opportunity in the magazine space – catering to special interests.  In this case, the interests are nostalgia as well as baking.

Newsagents and Big W are the only retailers with this title until June.  This screams OPPORTUNITY to me.

To the newsagents who have placed this cookbook in with other cookbooks I’d say – treat it as a special title, as an opportunity to drive good incremental business.  I’d expect that in most newsagencies, sales will flow easily.

UPDATE from ACP: Between 9-11am today on the Kerry Anne show on channel 9, Xanthe Roberts (AWW Assistant Food Editor) will be featuring the two cakes from The Children’s Birthday Cake Book; this should further increase awareness of the title. It also has a feature within this month’s issue of AWW.

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magazines

Promoting MasterChef magazine

mag-mcmar2011.JPGWe are promoting the latest issue of MasterChef magazine with a display facing customers as they leave the store.  This is in addition to a tactical co-location campaign for the title.

The goal with the exit display is to have one last crack at getting shoppers to browse and purchase the title.  I love the way our team members have used some simple elements to create an effective display … making it about more than just a magazine poster.

While I think that MasterChef magazine has its regular customers, I also think that a reasonable portion of purchases are on impulse.  Hence our multi-layered approach to grab this impulse business.   This month;s Rick Stein cover should drive a nice boost in sales too.

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magazines

Publishers: pomote newsagents when advertising your magazines

country-style.JPGI was thrilled to see the advertisement for the latest issue of Country Style magazine in the Sunday Herald Sun yesterday.  I was disappointed that this ad did not mention where people could purchase the title.  This was a perfect opportunity to promote that Country Style magazine is available in newsagencies.  Telling people where they can purchase a product is better than an ad which only promotes the product.

I’d love to see News Magazines, the publisher of Country Style, make a commitment that all advertisements for their titles note that they are available from newsagents. They have nothing to lose and plenty of sales to gain.

Indeed, I would love all magazine publishers to promote newsagents as the go to place for the titles in advertisements.  Sadly, too few do.

As I have noted here previously, this title is hot.  It sells well and responds to placement in high traffic locations.  I ensure that it is actively promoted in my newsagencies, providing it with bonus attention. Only newsagents would take such a proactive approach.  News Magazines could demonstrate appreciation for the newsagent difference by driving traffic to our businesses through their advertising for the title.

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magazines

Chasing UFC stock

We have sold out of our second shipment of UFC magazine and are chasing more stock for one of my newsagencies. We are more than 100% up on the expected sales for our location. We are not alone from what I understand.

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magazines

Classic birthday cake book selling well

mags-birthdaycake.JPGThe re-release of the Children’s Birthday Cake Book by ACP is selling, well, like hot cakes.  We have had it at the counter as our Magazine of the Week and have had to order more stock as a result.  It is terrific watching a customer add this cookbook to a newspaper, card or some other purchase … a terrific extension off the shopping basket.These impulse purchases certainly make a point about what impulse likes work at the newsagency counter.

We also have the title with out cookbooks and while it is selling from there, the counter position is where it is working best.

Newsagents can shine with this title since we can be more flexible in where we place and how we promote the title.  Our competitors such as supermarkets will not even notice the title.  It is another SKU and that’s about it.  So, I’d encourage newsagents to engage with the title as I feel that it should sell very well inst about anywhere if my own experiences are anything to go by.

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magazines

GIO ad covers newspaper masthead

agefeb282011.JPGThe GIO has paid to partially cover the masthead of The Age newspaper in Victoria today.  The ad also partially covers editorial content promoting a story in the newspaper. As I have mentioned previously – if the publisher wants to make money from this space they should reconfigure the masthead so that there is room for these ads.  This would be better than sticking something over the top.  That’s what a business which respected its own brand would do.

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newspaper masthead desecration

Lack of respect for free newspapers

At my local Fitness First gym yesterday was a display stand with free copies of The Saturday Age newspaper for anyone who wanted one.  The display was messy because someone had taken the news section and left the rest messed up on top.  There was a bulk unopened on the floor next to it.

Asking about the promotion I was told I could take as many copies as I wanted since they didn’t know what to do with them.  It was late in the day and the majority of what they received appeared set to be wasted. They also said that they would have The Sunday Age today.

One off the people behind the counter was saying that The Age must be desperate for sales.  It turns out that he gets a cheap home delivery through his AFL club membership.

Giveaways and cheap deals are a good way to attract new customers through sampling your product.  However, there is a tipping point when your freebie and discounting campaigns devalue your brand in the eyes of consumers.  If the guy at the gym is anything to go by, some people have reached that point with The Age newspaper.

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Newspapers

Promoting the Super Coach competition

supercoach.JPGWe have been promoting The Little Black Book for the Herald Sun Super Coach competition at the counter, just above a stack of the newspaper.  In addition to the great display created by one of our team members, the book has been offered to every Herald Sun customer.

We are doing this as a customer service and to reinforce to the publisher that a direct relationship between newspaper publishers and proactive retail only newsagents (i.e. sub agent for newspapers) is vital … to the publisher, the newsagent and the consumer.

The interest in the Super Coach competition has been strong.  The diversity in ages of shoppers buying the book has been considerable.

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Newspapers

Help for newsagents on XchangeIT compliance

XchangeIT yesterday emailed newsagents who will be charged a higher fee from March 31, 2011 for accessing the service because they are not sending magazine sales data.  This morning I published a 9 point action plan for XchangeIT compliance here.

Concerned newsagents should book for one of the free live and online magazine management workshops run by Tower Systems – any newsagent can book and participate.  Click here for details of the session next Tuesday – an XchangeIT expert will step you compliance and how to avoid the higher cost from March 31.  This training program has been undertaken by more newsagents than any other training ever in the history of the newsagency channel.

Meeting XchangeIT standards is important for newsagents and the magazine distributors.  It is something we should all work together on.  Hence the opening of the popular Tower training program to all newsagents and at no cost.

It is unfortunate that some software companies charge newsagents extra for XchangeIT access and support and that they block access to invoices from XchangeIT if their software support fee is not paid.

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magazine distribution

Justin Bieber cards – before his new hair style

beiber-cards.JPGLike plenty of newsagents I am sure, we received these Justin Bieber cards this week.  The challenge is where to put them.  There was a time when newsagents happily gave over prime counter space to these impulse lines without thinking.  Today we are so many more impulse opportunities for the counter delivering 50% margin and more.  We will give the Bieber cards a go at the counter but we will watch their performance as this space is valuable.  the best we can hope for us a rush by young girls and a sell out in a week.

I’d like to see counter lines like this attract a premium margin given the premium space we need to provide.  50% would be reasonable in my view.

The other issue with the cards is that they are so yesterday – Justin Bieber has a new hair style, apparently.

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magazine distribution

Promoting Women’s Weekly

mags-aww-mar2011.JPGWe have been promoting the latest issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly with newspapers this week as well as on the I Love Magazines display.  With Anna Bligh’s strong popularity  following the Queensland floods, we are chasing impulse sales – hence the placement at the counter with newspapers.

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magazines

Park Street TV show bombs

Park Street, the reality TV show filmed in the offices of ACP Magazines and following the production of Madison, Shop Til You Drop, Cosmopolitan and Dolly bombed on its debut earlier this week according to a report at news.com.au.  Not a single viewer tuned in to watch the start of the show in Melbourne or Adelaide.  Anyone see it?

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magazines

Why a newsagency can be a good business to purchase

Every week I hear from one or two people looking at buying a newsagency asking about the process or whether I think newsagencies are good businesses to own.

A it happens I do think that newsagencies are good businesses to own.  Sure, print products are challenges.  However, they are not dying any time soon.  Indeed, traffic from newspapers and magazines is excellent … good enough to build strong sales of other products. Lottery products generate excellent traffic.  Greeting cards generate excellent traffic.  Business services like photocopying generate excellent traffic.

So, my first reason for saying that newsagencies are good businesses to purchase is the traffic opportunity.  Smart newsagents can achieve good things with this traffic.  they can lead the business through change which attracts new customers and gets existing customer spending more.

The challenges we face as a channel and , more importantly, individually, present opportunities for us to play considerably outside our traditional model.  There is where good retailers wille xcell.  not so much good newsagents of the old school variety, but good retailers.

This is my second reason for saying that newsagencies are good businesses to purchase … the opportunity to profit from change.  Take an old school newsagency and turn it into something fresh and bright.  Use the core traffic and get out of what is not making money.  I have seen newsagencies take on cafe, book, printing, gift, homewares and even haberdashery products.  The changes of today and tomorrow present excellent opportunities.

many newsagents are tired, some are lost, some are not retailers. Replacing these folk with fresh retail-focused ideas can refresh a business and help it turn a profit.

This is my third reason for saying that newsagencies are good businesses to purchase … to bring in new blood and turn a tired business around.

Almost every newsagency in Australia is connected to the community in some way or another.  Through supporting sports groups, participating in community groups and helping other local charities, the local newsagency is the quintessential local business. In some locations, the newsagency defines the local character.  In others, it is the local meeting place.Even in capital cities, newsagencies are the places people go when big retailers let them down.

This is my fourth reason for saying that newsagencies are good businesses to purchase … to better leverage the community connection.

While there are plenty of reasons for buying a newsagency, these are four I would highlight.  I think that the channel has a bright future if we embrace change and attract more buyers with good retail skills.

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buying a newsagency

Promoting I Love magazines on receipts

ilovemags-coupon.JPGWe are promoting the ACP I Love Magazines consumer campaign on shopper receipts. The coupon artwork was developed by Tower Systems and is available from the website.

Promoting I Love Magazines on receipts makes sense since receipts are part of the competition entry process.

We are having terrific success using receipts as a marketing tool for seasonal offers, competition promotion, driving loyalty and even general business promotion.  More newsagents should use receipts – promoting your business is better than promoting other businesses like you see on shop a dockets.

Any newsagent who is not a Tower Systems user who wants the artwork should contact me – I’ll happily send it to you.

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magazines

Do you stock TAR magazine?

mags-tar.JPGWe received TAR magazine earlier this week for the first time.  It sells for $43.95 and we received three copies.  We had not ordered this title.  In a city based newsagency I can understand giving TAR a crack but not in a suburban shopping centre where Take 5, That’s Life, New Idea and Woman’s Day and the staples.  I can’t see what in our sales data would have drive the Gotch allocations system to decide that we should carry this title.  My take is that Gotch had spare stock and we were next on the list to get an allocation – based purely on the quantity they had to shop and nothing to do with potential for sale.

My gripe with the broken magazine distribution model aside, we are giving the title a shot but it’s tricky.  The cost to us of theft of one copy would be extraordinary.

I’d be interested to hear from other newsagents and their experiences with TAR.

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magazine distribution

Surge in crossword sales

In one of my newsagencies we are benefiting from the temporary closure of a competitor due to a complete refit.  Even though we are some distance and on a different level from the other newsagency we have seen magazine sales increase by 65%.  What is most interesting is the breakdown in growth by MPA category.  The top categories in terms of share of total magazine sales are:

  1. Women’s Weeklies: 34.34% (30.70%)
  2. Women’s Interests: 10.89% (14.87%)
  3. Crosswords 10.26% (6.26%)
  4. Special Interest 7.21% (6.44%)
  5. Motoring 4.75% (6.75%)
  6. Partworks 4.14% (.76%)

The shift in what we are selling is most interesting.  The crosswords growth is stellar. I still think this is one of the best magazine categories for newsagents given the low interest by our competitors in crossword titles. While the partworks growth is much bigger, it is off a very low base.  The crossword growth of an additional 141 copies in three weeks is off a good base.

We are facilitating the growth in crosswords through a co-location strategy.  They are located in their usual position as well as in a secondary display with a selection of weekly titles closer to the front of the newsagency.

Today’s economic climate is an opportunity for crossword sales in that they represent low cost entertainment while also helping to maintain brain health.  Promoting these two points every so often can help boost sales.

I put the dip in motoring titles down to the surge in female shoppers.  More of them have sought us out than male shoppers.  Maybe male shoppers are lazy and give when they see their usual newsagency closed.

I get the numbers I am discussing here from the Monthly Sales Comparison Report which compares whatever period I select.  By requesting a category breakdown I can compare magazine sales by MPA category across any two trading periods.

We are engaged in a campaign to retain the new customers who have sought us out during the closure of our competitor.  This is built around the habit basis of magazine purchases.

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crosswords

UFC magazine off to a good start

If sales data I am seeing is anything to go by, UFC magazine has had a good first three days of sales.  In one of my stores we sold out of the initial allocation within 48 hours and are now well into the additional allocation.

While not a MasterChef magazine launch – because the UFC TV brand is not as big here as the MasterChef TV brand – I expect sales for the launch issue of UFC to meet the publisher’s expectations.

I’d encourage newsagents to support the title with prime space allocation for at least the first two weeks.  This is how we are getting our sales – from the front of the store.

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magazines

Promoting the new look Girlfriend magazine

mags-gfmar2011.JPGWe are promoting the new look Girlfriend magazine and new look collateral promoting the title with this display is a good location in-store.  The edgier look takes the magazine away from the softer teen girl look.  This cover has more of a Frankie magazine look. That’s a good thing.

The change in look warrants a different approach to promotion.  hence the space allocation and care taken with the display.

We will leave this display up for a week and then move it to be displayed with our weekly titles for a week s part of our co-location strategy.

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magazines

Promoting Take 5 and Annette Sym’s cookbooks

mags-symplyt5.JPGWe are promoting Take 5 and Annette Sym’s cookbooks next to each other since the latest issue of Take 5 has a mini cookbook of Annette’s guilt-free recipes free with the magazine. This is a perfect tactical opportunity – I’d encourage newsagents to check their shelves now.

We have ensured that we have the full cover on display – the free cookbook with Take 5 gets lost in traditional magazine fixturing otherwise.

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magazines

Promoting Cleo magazine

mag-cleo.JPGWe are promoting Cleo magazine with a waterfall display backed up against a pillar pointing out onto the dance floor.

I love the consistent colour theme of the product and the marketing collateral.  This combines for a stunning look in-store.

Cleo had a rough audit, down 14.12%.  Through this display and plans for the title in the second week of the on-sale we are doing what we can to at least drive sales in our newsagencies.

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magazines

Riptide magazine opportunity for newsagents

riptide.jpgRiptide is one of those magazines which often flies under the radar. Riptide is Australia’s dedicated body-boarding magazine and does not have the profile of other sports magazines. However, it’s sales are on the rise. Targeted at Males between 14-28 years of age, Riptide is one of those titles which can be purchased on impulse. It is also a good birthday gift suggestion for a parent or grandparent looking for something different. Issue #180 of Riptide went on sale last week and includes a DVD called “The Lackey Project”. This DVD gives stores a reason to feature this issue. The publisher is encouraging newsagents to look at sales as some a re reporting sell outs already. Gordon and Gotch has additional stock available.

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magazines

Promoting ACP cookbooks

cookbooks-spare.JPGWith the I Love Magazines display unit promoting ACP titles in-store we needed to find another use for the ACP Basket Builder stand which would usually ccarry some of these titles.  Our team came up with this terrific idea of using the stand to promote the ACP cookbook range.

As the photo shows, in addition to displaying the product, a great poster has been designed to cap the display stand and draw attention to the range.

This display was setup a week ago and faces onto the dance floor.

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magazines
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