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

The value of promoting cards outside the newsagency

Now more than at any time in our history we need to promote cards outside our businesses. We have more competitors pitching cards, more businesses taking sales from us.

Relying on a good range of cards in the card department is not enough. Expecting the card company to attract shoppers to our businesses is not a plan. No, we need to promote cards ourselves.

We need to promote cards outside our businesses. We need to do this in an entertaining and appealing way, drawing attention to our business as a place for purchasing cards.

This promotion is best done outside seasons as that is the period when we are most at risk from people shopping at competitors and from people choosing to not send a card at all.

Selecting specific cards works well too as this enables you to shine a light on cards shoppers ,may not have expected to find in your business. When I have suggested newsagents select cards for such a promotiuon they have been surprised, in a good way, at some of the cards they find.

Social media platforms like facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest lend themselves to promotion of cards. There are tools we can use to easily create visually appealing content. If you are in a marketing group they may have content you can already use.

Here is some of the card-focussed marketing material published by newsXpress this month for its members. The first is one of several new videos in-house produced promoting cards:

Here is another video, this one with a retro style:

Here are some still images for static social media use as well as use through other platforms – all promoting cards.

You can’t rely on a card company to do this as they have more customers than your business, including mass retail outlets.

Reaching outside our businesses to attract shoppers for cards is important. Not once, but regularly. We must do this to remind shoppers of the wonderful cards we have, the range and that we are local.

While you can take a photo of your card department, that will not work on social media. My experience is that it is best to focus on single cards or a caption theme, and to do this is a visually appealing way.

Doing nothing here is not an option. I suspect if you do nothing card sales will decline.

Footnote: in case you think this is promotion of newsXpress, it is not. newsXpress is a reference point for me as it is where I work, it offers examples I can speak to.

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Greeting Cards

What you need to know about Amazon setting up shop in Australia and what to do about it

There have been many reports about Amazon opening distribution centres in Australia, with the first, in Dandenong Victoria, well advanced in preparation.

Little advice has been provided to small business retailers on what is needed to compete in this ever evolving online-focussed world.

At this workshop I in Sydney later this week will share insights from the various retail store connected websites with which I am involved. I will show the data: when, hope and why people shop. I will take you under the hood, back to what they search Google for.

I will explain steps you can take in your business to win business that Amazon sellers m might otherwise try and win from you. I will also share details of experiences overseas, from small and independent retailers.

I will show how you can get online in any type of business, without breaking the bank and without needing your own tech employee. Plus, I will answer every question you have about these topics.  Without obligation.

Book now. These workshops are free. All welcome.

  • August 24, 8am. Figtree Conference Centre: Mission Room, 5 Figtree Drive, Sydney Olympic Park NSW.
  • August 24, 11am. Figtree Conference Centre: Mission Room, 5 Figtree Drive, Sydney Olympic Park NSW.

I will demonstrate live websites connecting to newsagency businesses with POS software. I will also show how to transfer stock to a website and how to manage images.

I’ll set dates for Adelaide and Melbourne in a day or two. This is an update to a session I first hosted several months ago in NSW and QLD.

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Management tip

Virgin CEO looks forward to his morning newspapers

Virgin Australia CEO talked up print newspaper in a recent Q&A:

What are some things you do every day?

I have breakfast! I work every day to some degree, obviously not all day Sunday. I suppose I have a routine. Wherever I am, I get up, cup of coffee, slice of toast and the papers – the hard (copy) papers. We still have the papers delivered – they’re delivered every day at 6am and I’m waiting for them sometimes. I spend 40 minutes doing that and the days I don’t do that I really miss it.

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Newspapers

Marketing tip: pitch Father’s Day cards at the counter

The right Father’s Day cards placed at the counter will achieve incremental card business for you, easily. The key is the thoughtful selection of cards. The next important point here is location – placed so every shopper presenting at the counter sees the cards.

Doing this is helping is achieve good Father’s Day card results for us already.

The photo shows one of two pitches at counter positions in the business. This is in addition to lease lain placement of the main range, facing into the mall.

Note: the cards in the counter units change every few days, based on the anticipated shopper mix that day.

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marketing

Management tip: think carefully before permitting reviews on social media

There is a risk in inviting people to review your business on social media. It is easy for a competitor or someone else who wants to damage your reputation to rate your down with a false review. It can be tough to recover from.

Since there is usually no verification mechanism for a review on, for example, Facebook, I think it is best to turn off the review option, thereby removing the opportunities for those who want to harm your business.

The opposite is true too. I have seen new businesses with hundreds of positive reviews within a day or two of opening. I doubt the accuracy of the reviews.

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Management tip

Lottoland ad standards issue?

Check out this latest email from Lottoland. The headline is the $644 million jackpot. That is what they use to get your attention.

The thing is, $644 million is not even close to what you are paid if your bet wins.

You have to follow the * to get closer to understanding what the ‘win’ is. Even the detail is not readily available.

*Main jackpots for bets on the US Powerball and US MegaMillions are paid out as 30 year annuity or discounted lump sum at Lottoland’s election, and also subject to 35% reduction as per T&C’s. US Powerball is not connected to the Australian Powerball. Bet on Australian & International Lotteries Online.

The marketing email does not directly link to the terms and conditions. If you go to their website you can find them there. They are long and detailed. After reading a while you can see that a win of $644 million is not paid as that, there are hoops to go through, rules that can dilute the amount.

Reading all this at their website leaves one wondering if there is enough there to challenge their marketing approach through Australian ad standards approaches. I know there have been some challenges. More may be helpful.

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Competition

Sydney gift fair struggles to regain momentum

Plenty of suppliers are yet to decide if they will invest in the Sydney gift fair in September or any other Sydney gift fair following poor fairs and growth from the Melbourne fair in August.

While the temporary location of Sydney away from Darling Harbour during reconstruction could be a factor, folks I have spoken with who have experienced gift fairs overseas in Birmingham (UK) and Atlanta (US), say they like the idea of a bigger single city fair.

I see value for retailers and suppliers in Melbourne growing as the main gift fair to attend in the year. I think such a move would sever everyone, reduce costs and drive competition. While I expect there will continue to be other fairs, I suspect they will be less important, probably more regional, even more local supplier focussed. This is what I see in the US at regional gift fairs.

The Sydney / Melbourne ‘rivalry’ re gift fair location has been a topic this week because of agitation fro the organisers of the September Sydney event chasing last minute commitment for the event next month. I am surprised at some who have said no.

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Newsagency management

Clumsy move from GNS in asking newsagents for help on what gifts to stock

An account manager from GNS contacted the senior manager of my retail stores asking what gifts we stock that GNS could consider offering.

The account manager advised that they asked us because their boss asked them to.

My initial reaction was that this is a joke. I could see no logical reason for GNS seeking this information from my stores.

It is not a joke. It happened. The request for help from us by the GNS account manager was real, it was genuine. They wanted to know what was working to determine if they could offer these gift lines.

The more I thought about their request for information the more frustrated I became at their request.

GNS has no role to play in the gift space in my opinion. They would add a layer of cost, making gifts more expensive for newsagents. They would also bring to the category poor ranging and other challenges of their old-school approach to wholesaling.

I don’t think GNS handles stationery all that well. They should get this right before expanding their focus in the gift space.

I can understand why GNS would be looking at further expansion into gifts given the state of stationery sales in the newsagency channel. However, GNS leadership would get a better return by investing in strategies for driving stationery traffic for newsagencies, ensuring they have the right stock at the right time and driving efficiency in their operation.

Based on what I hear from other newsagents there is frustration among newsagents at GNS leadership on their lack of leadership on a range of fronts.

But back to the question put to the senior manager of my retail stores. I am shocked they did not think through their question. Seriously.

As I understand it, GNS is the majority shareholder of Newspower. Surely Newspower could help in this area. Why, then, go to the senior manager of newsXpress corporate stores and ask for help on what gifts GNS should stock? It does not make sense. It is like Newspower asking newsXpress for help – but probably without the knowledge of the folks at Newspower.

Either someone has not through this through or the GNS situation is parlous or Newspower has nothing to offer. I don’t know! I have no inside knowledge. All I do have is the evidence of the request for help and the advice from the GNS account manager that the help was sought because of a request from their boss.

newsXpress has a carefully selected range of preferred suppliers, many of whom will not supply newsagents direct. The supplier mix is an asset of the business, it is unique. Through its ownership of Newspower GNS is a competitor of newsXpress. Again, the request for help does not make sense.

I would be interested to know if others have been approached by their GNS account manager seeking advice as to what gifts are successful to determine what GNS could stock.

Gift, toy, plush and collectibles revenue is up year on year on a same store basis in more stores. This is driving overall GP %. There is plenty of good news out there, plenty of optimism. This is thanks in part to a broad range of niche wholesalers. It has little to with the big warehouse style wholesalers. Those types of businesses are challenged in my view.

I have not gone to GNS management about what happened as I saw no point. There would be an explanation, which I may or may not have believed. It would not alter what they have done.

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Competition

Do you sell the Cleveland mini western books?

In a newsagency in Central Queensland yesterday I saw a big range of the Cleveland western titles, eight different titles in all.

I have not seen these in my own suburban newsagencies for years and was surprised to see such a big range of new release titles.

I was pleased to see the range as they are special interest titles that will attract shoppers. Special titles are important to us, to the businesses where there are people interested in the topics covered.

While these western fiction titles may not interest plenty of newsagents, l there are other special interest titles that would appeal.

This is where the Gotch push model problematic. It may not push titles you can sell. To find such titles and order them is difficult with then poor quality technology interface from Gotch. I wish they would fix this as I am sure they would sell more titles.

Talking to some other newsagents yesterday they don’t have the western titles and felt they would sell. however, they won’t chase them because of the Gotch processes.

Small and independent publishers, the main publishers of special interest titles, should agitate Gotch on this as newsagents are the best retail network for special interest titles. It should be easier for us to source and stock these.

While magazine sales are declining, in the special interest this is less likely. Indeed, there are some segments in special interest where there is good, localised, growth.

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magazines

Tough result from Pacific Magazines

The results announced from Seven West Media include challenging numbers for Pacific Magazines, as reported by Mumbrella:

One of Seven West Media’s major areas of loss was Pacific Magazines, which reported annual revenue of $168m, down from FY16’s $201.2 (-16.5%) and EBIT fell 61.5% from $9m to $3m.

Lack of advertising spend and small circulation numbers were indicated as reasons for the decline. Pacific Mags’ cost-out programs reduced operating expenses by $28.9m.

However, digital revenue from Pacific Magazines climbed 26.3% to $16.8m.

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magazines

Being responsive on Facebook matters for online sales

Facebook notes on your business page your responsiveness to messages. People notice this. Being more responsive can win your more business.

Last week we posted about a new  item on Facebook, with a link to a web page with more details and images of the item including a video. At 9pm that night, hours after the store had closed for the day, someone messaged us with a query. Our quick response won us a $200 sale and brought someone to the shop the next day, the first time they had shopped with us.

While we appreciate downtime to be with loved-ones and recharge, in retail today, more than ever before, downtime is less of an option if you want to win business when people want to shop.

It is not so long ago when we were debating retail trading in Australia. Without regulatory consideration, without political involvement, we now have 24/7 trading.

If you business is not accessible 24/7 you are 100% missing out on revenue. I say that with certainty based on the data I see for my businesses and for newsXpress businesses. You may be okay with that, and that is cool.

There are several types of 24/7 online purchases.

  1. Pure online with delivery to the customer or the person they are buying for.
  2. Online purchase and in-store pickup – this is click and collect.
  3. Online research, direct message to the store and arrangement to purchase but not through the website.
  4. Online research, making a decision to purchaase and then in-store visit to purchase over the counter.

Each of these is valuable. Each requires a website that is easily found and a social media presence connected to the website. In fact, multiple websites work even better but that is a topic for another day.

The thing is, online sales are growing at a rapid rate. In some newsagency related categories they are growing at a rate faster that any I speak with think. There are ways to use technology to engage with the online shopper 24/7.

Too many small business retailers think of a website serving their local area or the shoppers they see already. The reality is the real value of a website (or websites) is the people you sell to who would otherwise have no contact with your business. This is where retail businesses in small population locations can overachieve for their area. It is ow you can achieve a better return on inventory investment that merely by opening the doors of your shop.

Yes, this means being accessible during what would often be down-time. This is vital if you want to win business when people want to shop, if you want to maximise the profitability of your retail business.

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Gifts

Frustrating Blueshyft article

The Australian Media section ran a piece on Blueshyft, the over the counter agency offering pitched to newsagents.

The article says Blueshyft has turned newsagencies into digital shopfronts. I disagree. Sure, it gives participating newsagents agency revenue. It is not a digital shopfront. Newsagents have had that for years through other platforms and many have more recently through product selling e-commerce sites linked back to newsagencies.

The article refers to Blueshyft as a smart-tech platform. In my opinion it is not smart technology. Their data handling alone with newsagents is far from best practice. XchangeIT has let them get away with lazy tech, clogging systems with unnecessary data that a smart technology solution would not require.

My complaints aside, this is a nice enough promotional article and I am sure newsagents will be pleased to see the coverage.

In case you think this is sour grapes. It is not. I have no commercial relationship with  Blueshyft and have not sought one. I don’t have it in my businesses as it is a service that is incompatible with my view of the future of retail businesses with which I am involved.

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Newsagency management

Crosswords with newspapers

I like this placement of crossword titles with newspapers that I saw in a Hudson News outlet in the US last week. Back when newspapers were a better traffic driver I certainly placed crossword titles next to them.

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Newspapers

Tatts continues to promote online only, ignoring retailers

Here is an ad that came up in my Facebook feed because some friends, newsagents, like the Facebook page for TheLott.

Here is where I landed once I clicked Open Link.

Here is the subscription option offered after numbers were selected and prior to checkout:

Tatts promised newsagents it would stop this, yet here it is, again, promoting online, leveraging the hard work you do in your shop to promote the brand.

There is no upside in over the counter lottery sales in my opinion. Tatts is chasing customers where they are, they are making buying lottery tickets easier.

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Competition

Newsagency marketing tip: make gift buying easier

Display pre-wrapped gifts with suggested cards and make gift buying from your shop easier than anywhere else. Guys especially like this service.

This is a terrific way to differentiate your business. Wrap each gift differently, make it personal as that is what shoppers are looking for.

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Gifts

Newsagency management tip: consider a profanity filter on your Facebook page

Facebook offers you settings on your business Facebook page that enable you to mute offensive words. I suggest you check k your settings and ensure they are what you want for comments on your business Facebook page.

I saw a post recently where a business promoted new products just arrived in-store. Someone commented that they liked them and in one sentence used the ‘F’ word. They meant it in an excited / happy way whereas others reading it could see it as a swear.

With the right Facebook settings the ‘F’ word would never make it as a comment, thereby reducing the opportunity for someone else’s comment offending a reader who could be your customer.

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Management tip

Free e-commerce workshops in Sydney

I am running a free workshop: Connecting online and in-store, how to make ecommerce work for your small business to Sydney later this month. Click the links below to book. each session will run for 2 hours. Refreshments provided:

  • August 24, 8am. Figtree Conference Centre: Mission Room, 5 Figtree Drive, Sydney Olympic Park NSW.
  • August 24, 11am. Figtree Conference Centre: Mission Room, 5 Figtree Drive, Sydney Olympic Park NSW.

I will demonstrate live websites that are connected to our the Tower POS software in local businesses. I will also show how to transfer stock to a website and how to manage images.

This is an excellent session for any newsagent keen to leverage online sales, regardless of the software you use.

 

Everyone is welcome.

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Newsagency management

News Corp. bundle offer for Queensland

Direct account newsagents have been advised of a bundle offer from News Corp. that will run for 4 weeks from 21/8/17 to 17/9/17 (inclusive). The bundles are:

  • Gold Coast Bulletin/ The Courier-Mail: $2.50 Mon-Fri/ $4.50 Sat/ Sun
  • Gold Coast Bulletin/ The Australian: $3.50 Mon-Fri/ $4.50 Sat
  • The Courier-Mail/ The Australian: $3.50 Mon-Fri/ $4.50 Sat/ Sun

Newsagents need to set the offers in their software so they charge the bundle price for the period covered.

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Newsagency management

Product design key to differentiation

As newsagents look for more opportunities to attract new shoppers through new products, some are making poor buying decisions, thinking that cheap sells.

Customers buying on price are not loyal as the only way to bring them back to spend more money is through a price offer. There is little upside in that in my opinion.

Beautifully designed products with good margin are more valuable thank cheap products that are not visually different to tons of other products in the marketplace.

Design is everything for many categories of products. A good design makes price less of an issue. Products are only differentiating if they have a good design in my view. Design is where some wholesalers let retailers down. In such situations retailers are left holding stock they can’t move.

Of course, what each retailer buys for their business is their choice. For me, I look for differentiation and value to the business – where value is a combination of quality, usefulness and uniqueness. I don’t see value win cheap products. I am happy to leave that space to others.

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Newsagency management

High importer markup could see more newsagents buying direct

At the Melbourne Gift Fair this week I have seen items for sale by a local wholesaler that I can purchase direct from the factory for a third of the price even after allowing for freight.

The items are exactly the same, from the same factory, with the same packaging.

While I understand that everyone needs to make money in business, a 300% markup by an importer / wholesaler is too high. By the time retailers apply their 100% markup, the items will retail two and a half times what I expect to sell them for in my business if I source them directly.

Overseas factories are offering lower mini mum order quantities for non-licenced items, making dealing direct easier for individual and small group businesses. This is a risk for local wholesalers that apply too high of a mark-up on what they import.

Thanks to online and direct reach-out from overseas factories small business retailers are more aware of direct purchasing opportunities. Some approaches are random while others are well researched, from factories where they are certain you would be interested in the products they make.

All of this is a risk for wholesalers that mark-up too high.

I understand the costs of importing: paying up front, funding freight, the risk of products that do not work, the stock turn rate and more. These factors need to be reflected in wholesale cost. However, good buying, smart marketing and a tech-engaged infrastructure can reduce these costs and thereby enable a wholesaler to see more competitively than is reflected in a 300% mark-up.

At the retail end, your buy price determines your sell price. If you are buying products at the high end as described here and a retailer near you has gone direct and landed the same products for less than what you paid at wholesale you will not be able to be competitive. The situation is more intense when the products are exactly the same, from the same factory.

The bottom line is – buy carefully. If you are in a group, leverage their buying. The better you buy the better you can pitch your business.

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Newsagency management
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