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

newsagency marketing

SPECIAL EVENT: Growing card sales in the middle of a pandemic. Wednesday August 4 @ 2pm.

Join me this Wednesday as I talk with card data and sales experts from newsXpress, Henderson and Waterlyn about how newsagents have grown card sales during the pandemic, in some cases adding tens of thousands of dollars to their business profitability.

See newsagency data evidence of the growth and details of the steps involved.

Cards are the most gross profit valuable product in any newsagency. Manage them for success and your P&L will be rewarded, and your business will be worth more.

Let’s talk about how you can do this. Wednesday, August 4 @ 2pm. Here is the link:

https://zoom.us/j/91712938524?pwd=ZVRjQ3kzSHpRQ280bFR5Qzl0RllOUT09
Meeting ID: 917 1293 8524 Passcode: 367015

Anyone is welcome. Join us for practical advice you can use in your newsagency business. Discover intellectual property you can bank on.

If you have any questions, email help@newsxpress.com.au.

Footnote: I am a director of newsXpress.

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Newsagency management

Inviting shoppers to the newsagency

Here’s the front of one of my shops. The photo is from yesterday. It is deliberately open with products selected and placed to play against assumptions about newsagencies.

It’s working a treat.

Every day we make decisions in our shops about how we want our customers to see us, what they should expect from us. We do this through our product ranging, shop floor placement and social media pitches.

If we act traditionally, what we see through our register will be traditional. And, traditional is where plenty of newsagents are comfortable, which I respect. It’s not for me … hence the pitch you see in the photo.

Despite what we may think, we do have control over our businesses, what we carry, where it is displayed, how it is displayed, how it is priced and how we speak to it in-store. These are decisions we get to make, decisions that determine how shoppers see and interact with our businesses.

While we are part of a channel, the shops in the channel have become so diversified that there is no one model, no consistent pitch, except in an area under contractual control such as lotteries for those with that.

Now, on the displays … the tables you can see continuously evolve. There are major changes every two weeks and less major changes every few days. Oh, and in terms of the tables, we have eight positions like the in the photo inside the shop, each providing their own storytelling opportunity.

This space is called the dance floor, because of the never ending dance of movement of inventory and display fixtures.

I am grateful to the team members who have brought this latest offer alive. They have done a wonderful job.

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Newsagency management

Covid lockdown To-Do list for newsagents and other local small business retailers

Here in Melbourne we are in our fifth Covid lockdown. As well as owning POS software company and working with local small business retailers every day, I also own three retail businesses and several online businesses.

This Covid lockdown To-Do list for local small business retailers is practical advice you can action without cost, to make the most of the lockdown opportunity.

Whether your shop is closed or open but with less traffic, now is an ideal time to work on your business.

  • List what’s not sold. Run a report listing all inventory in the business that has not sold at all this year. This list gives you a starting point for action. We did this last week for one customer and identified $15,000 worth of dead stock, stock the owner to that point was not focussed on.
  • Act on what’s not sold. Dead stock is dead weight. If you have long since paid for it, cents in the dollar for it is better than nothing.
  • Look at what’s been selling with what. Often the items in the same basket are not seen by retailers as items you can put together. This list, which you should be able to get from your POS software, can guide shop floor placement changes.
  • Front to back clean. Literally, start at the front of the shop and work your want to the back. Clean every single product. We often find that the act of holding every product leads to decisions about some products, decisions we might otherwise not have made. We have just done this at one of our own Westfield shops and the decisions we made along the way have been liberating.
  • Work on your roster. Look at what usually sells by day of week and by time. Your POS software should be able to help with this. Take time to review your roster to ensure it is set appropriately. Labour is usually the top or second highest cost in a retail business outside of inventory.
  • Reset the front third of the store. Look carefully at that front third of your store. Make bold changes simply by moving things, so that when shoppers return they see things they’ve not noticed before.
  • Prepare social media content that leverages you. Using your phone, film short videos of you or a team member talking about products. Prepare these to load over time on Facebook, Instagram and more. Have fun.
  • If you have a website for the business, write blog posts as they are absolutely the single best thing you can do to attract traffic to the website. A blog post should be single topic, pitch a consistent keyword at least five times and be over 350 words. We have a lot of experience with this and note, again, this is the single most effective online marketing for a website. The only investment is your time – don’t outsource this.
  • Learn something new. Ask your POS software company for the best report in the software to reveal what you are unlikely to know about your business. Run that report. Read it. Make a list of things you could do. Act on it.
  • Be a shopfitter. Shopfitters are expensive. Look at an area of your shop that you want to change that you would usually hire a shoplifter to handle. Think through how you can do it yourself. I know many retailers who have done this and vowed to not use shopfitters for such changes in the future.
  • If you are online, undertake a data driven review of your website. Look at your traffic and the traffic of your competitors. Review your site and theirs. Look for opportunities to attract more shoppers to your site based on the data. Whoever developed your website should be able to collate this data for you.
  • Personally: refresh. If you can take a break from business, even for an hour a day, read fiction, listen to music you love, go for a walk outside. These nourishing things can help reset mood and that could help you discover new opportunities for your business.

My POS software company, Tower Systems, is a local Aussie POS software company serving 3,500+ local small business retailers, many newsagents, with POS software and beautiful Shopify websites. Beyond this, we also offer retail business management advice and help to our customers every day.

Thanks for reading. have an awesome rest of your weekend …

Mark Fletcher | mark@towersystems.com.au.

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Newsagency management

How the newsXpress newsagency marketing group is helping newsagents transform in 2021

Yes, to some this will read like a marketing pitch. They would be right, in part. But, it is more than that. I share this information here to show that there are newsagents doing well, transforming their business, leveraging intellectual property top grow profitability, and through that, business value.

This is the story in 2021 about our channel, the extent to which newsagency businesses are thriving. I can speak to the newsXpress experience because of my direct involvement.

See for yourself. Click here to access a new 49 page book published outlining in detail what newsXpress offers.

Already in 2021, newsXpress has delivered valuable and exclusive benefits:

  1. A data driven greeting card strategy that has delivered 25% and more year on year card sales growth to retailers who have engaged.
  2. A bonus 5% gross profit from more than 50 preferred suppliers – real bottom line benefit. Funded 100% by newsXpress. For all orders from April through June 2021.
  3. A new marketing video service delivering personalised videos for your business, which you can use on social media.
  4. 100+ new social media posts ready to use to freshen your social media feed.
  5. Ten new product supplier videos shot exclusively for newsXpress members, sharing insights into how to find and sell to new customers.
  6. New suppliers offering access to new traffic generating products usually not available to newsagents.
  7. A lower monthly membership fee.
  8. Half price Shopify website. Provding access to a beautiful, personalised, business website for your business connected to the Tower POS software.
  9. First to market insights for toys, helping our members better tap into this lucrative product category.
  10. A creative writing competition attracted plenty of entries and helped people see newsagencies differently. We funded the $2,000 in prizes.
  11. A Mother’s Day art competition is already attracting wonderful entries.

Best of all is the optimism for a bright future these and other developments nurture.

Footnote: I am a Director of newsXpress Pty Ltd

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newsagency marketing

Invitation to all newsagents

Invitation: June 8 @ 10:30am, online.

I write to invite you to a free Zoom meeting at which I and some of the newsXpress team will share with you the EXCLUSIVE TO NEWSXPRESS data-driven process that has resulted in successful newsagencies growing card sales by between 25% and 75%. Yes, those percentages are real.

newsXpress has developed intellectual property that it uses to guide in-store card changes, based on the sales data from that store.

At this free workshop, I will show you actual results, which you will be able to verify. One of our newsXpress team members will step you through the work involved to achieve the results. Often, we are achieving excellent results with no capital spend.

We will show you the most comprehensive card performance reporting you will see for any card retailer in the world. I understand that is a bold claim. Once you see what we will show, we think you will agree.

Join us June 8 @ 10:30am if you want to grow your card sales. Here is the link:

https://zoom.us/j/98961647990?pwd=cy9wdnllL1JqYlFyUDdkR1FISlFrUT09
Meeting ID: 989 6164 7990 Passcode: 519968

In the meantime, if you have questions, please email help@newsxpress.com.au.

Yes, I am a Director of newsXpress

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newsagency marketing

Promoting throw rugs online

Further to my post from a few days ago about success with throw rugs versus magazines, here is an example of what we are doing on social media to pitch the rugs. This is one of a range of posts. The posts work because we have customers coming into the shop and asking to see the rugs.

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newsagency marketing

Focussing on self care in the newsagency

We have been pitching self care on the lease line in one of our Westfield centre businesses. It’s working a treat.

This multi-category pitch is attracting shoppers and purchases. Coming out of Mother’s Day with this has worked a treat as it appeals to a comfort people have sought through Covid and a comfort that is familiar in Winter.

You know a pitch is working when you have to refresh the products on offer regularly.

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marketing tip

Non traditional Mother’s Day gifts

There is a sameness to Mother’s Day gifts pitched by traditional newsagency suppliers. We have been pitched their products for years and, over that time, they have not evolved much.

We are grateful to have non traditional newsagency suppliers who offer different product through which we can pitch a freshness.

This photo is one of the displays of non traditional Mother’s Day gifts. None of this product has been bought for the season, but it works for the season. Shopper reaction has been terrific.

These core seasons in our channel are changing, offering us opportunities for change in-store.

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Newsagency management

Great coverage for newsagents leading to last week’s Powerball $80M jackpot

Karen Randall’s explanation of how Powerball works had Karl Stefanvoic on the Today show curled over with laughter on TV last week is an excellent segment promoting the channel:

Karen, from newsXpress Robina, is a regular on the Today show when lotteries jackpot.

The Daily Mail had considerable coverage on the story.

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Lotteries

Pitching foreign language papers

While I rarely pitch magazines or local capital city newspapers on social media pages for my retail businesses, I do regularly pitch foreign language and niche newspapers as they are the titles more likely to attract new shopper traffic in my experience.

I keep the posts simple, and always include cover shots …

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newsagency marketing

Pitching The Saturday Paper and why someone doesn’t shop our channel

If you are on Twitter and stock The Saturday Paper, this thread is worth commenting on. Newsagents responding to threads like this can help guide people as to where to purchase. The thread I link to below bones on quite a bit with people saying where they access the title.

Further in this Twitter thread is this:

I responded:

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newsagency marketing

The Easter counter in the newsagency

This Easter counter pitch has been working a treat for us, driving excellent, high value and high margin, impulse purchases. Here is a photo from a few days ago, when we had more stock.

There is nothing newsagency traditional about this product offer at the counter of our high street suburban Melbourne business.

Now, looking at the display in detail, it is the sample of the Easter chocolate that has contributed the most to sales. The chocolate is delicious, creamy and local – three key factors in driving sales for us.

From a time management perspective, taking the display down and replacing it after today is easy.

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newsagency marketing

And, speaking of Easter

Currently, there are 27,000 daily Google searches in Australia for Easter gifts and similar keywords. While it is too late for this year, newsagents selling online can do better in this season by tuning their online offer the be more seasonal.

Many of us have Easter gifts. Too few of us are pitching them online. None of us are in the top 100 results.

The Google searches indicate there are many on line ready to purchase. This is another example of how we can reach our local businesses beyond those who walk, ride and drive past our front door.

Online is where we have excellent opportunities for growing our businesses.

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marketing

Easter marketing tips for newsagents

Easter is what we make of it in our stores. We decide through our engagement whether this is a big or not so big season.

My advice is don’t get caught up in tradition, think about this season as one of connection. This can broaden your focus and provide a more useful pathway to sales success.

Here are some ideas to get you thinking…

  1. Have fun. No matter what you do, make sure it involves fun.
  2. Promote connection. Easter is a good this for people to connect with people nearby and far away. help them do that.
  3. Do good. Collect for something during the season. Given the animal theme of so much Easter product, maybe a local animal shelter.
  4. Have fun give rabbits a discount on a set day or days. Give a doubt to everyone who presents as a rabbit. Promote it widely – get the local paper in for a photo. Make the discount worth it for them dressing up.
  5. Invite a wall of stories. If you have a wall available, cover it with paper and invite your customers to write or draw what Easter means to them. this makes the season more interactive.
  6. Make a giant papier-mâché egg with things you sell (old newspapers, coloured paper, paint). Go big, I mean really big. Taller than a person. Let the kids paint it. Make it a local thing for people to come see.
  7. Have an Easter Egg hunt for over 70s. Egg hunts are usually for kids but those over 70 will have a different recollection of the season from when they were kids. Cater to them with a hunt in your shop for tasty eggs.
  8. Respect the season. Easter means different things to different people. Respect this outside of the fun you may have. Be sure about your greeting and that it is appropriate. Maybe include a nice message on your receipts.

Easter is considered by many to be a small season. I see it as full of opportunity and primed for fun in the newsagency. Chase year on year growth.

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marketing tip

Making Valentine’s shopping easy

Offering ready to give gifts is a terrific way to increase gift sales in the newsagency or any retail business.

Placing the wrapped ready to give item next to a clear description or a showing of what is in the gift makes the purchase easy.

Offering a diversity of gift choices is key, too … where diversity can be in the wrapping itself. This is especially true for Valentine’s gifts given the evolving diversity of this season.

What I particularly love about the gift pictured, which I did not wrap by the way, is that it looks non traditional and it appeals more broadly than is common for val gifts.

To me, this gift and others from the pre-wrapped range represent a good example of us differentiating our business and making our own success.

It is also a way of repositioning existing inventory. In this photographed package, for example, is a candle, which, alone on the shelf, may not feel like a val gift. Packaged this way it does.

Valentine’s Day 2021 will be different to other years because of what we all went through in 2020. Engaging early and outside traditional is key to maximising this difference I think.

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marketing tip

Lotterywest investments in the arts help WA lottery retailers

Upright (rated 8.5/10 on IMDB) is a terrific Australian mini-series released through Foxtel last year and more more widely available. It was made, in part, with funding from Lotterywest.

If I was a lottery retailer, I’d be promoting that I am grateful to customers for their Lotterywest support that enables Aussie stories like Upright to be told. It is this type of social media post that deepens the emotional connection with lottery ticket purchase.

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Lotteries

The easy $145.00 Christmas gift for guys

While it is cliché, plenty of guys love car racing, they love Supercars. This $145.00 set from the Royal Australian Mint has been a terrific hit for Christmas in the newsagency. Better still, people buying this are buying other coin sets, too, driving excellent basked value. Plus, they usually buy a gift bag and a card or two.

The coins are an easy social media pitch and that’s key to helping to bring shoppers in who might otherwise not have shopped with us. People don’t know what they don’t know. Hence the importance of social media posts like this.

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newsagency marketing

Christmas marketing tips for local retailers

Christmas is a noisy time for shoppers. Every retailer is pitching to them on TV, radio, in print, on social media and in-store … even more so in 2020.

Christmas marketing tends to be the same: jolly, celebratory and, often, price based.

It is a challenge for small business retailers to cut through all of this noise. Here are some tips for cutting through.

  1. Make it easy. People often talk about how hard Christmas is. Be the business that makes it easy. The ways to do this are have bundled gifts ready to go, pre-bagged or wrapped, with some card selections that are relevant, offer easy payment options including buy now pay later, free wrapping, better shop floor help, guide buying advice or tips on perfect gifts no one else will think of. Consider making Christmas easy as being a key part of your messaging.
  2. Be thrilled people are in your shop. Your personal smile or greeting is something they may not see in a big business where employees are less invested in each shopper and where the owner is usually thousands of kilometers away.
  3. Make the giving easy. If people purchase form you to send somewhere else. Offer a one-stop shop. Save them the trip to the post office.
  4. Make the shop less about Christmas. Consider pulling back on the Christmas visual noise. Go for something simple, muted, respecting the season but making a calm statement. Consider declaring the shop a Christmas carol free zone – not because you hate carols but because you want to help customers take a break.
  5. Help people rest and recharge. Create a Christmas shopping rest and recovery zone. Offer free tea, coffee, water and something to eat. Encourage people to take a break in your shop – without any obligation for them to spend money with you.
  6. Let your customers help each other. Setup a whiteboard or sheets of butcher’s paper, yes keep it simple. Get customers to write gift suggestions under different age/gender groups. For example: Girls 18 – 25, Boys 55+. Encourage your customers to help each other.
  7. Make price comparison difficult. If you sell items people are likely to price compare with other businesses, package them so price comparison is not easy. Put items into a hamper as a perfect Boy 8 to 12 bundle for example. Or offer the item with pre packages services if appropriate for an item.
  8. Less is The stack em high watch em fly mantra can be wrong. Indeed, it is often wrong in retail. Shoppers can be store blind because a shop is too full or a display is too busy. Consider creating simpler less cluttered displays and window promotions. Draw attention to what you want people to see by promoting that one thing.
  9. Christmas season in your shop should evolve. Major change weekly is vital for people to see what you have that they could buy.
  10. Be socially engaged. On Facebook, Instagram, twitter and elsewhere, be the calm voice, the person people enjoy reading or seeing photos from. Provide entertainment this Christmas rather than the usual retailer shrill of come and shop here!

The key to a more successful Christmas is to be different to what people expect from your business.

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marketing

Christmas at Knox

Here’s a video I shot a week ago to promote Christmas at my Westfield Knox store. We are using it several times to introduce part of the Christmas range in-store to shoppers through social media. It’s worked a treat. We made the video on a $0 budget.

I share this here to encourage other newsagents to use video content on social media to pitch their businesses in a way that plays against the assumptions many shoppers make about the Aussie newsagency.

We set our own narrative through posts like this.

7 likes
marketing

Showing off changes in the card range

Too often, newsagents bring in new cards either by a supplier led refresh or introducing a change to supplier and don’t shout about it. In my shops we take a different approach, letting shoppers know about our changes, as they are happening.

In one of my stores we are introducing new cards and even though we are really only just beginning, we are pitching about it on social media. This pretty basic and quick to produce (less than 5 minutes) video shows some of the range change as well as, more importantly, the fixture change.

Content like this matters is social media is the most cost effective way right now to reach beyond the four walls of your business to find new shoppers.

6 likes
Greeting Cards
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