We have placed diaries are more likely to appeal to women closer to our greeting card department since women are four times more likely to shop the card department than men. The photo shows part of this range, we have more on a stand nearby. While this placement near cards is a logical step to some newsagents it will be innovation to others. Once you see the diaries in this location it makes sense. A small move but well worth it.
We started promoting The Australian Women’s Health Diary 2010 at the front counter of our newsagency from yesterday. This is the first time we have done such a display for this at the counter. While the diary usually sells very well, we wanted to see what we could achieve with a good display at our best impulse purchase location. Our goal is to sell 200 copies over the next few weeks. The sooner the better given space challenges of this time of the year.
I like the poster supplied to promote the diary – it appeals to the targer customer.
The photo shows more magazine subscriptions being pushed through diaries associated with the magazines. While I understand that subscriptions are part of the publishing model, I am not happy that they use diaries in newsagencies to take business from us.
News Magazines are the worst culprit at the moment with discounts of up to 58% off Gardening Australia, Inside Out, Country Style and delicious. What makes them worse than others in-store at the moment is their use of insets in diaries and their blatant pitch. I have seen at least one other diary offering a subscription but without a massive discount and not using an insert.
Diaries from magazine publishers are not provided to newsagents for what I would call a commercial margin. They ride off the back of the magazine supply model. I can make twice as much from diaries I bring in under fairer commercial terms.
So, magazine publishers use magazine relationships to place diaries in newsagencies on terms which are favourable to them. They then use this cheap placement to try and get newsagency customers to buy magazines direct from the publisher.
A smart publisher would work with newsagents on a subscription plan and offer fair compensation for the up-sell effort. We have the technology to offer this today. I know of plenty of newsagents who would be happy to sell subscriptions. They’d also be happy to offer a discounted putaway service in return for a long term up front commitment.
Using diaries to take business from newsagents lacks foresight on the part of publishers. They should support this valuable channel and not treat it with such disrespect.
Publishers diverting revenue from newsagents risk looking back one day and wondering what happened to the newsagents? Respect us and we support you.
Inserted in the front of the 2010 Notebook diary is a subscription flyer. Subscribe and save 28% on a 1 year subscription to Notebook magazine it proclaims. Publishers do this all the time and I usually let it slide. Using a low margin diary supplied on mediocre terms this is poor form by the published against newsagents. The flyers in the Notebook diaries in my newsagencies have slipped out.
Our channel is a valuable resource. Suppliers ought to respect this in their actions.
What will newsagents sell the 2010 Australian Nurse Diary for? $11.95 which is the RRP or $15.00 which is the retail price for the copies supplied through Network Servcies? Network has invoiced me at 71% more than the cost price from my direct supplier. The margin on the Network price is 36% and the margin on direct supply 53%.
Network runs a much improved magazine distribution model. Their handling of fringe opportunities such as diaries and calendars needs work if newsagents are to be seen as competitive by consumers.
If I relied on the Network supply of the Nurse Diary I’d be seen as expensive compared to other retailers. Newsagents are already considered as expensive by consumers. We need to push back on this and source products on terms which permit us to be seen a competitive. The push model of magazine distribution for non magazine products does not help us be more competitive.
We need to make our own success.
We have our Financial Year Diaries on sale on our dance floor, toward the front of the shop – between our newspaper stand and our counter. While we have regular customers who deliver good Financial Year Diary business, we are chasing the customer who has not come in with a Financial Year Diary purchase as their goal for the day. Our range, while not extensive, is good in terms of our demographic and what our sales history shows as working for us. We will move this display as we get closer to the end of June and depending on sales.
We are getting to the end of our diary sale and have now moved from a percentage off offer to a fixed price offer. Each diary has the orginal price and a discount price. We figured this is easier especially since we have moved beyond a half price offer. We will keep a small range for the remainder of the year but hope to quit what is left in the next two weeks. Since we moved to this new pricing approach wehave been selling 25 to 50 diaries a day.
We went into diaries in September last year with our discount strategy mapped out. Diaries are part of our overall value for money offer – that is the theory at least.
We have found ourselves overstocked with diaries at the wrong end of the season. To move these we have purchased professional marketing collateral and created a display on our dance floor with a big WOW! factor. Anyone walking past our Forest Hill store cannot help but see the display.
What I like about the marketing collateral we purchased is the range of sizes – this has enabled us to promote the sale in a more appealing way than we would usually do for something like this.
In the two days this has been up we have seen an encouraging lift in sales. If you need a diary give us a call!
We have been talking across our newsagencies about our price policy for diaries and when to contemplate discounting the 2009 range. With excellent sales still being achieved – $500 to $900 a day Friday last week and again today across our stores – we feel no need to contemplate discounting at this point.
I was in a newsagency yesterday where their diaries are at 50% off. They told me they did this because another store was discounting. The newsagent has a bigger and better range. This is why we don’t need to discount. It demonstrates the value of a point of difference.
We are seeing excellent diary sales this year compared to last, from the beginning of the diary season, almost two months ago, we have been ahead in sales on last year. We have kept promotion of diaries on the move, most recently promoting the category in the window which was home to our Christmas display. While this year’s success builds on previous years of growth, the numbers we are seeing already make it a stand-out. This has a lot to do with good in-store management of the range, display and customer service.
Diaries are a category in which newsagents can excel as they permit us to demonstrate our commitment to customer service compared to Officeworks, Big W and others playing in this space. They muck it up by offering house brands and poor customer service. House brands don;t work in the diary space – not for the majority of customers.
People who rely on getting the right diary are more likely to be let down by these bigger competitors.
The Australian Women’s Health Diary TV campaign is paying off. I saw one customer buy the diary on the weekend because of it. She came in to buy a magazine, saw the diary at the counter and mentioned the TV ad. While allocating counter space is a challenge, The Australian Women’s Health Diary is an excellent product to have at the counter right now because of this current TV campaign.
We have had diaries out for just over two weeks and sales have been fantastic – $2,600 at Forest Hill. Considering that we did not put diaries out last year until mid October, we are happy to already be ahead. Watching customer behaviour shows that the diary purchase at this time of the year is on impulse – hence the value in going early. It will be interesting to see the season total and whether going early pulled sales we would have got anyway or whether it achieved incremental sales – our sense is that it will be the latter given the diverse mix shopping centres attract.
We are promoting magazine branded diaries as an impulse item at the counter in the slim spinner shown in the photo. In the past we have promoted these in our regular diary section. The idea behind the counter pitch is that customers buying the related magazines are more likely to buy a sister diary on impulse. We are contemplating an offer around a diary / magazine pack but are yet to work our the process and in-store pitch. Also, we are likely to wait until we have more magazine branded diaries in-store to appeal to a broader demographic.
We placed a stack of 2009 desk calendar blocks at the counter, next to our good selling Angel Flames candles, several weeks ago. Sales have been excellent. Our price is $2.00. While others will be cheaper, at this price point we are not finding any resistance – people are happy to have got one while they are in-store. We punch above our weight in sales of these desk calendars because we go out early and locate the product at the counter.
The Enviro range from Debden is the other 2009 diary range of note we have in store right now. Produced on recycled paper, this range is fashionable and sustainable. As with my previous post, it will be important for us to ensure that our teams know about the back story for these diaries.
Speaking of diaries, even though we do not have our full 2009 range out yet, sales are good – showing that August is not too early to be selling 2009 dated diaries.
I am pleased we have the Debden Kyoto range of diaries in stock. These carbon neutral 2009 diaries will appeal to our customers. That we have them in-stock demonstrates that we have taken care to offer an environmentally friendly product. Printed on recycled paper, these diaries are sure to be a hit this diary season. Product knowledge is the key with the Kyoto range – ensuring that every team members understands what this range stands for and why that is important.