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

Is your website mobile friendly?

Different studies (including from Telstra) in Australia tell us that around 80% of retail purchase related web searches being done on phones and / or tablet devices.

I see similar data for retail business websites I have where I track the type of platform from which users access the sites.

If your weskit is not mobile friendly it is probably seeing a major drop off of traffic once people experience this.

Mobile friendly means the site resizes for access from a mobile device.  A mobile unfriendly site looks awful. No wonder shoppers quit and do not proceed to purchase or further enquiry.

Online retail is brutal. You have a few seconds and even that is too long for some browsers. You have to show from the opening screen that you are mobile engaged and able to serve shopper interest.

I mention this today because there are plenty of newsagents relying on websites that are not up to scratch. these websites should be taken down until they are mobile friendly.

2 likes
Newsagency management

Magazine circulation audits no longer

Mediaweek has a terrific report on the withdrawal of magazine print circulation audits by major publishers.

The common reason for the decision cited by the publishers in their individual statements was that the circulation data is no longer relevant as it fails to reflect the multi-faceted audience that the brands now have.

I’d agree that print circulation does not provide the complete masthead engagement. However, for many of us involved with magazines the print circulation, especially in terms of year on year comparison, is important. This is very true for newsagents as it is only the print product with which we connect.

Newsagents can see their own numbers. For plenty of us having access to the national print figures was helpful.

1 likes
magazines

A web error or an indicator of the future for The Age

I wanted to look at subscription options for The Age a couple of days ago. I started here, on the home page and clocked on the box on the top left corner.

It brought me to here, a page for subscribing The Sydney Morning Herald.

This is either a content management system error or an indicator of future plans at Fairfax. My suspicion is it is a content management system error, a mistake.

2 likes
Newspapers

Sunday newsagency management advice from Mary Tyler Moore

Inspiration can come on many forms and from many voices.

Back in the 1970s Mary Tyler Moore was a force to be reckoned with on television around the world. She smashed through the glass ceiling, creating successful TV shows, producing them and starring.

Mary fought against the odds, she confronted extraordinary competition. She won on her own terms. Here are some quotes from Mary Tyler Moore, published by Huffington Post, on the news of her passing. Some of these quotes are relevant to our businesses today.

  1. “Whatever it is, it’s OK because it’s what it is. Don’t be looking for perfection. Don’t be short-tempered with yourself. And you’ll be a whole lot nicer to be around with everyone else.”
  2. “I knew at a very early age what I wanted to do. Some people refer to it as indulging in my instincts and artistic bent. I call it just showing off, which was what I did from about three years of age on.”
  3. “I’m not an actress who can create a character. I play me.”
  4. “You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.”
  5. “Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.”
  6. “Having a dream is what keeps you alive. Overcoming the challenges makes life worth living.”
  7. “I’ve had the fame and the joy of getting laughter — those are gifts.”
  8. “Sometimes you have to get to know someone really well to realize you’re really strangers.”
  9. “You truly have to make the very best of what you’ve got. We all do.”
  10. “My grandfather once said, having watched me one entire afternoon, prancing and leaping and cavorting, ‘This child will either end up on stage or in jail.’ Fortunately, I took the easy route.”
  11. “I’m an experienced woman; I’ve been around … well, alright, I might not’ve been around, but I’ve been … nearby.”

The highlighted quotes are my faves.

RIP Mary Tyler Moore.

3 likes
Management tip

The Northern Territory Government strikes another blow against small business newsagents

The NT Government, through its gaming commission, has allowed Collingwood Football Club to establish a weekly lottery. The Magpie Millions game looks and feels like a regular lottery numbers game:

Welcome to Magpie Millions!

Magpie Millions is a fun way to support Collingwood Football Club’s community programs and give yourself a chance to win $2 million every Thursday as well as some great money can’t buy prizes, including the chance to have coffee with a player.

Magpie Millions is conducted as a secondary lottery whereby players have the opportunity to bet on the outcome of a lottery.

Simply open an account and choose six of your favourite Collingwood players and one Collingwood Legend for a chance to win. You can even choose multiple tickets each week to increase your chances – and make sure your team is ready to play every week to be in the running to win great prizes!

So why not join in the fun and you could become a multi-millionaire!

While done in the guise of charity fundraising and using Collingwood guernsey numbers, it really is a numbers game with the numbers drawn as you would see in a Lotto game. The vast majority of the funds go in prizes. Reading through the website there is little detail on what the charities will receive.

This move by Collingwood is another example of the break up of the Tatts lottery ticket monopoly in Australia. More will come I suspect.

3 likes
Lotteries

Small business newsagents call for fairness from Lotterywest and WA Premier

I have spoken with several newsagents who were at the ALNA organised meeting between Western Australian newsagents, the WA Premier and Lotterywest. The common feedback has been gratefulness to ALNA for organising the meeting, disappointment that the Premier is unable to provide practical help and frustration that Lotterywest remains unwilling to engage in meaningful dialogue with newsagents.

The meeting was well attended and provided a place for newsagents to express frustration with Lotterywest over their retail revamp and recent commercial decisions that have harmed newsagents.

Here is a press release from ALNA on the meeting:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2 February 2017

Retailers praise Premier but confidence lost in Lotterywest

Hundreds of lottery retailers met with Premier Colin Barnett and Lotterywest chief executive, Paul Andrew, yesterday afternoon, to discuss their concerns over prohibitive costs required for lottery shop fits.

The mandatory installations are required as part of government-owned Lotterywest’s franchise agreement. In some cases, quotes for the shop fits have blown out to over $100,000 – or up to four times what retailers believed would be the case – without a guaranteed return on investment. Lotterywest also have investigations underway to potentially open more than 100 additional outlets across the state.

Lottery retailers, travelled from as far away as Esperance and Coral Bay, to attend the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association’s (ALNA) forum held at Crown Perth, Burswood.

ALNA chief executive, Adam Joy, welcomed the proactive steps taken by Premier Barnett of agreeing to listen to the concerns of lottery retailers.

“Retailers praised the Premier for listening to and recognising their issues,” said Joy. “They also appreciated that he shared his concerns at the meeting about the current relationship between lottery retailers and Lotterywest, as well as committing to discuss with Lotterywest’s board the issues raised in the forum.

ALNA, on behalf of lottery retailers, have held discussions with Lotterywest for over 18 months raising the issue of costs for the mandatory shop fits. Retailers have also raised concerns about the commercial viability of this investment, especially when the gross margin for lottery product sales is only 8 per cent before costs.

“Our retailers have been frustrated that these concerns have not been adequately listened to by Lotterywest. These are the small business people of Western Australia who feel their voice isn’t being heard,” said Joy. “Especially at a time when the Western Australian economy is struggling and other Government owned bodies like TAB provide detailed return on investment analysis to their outlets.

“Retailers at the meeting were disappointed in Paul Andrew’s outright refusal to suspend and review the model that is creating such angst. Even after such a significant portion of all Western Australian lottery retailers were in attendance to seek a solution.

“These are mum and dad family owned small businesses that are the backbone of the Western Australian economy. They are throughout regional areas and are the lifeblood of the community. Their viability is important to these communities and the local people they employ.

“Our members want to find solutions with Lotterywest for their businesses. They want assurances they are being heard and that Lotterywest will work with them and review the model. We hope constructive discussions will still occur.”

Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association is the peak body representing lottery agents, and retail and distribution newsagents.

The CEO of Lotterywest on Thursday wrote to WA Lotterywest outlets about the meeting and related media coverage:

ALNA meeting – The West Australian article

You may be aware of an article titled Lotto revamp angers sellers which was published in today’s edition of The West Australian which you can view here.

The article outlines a meeting that the Premier, our Board Chair Heather Zampatti and I attended yesterday which was hosted by the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association (ALNA) about our Retail Transformation Program (RTP).

I want to clarify content covered in the article and reinforce the reasons behind RTP and our support to the retail network.

We are committed to running a successful lottery to maximise funds returned to the WA community – something we’ve been responsible for since we were established over 80 years ago.

Our retail network is an important and valuable part of Lotterywest. Your stores remain our main distribution channel.

The way our customers engage with lotteries is changing as technology and retail evolves. To ensure your stores remain relevant and contemporary in an increasingly highly competitive market, Lotterywest has invested $30 million in RTP.

We have engaged regularly with retailers since 2013 and your feedback has been an important part of RTP.  This has included approximately 50 formal engagement and consultation sessions with retailers, retailer reference groups, staff, players, shopping centres, landlords and leasing agents, in addition to various informal one-on-one meetings. We will continue to do so.

As a result of your feedback we are developing additional signage to optimise external visibility and brand presence at retail stores. This may include new signage items or additional digital screens installed.

We are also looking at ways to keep you more informed and up-to-date on RTP. While we currently use InTouch and direct email, we are developing new ways to make information more easily accessible in a central location. We’ll continue to keep you updated on these improvements.

I also want to address feedback on our Retail Distribution Strategy. As you know we commenced a program for network expansion following third party geodemographic research. This strategy is to complement our traditional retail channel and optimise sales.

Your feedback is valuable to us so please feel free to contact our Customer Services team. You can also review some background on RTP below.

Thank you for your continued support and hard work.

Regards

Paul Andrew
Chief Executive Officer
Lotterywest

Background

  • RTP is dedicated to modernising the Lotterywest network’s retail presence and providing contemporary ways to play lottery games through the best available lottery technology.
  • RTP is delivered through three main stages of signage, shopfit and technology.

Signage:

  • New signage will be installed by the end of March 2017.
  • We’ve allocated $2.9 million to supply and install Lotterywest signage – the majority of costs are covered by us.

Shopfit:

  • We’ll contribute $2.2 million to existing retailers who install the new shopfit by the end of September 2019. This represents about 30% of the estimated costs for the manufacture of the Lotterywest shopfit component.
  • Other support we offer includes a dedicated shopfit team to support the process.
  • We’ve also negotiated and secured bulk purchasing and supply of materials required for your shopfit.

Technology:

  • New technology is scheduled for installation later in 2017.

  • We’ll cover all costs associated with new technology and have allocated $16.5 million.

Lotterywest does not have the support of its retail network that it once had. From what I can see, new leadership at the organisation has burnt what was a strong base of goodwill with retailers, resulting in a relationship of mistrust and frustration.

Decisions by Lotterywest in some areas have reduced the goodwill value of small family businesses. The organisation appears unwilling to respond to this, leaving families at risk. This is not a good look for a government organisation.

8 likes
Ethics

Learning about toy trends in 2017

I spent all yesterday at Spielwarenmesse, the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany, a specialised toy and related products trade fair. Across the twelve massive halls (I walked 15km) the fair hosts 2,800 toy, game, hobby, plush, collectible and related exhibitors, around a third of whom do not do any other trade show.

Brands represented in Australia through local offices or distributors have on show at this fair a bigger range. This is vital if you want to go deeper than is currently available in Australia.

I know of several local distributors who like retailer feedback for when they are planning what they may or may not take from suppliers at this fair in Nuremberg.

The most valuable outcome from being at the fair for me, however, is spotting the trends in several key categories strongly represented at the fair. It is at Nuremberg that you can see what will be hot through Christmas 2017. Having this information now, in February, can be a competitive advantage and that is why I want to be in Germany at this time of the year.

I saw several break out products that I am sure will be the bestsellers through Christmas. Australian distributors won’t launch them for another month or two by which time production for the second half of the year will be locked away.

Time is everything in today’s marketplace. Having knowledge ahead of others has a value. This is why I invest to be at events like this one in Nuremberg today and Paperworld in Frankfurt earlier in the week.

I appreciate I am not being specific in my comments here. That is deliberate. However, I will say this: toys are a growing category in retail and especially in newsagencies. In 2017, the term toys means something quite different to what it referred to just a few years ago.

Through toys we can attract new shoppers. Most of that will happen from suppliers who are not natural newsagency suppliers, suppliers who are probably not calling on newsagents today.

The best part about toys in my opinion is the brands that offer deep engagement. Do it well and consistently and the value of the customer reaches way beyond the first sale. This is where the retailer needs to be more than a shopkeeper, they need to share the passion and enable to long-term relationship with the brand. This is what specialty retail is all about.

6 likes
Newsagency opportunities

WTF Manly Sea Eagles? Lottoland oval?

I am shocked that the Manly Sea eagles appear close to  selling naming rights to Lottoland. Lottoland is an online business that seeks to take revenue from small family businesses in Australia. Look at their ads, that is who they target.

Shame on the Manly Sea Eagles, and Northern Beaches Council, for putting money ahead of local Aussie family businesses.

Neil Bare, the CFO of the Manly Sea Eagles is quoted in The Daily Telegraph article:

“We are a family-run company and it was important to the Penn family to have like-values and like-goals,” he said. And despite the name change, Mr Bare said it would still be known as the Sea Eagles’ Fortress.

This is nonsense in my opinion. He has clearly not seen the Lottoland ads attaching small family businesses. If these are the values of the Manly Sea Eagles shame on them because Lottoland cares less about Aussie small family businesses, meaning the Manly Sea Eagles care less about Aussie small family businesses.

Sure, Tatts is a target of Lottoland. But it is the mocking small business newsagent ads that the Sea Eagles will support if this deal goes ahead.

More broadly, that Lottoland would commit seven figures to naming rights demonstrates their commitment to Australia. My question for newsagents with lotteries is: what are you going to do about this? From where I stand it looks like newsagents are letting it happen

9 likes
Competition

Learning about future opportunities in stationery

I have been at Paperworld in Frankfurt this week. Paper world is the largest stationery related trade show in the world. To provide perspective, here is a video I shot in the quad panning around the buildings that hold the event.

This was my first time at Paperworld. It was well worthwhile, on many fronts. I saw new trends, new products and plenty of opportunities.

Most important to me was getting a better understanding of the supply chain, the produce products go through from manufacture to our stores.

While the products that make up the evolving department of stationery are changing, the opportunities remain strong for newsagents who change with the opportunities. As with so much in newsagency businesses, traditional is not for the future. Suppliers and retailers who are slow to adapt will miss out.

At this event, you could be sharing the aisles with individual small business owners through to buyers from some of the largest retail chains in the world. I certainly gained a better understanding of stationery related strategy of some of biggest competitors.

I don’t plan to go into detail here about the specifics of what I saw.

10 likes
Stationery

Roald Dahl promotion roll our haphazard

The roll out of the Roald Dahl promotion by News Corp. is not being done with any consistency nor, for the most part, conviction by the the company. As I mentioned last week, newsagency software companies have been left in the dark yet they are the first point of contact for help setting the promotion up in software.

I am writing about it today because of contact from a newsagent who has spoken to people inside News. Their view is this promotion has little support in several states.

Given the offensively small margin newsagents make and the lack of evidence of any valuable impact on newspaper purchases, I know of plenty of newsagents who would be happy if this is the last such promotion.

8 likes
Newspapers

Now more than ever, investing in professional journalism matters

If there is one lesson from the first ten days of the Donald Trump presidency it is that now is the time we need strong and professional journalists.

Trump and too many leaders around the world appear to have little regard for the truth if it challenges their narrative. When Trump is confronted with news reports that disagree with him, he labels them fake news. When he is confronted with the acting attorney general questioning the legality of an executive order, he sacks them.

Journalists and news outlets need revenue to survive. The old advertising supported model does not work today where news consumption is faster than ever before.

Whereas in the print era people spent more time consuming news, today we do this mainly on our phones and other portable devices. We give little time to advertising. This is one reason ad rates are less for digital platforms than they used to be for print.

For years, I have tapped into news on my phone and iPad without paying for it. Easy access to good journalism has meant I’ve not worried too much about the funding model that makes good journalism accessible.

That changed for me with the inauguration of Donald Trump and his obsession with crowd size. News outlets reported what they filmed and photographed. Trump attacked some reports with how now often used phrase, fake news. Of course, it was not fake news. The images were factual.

While politicians have criticised the media and journalists in the past, it feels like we are now in a time where it is more than criticism. It feels like there is a genuine threat to accessible independent journalism.

Whether I am right or not about the era we are in, I am at a point where I want to pay to support good journalism. I want to do this more than buying the odd newspaper. It is like helping to fund people who do good work you believe in.

My plan is to subscribe to at least one Australian news outlet, one overseas and a third, most likely an independent fact checking service. Here is what I want from the organisations I support:

  1. Fact based fearless reporting.  Truth, independence, impartiality and humanity.
  2. Publishing of news and not regurgitation of press releases from businesses and politicians.
  3. No bias or agenda setting like we see from the News Corp platforms in Australia. Sure, run campaigns – but they must be fact based and not representative of the ideology of elders of the publishing business.
  4. No click bait headlines leading to junk stories.
  5. Clear separation of commentary from news.
  6. I want news, not content I am likely to like. I don;t want a site to learn my interest and only play to them.

I don’t see any subscription decision as permanent.

Having looked at what is out there, the biggest challenge is Australian news outlets. It really comes down to The Guardian and a Fairfax platform – The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald. The Guardian is light on for Australian content and the Fairfax titles online carry a bit of junk. But I have to start somewhere. The final decision will include considering their respective tech platforms on mobile devices.

Overseas, I am leaning to The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal.

Outside of the pay services, I am an avid user of Twitter for staying up to date. I review those I follow every month or so, adjusting to keep by feed fresh and challenging.

For the third organisation I am looking at several in the fact checking space. This will take some time as it depends on the future of the ABC fact check unit.

A strong independent media is vital to democracy. In too many countries right now the facts are being hidden or held back on matters that are important. The truth is not always pleasant, but it is the truth and we need to be told. This is the role of journalists.

Some will say I should have been contributing to journalism before now. To that I say fair enough – however, at least I am there now and ready to contribute.

17 likes
Ethics

Newspaper ad revenue down 11.3%

Newsagents should read the Mediaweek report about newspaper ade revenue. Print ad revenue declines 11.3% in 2016.

Australia’s news media sector has reported $2.28 billion in advertising revenue for calendar year 2016, according to the latest News Media Index with data collated by SMI. It remains the third largest media sector based on advertising revenue.

Digital revenue grew by 9.9%, print declined by 11.3% and newspaper-inserted magazines (NIMs) declined by 9.2%.

Print revenue continues to account for around 80% of total sector ad revenue.

Add this to the unit sales decline we are seeing in newsagencies and you can understand the challenge ahead for any business relying on the sale of print newspapers in their business model.

0 likes
Media disruption

Growing your newsagency business

Looking at business performance data as part of the latest newsagency sales benchmark study, I have spent time on the data for one of my own businesses. I shot a video to explain what I saw and describe the growth opportunities I see for newsagents in 2017.

I am exploring some of the themes in this video in new workshops scheduled to start in a couple of weeks: Newsagency of the Future: confronting 2017 and beyond. The first round of the newsagent-only sessions are available:

Access is free. Book online.

Note: while the video is branded newsXpress, the points are relevant to any newsagent.

13 likes
Newsagency management

Lottoland marketing differentiates their offer

It is pitches like this from Lottoland that given them a point of difference – you can bet with five Australian lottery games in a week for $1.

This packaging by Lottoland is a point of difference. Lottery retailers have nothing like it. This another reason why newsagents need to be aware of the Lottoland model and how it could change the habits of the regular small lottery punter.

0 likes
Lotteries

Coles pitching in the mini cookbook space

Coles is offering a free mini cookbook for purchases over $50.00. The cookbooks look like the mini cookbooks from Bauer.

It’s a smart offer from Coles even if the real value is minimal. Making it a series plays well for people who collect.

My interest is Coles using a magazine as the gift with purchase. There was a time when mini cookbooks had more value than this.

6 likes
magazines

Q4 2016 NEWSAGENCY SALES BENCHMARK RESULTS.

The December 2016 quarter was dreadful for traditional newsagency businesses with challenging declines impacting all key traffic generating categories.

The headlines, however, from the December quarter, are the extraordinary results achieved by some who shared their data:

  1. A third of participating newsagency businesses doubled gift sales in the December 2016 quarter compared to 2015.
  2. The most successful newsagency in gifts did over $100,000 in gift sales the quarter. This is a regional newsagency in a high street situation.
  3. The most successful newsagency in the plush category did over $70,000 in plush revenue in the quarter.
  4. The most successful newsagency in GP shift moved from a business average GP of 29% to 36% in the quarter comparing 2016 with 2015.
  5. One business achieved $10,000 in online sales in the quarter.
  6. The most successful newsagency overall achieved a 24% increase in revenue in the quarter compared to 2015.

These are good stories. There are plenty of them.

So, while the headline numbers below will concern plenty, there is good news to read and good news to create.

For this study, I have looked at data from 171 newsagencies – large and small, city and country, shopping centre and high street and from all Newspower, the various versions of Nextra and newsXpress as well as independent.
Overall, Q4 2016 delivered better results than Q3. Here are the overall results:

  • Customer traffic. 67% of newsagents report average decline of 2.6%.
  • Overall sales. 63% reported an average revenue decline of 3.6%.
  • Basket depth. 65% report a 1.2% decrease in basket size.
  • Basket dollar value. 67% report a decrease in basket value of 2.1%.
  • Discounting. 27% of respondents use a structured loyalty offer such as points or some other discount.

Benchmark results by key departments:

  1. Magazines. 78% report an average decline in unit sales of 11.7%. Previously strong categories such as motoring, food, women’s weeklies, women’s interests and men’s interests led the charge. Crosswords, special interest and crafts are the best performing categories.
  2. Newspapers.  81% report average decline in over the counter unit sales of 11.6%. The numbers in city based businesses are dreadful.
  3. Greeting cards.  52% of report average revenue increase of 2%.
  4. Lotteries. 58% of those with lotteries report average decline of 2% in transactions.
  5. Stationery.  85% of newsagents report a decline, with an average of 2.7%.
  6. Ink.  22% of stores report ink separately. Of these, 51% reported increase of 2%.
  7. Gifts. Of the 72% with gifts, 74% report average growth of 6.9%.
  8. Tobacco. Of the 44% with tobacco, 85% report an average decline of 11%.
  9. Confectionery. Of the 51% with confectionery, 60% report an average decline of 4%.
  10. Toys. Of the 16% with toys, 780% report growth of 6.7%.

Every year on year comparison report I have looked at has its own story. It reflects not only the challenges of small business retail but also the challenges of product categories, local challenges, owner challenges and more. The comparison data is a narrative for the business.

The number of newsagency businesses I see being run as victims of circumstances is concerning for them and for the channel. I am seeing too many traditional newsagencies, still. This has to stop if our channel is to have a future.

The benchmark dataset includes reports from businesses revealing tremendous transformation, reports filled with good news. This good news is not luck or good fortune. No, the good news is a result of business owners acting to pursue this future.

The excuse of our area is down or our street is down does not cut it any more as we have the capacity to easily reach beyond our street or suburb. Thanks to free access to social media and the lower than ever barrier to online sales, newsagents can sell outside their area. The idea of a territory is long gone.

You have to ask yourself daily, what have I done today to reach a new shopper, someone who does not know we exist? This is what successful businesses in the benchmark study are doing and doing well.
It is hard work in retail today and it will get harder. The response has to be practical, it has to come from within the business.

DOES THE NEWSAGENCY CHANNEL HAVE A FUTURE?
While I think the channel as people knew it in the past does not have a future, businesses we identify as newsagencies do have a future. I think engaged marketing groups will drive this as will entrepreneurial newsagents.

The most important change that could immediately help is for magazine publishers to treat newsagents as magazine specialists. They could do this by getting out of supermarkets and elsewhere. This would drive newsagent support in return for the boost in traffic. It would be a win win.

AGENCY IS OVER.
Some years ago there was a hope by some that parcels would save the channel. They have not. They are a fractional service delivering traffic of no value beyond the parcel connection.

My opinion remains – newsagents are better off out of the parcel business just as they are better off out of agency business.

OPTIMISTIC.
I am optimistic for my own newsagency businesses and for the businesses of many newsagents. Thoughtful changes based in business data and implemented with joy can attract new shoppers. The right products can bring people back to the business regularly. New customer bases can be found, valuable customer bases where we rely less on competing with supermarkets and others.

Good retailers can make a bright future.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tower Systems serves in excess of 1,750+ newsagents with best practice newsagency software.

Mark Fletcher
M | 0418 321 338

9 likes
Newsagency benchmark

Sunday newsagency challenge: are you prepared to quit a dead category?

It can be hard to know when to stop doing something that is not providing the return it used to. This is a challenge pertinent to newsagents with several categories in the traditional newsagency business no longer performing at the level needed. The challenge for newsagents is having the guts to cut the category before it hurst the business. Data is your friend. Let the numbers tell you what to do.

7 likes
Newsagency challenges

Sunday newsagency management tip: don’t stock brand rip-offs

I am pleased to see more product brands protect their intellectual property by taking on retailers who stock knock-off products.

Most recently I have seen this action against a discount retailer selling fake Beanie Boos. The Rockhampton retailer was selling products at less than half price. This alone should have made people wary.

Check if the product you could soon spot the fake – the branding was sub standard, they face wonky, the trademark bright eyes dull and the product itself felt inferior.

Cheap products are cheap for a reason. A sales rep you have never seen before walking if unannounced and offering ‘brand name’ products cheap you need to ask tough questions. Brands have authorised distributors, check with them.

Selling fake products opens your business to seizure of these products and other action.

10 likes
Ethics

There was a time newspaper publishers used to worry about sell-outs

Newspaper publishers either publish content they value and want to see widely read or they see their product as a big ad catalogue that has to hit its numbers to keep working. The two products are from different eras and are quite different.

In the mid 1990s I had discussions with a senior newspaper publishing executive about early warning of newspaper sell-outs.

In the Tower Systems newsagency software was the ability to forecast when papers would sell out based on sales by 10am. The discussion was abut a data feed to the publisher from newsagents that could trigger replenishment action by 10am so papers could be in-store by 12 noon and the publisher not miss almost certain sales.

Back then, every over the counter newspaper sale was pursued with energy beyond what you could justify based on the financial return from the sale.

Newspaper companies were run by publishers back then.

Today, with the bean counters in charge, the focus is on return on investment. A lost newspaper sale does not have the same value to a bean counter today as it has to a newspaper publisher of old.

The opportunity is on my mind this week as more newsagents report sell outs and the lack of interest in publishers in resolving them. Even some newsagents care less about sell outs today that they did years ago.

The opportunity to predict sell outs remains, the will to bring the project to life does not.

19 likes
Newspapers

Terrific Baker’s Delight back to school promotion

I love the creative for the BTS promotion in Baker’s Delight stores. In addition to the on-screen promotions there was a banner at the back of the counter and a pitch at the front of the counter. All visuals were consistent. This visual consistency is important in driving shopper engagement.

Their use of colour pencils was smart as it provided an appealing base for the marketing collateral. I also love the cheerful headline for the collateral.

Well done Baker’s Delight!

3 likes
marketing
Trending Articles

Fairfax changes approach to TV Guide, disrespects newsagents

Published on April 20, 2011

What do you think of the Powerball changes?

Published on February 16, 2018

IPS releases new magazine contracts

Published on June 21, 2011