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

newsagency marketing

Christmas in July drives newsagency shopper traffic in school holidays

We are running a Christmas in July promotion for three weeks to attract new shoppers through different approach to a regular sale approach. While this is an optional national newsXpress promotion, each store selects its own products for promotion. In our case we have brought in some products to pitch, to bring a genuine Christmas theme to the opportunity.

Running across the front of the store on the lease line, it is attracting shoppers from the mall. People are telling us they like the 10 x $500 cash prizes on offer.

We figured a Christmas in July retail store pitch was better than a Mid Year Sale pitch as plenty of other retailers, especially in shopping malls, are doing this time of the year. So far, a week in, it is working a treat. We are clearing some slow moving lines and moving at good margin items bough in especially for this promotion.

The traffic boost we are already seeing also plays well for other parts of the business as people drawn by the promotion do shop the shop to see what else we sell. It is a thrill to see this.

In addition to the in-store pitch with posters and displays, we are promoting Christmas in July on social media. This is being done with collateral that matches the in-store collateral. There are also price tickets and other collateral that leverage a single consistent message re the 10 x $500 cash prizes on offer nationally. Here is the main A1 double sided collateral we are using:

By running this as Christmas in July we leverage a growing mini-season in Australia and do so in a way the we can build on over the years if we wish – through a structured approach that does lend itself to consistent execution in-store.

Filling these months between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day with traffic-driving events is important to smoothing traffic and revenue flow in newsagency business. While peaks from seasons and terrific, the troughs can be challenging. It is our job as retailers to fill the troughs with businesses. That is what I am on about here.

11 likes
marketing

Happy Pineapple Day

Small seasons matter. Today is the day to feature all things pineapple, because we need to attract people for more than the major seasons for which we are known.

There are around 20,000 searched for the term pineapple in Australia every month.many more for phrases with the word.

Pineapple gifts, cards, homewares and novelty items and more are popular. A day like today is an opportunity to shine a light and to make your business attractive beyond the everyday. This type of activity is vital for a transforming newsagency business, it is vital for attracting shoppers who might otherwise not shop with you.

Happy pineapple day!

6 likes
marketing

We need to remind people what we sell

It falls to us as retailers to remind shoppers what we sell, even everyday items that we think people would come to us for first. We need to do this in our front windows, in advertising and using social media. We need to attract shopper traffic by pitching items so when they do need them they think of shopping with us.

Take the old HB pencil. It is easy to think people will think of shopping in a newsagency ahead of every other retailer if they want a HB pencil. That might have been true years ago but I doubt it is true today. Today, I think the HB pencil shopper would think of checking out a newsagency down on the list of shops they would consider.

Officeworks, supermarkets, discount variety and online would be high on the list of possible sources for a HB pencil. I say this partly because we have tended to stop promoting everyday stationery, partly because stationery is a poor cousin on the shop floor and partly because there are other outlets that are top of mind for stationery.

One way we can counter this is by promoting stationery ourselves. I have been doing this for one of my shops with a series of posts for everyday stationery department times, including the old HB pencil. I do this reasonably regularly to remind shoppers we have everyday stationery products they may need. Most recently, I did a week of posts about stationery items: HB pencils, NO JUNK MAIL signs, L and P plates, playing cards and more.

On social media it is free to pitch these items. There is no downside as long as the posts are interesting.

Every day we need to be pitching our businesses outside the business. These pitches need to include in their mix core items for which we were the destination retailer users ago.

9 likes
Newsagency management

Peppa Pig is a mega-brand you can’d live without

How many different Peppa Pig products do you have in your newsagency? For a solid Peppa Pig story to be pitched in-store you need twelve different products at the very least. Ideally, you will have more, like twenty-five plus to truly tap into the Peppa Pig opportunity, which is huge and lucrative by the way.

There are 201,000 searches online in Australia every month for Peppa Pig. That data is current, as at today, counting searches this year up to yesterday. You can add at least 100,000 Peppa Pig related searches. It is one of the most searched licences in Australia.

There are many factors driving this interest in the Peppa Pig licence including the TV show, books and the live show that is touring Australia right now. Significant worldwide growth is coming from Asian markets and this is also driving growth in interest here in Australia.

Books, plush, jigsaws, games, activity books and more are products we can tap into for this licence. These are all good products for our businesses, they fit well with a newsagency business today. A front of store display backed by regular social media posts can help us attract new shoppers to our businesses.

While national stores and discount variety stores do have Peppa Pig products, there are enough good-margin opportunities for us differentiate in range and display.

I urge newsagent to not ignore the Peppa Pig opportunity.

8 likes
Newsagency management

Leveraging the World Cup

We are embracing the World Cup opportunities in the Herald Sun as part of a broader World Cup engagement. The dual value of this promotion is good for us and for newspaper sales.l Since we compete with two Coles supermarkets each 100 metres from the newsagency, our engagement is an opportunity to reinforce our business as the newspaper destination.

Through a range of products we serve the World Cup fans too. Cards at the counter are especially popular as they are easily added to an existing purchase. Careful buying of World Cup merch has helped us differentiate our businesses.

5 likes
marketing tip

Newsagency sales benchmark results: Core categories in retail newsagencies challenged while specialty categories grow.

This newsagency sales benchmark study reflects sales results as tracked in 149 retail newsagency businesses in Australia for the January through March quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017.

Only businesses with accurate data are included in the study.

With under 3,000 businesses in this channel, the number of participants is considered as a good indicator of overall channel performance. In collating data, I have removed businesses at the extremes where other factors are at play such as major construction shutting a street or a newsagency in a centre with two newsagencies where one closed and thereby giving an unnatural boost to the other.

Each data point is the average, mean, of all data for the data point.

In collating results, I have only included data for each category businesses trading in that category.

OVERALL BUSINESS PERFORMANCE METRICS.

  • Customer traffic. Down 3%
  • Overall sales. Down 4%
  • Basket depth. Flat.
  • Basket dollar value. Flat.

CORE PRODUCTS.

  • Newspapers. Unit sales. Down 9.3%.
  • Magazines. Unit sales. Down 8.8%.
  • Greeting cards. Revenue. Down 2.7%.
  • Stationery. Revenue. Down 7.6%
  • Lotteries. Revenue. Flat.
  • Tobacco. Revenue. Down 16%.
  • Agency. Parcels, gift cards, betting account top-up. Down 6%.

SPECIALTY PRODUCTS.

  • Gifts. Revenue. Up 2%.
  • Toys. Revenue. Up 9.2%.
  • Plush. Revenue. Up 3.1%.
  • Collectibles. Revenue. Up 2.4%.
  • Craft. Revenue. Up 3.1%.
  • Coffee. Revenue. Up 11%.

What does this mean?

These core products numbers reflect continuing challenges in the core for newsagency businesses. This is not news given the benchmark results for years now.

In my opinion, the decline in newspapers, and magazines to a lesser extent, impacts the results for other products in the core such as stationery and cards. If this is true, it reinforces the importance of having other traffic drivers in a retail business, giving shoppers other compelling reasons to visit.

The occupancy cost challenge – a note for landlords.

Landlords want newsagency businesses in their retail mix. They want the store with papers, magazines, lotteries and other core items for the channel. Often, they restrict the space available for non-core, imposing a low gross profit model on businesses, thereby increasing occupancy cost.

Newsagencies today cannot sustain occupancy costs of more than 15%. The goal must be 11% for the business to be profitable and able to serve the usual level of debt needed for such a business.

Landlords need to be aware of the changes in product mix, the challenges of low-margin core products and restrictions they place on what businesses can sell. They need to be flexible on rent so newsagency businesses can be sustained and thereby provide the service they want in their centre.

If landlords want a newsagency business they need to price the space to reflect the nature of a sustainable business in that location rather than any premium rent they could get from a retailer with higher margins.

Labour cost – dealing with the challenge and opportunity.

Labour cost for an average newsagency sits at 16% of revenue where revenue is product revenue plus agency commission.

On a pure benchmark analysis, this is too high. However, the right labour invested in the right location in-store generates a good return. For example, a skilled person working the shop floor in high margin product categories can deliver valuable benefits whereas the right person working newspapers or magazines is less valuable.

When it comes to labour investment and management the core focus must be on customer-facing. That means having the maximum labour time possible situated to be accessible to customers. You do this by shifting to the shop floor as much work as possible – pricing, returns etc.

Newsagents need to manage their roster carefully and manage employee hours to be customer facing focused and engaged on a shared goal of driving revenue from each customer visit. Sharing information with employees is key to achieving this.

The specialty opportunity.

It is easy to say to newsagents get into one or more of the specialty areas. There are suppliers who will pitch products in these areas. The challenge is how you drive success. Getting the right product is part of the story. Visual merchandising, employee training, shop floor engagement and out of store marketing are all important factors. These all require relentless focus. Putting a category of products on the shelves is not sufficient.

Specialty products are rapidly evolving, presenting more opportunities over time. Keeping yourself informed of the opportunities, especially ahead of any wave, is key.

Mark Fletcher.
Email: mark@towersystems.com.au  Website: www.towersystems.com.au  Blog: www.newsagencyblog.com.au
M | 0418 321 338

23 likes
Newsagency benchmark

News Corp. papers continue pressure on Tatts and small business newsagents with Lottoland report

The Weekend Australian today runs what to me reads like another Lottoland press release, continuing the News Corp. support for Lottoland.

Dirt campaign, really? What Tatts did is provide newsagents with resources to use if they wished, resources that reflected what Lottoland offers in terms of products. Tatts did this at the urging of lottery retailers. Click here to see part of the Tatts campaign. This is hardly dirt.

In the article, there is also mention of the Lottoland focus on ALNA, the body representing newsagents nationally in the fight against the Lottoland betting business.

Mr Brill earlier this month said he believed the government had been misled into believing that ALNA represented the views of 4000 newsagents nationally, when its membership was 707 paid members.

ASIC documents, he said, raised questions about ALNA’s ability to operate as a going concern, let alone to represent the interests of its members.

“Rather than address the shocking state of its financial affairs, ALNA has inexplicably taken part in a $5m lobbying campaign to convince the government to ban online lottery betting, which will leave newsagents at the mercy of a Tabcorp monopoly,” the Lottoland chief said.

All the money in the lobbying campaign was spent prior to the $11 billion merger between Tatts and Tabcorp, which was completed late last year.

In a letter to NSW Racing Minister Paul Toole, also obtained by The Australian, Mr Brill says Tatts had funded a $5m national campaign to eradicate Lottoland as a competitor and to preserve its market power.

Lottoland is the company that launched chef in Australia attacking newsagents, all newsagents, mocking us, belittling us, all to sell what was pitched as a lottery product when, in fact, it was a betting product.

While I can no longer find the first ad they aired as it is no longer on YouTube, this one is still available:

They ran their ads mocking newsagents relentlessly. We were their first and prime target for more than a year. Back then there was no talk of wanting fairness for Australians or offering of support for newsagents. No, they only did that when federal parliament got closer to banning their model.

I complained to the advertising standards council and ACMA about their ads, without success. It think there was a standards issue with their actions. There was success by others against Lottoland on standards.

The report in today’s paper reads like it was written by the Lottoland PR people as it lacks genuine reporting and it lacks balance in my opinion.

The NSW Public Lotteries Act says a licensee has to be of “good repute, having regard to … honesty and integrity”.

Disciplinary action can include sanctions and suspension of licences. Tatts subsidiary NSW Lotteries Corp holds three licences in NSW.

Lottoland, which takes bets on overseas lotteries, offered news and lottery agents across Australia a profit-sharing arrangement, under which newsagents would receive 20 per cent of profits generated from every bet on overseas lotteries that they referred to Lottoland.

Where is the question of integrity and honesty in terms of Lottoland and what they have done to the newsagent channel. For most of their time in Australia they waged a successful campaign turning traffic away from newsagency businesses. Where is News Corp. on this? Why is this not a story?

Non Australian tax paying Overseas betting agency wages war on small business family newsagents.

Where is that headline in the News Corp. newspapers?

The Lottoland PR machine is good. It has the right connections and it has apparent easy access within News Corp., which itself could benefit from investigation. It is being aided and abetted by state based VANA and NANA support. As I noted yesterday, this maintains a decades-long split in our channel.

While federal politicians go through the legislative process, lottery retailers need to be focussed on their over the counter pitch.

My view that newsagents have nothing to gain from a relationship with Lottoland has not changed.

But back to business. On October 11, 2016 I suggested on this blog ways lottery retailers could, through their actions, push back on Lottoland. here they are again as I think actions over the counter are what are needed still:

  1. Ensure your lottery customers receive excellent customer service every time. Excellent customer service is:
  2. Always smile.
  3. Never sit behind the counter.
  4. Never charge a credit or debit card surcharge.
  5. Always have the youngest person working at the lottery counter.
  6. Provide free breath mints at the counter for staff.
  7. Provide hand sanitiser for staff and customers to access at the counter.
  8. If anyone behind the counter wears reading glasses, take them off when talking with customers – do not leave them on and look over them.
  9. Blokes should not wear cardigans or jumpers such as what we see in the Lottoland ad.
  10. Be cheerful when paying out a prize on tickets purchased elsewhere.
  11. Be cheerful when people say the same thing over and over. The alternative is having no one in your shop at all.
  12. If you sell candy of any sort, every so often offer a free tasting. Look for more ways to add value to the shopper visit.
  13. In winter offer free soup at lunchtime.
  14. In summer offer access to cups and filtered water.
  15. If you are on the high street, have a bowl of water for dogs.
  16. Celebrate all wins in-store on your noticeboard as well as on your business Facebook page.
  17. Run a second chance draw and actively encourage every customer to engage with this. Be generous with the prize.
  18. As an alternative for a second chance draw, host a BBQ event in the shop for the prize draw. Di this once a year, quarterly or six monthly with the prize commensurate with the frequency and business size. For example, in a shop with $250,000 in lottery commission, second chance draw prizes should value at least $10,000 a year. In fact, if it were my business, I’d be more likely to go with $24,000, $2,000 a month. Yes, you have to be that bold I think.
  19. Establish a community noticeboard and welcome free notices. Somewhere on the board have a subtle sign: Your support of this business helps us support your community.
  20. Share links to news reports about data security breaches by hackers with comments like: shopping in-store is safer or Our shop is a hacker free zone. Print the stories and place them on your community noticeboard.
  21. List every local community group you support on the noticeboard with a certificate.
  22. Thank community groups you support with a note on Facebook like: We are grateful for the opportunity to support the work of xxx community group.
  23. Ensure your staff understand what Lottoland is and isn’t and are able to explain why purchasing lottery products from your business is better for them and the community.
  24. From out the front of your shop make sure it looks appealing to passers-by.
  25. As people step into the shop make sure the pitch is fresh and enjoyable. Get rid of anything that looks or feels like an old-style newsagency.

All newsagents selling lottery products need to urgently ensure their businesses look nothing like the Lottoland depiction. You have to distance yourselves from the Lottoland depiction.

This work is urgent. No one will do it for you. Tatts appears asleep at the wheel on Lottoland. Or, as I suspect, they like the idea of educating people to move online.

30 likes
Competition

You can add value anywhere

When I picked up my coffee yesterday I got a reminder that about value-add. The art on the cap is a small thing, one which made me smile because of its clever placement.

Coffee shops value-add all the time with art in the froth on open cups, small cookies with each drink or a small chocolate.

While they have margin in coffee pricing to enable them to do this, it is a differentiator and that is what most of them are going for when they do it.

In retail businesses in the newsagency channel there are plenty of value add opportunities such as free wrap, bonus deals, free delivery and more.

Adding value to the everyday items people can buy elsewhere is vital today to differentiate our businesses. It is most valuable when then shopper pauses to notice and appreciate the value add.

4 likes
newsagency marketing

How to attract new shoppers to your newsagency business

New shopper traffic is vital to every retail business for if all you see is the same shoppers then necessary growth will not be achieved and growth is necessary with rent, wages and overheads increasing every year.

The big question is how to attract new shoppers?

There is no easy answer. In fact, it is hard work. It is also work that is not unique to our channel. All retailers have to do this work, every day.

In my own  businesses, the question we ask every day is what are we doing today to attract new shoppers to our shop. This question is not posed to distract us from maintaining what we do and remaining also focussed on the valuable core of the business.

All of this is a preamble to one example of attracting new shoppers. This is what we are doing in one of my shops right now. This shop is in a big Westfield centre. we have a big Harry Potter display;ay with products from multiple suppliers.

We chose Harry Potter because we know that Australians do hundreds of thousands of Google searches every month for Harry Potter products, information and other reasons.

So, on the lease line, facing into the mall, we established this display. Right away it was a hit. People walking across, and shopping. Here is that display, from Saturday morning:

Video: May 19, 2018.

Now, for those who look for any reason to nit-pick: I am not saying this is a destination idea. Nor am I saying you must do this. Nor am I saying that this display is all you do. Nor am I saying this will work everywhere.

This Harry Potter display is an example of an approach, an approach that is working in my business and plenty ours, an approach whereby we leverage a popular brand to attract new shoppers.

Some brand, character and licence focussed ideas work better than others. The key is trying new things, every few weeks. Constant motion is a core message here. Acting based on real and current data about what people are looking for is also key.

I am fortunate to have access to search data thanks to a commercial service I pay to access.

Now, some will wonder – what does Harry Potter have to do with being a newsagency business. Nothing really, but that does not matter. The channel the business identifies with is not as relevant today to what we choose to sell compared to a new years ago.

The new traffic attracted is valuable as these shoppers browse the business and purchase in addition to the category that attracted them to the shop.

The model of acting to attract new shoppers is the key message here. In the newsagency channel especially I see it as mission critical.

16 likes
Newsagency management

Fun is key to royal wedding engagement in the newsagency

We are finding our shoppers love some irreverent engagement with the upcoming royal wedding.

We are doing this in several ways, including tactical product placement, which we then leverage on social media.

Across the business, we have multiple categories of products we are engaging with. This helps broaden the demographic appeal, which works with this particular wedding. In fact, the appeal of the wedding is broader than any I have seen in my years in the channel. This is terrific for us as it helps us connect way beyond the traditional.

It is wonderful seeing how others are connecting with the opportunity. I have seen one newsagency pitch a high tea, another a cocktail party, another a kids party. All these ideas are wonderful as they show each business engaging practically and in a fun way with the event. from what I have read about the event the couple are playing it less traditionally. This is what works best in store too.

5 likes
Newsagency management

What I learned visiting the Amazon Go store in Seattle

I am grateful to have visited the ground-breaking Amazon Go store in Seattle twice this year. This is an extraordinary shop, built by an extraordinary business.

  • No sales counter.
  • No cash or credit cards processed in-store.
  • Choose what you want, and leave.

In this video I explain what I saw and try for context for small business retailers in our part of the world. While I shot this for customers of my POS software company, it is relevant to newsagents and their suppliers.

12 likes
Management tip

Celebrating the royal wedding: new traffic for the newsagency

I love these two displays in two of my stores leveraging the royal wedding opportunity. They are attracting new traffic and demonstrating the relevance of each business today. They are fun too. Plus, they pitch products people will purchase on impulse.

Magazines are placed adjacent, to maximise the opportunity. The interest in the wedding is extraordinary. It appeals to royal lovers and republic supporters in different ways. This is why the range of products on offer is so diverse.

The pitches you can see reflect how we can leverage major public events to broaden the appeal of our businesses beyond what has been usual traffic for us. The more people think of us for these unique occasions the broader the appeal of our businesses.

13 likes
Management tip

Making the most of the royal baby opportunity

I love this counter placement by the manager of one of my stores, pitching the royal baby special issues of New Idea and Who at the counter.

Placed with other royal family related products, this pitch maximises  – the opportunity for easy impulse purchases. It also mixes product categories to demonstrate our product range diversity.

Simple timely counter displays like this work for us.

6 likes
Impulse lines

Marking tip: pitch gift cards in the newsagency

While Coles supermarkets may gave the fancy, season specific, stand, there is nothing stopping newsagents pitching gift cards with Mother’s Day cards, especially gift cards for their own business.

Gift cards are an easy gift for this season of notoriously last-minute clueless male shoppers.

I share this photo as inspiration to engage with the gift card opportunity in the newsagency.

1 likes
marketing

Placement is key to seasonal success in the newsagency

Where you pitch a major season like Mother’s Day is key to success you achieve from the season. To me, the best placement is that which can be seen by people walking past your business. That is, just inside the door, or out the front of the shop if permitted and possible.

If you can achieve the right location, the next key action is to change the display weekly, so that it is noticed by those who walk past daily.

Hiding a major season display in the store so that everyone walking past cannot see it is a lost opportunity, as is leaving the display unchanged for most of the season.

Going out four weeks out from a major season gives you a better opportunity to be remembered as the go to store when the shopper is ready to make the seasonal purchase. This is why I say be in the best front of store location and why you change the display weekly.

Even in this marketplace of extraordinary competition for seasonal card and gift sales, we can grow if we actively engage on the shop floor, through our buying and outside the business through innovative online marketing.

Sure, it is hard work with actions required every day. The reward is traffic and revenue growth for a season that the majority of shoppers will engage with at some point.

7 likes
marketing tip

1 + 1 + 1 = 5

Telling a in retail story is like 1 + 1 + = 5. This card, by itself, in the usual card display will do okay. The Olaf plush item in the usual plush display will do okay. The Olaf key chain, too, by itself will do oaky. Placed together, for impulse purchase impact, and they sell very well, and easily, as a pack.

We make our own success as retailers through the strategic and tactical decisions we make in our businesses every day.

7 likes
marketing

Shopping centre businesses need to go big or go home

Newsagency businesses in shopping centres need to be big, bold and constantly evolving. They cannot be the traditional newsagency business or anything even close to it, not now, not in the future.

Events are one way to differentiate and to compete with big businesses. They are important to attract shoppers from outside and from within the centre, especially in the big centres with 250+ stores.

I have two businesses in this major shopping centre situation, where everyday we fight to bring people in from the traffic in the mall.

Last Saturday, as part of the first ever National Beanie Boo Party, which was organised and run by newsXpress, as an optional marketing event for members, we hosted a party at the Knox store. This short video provides context for what we did in that business on the day to be setup – to achieve a revenue boost of in excess of $1,500 in three hours.

.

Now, anticipating questions, read this:

  1. While I say this is a newsagency, it is a newsXpress business, focussed on plush, cards, gifts, collectibles first.
  2. This plush wall commitment is driving in excess of $100,000 in direct product revenue and not far of that in complimentary basket purchases.
  3. The party is an infrequent activity and deal based event designed to attract existing collectors from other retailers and to introduce non-collectors into collecting.
    net new traffic comes from not only the centre but from our significant out of store marketing on social media.
  4. Given the way this party was run at this location, there was no additional labour on the day.
  5. The video was deliberately shot at a time and in a way to not show those engaging.
  6. I’ve had this business for more than five years in this location.
  7. This feature wall works well. However, nothing is permanent in retail today, nor should it be.

I’d be happy to answer any other questions here. I can also be best reached on 0418 321 338.

Footnote: I am a shareholder in and director or newsXpress. In my newsagency life at different stages I have been a nextra retailer and shareholder and a newspower member. I have been with newsXpress since 2005.

14 likes
Management tip

Here’s a reason to get behind the royal wedding

Australians are searching Harry and Meghan in good numbers. Here is the number of times each is currently being searched each month through Google in Australia:

  1. Prince Harry: 74,000.
  2. Meghan Markle: 135,000.

This is rom verified search data.

You can position your newsagency business to leverage this with tactical inshore placement of magazines featuring them, running related in-store marketing and engaging on social media around the impending wedding.

If you are in a marketing group you should already know this and have been receiving information for months. That is what we have been doing with newsXpress.

The Pacific Magazines Nexus program is promoting in-store engagement with some excellent opportunities, which I encourage Nexus members to engage with.

If the royal wedding is not part of your marketing plan I urge you to make it so. The commercial value is set to be c considerable.

7 likes
marketing

School holidays marketing ideas for newsagents

School holidays are a wonderful opportunity its for finding new shoppers for your business.

To win new customers you have to act different to what you have done, you have to pitch your business in fresh ways and to people who otherwise may not have seen your business or considered your business.

But most of all, to make the most from school holidays, you need to have fun!

Here are marketing suggestions to help school holidays be more valuable for your newsagency. They are just some of the ideas you could embrace. Hopefully, you will think of plenty for yourself.

  1. Give teachers a discount and a thank you. Give it a name. For example: a Thank you for teaching 0ur kids discount. Run it for school holidays.
  2. Host a school art display. Invite kids to bring in art they have created so far this year. Be the place to shine a light on this, just because. Kids, parents and their families will love it.
  3. Promote holiday activities products at the entrance: colouring, puzzles, toys, games and more.
  4. Host local show and tell. Invite kids to create something, art, a poem, or something else connected to a local place of interest or local history. Host an in-store show and tell event where parents and kids can participate. The prize is less relevant than giving kids a voice.
  5. Pitch local. Create a simple flyer to hand out listing local holiday locations and events of interest.
  6. Let people play. Have products out and open for people to play with in-store. be the destination fun shop in town.
  7. Do product demonstrations in-store during the expected peak days, demonstrating thinks like a slinky, kinetic sand, slime, jigsaws and the like. Create some retail theatre.
  8. Place two or three dump bins with special offers at the front of the store containing products to appeal to the largest age group of school kids in your area.
  9. Publish posts on your business Facebook page with ideas of what people can do locally during the school holidays.
  10. Maybe have t-shirts made for staff: Holiday Crew or something similar. This helps them look different to everyday and that is key to making the most of the holidays.
  11. Host an event appropriate to the season:
    1. A papier machier pumpkin mask competition for September holidays.
    2. A paper plane throwing competition for summer holidays.
    3. A Easter art competition for all ages for the Easter break.
    4. A winter bake off for Winter – maybe connected with the cookbooks you sell.
    5. Run a best joke of the holidays competition.
  12. If you run discount vouchers, change the name to something like: SCHOOL HOLIDAY BONUS or HOLIDAY SURVIAL $$$. Have fun with it.
  13. Find out what groups host school holiday events in your area and publish a list as a resource for parents.

These ideas are designed to help you create a business during any holidays period that is looked at differently to the rest of the year, to help you gain a reputation as the best school holidays place locally.

10 likes
Management tip

Tips for a last minute push on Easter products

If you have Easter stock still in-store, I suggest you pitch it hard to clear the stock, so that none is stored for next year.

I never keep unsold seasonal items as I see that as a waste o0f money one all fronts: space, labour, inventory.

Here are tips for quitting Easter stock:

  1. Put everything on sale right now.
  2. Be generous with your deals. Getting anything for Easter stock right now is better than getting nothing.
  3. Offer a deal on cards too. It is better you sell more than return. It is false economy to think oh, I can return them, and there y not push cards today.
  4. Work the front of the shop, pitching products.
  5. If you have small easter chocolate items, give them away – spread some happy chocolate joy.

Start the day with the goal of selling out. Price adjust to achieve this.

Hanging on to stock for next year is hoarding and wastes money.

10 likes
Newsagency management

Woolworths pitching for local business business

I received this A5 double-sided flyer from Woolworths at my software company Monday this week. It is another piece of business to business marketing from them, the second I have received this year already.

Promoting to local businesses is important. As Woolworths shows in their offer, the actual offer does not need to be substantial. The most important part of the business to business offer is ease of transacting.

Make it easier for local businesses to get supplies from you and you are more likely to get the business.

I like the idea of a professional flyer as it is a low cost way to reach businesses in an area. If you decide to go this route, the flyer had to be professional, contain an engagement offer and easy to read and understand.

I know of newsagents who visit local businesses, pitching for their business. While I think a personal touch like this is important, it is not as efficient as a flyer pitch where you can reach many businesses for a lower cost. Does this mean you should stop visiting? No! Add a flyer to the marketing mis and maybe this will lift the success rate of your business visits.

If I was doing a flyer like this in my business, my flyer would pitch:

  • Local.
  • Ease of doing business.
  • Deals.
  • Community support and engagement.
  • Products know locals will love.

The flyer would be different to the slick corporate flyer from Woolworths. I’d try and tap into the local small business emotion without being ham-fisted about it.

I think this type of flyer is vital for retail businesses in the high street, not in a busy shopping mall. These high street businesses often have a traffic challenge already. The flyer is a vital way of reaching outside the business to find those valuable new shoppers. A business is a very valuable new shopper.

The Woolworths flyer was, to me, a reminder that all businesses need to promote their businesses outside their business, to reach out and attract new shoppers, some of whom will never actually personally shop in the business.

Warning because here comes a newsXpress pitch: The newsXpress newsagency marketing group provides a flyer template for its members, so they can create a personal, professional, flyer in a couple of minutes for their business without any graphic design skills. This is what marketing groups do to help newsagents find new shoppers.

13 likes
marketing

Australia Post tries a new online marketing event

Earlier this week, Australia Post promoted Click Frenzy Junior, an online only sales and marketing event for online business partners of Australia Post. It is a partner event to the bigger Click Frenzy, the main event run online.

Since it was the first time for this event, noise on social media was small. I suspect sales were small too. You have to start somewhere.

This event is on of plenty of online only marketing events, reaching out to prospects purely online with no representation in-store of the online offer.

I mention this today as another example of competitor sales event marketing that you in competitive retail may never see.  The campaign was targeted by Australia Post to focus on brands that partner with their online fulfilment platform.

Plenty of retailers I speak with say that they are not affected by online that much. This is a common comment among regional and rural retailers. The reality is quite different to this perception.

Talk to any major online business in Australia and they will tell you the geographic coverage of sales is in line with population spread.

I appreciate it may feel too hard to compete online. That should not be a barrier to having a crack.

Doing nothing online is no longer an option for high street retailers.

4 likes
newsagency marketing
Trending Articles

Fairfax changes approach to TV Guide, disrespects newsagents

Published on April 20, 2011

What do you think of the Powerball changes?

Published on February 16, 2018

IPS releases new magazine contracts

Published on June 21, 2011