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Optimism

Branding separate from the traditional newsagency shingle

newsXpress has gently launched #NOTANEWSAGENT, the next step in building focus for the newsXpress as distinct from the newsagency channel.

A brand is only seen as a brand if you promoting it as such. Promotion starts with explaining what the brand stands for. That is what the first communication piece, an in-house produced video, is all about. Here is the video launched yesterday:

Branding away from the term newsagent or newsagency is important for several reasons:

  1. Major brands no longer lend against the value of a newsagency business.
  2. Major landlords no longer permit newsagency businesses, instead preferring branded more current businesses.
  3. The ATO benchmark for a retail newsagency business is out of date and not relevant to a transforming business.
  4. Some suppliers will not supply newsagency businesses.
  5. Some traditional newsagency suppliers no longer recognise the newsagency channel as a distinct channel.

The #NOTANEWSAGENT move is not intended to disrespect newsagents or newsagency suppliers. Rather, in addition to serving the needs of newsXpress members, it seeks to open consideration by others as to the role of the old-school shingle. It is part of a considered and researched strategic plan.

Magazines, stationery, newspapers and other core categories remain important. However, new traffic is coming from other categories and that is vital to the health of the business in the future.

The recent newsXpress branded Tv commercial delivered excellent new traffic to newsXpress businesses. They sought out that brand and not the generic shingle. This is important in a competitive retail environment.

We see change all around us in our ‘newsagency’ businesses. While we can react to change, we are better off leaning in, better off chasing change, so we are ahead of the curve.

There is no end-game here. Change is the new normal in retail, in newsagency retail especially.

There will be some who criticise the #NOTANEWSAGENT positioning. They are entitled to their view. I am reminded of those who criticise me in 2010 for my prediction then of where magazine and newspaper sales would be today. Unfortunately, I was right. Those who acted in 2010 are better off today than those who did not.

Regardless of what the channel is (or channels are) called, I hope for a strong future for all businesses that identify themselves as newsagencies today. The strength of the future depends on your commitment to change today.

My personal hope is that #NOTANEWSAGENT gets newsagents thinking about the positioning of their businesses in the context of print media disruption, retail disruption and changes in economic conditions. Thinking alone is a start.

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Newsagency management

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: 40 Christmas marketing ideas

Each year, my POS software company, Tower Systems, publishes Christmas marketing tips for independent retailers. Here is this year’s list:

  1. Make it easy. People often talk about how hard Christmas is. Be the local business that makes it easy. The ways to do this are with easy Lay-By, 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 items from 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 through their suggestions.
  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 more.  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. Every time someone asks if you have something that you think through should be able to find easily – take it as a challenge for you to address rather than a commentary on a facility of the customer.
  9. Change. 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!
  11. Be community minded. Choose a local charity or community group to support through Christmas. Consider: a change collection tin at the counter; a themed Christmas window display; promotion on your social media pages; a donation to their work; a collection point for donations from customers.
  12. Facilitate sharing stories. Find space in your shop for customers to share their Christmas stories. It could be a story wall inside or in front of the shop. This initiative encourages storytelling by locals and better connects the business with the community.
  13. Award a prize at a local school. Fund a year-end prize at a local school. Attend a school assembly to award the prize. Work with the school leadership on a prize appropriate to your business.
  14. VIP preview. Host a VIP shopper preview night when you show off your Christmas ranges ahead of being available to the general shoppers. Respect and reward your local shoppers with deals and the opportunity to preview ahead of others.
  15. Leverage Christmas traffic. Encourage the Christmas shopper traffic surge in after Christmas. Give them a reason to come back. A coupon promotion or a discount voucher on receipts could be the enticement to get shoppers back in-store. Note: the Tower POS software produces discount vouchers to rules you establish.
  16. Become a gallery. Work with a school, kindergarten, community group or retirement village to bring in local art for people to come and see through Christmas. A small space commitment can drive traffic from family and friends of those with art on show.
  17. Dress the shop. Fully embrace Christmas. Create a Christmas experience such that shoppers know they have stepped into somewhere special this Christmas. Go for more than some tinsel and a tree. Fully embrace the opportunity.
  18. Make your shop smell like Christmas.
  19. Send cards. Send Christmas cards early in the season to suppliers, key customers and local community groups. This connects you with Christmas. Invite all team members to sign each card.
  20. Host a Christmas party. For shops nearby. You are all in the season together – let your hear down before things get crazy.
  21. Ensure you have gifts targeted at occasions. For example: Kris Kringle, by price point and by recipient. Make it easy for people to know what they could give.
  22. Stocking stuffers. At your counter always have one or two stocking stuffers for impulse purchase.
  23. Offer gift vouchers – for someone to give when they are not sure what to give.
  24. Be local. Ensure you have a selection of locally sourced products available for purchase. Make it clear in-store that these products are sourced locally.
  25. Tell stories. On your Facebook page, talk about what is important to you at Christmas. Personalise the season and deepen the connection with those who could shop with you.
  26. Offer a free gift. Bulk purchase an item to offer those who spend above a set amount. For example, spend $65 and receive XX where XX may have cost $5.00 but could have a perceived value of $20.00.
  27. Keep it fresh. Every week make significant change to your Christmas displays and promotions to keep your offer fresh.
  28. Share Christmas recipes. Each week for, say, four weeks, give customers a family Christmas recipe. This personalises Christmas in your business, creates a talking point and makes shopping with you different to your bigger competitors.
  29. Free wrapping. Sure, many retailers offer this. Make your offer better, more creative and more appreciated.
  30. This is essential in any business. Manage it through your computer system with strict rules.
  31. Work the floor. Increase time on the shop floor. Be present to manage shopper flow and to facilitate purchases.
  32. Christmas is crazy busy I most retail situations. Give yourself and your team members sufficient time to recharge so the smile greeting shoppers is heartfelt.
  33. Keep a secret. If yours is a business selling gifts a partner may purchase for their loved-one, create some mystery with a closed off display for the shopper to see the products.
  34. Free assembly. If you sell items that require assembly. Offer to do this for free.
  35. Free delivery. Offer free Christmas Eve delivery for items purchased for kids for Christmas.
  36. Sell training. Leverage the specialist knowledge you have in your business by selling as gifts places at classes you run sharing your expertise.
  37. Hold back. Don’t go out with everything you have for Christmas all at once. Plan the season to show off what you have as the season unfolds. This allows you multiple launches.
  38. Share a taste. Regardless if your type of business, bake a family recipe of Christmas cake, Christmas pudding or Christmas biscuits and offer tastings to shoppers on select days. This personalises the experience in your shop.
  39. Offer hampers. Package several items together and offer them as a hamper. Time-poor shoppers could appreciate you doing this work for them. We have seen this work in many different retail situations.
  40. Buy X get Y. Encourage people to spend more with a volume based deal. Pitched right, this could get customers purchasing items for several family members in order to get the price offer you have. Use your technology to manage this.

Christmas is the perfect time to plan for next year. It is the time to do everything possible to leverage bonus Christmas traffic to benefit your business through next year.

Tower Systems offers Point of sale / retail management software tailored for your specific type of retail business. Our software can help you leverage Christmas traffic for year-long benefits.

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marketing

Newsagency Sales Benchmark Report: July – September 2016 vs. 2015

This has been a challenging quarter for newsagents. The overall traffic decline is one of the largest in recent benchmark studies.

The decline is due to declines in traffic for core newsagency lines: newspapers, magazines, tobacco and stationery. The increase in transaction count for lotteries is not driving an increase in non lottery product purchases. Indeed, lotteries is one of the most inefficient product categories in newsagencies – by this I mean, people purchase lottery products and nothing else in a visit, like the majority of newspaper purchases.

The good news in the survey is the improved performance in newsagency businesses embracing change. New traffic drivers are working and expansion in gifts, toys and other better margin categories are improving the overall GP story in these businesses.

There is no doubt change is afoot in the newsagency channel. There is considerable evidence in this latest benchmark study of greater difference between businesses. The gap between those performing the best and those performing the worst is the biggest I have ever seen.

The data pool for this survey is the broadest I have had in the last two years in terms of different rooftops represented and number. I am grateful to the bigger pool of 170+ newsagents participating.

There is good news in these benchmark results, especially for newsagents who are working their business as retailers.

  • Customer traffic. 71% of newsagents report average decline of 3.8%.
  • Overall sales. 64% reported an average revenue decline of 4.6%.
  • Basket depth. 61% report a .7% decrease in basket size.
  • Basket dollar value. 66% report a decrease in basket value of 1.3%.
  • 31% of respondents use a structured loyalty offer such as points or some other discount.

Benchmark results by key departments:

  1. Magazines. 85% of report an average decline in unit sales of 11.3%. The average decline in weeklies is 10.1%.  The decline is not as bad outside the top selling titles.
  2. Newspapers. 85% report average decline in over the counter unit sales of 8.7%.
  3. Greeting cards. 64% of report average revenue increase of 2.9%.
  4. Lotteries. 64% of those with lotteries report average increase of 4% in transactions.
  5. Stationery. 80% of newsagents report a decline, with an average of 3.8%.
  6. Ink. 18% of stores report ink separately. Of these, 55% reported increase of 2%.
  7. Gifts. Of the 65% with gifts, 74% report average growth of 6.2%. Note: for the purposes of this analysis I roll gift related departments such as plush, collectibles, homewares and gifts into one.
  8. Tobacco. Of the 42% with tobacco, 80% report an average decline of 12%.
  9. Confectionery. Of the 55% with confectionery, 65% report an average decline of 3%.
  10. Toys. Of the 20% with toys, 75% report growth of 4.9%. Note: toys can include plush, games, puzzles and other toys.

Here are some insights from analysis of the data:

  • The traditional newsagencies: papers / magazines / lotteries / cards / stationery and little or no gifts fared the worst.
  • Newsagencies with strong gift, toy and plush departments performed better.
  • Those with more expensive gift lines did better than those with cheap gifts.
  • Newsagencies in a group usually, but not always, perform better than those not.
  • In the successful group, the ratio of gift to card revenue continues to grow. I have data from newsagencies achieving 2:1 gifts over cards … in other words, $2 revenue in gifts for each $1 in revenue for cards.

DOES THE NEWSAGENCY CHANNEL HAVE A FUTURE?

Given the number of poor performing businesses in the channel it is looking more likely that the channel as a channel does not have a future. In this situation it could be replaced by multiple channels trading under different names. It all depends how each of the marketing groups position themselves over the next year or two.

Urgent change is vital to the future of newsagency businesses. Change on the shop floor to inventory range, shop layout and how those who work in the shop sell.

BLAME.

I blame every supplier who agitated, facilitated and supported in any way the move of papers and magazines into other retail businesses. That move alone in the 1990s put the channel on the path it is on today. As the migration of traffic and revenue to these other businesses made the impact for newsagents of digital disruption a far greater burden to bear.

Today, some of these same suppliers treat newsagents as if still in a regulated environment, effectively making newsagents less competitive than the other outlets they supply. Shame on them.

What these suppliers have today in the newsagency channel is a careful what you wish for moment. Yet most are in denial.

THE ERA OF THE AGENT IS OVER.

Relying on a small percentage of a sale acting as an agent was never a long term business model as it relies on the generosity of the supplier. As we have seen in recent years with falling commission from transport tickets, phone recharge, phone cards and, in real terms, lottery products, agency business has become less valuable.

While there are some who love being an agent for Ladbrokes and other services, you have to ask where the long-term benefit is as these customers are unlikely to be the loyal customers a retail business needs for the long term. I don’t see a long term benefit.

Newsagents who transitioned to being retailers have fared better. There are many success stories including those from businesses that have sustained a considerable decline in revenue but increased profit thanks to a managed GP shift.

It is hard work being an engaged retailer compared to an agent. However, the rewards are greater as you are building a business that attracts loyal shoppers. This is why we should not fear the breakdown of the channel as a channel.

OPTIMISTIC.

I am optimistic for my own newsagency businesses and for the businesses of many newsagents. Well considered changes implemented without high capital cost can attract new shoppers. The right products can bring people back to the business regularly. New customer bases can be found, valuable customer bases where we rely less on competing with supermarkets and others.

Good retailers can make a bright future.

HOW TO USE THESE RESULTS

Look at your own situation. Compare your year on year results with those detailed here. If you are doing worse, act. If you are doing better, celebrate briefly and then get back to it.

There is no time to lose. We are in a period of extraordinary change and challenge on many fronts and the best way to confront change and challenge is to lean in and bring it on.

The business owners of any newsagency are the single most important influence on their results.

WHY I DO THIS STUDY

My interest in the study is as a newsagent and as a supplier to the channel through Tower Systems and through newsXpress. I want the channel to grow for selfish reasons and because it has been my life since 1981. I am invested.

BENCHMARK GOALS

I am often asked for benchmark goals newsagents ought to aim for. Here are some benchmarks I have developed in my work with newsXpress and through Tower Systems:

  1. Gross profit: this is the goal gross profit for all product sales not taking into account any revenue or costs related to any agency business. The traditional newsagency average sits at 28% to 32%. For a newsagency focused on the future, the goal has to be at least 45%.
  1. Ratio of Gift revenue to Card revenue: 50% minimum. The goal ought to be 100% or more. If you do $100K a year in cards, target to do $100K in gifts, or more.
  2. Revenue per employee – $250 an hour minimum not including agency revenue.
  3. Revenue PSQM $4,500 – $8,500 depending on country vs. city / high street to shopping centre and depending of product mix. Higher GP lower revenue required.
  4. Overall revenue mix percentage targets: Cards: 25%; Gifts/toys/plush: 25%; Stat: 10%; magazines/newspapers: 20%; other: 15%.
  5. FLOORSPACE ALLOCATION: Cards: 25%; Gifts/toys/plush: 25%; Stat: 8%; magazines/newspapers: 15%; other products: 15%; office/back room / counter: 12%. It’s rare you make money from an office or store room.
  6. Mark-up goals: Stationery: 125%; Gifts 110%; plush: 110%.
  7. Occupancy cost: between 9% and 11% of revenue where revenue is product revenue plus commission from agency lines. Location and situation are a big factor in this benchmark. For example, a large shopping centre business will have a higher cost than a high street situation.
  8. Labour cost: between 9% and 11% of revenue where revenue is product revenue plus commission from agency lines. Labour cost should include fair market costs for all who work in the business. (See above).

Mark Fletcher.
Email | mark@towersystems.com.au
M | 0418 321 338

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Newsagency benchmark

Making better use of the old newspaper stand space in the newsagency

IMG_0864This photo shows what used to be the newspaper stand in this newsagency I visited in in Queensland. The old newspaper stand went from floor to ceiling and reached out toward the front of the store by at least 1.2 metres. The location is just inside the entrance to the small 70 square metre shop in a shopping centre – prime and expensive space. This old newspaper stand location is easily seen from outside the front of the shop, it is perfect for attracting shoppers.

The newspaper stand was completely removed from the business and papers put in a more space efficient stand, still at the front of the shop. The new stand takes up a quarter of the space and is situated in less-expensive real estate at the front.

In the place of the old newspaper stand is the stand of gift items you can see in the photo. This stand has been setup to facilitate easy change.

Take a look at how this change is working:

Newspaper sales in the business have not been harmed by the move.

Yesterday morning, an office worker who works nearby noticed the gifts, and spent $175.00 in a single purchase from the new stand. They came back and spent another $65.00 in a second transaction. This is a new customer for the business purchasing new items for the business. Te total gross profit from the two transactions was $108.00.

This newsagent would need to sell 453 copies of their local daily newspaper to achieve $108.00 in gross profit.

The value of the move goes beyond the two transactions yesterday.

Newspapers are available in more than thirty outlets within a five minute walk of this newsagency. They are also regularly given away metres away from the business by the publisher. The gifts in the stand are not so easily available. Indeed, you wold need to drive to find the closest competitor.

This new customer discovered yesterday as a result of the strategic move to move the newspaper stand is set to be far more valuable to the business over the long term than a newspaper customer won by the stand being in this same location.

The story here presents an argument to use to the newspaper publisher rep who may pressure you to not remove their stand or the magazine publisher who may challenge you considering moving the front of store prime retail space currently allocated to magazines.

This post is about strategy, strategy for finding new traffic, strategy for growing the overall GP of your business, strategy for attracting shoppers who will return to make more valuable purchases.

Every newsagent can do what this newsagent I visited yesterday has done. Every newsagent can transition their business. The steps do not need to be big or bold. They can be often and small.

Yes, this is a newsXpress business, yes, the strategies they are engaging with are newsXpress strategies. yes, I am a director of newsXpress. There is enough information in this post to inspire anyone on moves like I have outlined – regardless of the group you are in.

While some in the channel say rip out your newspaper stand and leave it at that, the better advice is to present viable long-term alternatives to re-locating newspapers to elsewhere and replacing them with a stand that enables moves like I have outlined here.

Any change requires you to think beyond a single move. You need to plan. This is where newsagency marketing groups should shine.

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Newsagency management

Getting rid of a spinner in a shopping centre is a reminder to look at things differently

IMG_0263Westfield, bless their heart, has removed the ability for us to discard old spinners in the rubbish / recycling area of the large shopping centre in another cost cutting move taking away serves previously available to tenants. Rant over.

At the weekend we found ourselves with a spinner we no longer needed and so placed it at the front of the shop with a Free to a good home sign. Sure enough, our trash became another person’s treasure in quick time

Problem solved.

It is easy to get side-tracked by obstacles that change what we can or can’t do in our businesses. There can be a comfort drawn from being angry about something we think is not your fault or outside our control to address.

More often than not in these situations of anger and frustration there are solutions if we look at the situation confronting us differently.

I have been talking with many different small business retailers over the last few weeks at workshops about social media and e-commerce and at these sessions I have talked with small business owners who only see barriers. They see them as that, a barrier. The alternative is to see the opportunity, the road over, under, around or through. Yes, I appreciate that may sound easier said than down. However, every barrier has an alternative.

I am guilty of this. The Westfield policy change re spinners being dumped happened months ago. It frustrated are and still frustrates me. However, trying this alternative has eliminated it as an issue – unless I prefer to be drawn to remaining frustrated at Westfield. But there is no sense in that, no business value from that.

If only I had thought of a lateral solution when Westfield changed their policy.

I was talking with a small business retailer yesterday about a challenge in their business that had them stopped in their tracks. Every suggestion would not work for one reason or another. many suggestions were put. Every one of the rejected. It was like they did not want the issue to be addressed, like they preferred to have the challenge remain in front of them. It was like the challenge put them in a place of comfort.

It is hard work to think through, around or over a problem. You have to choose to think this way, to think beyond the problem. It is important your happy place is with the challenge or problem gone. Otherwise you get into an unhealthy mental health funk that can be personally harmful and harmful for the business and everyone served by the business.

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Newsagency management

Growing revenue in the newsagency

One reason I bought my first newsagency in 1996 was to put into practice for myself what I was telling newsagents. It was an invaluable experience and continues to be today. Here is a video I have just shot where I talk about another of my newsagencies today and what can be achieved in a competitive situation .

I am sharing this not to gloat but to reinforce that newsagents can grow their businesses and attract new shoppers. It takes planning, based on business data and with a focus outside the usual walls of a newsagency business.

The outcome I hope for from the video is more newsagents pursue change … for growth.

Note: the newsXpress logo is on the first shot as the business I am talking about is a newsxpress business.

17 likes
Newsagency management

A heartwarming newsagency transformation

I am grateful for the opportunity to visit a newsagency in the Northern Territory last week that I first go to see late last year. What I saw last Wednesday was a different business. I wish I had a before photo to show. In it you would see a traditional newsagency – clean, neat but traditional, not doing anything to attract new shoppers.

This was a good newsagency but not growing, not exploring opportunities outside of magazines, newspapers, lotteries, cards and stationery. As the business is right next to a supermarket with all these items it needed to differentiate.

The business I saw Wednesday last week was different.

The best word I can use to describe what I was is: optimistic. Yes, this business looked and felt optimistic.

I am not sure the optimism I saw it is captured in this photo I took though.

IMG_9878

The refreshed and refocused business is attracting new shoppers through ranging different, non traditional, products and displaying them in an appealing way. It is also leveraging existing traffic for greater efficiency.

The photos faces into the newsagency from the entrance. That space you see, the dance floor, is a fresh space changing every two weeks, making the business more appealing than ever and making a fresh pitch to reflect change, to combat store-blindness of regulars. The space you see provides a fresh appeal. Products are zoned, shop ability is high.

Some key changes are not seen in this photo though. The windows out of shot of the photo are pitching products that appeal to demos not usually that well served in newsagencies, demos that are shopping with the shop.

I think the biggest change is in the approach to business. This business and those in it are having a go at finding a brighter future. That is reflected in buying, displays and promotion. They are doing things now they would not have done a year ago. And each thing do, each new product they carry, each marketing pitch they make, they learn from whether it is financially successful or not.

And as I write this I think about that uniquely Aussie thing of having a go as I think it is key to the mindset and to the optimism I am seeing.

Not so much in this newsagency but in some I have seen recently, some newsagents have lost the energy to have a go. Those who do have a go and who encounter a good response, financial or not, are encouraged to have a go more and more and this is what ultimately results in valuable change and an optimistic outlook.

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Newsagency management

A walk around newsXpress Southland

Here is a video I shot Saturday at my newsXpress Southland business. Sorry it is a bit sketchy in parts – I was trying to avoid customers as I walked through the store. The goal of the video is to provide a sense of layout, commitment to branding, guidance of traffic flow and that this is not a traditional newsagency.

newsXpress Southland from mark fletcher on Vimeo.

This is not your average newsagency. Performance wise, it is tracking at 12% year on year growth and most of that growth is coming from products with a gross profit of 50% or more, often items you would not find in a newsagency.

This is a new traffic business, chasing non traditional newsagency shoppers across several demographics. The business has been open two years. It is the only newsagency in the large Westfield centre. The previous newsagency, a nextra branded business, went broke.

I don’t get to this business often. It is run under management, excellent management. What I saw Saturday was an optimistic business embracing opportunities outside what are usual for our channel. It made me very happy.

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Newsagency management

How unicorn season is attracting new shoppers to the newsagency

Six months newsXpress conceived the idea of a unicorn season, to commence right after Easter this year. A terrific mix of suppliers got on board to ensure a good mix of unicorn product catering to a broad age range. This was important as the research in Australia and overseas indicated a broad demographic being interested in all things unicorns.

The unicorn season was considered to be a good fit for newsXpress businesses as it touches on gifts, emotion, creativity and fun … all important elements in newsXpress businesses.

In addition to supplier offers, newsXpress provided all stores with a stock of A1 double sided posters plus digital material to use online.

Here is how unicorn season launched at my Knox store.

IMG_8729

And here is how the amazingly creative team at newsxpress Bairnsdale have launched it.

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newsXpress has launched an in-store colouring competition.

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And it has launched a national unicorn horn making competition.

UnicornCompPoster

So, what does all this mean? While the promotion is only ten days old I know it is attracting ne shoppers into businesses, driving impulse purchases of unicorn product, generating terrific social media engagement and improving the bottom line of engaged businesses.

But most important of all, unicorn season is giving the engaged businesses something different to promote, something you are not seeing in any competition, something to remember the business by, something through which the business can identify away from the traditional.

This is fun too. I know much more about unicorns than I did six months ago, including where to buy unicorn snot.

If you think this post is an ad for newsXpress you would be mistaken. It is a post encouraging you to think outside the walls of your newsagency, to chase change, to have fun and to not be bound by what is usual for your business.

You can do anything. And you should because now more than ever tradition is not a good thing in a newsagency business.

It starts with this question: what am I doing in my business to day to attract new shoppers, people I do not usually see in my business, into my business? That is the most important mission of every retailer today.

15 likes
Newsagency management

How to find optimism in your newsagency business

Every day can be tough in small business. You can feel like the big competitors are winning and that you can’t climb the mountain to compete. You may not know where to start.

There are green shoots of good news and opportunities in every small and independent retail business. The key is to find these and to leverage them for more success.

A green shoot is a product or a category of products or a supplier performing above average in the business. Often, these successes have gone unnoticed.

We were working with a retailer recently who said business was down by 20% and they did not know what to do. It turned out that the best performing product category in their business was ‘failing’ for six months because they had not replenished stock.

They invested, instead, on new lines that had not gone as well as the successful product.

They, in part, created their own downward spiral and had not looked at their business data to understand that contributed to the problems they were confronting.

Once they realised the situation, they re-stocked the successful range of products and numbers started to improve. More important, their confidence level grew and with this their business decisions improved.

There are opportunities for optimism in every business.

Finding optimism is like mining, you have to look for it, sometimes for a long time. It is there, though, in every retail business.

As soon as you hear yourself talking your business down, STOP. Look at your data, look for the good news. That is what you need to think and talk about.

By looking at your data, we mean looking at year on year, quarter on quarter or month on month comparison data for departments, categories, suppliers or even individual products. Look for growth and once you see growth, think about what you can do with and around the products achieving growth so that you can achieve other growth.

Any product achieving year on year increases in unit sales is a product to be appreciated, nurtured and used to help grow other products that can sell to the same customer.

This is how you grow optimism. Find those small green shoots, leverage them with some small steps and, over time, build more success for your business.

While overall revenue, traffic count and profitability may be down, growth even at the smallest data point, such as for one or two products, could be enough to get you looking at your business differently.

Finding optimism is important as it is through this view that you are more likely to make better business decisions.

8 likes
Management tip

Enjoying products promoting optimism in the newsagency

10405262_1101411439903307_6679180206867243549_nCustomers love optimistic and inspiring products. Better still, people we encounter online love them – commenting on the message and asking where the store is located. Products like this one inspiring you to FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS help us pitch the newsagency differently to what people expect. They also help us promote optimism … the more we do this in 2016 the better.

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Optimism

James Murdoch is right: we have to be disruptors

We have to be disruptors if we’re going to grow.

This is James Murdoch as quoted in a report in today’s Australian Financial Review. The quote equally applies to newsagents. We have to be disruptors ourselves. Some of us are, but not enough.

Being a disruptor means breaking free from expectations associated with your shingle. It means new suppliers, new products and new traffic. It means changing how you run your business and how you think about your business.

It means identifying less with the traditionalists who share your shingle.

Being a disruptor means you becoming your own competitor.

Being a disruptor means you stop complaining about others taking business from you and you taking business from others.

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Newsagency challenges

How newsagency suppliers can encourage confidence in our channel

Newsagency suppliers can play a role in promoting the newsagency channel to others and encouraging optimism within the channel. The size and business volume achieved in newsagencies is one angle the creative team at my newsagency software company took when I challenged them to develop a video promoting the size and strength of newsagency businesses. Here is the result:

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Newsagency management

Retail loyalty insight: How a $2.00 discount voucher resulted in purchases of over $1,500 from a first time shopper in the newsagency

I want to share with you a true story of what happened recently in my own newsagency. It is a story of how a small everyday purchase led to something bigger and how this happened as a result of fundamental changes in how the business is run.

This story could happen in any newsagency – city, country, large, small, shopping mall, high street. I make that point so you do not dismiss the story and think it could not happen in your business. The elements of the story work together in any size business. In writing about it here I’m not getting you to do anything other than to consider that you could achieve the same in your business.

At its core, this is a story about shopper loyalty, especially shopper loyalty in a retail situation where between 25% and 30% of shoppers visiting the business are not local and therefore not likely to engage with the old-school points-based loyalty program.

A customer passing the shop noticed our greeting card range and stepped into make a purchase because of a specific need. They purchased two cards. On their receipt was a voucher for almost $2.00. As they are not usually in the shopping centre they looked around for something in which to spend the $2.00.

This is the key: the customer came in to make a quick destination purchase. The type of purchase where we did not matter. They were on the way to the car park and happened to pass buy our shop. Point 1: location is in our favour. The stepped in because they saw our greeting cards. Point 2: the floor placement of cards was key in getting them in the shop.

Having made the purchase, the customer then noticed, for the first time, what else we sold – because of the $2.00 discount voucher on their receipt. Point 3: we got them to look around and see what else we sold.

The customer did a 180 degree turn and saw a locked glass cabinet of beautiful collectible bears. This was in the right place at the right time as they had been looking for a gift for a child. Money was not an issue. They wanted something to last a lifetime. They purchased a $500.00 bear.

This purchase would not have been made had they not been given the $2.00 voucher on their receipt. The voucher is what got them to notice what else we sold.

Fast forward several weeks and this customer who said they don’t usually come to the shopping centre was back for another $500.00 purchase. Now, several more weeks later, the customer has another $500.00 order placed.

I can directly trace more than $1,500.00 in sales back to the $2.00 voucher.

The software produced the voucher based on rules I established. The initial staff member serving the customer made a brief professional pitch highlighting the voucher. These are both important factors as they are at the core of a structured consistent approach to what has become the most lucrative loyalty program I have seen in my 30+ years involved in retail as a retailer myself and working with retailers in many different channels.

While most times vouchers are handed out they are not redeemed, they are redeemed enough to make them worthwhile. They are redeemed for good margin product as they get people looking at the shop for the first time and discovering items to purchase they were not in our four walls to consider.

The discount vouchers are disruptive. People respond in unpredictable ways.

Best of all, the discount vouchers are profitable.

For this story to work in a newsagency you need to have the right products, placed strategically in-store. Your staff need to make the right pitch. Plus, you need to be attracting people who don’t know and probably don’t care what shop they are in.

If you have read this post and thought it does not relate to you, that you could not do this in your business I say you are wrong. I am certain the approach I have shared with you could work in any newsagency in any situation. I urge you to not hold your business back.

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Management tip

Focus on gross profit and change how you view your newsagency

In the traditional Australian newsagency around 40% of products sold have a gross profit of 50% or more.

By traditional, I mean the business with around 30% of floorspace with magazines and papers, 30% with cards, 25% with stationery and 15% a mix of other.

The good news is plenty newsagencies are not traditional.

Looking at data from the last quarter in my own newsagency, 69.5% of revenue is from items for which gross profit is above 50%.

Any newsagent can achieve numbers like this through careful planning, an embrace of change and a disregard for the barriers of the newsagency shingle.

Focussing on GP through inventory ranging and management can inoculate from regulation issues over which you have not control.

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Newsagency challenges

Newsagency marketing group newsXpress grows to more than 200 newsagent members

Newsagency marketing group newsXpress has just passed 200 member locations, achieving a new milestone for the business.

This is a good story not only for newsXpress but for the newsagency channel as the core focus of newsXpress is optimism among newsXpress retail business owners and their employees – optimism for today and optimism for the future.

Achieving growth takes hard work in any marketplace. In the newsagency channel it is especially hard given some of the legacy supplier relationships, limited local newsagency capital availability and the clouds of negativity too many talk about. The growth of newsXpress is against trend, it is an achievement everyone involved with the group from the local store level through to supplier team members can be most proud.

In addition to excellent growth in the number of businesses in the group, plenty of newsXpress stores are reporting shopper traffic growth, revenue growth and business efficiency improvement. This is being achieved through the careful introduction of new product categories that attract shoppers who may not otherwise shop in a newsagency.

The most important service provided by newsXpress is the optimism it builds with members and those who work for them:

  • optimism in a bright future, that you can change your business
  • optimism that you can overcome road blocks
  • optimism that you can enjoy your newsagency business
  • optimism that you can make your business asset more valuable.

Having cleaned house and reduced members in 2013, newsXpress started growing in mid 2014 on the back of plenty of good news being shared by newsXpress members. The state by state breakdown now is:

  • Queensland: 63.
  • New South Wales: 48.
  • Australian Capital Territory: 4.
  • Victoria: 46.
  • Tasmania: 6.
  • South Australia: 14.
  • Western Australia: 17.
  • Northern Territory: 4.

The current membership breakdown by type of business is as follows:

  • Shopping centre: 30%
  • Suburban high street: 40%
  • Regional / rural: 30%

newsXpress is not focused on the size of the business. rather, the focus is on the people in the business – referring people who are proactive, embrace change and are committed to a newsagency of the future.

Newsagents are joining newsXpress from other groups as well as from no marketing group membership at all.

The most common question newsagents have when exploring joining newsXpress is what is the one thing you can do to grow this business? The newsXpress answer is direct yet hopeful:

Anyone who says they have the next big thing for newsagents, the one thing they can do to save their business or make massive amounts of money for the business is wrong. There is no one thing, no silver bullet, you can do to turn your newsagency business around.

newsXpress will never sugar coat, never over promise. We believe the truth is what sets a business free to chase its real potential. We think this is why we have newsXpress stores growing.

Valuable and sustained success for newsagents comes from many small steps. We call it our small steps strategy. Many small steps we guide you to take compound to success – not all of them as some will not work for you but as they are small steps they come at a small cost. This is one feature of the strategy. We don’t outline before you join all the small steps because that would be giving too much away. Also, many steps require access to newsXpress exclusive deals as well as in-store training and other support that is only available to newsXpress members.

Here is a video explaining some of what newsXpress does.

Click here to access a document outlining what newsXpress does in more detail.

Footnote: I am a Director and shareholder of newsXpress. I am happy to report here growth achieved by other newsagency marketing groups.

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newsagency marketing

How small business newsagents could benefit from Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister

Malcolm Turnbull is an explainer, he provides context, he understands the importance of narrative. Whether you agree with his politics or not, and I don’t on a number of policy topics, he at least explains his position in an accessible and considerate way. His approach helps win more to his thinking and lose fewer because of it.

His comments at his first press conference last night about disruption are a good example of what I mean. Disruption is a challenge and an opportunity.

I expect/hope Turnbull as Prime Minister will help Australians feel more confident and optimistic and this will be reflected in small businesses, especially in small business retail, like newsagencies. Our customers will express their optimism and newsagents themselves will reflect optimism in their own business decisions.

The change in Prime Minister decided last night is an opportunity to reset, reboot.

Optimism is more important in small business retail than in national retail chains. This is why I think Turnbull as Prime Minister will be better for us than Abbott. Tony Abbott comes across as a bully. he appears to care little about bringing the electorate with him on views he holds dear. This feeds negativity and encourages pessimism in my view.

So, from where I sit in small business, I think Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will/should be good for business.

From a small business newsagency perspective, today is, hopefully, a good time for us to consider our own business situation in the context of leadership, disruption and opportunities. I think today is an opportunity for us to reset.

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Newsagency management

Laughter is an instant vacation

Laughter is an instant vacation.
Milton Berle, 1977.

I was reminded of this a couple of times today. First up I noticed the quote on a sign in a coffee shop devoid of laughter and devoid of good coffee for that matter. What is the point of a sign pitching a message of inspiration in your business when you ignore it?

Later in the morning I visited Hamleys, the biggest and best known toy store in London, to see their merchandising of ranges I am connected with back in Australia.

On every floor at Hamleys I heard laughter from kids and adults as they interacted with demonstrations of products ranging from magic tricks to drones to art kits. The demonstrators, and I lost count at fifteen throughout the store, were engaging and funny.

Visiting Hamleys was a tonic. I found myself smiling plenty as I walked the various floors. I had a good laugh when one demonstrator had some fun with a drone at my expense.

The whole experience was a reminder of the importance of laughter in retail.

I imagine there are people who work nearby who visit Hamleys for a reset during a particularly tough day. Leaving the store today I wanted to suggest to the folks at the coffee shop they visit.

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Optimism

At the Connections conference in Cairns

I have been at the Bauer Connections Conference in Cairns this week. It was good to see the inclusion of several of the newsagency marketing groups at the conference as they offer platforms of consistency, marketing, management and optimism for newsagents. I think Bauer inviting representatives of the groups was a smart move as it is only the groups that have a hope to drive consistency among all businesses trading behind a brand.

The theme of the conference was Fit for Purpose. Each speaker spoke to the theme, aiming to equip attendees with tools for being more fit for running your newsagency.

In the breaks plenty shared good stories about changes in their businesses and the optimism they had for the future and, specifically, their future. It was a thrill to see and hear this optimism.

One of the speakers talked about choosing to be happy. I have written about this here before when I have said we choose to be optimistic.

It is too easy for some to stay in the rabbit hole barely able to see in front of you and as a result lose the opportunity to look at the sunrise on the horizon bringing on a new day that you can make your own.

Today in and newsagency business is about change as is tomorrow and the next day. We can choose to resist this, be grumpy about it and duck down into the rabbit hole or we can choose to lean in and embrace, even chase, change. This latter mindset is, for me, at the heart of being Fit for Purpose.

I think any newsagent in any situation can find optimism and through this make decisions that guide new traffic into the business. Size of the business does not matter. What matters most is the choice you make about your mindset.

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Newsagency challenges

Happy retailers make for a happy retail experience

Screen Shot 2015-08-24 at 6.57.32 amThinking about my challenge to newsagents yesterday about choosing optimism, I have this morning been looking through new marketing from my POS software company where the team put a call out for Tower Systems customers who would like to be professionally photographed in their shop for a national postcard marketing campaign.

These two photos from businesses in South Australia, a bike shop and a specialist confectionery shop, show small business owners happy to be in their businesses and happy to be promoting them. The photos exude optimism.

In each photo you can see pride in their faces. In the background you can see good visual merchandising and professional retailing principles.

The owners of these businesses excuse pride and confidence with justification. They are terrific small businesses having a big impact.

We choose ourselves how happy our shop is. We do this in our heads as well as on the shelves of our businesses.

How would you and your look if this photo was taken in your shop? Thinking about that could guide you to changes to make.

I appreciate there are challenges for the traditional newsagency business. We choose impact of those challenges on our mindset and demeanour and this plays out on the performance of the business.

While there is nostalgic appeal the traditional newsagency, you will make more money breaking free from that history and focussing on representing a bright and happy future.

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Management tip

The challenge for the newsagent next to the convenience store

twobusinessesThis photo shows a newsagency and convenience business next to each other on a busy suburban street. No matter where I stood – to the left, to the right or directly in front, the convenience store was brighter and more inviting than the newsagency. I have loaded a high res photo so you can compare in detail for yourself.

Both businesses sell papers, convenience lines and magazines – although the newsagency range is considerably bigger. The c-store has considerably more on the convenience product space.

The convenience store is part of a group that drives discipline. The newsagency is not in any group and left to run the business as the owner wishes.

The convenience store has a brighter future thanks to the discipline of the group to which they belong.

While I am on the record saying convenience is not a good model for newsagencies, if I was in control of this business and convenience had to be the focus, I would join a convenience group. While such a group would not be a newsagency group, it would provide management and marketing guidance that would enable better competition with the c-store next door.

This newsagency will close soon if it does not change direction urgently. The challenges the owner faces reflect challenges we all face in our businesses. Change is essential. It can be invigorating, fun and profitable. Change builds optimism.

If I was in control of this business and not bound by operating a convenience model, I’d make considerable changes, moving out of convenience and into higher margin traffic generating lines I could promote outside of the business.

When I see newsagencies in a situation like this one I saw last week I see opportunity.

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Convenience retail

Happy newsagents feature in video

Benefits for newsagents of being part of a newsagency marketing group include shared optimism about the future and a unity around a differentiating brand. newsXpress last week reflected these in this video created for members to use in showing their locally owned business are part of something bigger:

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Newsagency management

Businesses optimistic about sales

Dun & Brasdreet’s latest Business Expectations Survey reports sales expectations highest since 2003.

Sales expectations have rebounded sharply, reaching their highest level for more than a decade in a strong signal the business community has a more optimistic outlook for Q4 2015.

In marked contrast to the preceding period, Dun & Bradstreet’s latest Business Expectations Survey reveals the Sales Expectations Index for the fourth quarter surged to 40.8 points, up from 28.6 points last quarter and the highest level recorded since the fourth quarter of 2003. Some 48 per cent of companies surveyed expect to see an increase in sales in the fourth quarter of 2015.

While representing the views of the corporate sector, optimism there permeates into small businesses, boosting the optimism we have for the future. This survey is good news.

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Newsagency management
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