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Stationery

3M promotion helps us sell more stationery

The 3M Win a Ford Mustang competition is a terrific opportunity to promote and sell stationery. Any retailer can participate with the key being that your receipts detail the 3M products purchased, which is easy in your newsagency software. Customers can enter through the 3M website (click here to see) – there is no paper entry form or other process for retailers to follow.

There is a lot to like about this promotion, including the $10.00 minimum spend on a receipt requirement to be eligible to enter.

Here are the 3M brands that are being pitched through the promotion:

 

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marketing

A fresh approach to displaying diaries

We have changed our approach to displaying diaries, using bookshelves…

The reactions have been terrific in terms of comments and purchases.

We like the bookshelf placement as it addresses the floorspace challenge that is often the case with diaries as they are heavy and hard to shift around.

I like the layered use of the bookshelves, too, for calendars and plush, all themed.

We have to change how we display products people expect in our businesses, otherwise shoppers will assume we are like every other retailer with these same products.

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Stationery

Sheesh … Officeworks is expensive

I was in Sydney Wednesday and needed small kraft bag. $2.18 is what Officeworks in Pitt Street wanted for a bag that I suspect would have cost them between 15 cents and 40 cents depending on the volume they purchased.

I made other arrangements. $2.18 is way overpriced for a small think kraft bag. Thinking as a shopper, it reminded me that Officeworks is expensive.

The challenge for newsagents who compete with Officeworks is how to make the price pitch. I think sharing shock price comparisons could be useful, especially in regional situations.

If there genuinely is a big price difference where Officeworks is far more expensive, share it. Stick to the facts. Compare like for like.

If, in comparison, you find Officeworks cheaper, think about how you respond in your business. Approach it as an opportunity.

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Competition

More pen options help us sell more pens

For some newsagents, the future of stationery is when we stop pitching pens, pencils and other stationery lines as stationery and start pitching pens, pencils and other stationery lines as quirky gifts, gifts for all sorts of occasions. I mean pens, pencils and other stationery lines purchased specifically for this purpose, different to what you have in the stationery aisle today.

This can help us sell to people beyond the stationery shopper as it is stationery not sold as stationery.

It is exactly what Typo, Smiggle and even Kikki.k to an extent do. We can do it.

With more gift suppliers additions stationery related items to their product mix in Australia, more retailers see this as an option. It has been a trend at overseas fairs for several years and has taken a wile to achieve wider acceptance here from suppliers.

I mention this today as in the pen and pencil space these items are a bridge item, they bridge between traditional stationery and gift and I figured that may interest newsagents looking to do this, newsagents confronted by challenges with traditional stationery sales and wondering about tradition steps.

If you are coming to the Melbourne gift fair, keep a look out for stationery themed gifts as I expect more suppliers to offer these.

In today’s marketplace, the best customers for pens and those not being them for traditional function.

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Stationery

We need to remind people what we sell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Newsagency management

GNS closes OfficeSmart, partners with Office Choice

GNS yesterday announced the closure of the OfficeSmart B2B discount stationery program it has run for more than twenty years. It has replaced this with a partnership with Office Choice, a marketing group for independent stationery businesses.

Here is the GNS announcement:

Dear OfficeSmart member,

Since OfficeSmart was launched in 1995, the stationery and office supplies market has evolved significantly, with the rise of specialist independent dealer groups, a change in the role and emphasis of stationery within newsagencies and the emergence of Officeworks’ SME offering.

OfficeSmart members have also evolved and are no longer a homogenous group of large successful newsagents looking to drive success in the B2B market: many are ecommerce-first businesses, there is a very wide range of member stationery revenue, and there is a significant variation in views of how OfficeSmart should be marketed.

Having conducted a review of the OfficeSmart programme over recent months, member feedback suggested:

  • the relaunched website, catalogue and brochures for OfficeSmart were unlikely to be capable of satisfying members’ needs now or into the future;
  • members’ needs had evolved (both in terms of breadth and depth) to the point that it would be virtually impossible for GNS to implement or manage a cost-effective programme that would fulfil these successfully;
  • some members’ only reason for membership was access to discounted pricing for their retail newsagencies; and
  • members’ expectations of OfficeSmart programme features were not aligned with the true costs of such a programme.

On that basis, we have concluded that a partnership model for OfficeSmart – leveraging existing proven solutions for member services – is the right approach for the future and best safeguards members’ and shareholders’ interests.  We are therefore excited to announce the entry into a partnership with Office Choice Limited, one of Australia’s major B2B office supplies and business solutions groups, to support OfficeSmart members’ needs into the future.

Office Choice has the resources available and in place today to provide the appropriate level of marketing support to OfficeSmart members wanting to maximise the stationery opportunity.  Office Choice’s strong brand and marketing activity – including a bespoke B2B-focussed full line catalogue, seasonal sales catalogues and promotional flyers – drive foot traffic and sales enquiries.  And having invested significantly in their website in recent years, Office Choice’s e-commerce platform is a powerful and proven solution to drive stationery revenue.

Office Choice will provide a high service, low cost membership model that will provide a compelling offer to OfficeSmart dealers, offering an unrivalled level of customised service, marketing and support.  Both GNS and Office Choice are confident that the partnership will greatly assist active OfficeSmart members to accelerate their office supplies objectives within their businesses.

Importantly, nothing will change as to how you source or purchase your stationery and office supplies: GNS will still supply to you in full on the same delivery schedule and terms as you are used to today.

I’d like to personally thank you for being part of OfficeSmart and for the feedback from those members who provided it. I fundamentally believe that these changes will result in an improved offering for your customers and better position your business for success.

The new partnership will take effect on 1 July and as such, May/June 2018 will be the final OfficeSmart invoice cycle, reflecting the continued provision of advantageous pricing and hosting/support of the website.

I have no doubt many of you will have questions about how the transition will work. Given the significance of this change, further communications will follow in the coming week regarding seminars, state road shows and videos. In the interim please feel free to contact Jamie Keyzer (Office Choice National Operations Manager on 0439 060 962) or Dragi Ristevski (GNS General Manager – Sales on 0417 663 260).

I am very excited about this partnership and the positive impact this should have on your business.  Please feel free to reach out to me in the meantime if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Yardley
CEO | GNS Wholesale

Disruption of the traditional newsagency business continues. I expect we will see more announcements from the new management team at GNS.

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Stationery

Supermarkets beat newsagents on stationery placement

I have visited more than ten supermarkets in the last two weeks to see their approach to everyday stationery, following up a hunch that they are having more impact on stationery sales in newsagencies than considered.

In each case they offered an excellent range, covering everyday needs. Easily shopped. Offering brands people know. At prices that do not feel too high.

While range is important, it is the location of the stationery pitch that drives success in my view. In every case, stationery was placed to maximise passing traffic. In more than half, it was placed at the end of the pet food aisle, and most of the times, toilet paper was in the same aisle. This is what you see coming out of the aisle.

I think it is this placement that impacts stationery sales in a newsagency. People doing their weekly shop can easily satisfy their needs without having to make a separate trip to a newsagency. further, they can do it somewhere they think lower prices are a focus , thanks to advertising saying so, rather than a shop they think is expensive.

Declining stationery revenue in the newsagency channel concerns me as this product category was core, it was a traffic generator. While I do not have shopper traffic intent data, I suspect the  number of people entering a newsagency to purchase stationery is down considerably from ten, five and and even one year(s) ago.

The easy businesses to complain about for declining stationery traffic and sales are Officeworks and Staples online. While I agree, I think the focussed and tactically located stationery pitch in supermarkets is having a stronger impact on our businesses.

What can you do about this?

  1. Review your range. Ensure it is focussed, efficient and fresh.
  2. Review your price pitch. Make sure it is relevant to today.
  3. Review your placement. Make sure it is tactically placed to leverage shoppers not looking for stationery.
  4. Reach outside. Talk about stationery, specific products, on social media.

The alternatives are to complain that some other party is responsible for the decline or to sit by and do nothing. Both those responses are unproductive.

Own it. Understand it. Fix it.

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Stationery

Different ways of pitching stationery in the newsagency

Stationery, particularly pens and pencils, is being pitched in many different ways that challenge the traditional newsagency approach. Some of the new ways are successful at getting people to purchase stationery for purposes other than immediate use, this is brilliant.

It can be through display, packaging or tactical placement that pitches stationery differently to what we usually see in a newsagency business. And on the packaging, plenty of alternative options are available if you go outside suppliers to the newsagency channel looking for options.

I your stationery sales are flat or declining, maybe it is time to pitch stationery not as stationery.

Non-traditional approaches I have seen in recent weeks include some in the following photos. None of the photos is from a newsagency type or similar business. They are all from gift and fashion stationery. All overseas.

These photos are not placed here to suggest you stock the lines. rather, they are offered to show opportunities outside of what may have been traditional for your type of business. They are six from more than fifty photos from this series:

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Stationery

Deconstructed pens popular but not seen in newsagencies

Officeworks is pitching deconstructed pens in this build your own pen display.

I have seen a similar pitch in stationery outlets in the US and Europe this year too. It’s a new thing in stationery based on all this activity, a trend if you will.

I am not aware of any supplier to newsagents offering build your own pens to retailers in the channel. Maybe we do it ourselves – if it is a trend and we want to be part of it.

At the two Officeworks locations I visited I noticed it in prime position, facing traffic as it enters each business. This says something about their support for the pitch.

Stationery has changed. Whereas in the past it was all about function, today, fashion is key. That is why these build your own pens are current and cool.

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Stationery

Inside the pencil factory

Pencils are a core product for Australian newsagencies. While they have travelled a significant distance from where began, they remain vital today as new generations buy them in good numbers.

With this in mind, I encourage you to take a moment to read a wonderful article, Inside One of America’s Last Pencil Factories.

In an era of infinite screens, the humble pencil feels revolutionarily direct: It does exactly what it does, when it does it, right in front of you. Pencils eschew digital jujitsu. They are pure analog, absolute presence. They help to rescue us from oblivion.

This article is a beautiful piece of writing about a wonderful factory where they make an item important to us for decades.

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Stationery

Pitching Pilot Frixion pens

With tv commercials promotion Frixion pens on high rotation on free to air TV right now, promoting them at the counter or some other high traffic area of the business as well as on social media would help you maximise the opportunity. My only wish is that Pilot offered a file of the video so that newsagents could use to promote the pens more easily.

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Stationery

GNS acquires Satex in SA

The announcement:

GNS acquires Satex, completing its national wholesale footprint

GNS Wholesale (‘GNS’) today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the business and operations of Satex Distributors (‘Satex’) from its owners, Ron Vanderloo and Trevor Green. Operating for over 40 years, Satex is an Adelaide- based wholesaler of of ce products, education and art supplies focussed on the commercial dealer market.

Satex supplies over 250 customers throughout South Australia and the Northern Territory on a daily basis from its approx. 1,200 sqm warehousing and distribution facility in Marleston, South Australia.

The acquisition of Satex enables GNS to better support its customers with a national wholesale footprint, adding cost- effective distribution capability in South Australia and the Northern Territory. GNS’s ownership will also provide a broader and deeper product range and service offering to existing Satex customers. Ron Vanderloo will remain with the business, which will retain the Satex Distributors name, and oversee both the enlarged Adelaide-based operations and the integration of Satex’s business into the GNS group.

Paul Yardley, CEO of GNS Wholesale, said, “I’m pleased to announce the acquisition of Satex, creating a true national wholesaler and bringing a new customer base to GNS. This transaction completes our ability to service accounts nationally and provides suppliers with signi cant ef ciencies. Ron and Trevor have built an excellent business and I’d like to welcome Satex employees to the GNS family.”

Ron Vanderloo, joint owner of Satex, said, “Having owned the business for thirty years, given the consolidation in our market we decided now was the right time for Satex to join a larger group. This transaction protects the future of our business and its employees, and I am excited to be working with GNS to bring new opportunities to customers while retaining all the bene ts of dealing with Satex.”

Terms of the acquisition are con dential and have not been disclosed. The acquisition is expected to take effect on or around 1 January 2018 and will be funded from GNS’ existing cash resources.

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Stationery

Officeworks actively promoting 2018 school books business

Go into any Officeworks store and you are greeted by their school books pitch for the 2018 year. Their pitch is simple and compelling: save time and save money.

Right now, this is the pitch newsagents need to be making if they are in a competitive situation for school book orders for the 2018 year. The two are easy to pitch. The first is about ease of engagement and the second is about margin.

Given how Officeworks sells, it is tough to beat them on price for everyday items. It is in special interest areas where you have your best opportunity.

In terms of ease of engagement, you can take practical steps to ensure this is what you do.

Now is the time, however. If you want school book business for the 2018 year, now is the time to be pitching. Taking a lead from the Officeworks focus is smart, but in your own style, with a local focus and with a value-add that could be unique to your business.

If you are looking for school books / booklist business in 2018 and not already pitching for this  business, you are behind, get to it, NOW!

Note: you don’t need to be near them to see them as a competitor, for Officeworks is everywhere thanks to engaged online campaign.

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Stationery

More newsagents embracing cloud-based school booklist service

Last year, my software company launched Booklist, a cloud based school booklist management solution designed to help newsagents compete with big businesses chasing school book list business. The goal was to provide newsagents a facility through which they can be seen by customers as more up to date and through which they can cut the time it takes to manage booklist orders.

Newsagents have had direct input into the 2018 school year release, which is now live.

Using the site, newsagents can:

  1. Setup a school.
  2. Setup classes in a school and load all the booklist requirements for each class.
  3. You can easily copy booklists, to make setup easy.
  4. The booklist items could be loaded by a CSV file. You record item description, price, supplier and supplier stock cost.
  5. You setup order close dates.
  6. You note when an order is ready for collection, this advises the customer.
  7. The site allows you not having stock, thereby adjusting the amount to be collected.
  8. You share a link for parents to sign up and add their kid(s) to a class and to either take the whole booklist or select what they want.
  9. The site allocates logins to parents so they would have access to their order.
  10. Receive payment from the parents, direct into your account, online. Alternatively, customers pay on pickup.
  11. Export a file of all items required to fulfil booklists, by supplier and by school. CSV you could load into Excel.
  12. Report on total revenue by school and class. This helps if you have a rebate in place.
  13. The site is accessible by desktop, tablet and phone.

In addition to the per year fee there is a small card processing fee, on a cost recovery basis, for payments made online.

Here are the enhancements guided by newsagents:

  1. Store can publish and unpublished a booklist, aiding setup and management.
  2. Store be able to copy a booklist from one year to the other year within the same school
  3. Store be able to personalised the booklist name for each year
  4. Store be able to add multiple booklists to a year level
  5. Store be able to define a year level themselves, for example “Year 2/3”
  6. Store be able to generate a sales report for selected schools within a selected date range
  7. Store be able to generate a product report for selected schools within a selected date range
  8. Store will be able to add comment to order when they update order status, the comment will be sent to the customer in email
  9. Store will be able to filter order status in the store backend for example view “completed” orders only
  10. Added “Booklist Review” step, before store confirm to create the school booklist.
  11. Fixed the website URL from frontend.booklist.com.au to www.booklist.com.au

From this project it is clear there is no one approach to managing school book list sales. The developers sought to address the most common and commercially viable needs to provide a cost effective solution for newsagents.

To access the preview please follow these instructions.

Demo Store URL https://demo.booklist.com.au

Demo Schools https://demo.booklist.com.au/available-schools

Demo Store Backend Login

Store Login https://www.booklist.com.au/login
Store Username demo
Store Password booklist

Any questions, email help@booklist.com.au

If my first job in a newsagency decades ago I packed school book orders. I remember the manual accounting process well. My hope is this cloud based facility encourages more newsagents back into this area newsagents once owned.

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Newsagency opportunities

Selling pens, markers, with optimism

I love this  display I saw at an Office Depot store. The WRITE BRIGHTER headline is brilliant and the range it is promoting fantastic. It is a strong, optimistic, pitch that makes you want to buy, to write brighter. We can learn from this. Our pen and marker suppliers can learn from this. Would I put this display in my shop? For sure! … because it changes the conversation, it pitches pens and markers as an impulse purchase opportunity.

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Newsagency management

GNS statement to shareholders

GNS yesterday issued a statement to shareholders:

Dear Shareholder,

I just wanted to report on progress at GNS.

As you know without Cash & Carry, our warehouse needs are considerably reduced. Recognising that we have just sold our Melbourne warehouse (10,000 sqm) and will be moving to a new modern facility (of 3,900 sqm). Similarly, we will be moving out of our Sydney warehouse at Padstow to a smaller modern warehouse with the timing yet to be finalised.

The 16/17 year just finished was – as you are aware – a very tough year. While we were still in profit we had to sell Padstow and refinance the business. Our service levels have now been restored and our inventory is now under much tighter control. As part of the more disciplined approach to stock levels we have had to recognise overstocking and took a $2m stock writedown. Unfortunately this resulted in a drop in share price, such price will be finalised shortly as our auditors complete their work.

As the start of rewarding our patient shareholders we have declared a dividend – GNS’ first – of 9% of paid up capital. The record date for payment is 2 December 2017.

Also from time to time, customers have requested access to their levies and we have been endeavouring to find a way without endangering the company’s cashflow and working capital needs. So in the next two months, provided ASIC clears it, an offer will go levyholders to take up half their levy in GNS shares and the other half as trading credit.

Last year GNS made two acquisitions – WA Stationers and V Wholesale and we continue to consider market opportunities to build a greater resilience for the business.

Our new senior management team has settled in well, recognising the changes that were needed and implementing solutions. It has also signalled a return to state based management and customer focus.

And to cap off a period of very considerable change, we will be presenting a number of Constitutional changes to shareholders at our 2017 Annual General Meeting. These changes being recommended will be detailed in the AGM papers but aim to recognise the changed market environment, freeing up outdated ownership restrictions.

Thank you for your patience and loyalty as we reassert our place in the market.

Yours faithfully,

Martin Hartcher
Chairman
GNS Ltd

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Newsagency management

Newsagents need to take care sourcing on-trend stationery

A newsagent showed me a line of stationery they were pressured to take with the pitch they are on-trend, that they will help compete with Typo. The stationery is not selling. The products are not on-trend, there is no professional marketing the prices are too high.

Compared to notebooks in Officeworks (see photo), the products forced on the newsagent are more expensive and not of as good a quality.

Too many suppliers say they have products for competing with Typo and similar. Most don’t know what they are talking about. Take care. Buy carefully. Educate yourself about what Typo and others have. Knowing your competition is crucial.

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Stationery

OfficeMax / Staples in Australia would create tough competition

The ACCC will later this month announce its decision on the proposed acquisition of the Australian OfficeMax business by Platinum Equity, the company that bought the Australian operation of Staples earlier this year.

A complication has been another offer for the business.

Any deal that further concentrates the ownership of B2B stationery sales in Australia is problematic for a newsagency channel that already has challenges with stationery. Indeed I think the prospective merger of the Staples and OfficeMax businesses is something that should have prompted a submission from GNS or even newsagents with big stationery business.

The activity is a reinforcement of how much stationery is in play in Australia. This indicates more disruption ahead for this product category. Disruption can be good if you leverage it to your commercial advantage.

The disruption in this category is not confined to our shores with major activity in the US

Stationery News has more perspective on the Australian moves:

Recent media reports quote “industry sources” who estimate the merger of Staples and OfficeMax would give the group “90 per cent of the B2B market in Australia and New Zealand – 10 times more than nearest rivals COS and Lyreco.”

As Stationery News has stated before, the figure is off-target – a combined Staples/OfficeMax business would have estimated revenues of between $1 billion and $1.2 billion. This compares with an estimated figure of $2 billion for Officeworks (consumer and SME sales) and a combined figure of $500 million plus for dealer groups Office Brands, Office Choice and ASA Australia.

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Competition

What next for Officeworks?

With the sale of Officeworks off the table I expect Wesfarmers will increase engagement with the group, to lift performance. This could mean further diversification by the group, further into areas impacting us.  That is what I would do if I were them.

We already see Officeworks playing well in the social stationery space as well as some gifting, games and puzzles. Plus, they are very strong in calendars.

The extent of change already seen at Officeworks over the last two years is instructive to newsagents contemplating change. This is a reason I visit Officeworks stores regularly. There is plenty to learn – not necessarily to copy but certainly to learn.

While city newsagency businesses are most obviously impacted the most by Officeworks, regional stores are impacted too because of their strong online presence.

When able, visit Officeworks and take a close look at what they are doing. Be sure to check back regularly as the change between visits is well worth seeing. I certainly find it worthwhile.

While we are talking about Officeworks, look online at what Staples is offering. Their penetration is increasing in Australia from what I understand and it is happening mainly under the radar – because you don’t see the business they are doing.

Staples is ahead of Officeworks when it comes to funky and on-trend products. Here are two examples they have in-store in the US right now, both compelling offers, both expanding the reach of what we consider to be stationery.

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Stationery

Advice to retail newsagents: take care with the fidget spinner craze

The fidget toy craze has peaked in Australia in the last two weeks with extraordinary media coverage. Retailers with stock have been cashing in. Suppliers have been struggling to keep up, some have been selling stock they don’t have.

I anticipate the craze will start to fade in revenue terms in the next month. My advice to newsagents is to be careful about stock levels.

This craze was evident months ago and that is when engaged retailers stocked up, ahead of the curve.

In Hong Kong two weeks ago I saw a ton of suppliers with various versions of the spinners and other fidget products. This told me the market was to be flooded. That is happening right now as several wholesalers have air freighted in stock.

Be careful. Stock quality products and know it is better you sell out rather than be left with unsold stock. Too many got caught with loom bands.

There are still opportunities for fidget spinner and related products, especially in the premium space of adult focussed fidget products that can sell for $200 and more. That range interests me considerably.

I say the craze is fading because of the mainstream media coverage. Once any craze hits mainstream he rely adopters exit as it is no longer cool. The early adopters are the ones who usually make an opportunity like this. It is useful to watch them.

The lifecycle of the fidget craze will vary by location, however. In capital cities it will fade first and this could be noticed before it has peaked in rural locations.

Yes, there are long-term opportunities with these products, especially in therapeutic areas. But that will not deliver the sales volume of the peak. Remember kinetic sand. I was doing hundreds of dollars a week and it stopped, before starting again but at a much lower level.

Oh, and re the suppliers who took your orders and told you the stock was coming and then said they ad oversold, remember that for next time.

Footnote: if yo are wondering about what this is about, read the terrific article in the New York Times.

7 likes
Newsagency management
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