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Optimism

Report published by News Corp. says newsagents will be gone in five years

Michael McQueen, writing for news.com.au in a report published this morning says, among other things, newsagents will be gone in five years:

Newsagencies were once a gold-plated business. They had a bulletproof revenue model centring on the exclusive rights to distribute and sell the magazines and newspapers we all purchased on a daily basis. Then came 1999 — the year of deregulation. From this point onwards, newsagents no longer enjoyed the protected market they once did and business began to get tough.

Today, newsagents have one remaining cash cow — lotteries. With increasing noise from governments that lotto could also be deregulated in the coming few years just as it has in other countries, this may be the last nail in the coffin.

It is entirely likely that the only newsagents still standing in five years time will be those who have diversified to the point where their business model is almost unrecognisable by today’s standards.

I have written here many times over many years about this – the need for diversification, the need for new traffic generating products and services as well as the danger in relying on a single product or service like lotteries.

The stronger newsagent retailers are more likely to not have lotteries as they do not have the considerable labour, space and capital demands that come with this.

I know of newsagency businesses today that are growing. Maybe News could publish some reports about these.

I am optimistic, not out of desire but out of what I see some doing. Our channel will continue to shrink but those remaining and those entering will be stronger and more successful.

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Newsagency challenges

How to use plush and known brands to drive newsagency traffic

kxbrandsFollowing my recent post about Hubbed, newsagency software company POS Solutions responded on their blog in a welcome addition to the discussion. In their post they said they did not believe plush was a destination product.  As a retailer, I say their claim is not supported by the facts. Plush can be a destination product. I have one store achieving $80,000 in sales a year, much of this from people deliberately coming to our shop for their purchase.

Click on this recent photo of the front of my newsagency for a high res version and look right to left.  This is what you see – it’s how we attract shoppers to my newsagency and how we pitch our business as a destination business:

  1. Beanie Kids are often purchased by collectors. Many of our Beanie Kids shoppers come to our centre and to our shop to purchases these from us.
  2. Beanie Boos. More than half our sales are to collectors who come to us as their destination. Wh know from our own data.
  3. Disney Princess. An international brand attracting traffic and once in-store and with a first purchase made they come back and these subsequent visits are destination purchases.
  4. AFL (on the far left). Well, we’re in Melbourne and it’s AFL season. We are known for our Beanie Kids, Hallmark cards and other AFL products.

But there is one more important point to this discussion about plush and destination business: You have to work at making products destination purchases. You do this with an excellent range of known-brand product, well-located and regularly refreshed with new lines.

You also give your customers a reason to come back for a destination purchase. This is where our discount vouchers work wonderfully for us. Every time you bring a shopper back to purchase another item in their collection is a mother link in the chain connecting them with your business.

I accept plush isn’t for everyone. All I am recounting here are stories from my own newsagency business.

Oh, two other things I love about plush: people buying plush items are happy and the products themselves are great to hug!

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Management tip

Promoting magazines anywhere and the new retail paradigm of shopping 24/7

appstoremagsI was on Apple’s AppStore last night and noticed this ad: Magazines for Him. Clicking on the ad and I was offered what at first appeared to be free access to apps for Rolling Stone, Money, T3 and other titles. With many magazine apps, however, the content is not free, just the app for accessing the content. But that’s not what I wanted to write about this morning.

Seeing the ad for magazines reminded me of a fundamental change impacting retailers, including newsagents, today. We – retailers, wholesalers and product manufacturers – are in a race to get to the consumer first. The days of the shop being the place where things are bought are over. The shop is but one location. Today people are shopping in every location possible, they are shopping 24/7. That is how large online and bricks and mortar retailers see it. They are investing in strategies to be first to the consumer, anticipating their needs if possible so they can decrease the time between desire and fulfilment.

Retailers who focus only on their shop have an incomplete business strategy. Growth today more than ever required a multi-layered multi-channel strategy.

The question we newsagents need to ask ourselves individually is what are we doing to tap into the shop anytime shop anywhere mindset of today’s mobile consumer?

To get a feeling for how retail is changing: there was a story a couple of days ago about Amazon patenting an anticipatory shipping system that predicts orders.  Their algorithm predicts what you may purchase based on previous purchases and it will ship those items to the warehouse closest to you – to reduce the time it takes to fulfil your order. This is pretty amazing stuff.

While in the US a couple of weeks ago I met with a company and was shown technology that retailers like newsagents can integrate with that enables us to capture a shopper interested in a product or category before they are near our shop.

These are just two of the moves that we need to factor into our business plans. On first glance they may feel too complex for us to engage with. the reality is that these and other moves are do or die for retailers. This is the world we are in today – the rules have been set by others, we have to engage for our businesses to have value.

It may sound trite but we newsagents can do this, we can embrace the new shopping model and be relevant as a small independent retailer. It starts with becoming aware and that is, in part, what this blog post is about.

Engagement with customers is key to our future. Connecting them with us so they remember us and come back to us is key. There are various ways newsagents can do this today. Those who are not, and that’s the majority of the channel, risk the commercial consequences of a disconnect from our customers.

I’m optimistic about retail and newsagencies. Yes I see plenty of change, but this is not new. We have to face it and walk with it, changing our businesses appropriately.

On the small issue of magazine apps being available through the Apple AppStore: this is what publishers need to do – and, yes, they need to do it directly and not through newsagents. We are not entitled. repeat: we are not entitled.

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Media disruption

Finding the right way to tell the community you are serving them

wholefoodsnycAt each check out point at the Whole Foods Market at Union Square in New york they have a sign which reads: It’s only fair to let you know our New York City stores donated $275.000 to local nonprofits through our quarterly 5% days in 2013.

While it feels like marketing for Whole Foods, I can’t see any easy way for them to share the good news of what they donated. Click on the image to see a larger version of the sign.

I checked the Whole Foods website for details of how the 5% days work at raising funds. This money really does come out of their pocket:

Our Community 5% Days are one meaningful way we give back to our community. On designated days throughout the year a total of 5% of the day’s net sales are donated to local non-profit organizations. Customers help support our selected organizations just by shopping on these 5% Days. Contact us directly if your organization is interested in applying for this program.

Good for them. I like this program a lot – the money it raises, their transparency, the community good.

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Newsagency opportunities

A massive trade show for retailers, opportunities for newsagents

microsoftnrfAcross two huge levels at the Javits Centre in New York, Retail’s Big Show has been presenting an extraordinary array of technology, data, management and other solutions for retailers. From the giants of IBM and Microsoft to tiny players, retailers at the trade show and conference have had access to the very latest in innovation to make business more efficient and successful.

It has been a thrill to speak to some visionary experts about opportunities they see in retail generally and, with some, in specialty retail, and how they are preparing for the the opportunities. It has also been exciting to play with some very cool gadgets. What I have really loved, though, is the opportunity of seeing how businesses at the conference, the trade show and on the streets of Manhattan define themselves – how they speak to their point of difference.

In this market that is becoming more crowded and with consumers who are more powerful than ever before, if you do not speak with a clear voice about who you are and what that matters then you will not be heard. Many retailers are not being heard and their numbers speak to that. Some, large and small, are being heard because their values are clear and easily understood.

I wish I could have had a bunch of newsagents with me here here at the trade show, conference and on the streets on New York.

Over the next few weeks I will be gathering my thoughts and considering these in the context of the latest Newsagency sales trends. I am preparing for a fresh look at the Newsagency of the Future and plan to offer a round of workshops shortly with completely fresh content that is relevant to recent innovation and opportunities.

We are in the midst of the most exciting period in the history of the newsagency channel. We have decisions to make, decisions that are for each of us ours alone, decisions we have not had to make previously. Exciting times ahead!

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Newsagency management

Sunday newsagency management tip: plan for your future

I am a firm believer that we create our own success. Yes, we have some supplier challenges but we often do ourselves no favours in how we deal with these. Today more than at any time in our past we have more control over our newsagency businesses. We decide if we grow, we decide if we fail and close.

In May I am exploring how we create our own success in the free Newsagency of the Future workshops. My Sunday newsagency management tip is that you should book to attend.  I don’t want to sell you anything. My goal is to give you insights and motivation to create for yourself a more successful newsagency business, a business you enjoy more

I promise you will be confronted by:

  1. A question that goes to the core of what is a newsagency.
  2. Challenges around exactly what type of business you want.
  3. An analysis of why more newsagencies are closing now than ever before.
  4. What the successful newsagents are doing for themselves in 2013 to be successful.

I’ll cover these and other topics using 2013 examples and data in an entirely new workshop I am creating for you this year.  This is a vitally important session for newsagents who want to build businesses of more value. The locations are:

  • May 6 Brisbane @ 11am River View Hotel (free parking)
  • May 7 Sydney @ 11am Bonnie Doon Golf Club  (free parking)
  • May 8 Adelaide @ 11am Chifley on South Terrace
  • May 9 Melbourne @ 11am Kooyong Tennis Club  (free parking)
  • May 10 @ 10am Perth Country Comfort Inter City Hotel  (free parking)
  • May 20 @ 11am Canberra
  • May 21 @ 11am Newcastle
  • May 22 @ 11am Albury
  • May 23 @ 10am Geelong
  • May 24 @ 11am Hobart
  • May 28 @ 10am Gold Coast
  • May 29 @ 11am Cairns
  • May 30 @ 10am Darwin

Click here to book online or email bookings@towersystems.com.au.

This session is open to all newsagents and suppliers.

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Management tip

Another example of optimism selling

We put out these canvasses with optimistic messages on Friday. Today, we’re ordering more stock since they have just about sold out. This is another example of happy and optimistic products driving new traffic and achieving excellent sales.

We had the optimistic art facing into the mall and I saw it attract shoppers to the business. This is important – that we bring in products that of themselves attract shoppers. Newsagencies have too many products that seek to leech off existing traffic and that’s not  great model for the future.

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Optimism

Valentine’s Day cards sales up 73%

In the two weeks to Valentine’s Day our Valentine’s Day card sales were 73% more than for the same two weeks in 2012. In the same period, overall sales traffic was up 5%. The sales growth for Valentine’s Day cards, off a good base, speaks to tactical placement, regular refreshing and the prize of a $300+ coffee machine to one lucky shopper.

Gerry Harvey can talk doom and gloom in retail for all he likes. This small business embraces its successes.

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Greeting Cards

Do newsagencies have a future?

I am questioned several times a week by potential newsagents and existing newsagents about the state of the retail channel and its future – at the individual business and channel-wide levels.

Last week I received an email I share here:

I got your contact details from the Australian Newsagency blog as I am looking at taking on a newsagency that recently closed and was wanting to get some information support to assist with my decision making process. I don’t have any previous newsagent experience but I have some retail experience and my background is accounting to a fairly senior level in corporates.

Everything I read indicates that newsagencies are a declining business but I was hoping to get access to information that would support my analysis and provide ideas to ensure that a business would have the best opportunity to be successful.

My correspondent asks common and good questions.  Here is my response. I share it here to reflect publicly my thoughts on this.

Newsagency businesses can be excellent businesses or dogs of businesses. It all depends on what you make of it.

The traditional newsagency is dead there is no doubt about that. by traditional I mean a mix of low margin products, relying on others to drive traffic.

If you create a business that is fresh, offering what local shoppers want and with a retail feel that is relevant it will do well. The keys are to be in control and own the business as a retailer and not as an agent.

This is the future … newsagents stopping being agents and becoming retailers, best practice retailers in a tough, competitive but fascinating world of retail. These are our days to shine, to reinvent our businesses to become fresh and exciting, to the swatch of retail – they turned the dying watch business around and made it desirable and highly profitable.

So, are we dying? yes, the current old school model supported by some dinosaur operators. The new approach is thriving. I am seeing businesses with excellent growth. Those who complain the most about the current model and question the optimism of others will often be from the old school. Beware.

In taking on the new business, focus on traffic drivers, margin drivers and basket builders. These three combined are our future.

I’m happy to expand the discussion from here…

One of the challenges we have as a channel is how we talk about the channel – in our businesses, with family, with friends and to others we pass along the way. Too many talk the channel down. Too many who have exited or are about to exit complain.

The future of the channel is vital for those here today for the long haul and for those coming into it tomorrow. They (we) are the future. What we make of it is up to us.

In all of the challenges we face today are opportunities. I see many newsagencies doing very well. Yes, some are failing and doing poorly.

Overall, I’m optimistic.

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Newsagency management

Biker bears an early hit for Valentine’s Day

These biker bears sold very well for us last Valentine’s Day and we wondered if they had run their course – but we took them on anyway. It turns out they have not run their course.

Shoppers love these bears. They’re a fun break from the more traditional Valentine’s Day plush. They also open Valentine’s Day gift buying up to other shoppers and this is important.  One of our goals with each season this year is to get more people buying for the season, people who would not usually buy for it.

We have the biker bears displayed together as this looks more impressive than scattering them through the Valentine’s Day plush table.

Valentine’s Day is working a treat already!

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Gifts

One Direction generates more than $4,000 in sales in two weeks

By the time April is done we will have generated sales in excess of $4,000 of One Direction product. Seriously. The Girlfriend one-shot, the IT Girl one shot, One Direction posters. That’s it. It will spike again when tickets for their 2013 concert go on sale next Saturday.

One Direction is a traffic generating sales bonanza.

Thanks boys.

What makes it more special is the the hit product of the One Direction phenomenon is the Girlfriend One Direction one-shot from Pacific Magazines. Newsagents received this two weeks before supermarkets. Regulars here would know how we milked that opportunity.

This 1D phenomenon ought to show an opportunity for newsagents. I see the 1D products as collector products. Plenty of what we sell could be loosely considered to be collector products. Thinking back on the last year or so we have had success with plenty of collector items.

While some newsagents complain that they ‘don’t get the One Direction thing’ I am happy for the passion and money of the fans. What a terrific April!  We have had fun while we tested our retail skills and got to bank some excellent results.

What is really interesting to me is that for all the doom and gloom, including some from me, about print, the results I have banked have been thanks to print products.

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Newsagency opportunities

EMG magazine putaway offer

Check out the newsagent putaway promotion with EMG has been including in their magazines.  This is another example of better new3sagent support from publishers as they become more informed about newsagents and steps they can take to improve our businesses and our connection with publishers.

EMG started promoting in-store putaways late last year as a result of engagement with newsagents through this blog and other places.

For many years most publishers relied on magazine distributors to manage the newsagent relationship.  Hopefully we newsagents show the publishers now engaging directly with and for us that we appreciate this direct contact and support.

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magazine distribution

The optimism connection

Maybe this shows how much we obsess about magazines. On the other hand, maybe it shows we take the magazine opportunity seriously. Check out the cover story on Time magazine and Psychology Today magazine.

Both cover stories relate to optimism.

Thanks to the observation skills of one of our team members it was a thrill to notice that both titles had been placed together. This is a smart move as it is possible they would appeal to the same shopper. If they don’t no harm done as both titles could exist comfortably next to each other regardless of cover story in my view.

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magazines

Smurf products deliver valuable margin dollars

smurfimpulse.JPGThis past weekend provided an excellent example how we can drive business growth. On Saturday, I was thrilled to see people visiting our newsagency to purchase a Father’s Day card add a Smurf figurine to their basket. This extended each sale by at least $7.95. At a 50% margin that’s a nice extension.  I was delighted to see this.

Add to these impulse purchases shoppers who visit specifically looking for Smurf products thanks to good word of mouth and we have a limited time niche delivering good revenue for our newsagency.

Most newsagencies have good base traffic for newspapers, magazines, greeting cards and lotteries. We need to tactically leverage this by engaging in opportunities … like the Smurfs. The best opportunities are those which are current – ideally promoted on TV or connected with a high profile movie.

The Smurf movie opens on September 15.  Those who remember The Smurfs from years ago know about the movie as does a whole new market – kids discovering the Smurfs for the first time.  This is why the figurines and other items are an easy sales pitch for us.

I have found that the best opportunities for leveraging good base traffic are those outside what would be expected from a newsagency.

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Newsagency opportunities

Attracting shoppers to your newsagency with visual merchandising

post-winter.JPGWe have used a visual merchandising specialist to create this display at the front of one of my newsagencies this week.  The display faces into the shopping mall.  It is designed to draw shoppers from the mall to the store to browse … and shop.

We wanted to demonstrate a diversity of product.  Diversity from what one sees in a newsagency and diversity from what is on show elsewhere in the centre.  We also refuse to engage in the SALE mentality which has so many retailers under a spell right now.

In person, the display is inviting, warm and compelling.  It connects with bears, homewares, gifts and country themes.  We think it will attract shoppers who will find other products in-store which appeal to them.

I watched last night as shoppers were drawn to and interacted with the display.  While it had only been up for a few hours at that stage it was working.

This is what we need to do, play outside the traditional newsagency square and engage in professional retailing to take us from being the forgotten retail channel to something which is exciting, professional and enjoyable for today.

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Newsagency opportunities

Queensland is recovering

I was fortunate to spend today with a bunch of newsagents at a meeting in Brisbane.  They hailed from the suburbs as and way beyond.  Some traveled up to five hours.  Anyway, you could not have met a more happy, positive and pro-active group. While the floods interrupted their businesses and families five months ago, they are focused on the future.  Many had stories of how far they have moved on.  They were inspiring.

Reflecting on the day and how so many have got through the tough situations presented by the floods, I am left feeling good about the newsagency channel if this is what we are made of.

Taking each day as a challenge to move forward, for this group and many Queensland newsagents, and what they have achieved in a few months as a result is a lesson for all of us next time we stand still and complain.

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Newsagency management

Plenty of newsagents looking at gifts

I was at the Home & Giving Fair in Sydney all day yesterday.  This event is a major part of the three fair gift event on in Sydney over five days.  Home & Giving is twice the size this year.  It was terrific to see many newsagents at the event.  All were looking for new products to consider for their businesses, products which fit with existing customer traffic.

There were new newsagents as well as long term (20+ years) operators wandering the aisles looking at gifts, homewares, jewellery and personal items such as scarves.

While I could suggest this supplier or that, you really need to visit the fair to look at all the opportunities, touch and feel the product, compare the suppliers and consider what is right for your own business.  This is why I continue to advocate that newsagents should ensure they get to these fairs.

Some newsagents I met yesterday will spend four days across the three fairs in Sydney.  These newsagents make excellent money from the gift and homewares categories.

I was thrilled to meet people who visit this blog at the fair as well.  It’s a buzz when epople come up and introduce themselves as a regular reader and comment on what they get from this place.  Thank you!

I was at the fair partly to be on the Tower Systems stand.  There, I met with newsagents moving into gifts, owners of pure gift and homewares businesses as well as owners of card and gift businesses interested in migrating into newsagency lines.  The evidentpursuit of change was exhilarating.

Comparing the 2011 Home & Giving Fair attendees I met yesterday with those I met with a year ago, I would note that there is significantly more optimism today. From the newsagents there was no dwelling on negative stories … they were focused on a bright future.

Among the suppliers on the floor of the trade show, there are more new products and more new suppliers.  These are positive indicators for retailers including newsagents who are keen to embrace change in their businesses.

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Gifts

Christmas gift set to sell out

appmagnets.JPGWe have had these App Magnets in for a week today and have sold 80% of our initial stock.  We placed them at the counter, in an excellent impulse purchase location.

Their success reinforces for me the value of existing good traffic in newsagencies and how careful buying is central to leveraging the traffic for good value impulse business.  Their success also demonstrates the value of tactical placement over attractive displays for some products.

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Gifts

Halloween 2010 passing Halloween 2009

halloween-oct2010.JPGWe are only two weeks in and already Halloween 2010 is well on the way to passing Halloween 2009.  Yesterday, with the lull in trade thanks to the AFL Grand Final replay, our team took the opportunity to completely refresh our main Halloween display.  Click on the image for a larger version of the photo.

An average Halloween product sale for us is $25.00, making it a rewarding season for gift related items.

The new people attracted into the store by the Halloween window display are also buying other items – cards and magazines especially.  This is where a Halloween promotion pays off.  It gets shoppers seeing your store in a different light.  It especially attracts a younger shopper and this is vitally important to newsagents.  Some of these new shoppers will stick.

Getting people to not see us as a traditional newsagency is vitally important to us. Seeing the new traffic results reinforces my optimism.

We have been doing Halloween for five years.  We can see from our numbers that this year will be the best.  What is interesting is that most of our sales so far have been from new shoppers attracted by the display and not our existing customers.

In our new temporary location we are directly opposite The Reject Shop. They did Halloween last year and there was a 25% cross over in our ranges.  On every item they were considerably more expensive.  It will be interesting to see their pricing policy this year.

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Newsagency opportunities

A whole new way of reading the news

australian-ipad.JPGThe ad on page 10 of the media section of The Australian yesterday should focus the minds of newsagents on the new world in which we now live.

The photo of a iPad featuring The Australian on its screen resting on a front door mat is a play on the quintessential image of a home delivered newspaper in the same situation. News Limited is not Robinson Caruso in their approach.  Publishers across the world are promoting the iPad as an alternative to their print product and home delivery specifically.

The arrival of the iPad and its promotion as a new distribution channel should not surprise newsagents, but it will. The advertisement in The Australian is just the first steps of promoting this new distribution channel.  I’d be doing the same if I were them – leveraging the old distribution channel to promote the new.

At some point, newsagents will become upset about the new distribution channel such is the ignorance in some quarters about what has been an obvious goal among publishers for years as I have discussed here many times.

Our focus needs to be on our model for the future, a model which recognises the disruption caused by the iPad and the devices which will follow.  The answer is not for us to sell newspaper subscriptions for the iPad as some newsagents are proposing.  The suggestion reflects ignorance of how the new channel works.

While publishers (magazine and newspaper) are telling newsagents that the iPad will not impact retail and home delivery sales, I think they will.  Not so much in the next two or three years but certainly beyond.  This is why it is essential we focus on our businesses today.  If you need motivation, pull out The Australian from yesterday and turn to Page 10 of the media section.

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Media disruption

Retail turnaround tips for newsagents experiencing flat sales

Reading the comments at my recent post on flat retail sales got me thinking about practical ways newsagents could turnaround their retail businesses. I have put together a few ideas below which are a mix of basic business advice and out there crazy ideas. They are offered as thought starters.

If your newsagency sales are flat and you are doing the same things today that you have been doing for the last year it is not good enough.

Business will not come to you. You have to go out and find it – often through a series of small steps as opposed to a big bold move. You have to obsess about presenting a compelling offer to everyone walking through your door.

Different businesses are approaching the tough retail conditions differently. Take Myer. I heard CEO Bernie Brooks speaking the other day and he made it clear that they remain committed to their discount policy for now. Price appears to be working for them as a point of difference and while they don’t see it as ideal, that it is working in a tough market sees them sticking to is.

Price is not a point of difference option to newsagents – not across the board at least. Australian consumers expect us to be expensive. That has been shown in plenty of consumer surveys. Railing against this is a challenge. We can do this for some categories and at seasons but not across the board. Ink is a terrific example where we can promote on price – it is a key driver of the success we are having with that.

Other retailers focus on a unique range as their point of difference. The mix requirements of our shingle make that a challenge.

Here are some tips for newsagents on responding to flat sales:

  • Refresh the counter. Most newsagency counters look the same today as they did a year ago and beyond. Create something different and fresh. Take everything off and rebuild the counter with the purpose of selling product on impulse. Make strategic choices. Develop a plan for moving products through the counter – it may be a magazine next to a register this week, a candy bay next week and some cheap pads the week after. Have an impulse offer at every high traffic touchpoint. Once you have created what you think is a better and more business focused counter, look at it critically as a customer would. Is it the best you can offer? Monitor your results. If the changes have not drives a sales lift, do it all again.
  • Refresh the window. Look at your shop from across the street or the mall. What do passers-by see? What are you selling? What is compelling about your business form the window? If the answer is not obvious then take everything out and off the window and create a compelling story which draws people to the business. Let people see why they should browse your shop. A full and busy window is all to often a barrier to the business.
  • Refresh the shop. Change change and change. Move departments and categories. Make the shop feel fresh to regular customers and to your team. Make strategic choices about what products go where. Use dump bins for specials. Place impulse products next to high traffic products. Once you have undertaken the big moves, create a plan for continual change each week. Change shows that the business is a, living and breathing thing. It can make the shop appealing to new visitors. Newsagents who don’ change their business reinforce that the model is a retail dinosaur.
  • Refresh the team. Let your team know than business is tough. Ask for their ideas. Take some time out of the business to relax over a meal or drink or some other social activity (mini golf, go kart racing, fishing, bushwalking) and share an adventure outside the business. Sometimes getting away like this can get creative juices flowing about changes which can be made back at the business.
  • Ask suppliers for help. If your business is slow it is likely that your suppliers are finding it slow too. Ask them for some good value deals – not the stock they can’t sell but the stock they have plenty of and which sells well. If you can get some of that for a good discount you can pass this on and offer good value impulse opportunities. Talk to suppliers about visual merchandising opportunities too. I know one newsagents who did a brilliant window display for shredders – thanks to supplier support. The store ways around security. He sold plenty. The supplier was thrilled. New traffic was generated. Ask suppliers for suggestions – they are a source of excellent ideas.
  • Lure customers back. Look at the top selling items in your newsagency. Create a strategy for getting these customers back. Create a small flyer offering a discount on something if they come back in, say, a couple of days. Do this for newspapers and or lottery tickets. Have a small flyer saying – As a valued customer come back within two days and you get 25% off a greeting card purchase. Make it look life a gift card or a coupon. It has to look like it has some value. Put the works THANK YOU across the top. Date stamp each one. Track how many you give out and how many come back. Newsagency point of sale software can automate this process of handing coupons with sales.
  • Create an event. Look at your magazine sales and in particular the segments which sell the best. Let’s say you sell plenty of craft magazines. Consider running a craft day when you get an expert on a craft topic and promote that you will have a free in-store demonstration. Local clubs are happy to provide an expert for free as they can recruit new members. I know of a newsagent who once gave over part of the shop to a model train club – they had over 100 people in. The flow on buzz was fantastic. Don’t run an event like this once. It could be quarterly with a different subject each time.
  • Get in the newspaper. Seek out ways to help local clubs and groups. It does not need to cost a lot. Support could be more practical than financial. Maybe the shop could become a hub on a local issue – a place where people can go to sign a petition on an important local issue. Get in the local paper and get known for your community connection.
  • Run an event. Have fun. Get the community involved. Create an event based on what you sell: a paper plane competition, a papier mache local attraction model competition, host a bake off from a cookbook you sell, run your own Project Runway event to find a local fashion designer or run a cute baby contest. Any idea which connects in some way to products you sell is fair game here.
  • Connect with the community. Go to community clubs and offer a discount to members and a rebate back to the club for business their marketing efforts on your behalf deliver. This is easy to setup and manage. The more people you have in the community saying to their friends that they should shop with you the better.
  • Ode to you. Run a competiton to find the best poem which reflects why your newsagency is important to the local community. Get the finalists in to read them live and get your customers to vote. Maybe the local newspaper will run the winner?
  • Crazy ideas. Think outside the norm. Nude day has been done so has the underpants idea where customers get a discount for shopping only wearing underwear.

Stop talking about it. Yes, retail is tough. Talking about will not improve your situation. Doing something is better than talk.

The ideas in this blog post are offered to get newsagents thinking of ideas which are appropriate to their businesses.  It would be easy to dismiss them and say there is nothing new there.  Maybe not.  But what are you doing about tough times in your newsagency?

Change is oxygen to any retail business regardless of its current sales health. Doing nothing in tough times will make the tough times tougher for you.

Personally, I am optimistic about the future for newsagents.  There are enough good operators who enjoy embracing change for the channel to have good prospects.

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Newsagency challenges

Stationery sales down in the US

water_pens.jpgFurther to my post on Thursday, US stationery group Office Max overnight reported a 17% fall in sales – within one point of the fall experienced by Office Depot.

I suspect that the majors in Australia in stationery are experiencing similar falls, Officeworks, Corporate Express and others.   This is where newsagents can benefit.  While people will not go to Officeworks to do a $500 stationery shop, they will come to a newsagency for the incidental items and, hopefully, pick up other stationery items.  Whether they do, however, is entirely up to us.

We maximise the stationery opportunity by presenting professionally, adopting an enticing pricing policy, focusing on brands and backing all this will brilliant customer service.

Right now, our stationery sales ought to be growing.  I know from the recent benchmark study that they are growing in half the newsagencies.  It is the other half I am concerned about.

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Newsagency opportunities

Optimism in the gloom

There is plenty of gloomy news out of the US overnight which relates to categories important to Australian newsagencies.

US stationery retailer Office Depot reported a sales drop of 18% last quarter.  The Wall Street Journal says this is due, in part, to newcomers in the stationery field.  Most newsagents reported a drop in stationery sales in the last quarter based on my sales benchmark study.  Those achieving growth produced excellent numbers.  Newsagents ought to be growing in stationery in the marketplace as consumers pull back on their visits to the bigger outlets where they know they will buy more.  The WSJ article is interesting in this regard.

American Greetings (owner of John Sands) reported a 14% fall in sales for the quarter.  The tough US conditions are making people think twice about card purchases according to a Forbes.   Cards are another tough category.  Some newsagents do very well with cards while others are experiencing poor results.  The key appears to be direct engagement.  Newsagent who ‘own’ their card department are more likely to produce better results based on the data I am seeing.  Our small businesses are more able to respond to conditions than the nationals.

Time Warner has reported a sharper decline in magazine advertising revenue than forecast.  We are seeing this here.  There was mention in the Australian Financial Review yesterday of this impacting PMP results.  If advertising revenue continues to fall through the year we will feel an impact in newsagencies on several fronts.

While these reports read like bad news.  They ought to encourage us to exert more control over our businesses, to be more versatile and be on the move. I am meeting more newsagents bucking the trend and producing good results be refusing to let stuff happen around them.  They are cutting their own path, taking risks and, often, enjoying good success.  For example, one newsagent cut 30% of magazine space and increased overall magazine sales.  Another went from three card companies to one and increased sales.  Another got on his bike and chased stationery business outside his four walls and trebled stationery sales in six months.

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Newsagency challenges

Delivering a good laugh with the newspapers

Robyn Ritchie from newsXpress Whittlesea this morning delivered the newspapers for the first time.  Their regular driver has relocated following the loss of his home in the bushfires.  Robyn and one of her girlfriends hit the road early and tried their hand at the whole newspaper throwing thing.  She said the only complaint they are likely to get is about the noise they made as they laughed their way through the round.

I bet lots of newsagents can recall the first time they threw a newspaper.  It’s a good thing to reminisce about.  Up at Whittlesea things are a bit different thanks to the considerable challenges brought about by the fires.  It is inspiring that Robyn and Neil are finding some laughter amid those challenges.

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