One part of my work with newsagents if dislike is dealing with employee theft situations. Too often a newsagent has come to me after they have discovered theft, having ignored advice on how to protect against this.
Last week we shot this video at the office to try and grab attention in a different way. Please watch it. The sole goal of the video is to get newsagents and other retailers engaged to manage against theft.
I love this display of teacher gifts at the counter of a newsagency in Cairns I visited on Monday. I love the mix, the placement and the layout. I also love the circular nature of the display as it makes shopping the display easy.
Teacher gift giving season is an opportunity for newsagents to own more so than other retailers. Doing this starts with a terrific range of products tactically displayed as in the case in this Cairns business.
I was contacted a few weeks ago by a retail business owner who wanted to tell their story about how they had their business “stolen” from them.
Their lease was close to being up and the head of a franchise group happened to walk in one day for a chat about business. Thinking he was talking to a colleague, the retailer shared information about the lease and issues he was having in negotiating with the landlord. The conversation ended with no help sought and no offer made.
A couple of weeks later, the retailer was visited by the same person again and told that if he wanted to keep his business he would have to join the franchise group as they had negotiated a head lease for the premises and that trading as part of the franchise was a requirement.
The retailer was given an ultimatum: walk away from the business they had owned for years or join the franchise group. He saw it as no choice as the business was his main asset. He joined the franchise group.
His experience in the franchise group was awful, business went downhill. Product arrived in-store that he had not ordered and was unable to return. He was visited and told to do things in the business he did not want to do. He was forced to pay hefty fees he had not had to pay when he operated independently.
The business went downhill and the retailer eventually sold for a lower than reasonable price. He felt he had no choice but to accept the low offer because the franchise agreement had conditions relating to the sale that made it challenging for him to sell outside the group.
The retailer concedes his naiveté and wishes he had engaged a lawyer immediately on hearing of a lease deal to effectively steal the business from him.
This is the story as told to me. While I am not a lawyer, I suspect the actions of the franchise operator and the landlord were illegal and that the retailer could have taken action. But he was broken and was happy to get out.
This is a cautionary tale.
Industry associations representing retailers ought play a role in monitoring and protecting retailers in this area. When they take money from any franchise group and promote them in journals and elsewhere they offer tacit endorsement. It is incumbent upon them to ensure they understand the values and processes of any such business they endorse in this way.
Yes this story is vague. The franchise group I am writing about is litigious.
In Brisbane this morning in my Facebook feed was this ad for Tatts, for their app. The presence of the ad is a reminder of the investment by the company in promoting online. The comments on the post, and there are plenty, are a reminder of the popularity of Tatts and that punters like online and the Tatts app.
The biggest point I want to make about the app, however, is that it is not reflective of the corporate image newsagents are forced to invest in.
If I was a Tatts agent I’d want to know why the company forces me to invest in their corporate image when they do not themselves. It challenges their case to me on investing in their image.
I’m gunna redo the stationery department, move it to a better location and get rid of the stuff that’s been there for more than a couple of years.
This is what a newsagent told me earlier this year. Gunna is the key word in the statement. Gunnas are the people who are always gunna yet often never get down to actually doing what they are gunna do.
Actions speak louder than words for sure and gunnas, in my experience have plenty of words.
What is it in your newsagency you are gunna do and probably have been gunna do for years that you have not actually done?
If you are a gunna there is only one thing to do: do it.
Sure you might come up with barriers. If they are real, at least stock talking about what you are gunna do and work on the barriers. If the barriers are not real, what are you waiting for?
The gunna newsagents I worry for are those who rely on traditional newsagency lines for more than 50% of their traffic, the businesses doing nothing to attract new shoppers to the business. Being a gunna in these situations is no future.
Footnote: If this post makes you angry, think about why. If it is because it is about you there is only one thing to do. If you think I should not shine a light on the gunna newsagents, realise it is for their good and for the good of others trading under the shingle.
When deciding which magazine titles to give the full face display treatment to in special interest / fringe sections of the magazine department in the newsagency, we absolutely to preference magazines not sold in supermarkets – as shown in the photo.
While we cannot always be sure, just thinking about this sees us make choices that support us as magazine specialists and the publishers who support us.
Being conscious about this is being conscious about leveraging a point of difference in our magazine offer compared to the magazine department in a supermarket.
Here is another example from the weekend in part of our car section:
Further to my post about a promotion offering free copies of the Courier Mail and other newspapers at a Night Owl Convenience store in Brisbane, check out the stack of newspapers I saw at this store just now – at 8pm Sunday night. That’s a lot of unsold newspapers.
What Christmas ornaments have you ordered to sell this Christmas? Are they the usual tinsel, angels and of Christmas colours? If so, you are competing in a crowded ocean. This owl is one of the ornaments we are selling and which customers are noticing because they are different – and people love that, especially if the ornament is to be a gift.
Challenge yourself with buying: avoid tradition and attract new shoppers.
At a concert at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne Friday night, down in the middle of the theatre during intermission, I noticed a bright bottle of water bobbing above the heads of the crowd. It was a beacon in this venue packed with close to 3,000 people on the night. It aught my attention and I had to go see what looked like magic up close.
On approaching the bottle of water, I could see the person holding it up high had a torch on and facing upward into the bottle – providing the beacon effect. This was a perfect way for the water to be noticed from a distance, for the theatre management to drive water sales inside the theatre in interval, a perfect marketing initiative.
Often when it comes to marketing we look for complex solutions to simple challenges. In this case, theatre management placed the pitch in the right location and used a low-tech approach to ensure it was noticed.
My marketing tim for retail newsagents today is to look for simple, low-tech, ways to promote products from your business in-store and outside.
A secondary time from this experience is to create marketing for the curious, so they will go see up close and, maybe, consider a purchase.
If your newsagency software allows it, next time you are reporting on business performance select a supplier comparison view. This can highlight strengths and weaknesses a more traditional view of business performance make be hiding from you.
Take your gift department, the traditional analysis will be to look at sales by product category or occasion. Switching to a supplier view could bring to your attention a supplier level relationship that is not working for your business.
I did this recently for a newsagency as part of a business review. Two suppliers are not delivering results for the business and this was being missed as gifts overall are up more than 25% year on year whereas for these two suppliers, sales were only up 5%.
Sometimes, changing a data view can valuably alter your view of your business.
Anyone attending the next meeting internally at Fairfax where they are discussing the decline in single copy sales, present this photo. While News Corp. is relying on news to drive impulse purchase Fairfax has sold the front page as an ad billboard. Sure the ad may make more money today, does it hinder newspaper sales?
For years I have included a targeted occasion-focussed gift offer with cards in my newsagencies. The actual occasion gifts pitched vary over time with seasons. The range also can vary based on card location and placement changes.
The placement of gifts here in the card department, as you can see in this photo I took yesterday – works as it breaks the sea of colour in cards and also invites shoppers to contemplate a gift purchase with the card.
Cards generate excellent traffic for us and it is important we leverage this with occasion appropriate cards placed to leverage that traffic. One way to do this is to allow room in your card space allocation to achieve the impulse add-on purchase.
Of course, this is different to the front of store work using gifts as their own net new traffic driver – that is a separate strategy.
Newsagents who have been bi supporters of Independence Studios will do a double take at this range of product now available in target stores in Australia. While the packaging is different, the products look to be exactly the same as items we sell in the candy-lane.
I don;t get why suppliers of everyday items engage in pricing deals like this as it drives pricing expectations and drives channel churn and no one wins from this.
This is the deal I saw this week in Brisbane CBD, 50 metres from a newsagency.
Further to recent photos I have shared showing the front of the newsagency pitching Christmas, here is a photo three metres in from the front of the shop.
At this point in the shop there are two main aisles, to the left and to the right of what you can see. The product placement is such that products are pitched to people entering and leaving. The product choice for placement here is deliberately not traditional for a newsagency as this location can be seen from the mall, outside the newsagency itself.
I love the cover of the latest Woman’s Weekly. The Carrie Bickmore photo will appeal to a younger reader and this should help drive sales. It looks terrific.
Unlike other newsagents I have spoken with, we were not overloaded with stock for this issue of Woman’s Weekly.
We have the magazine in two locations to drive impulse purchases including at the counter.
The latest issue of Australian Healthy Food is one to feature thanks to the gluten free gingerbread man bagged with the magazine. It is a perfect gift for the season and for the magazine. We are making the most of the tasty gluten free opportunity – promoting it in-store and online on our business Facebook page.
We have the full cover of Who on show to make the most of the extraordinary coverage of the Charlie Sheen HIV diagnosis story. While there are concerning alarmist aspects to the story, media coverage is driving interest and selling magazines is important to us.
I early returned The Australian Women’s Weekly Relax With Colour yesterday as there is no spare room and we are full with adult colouring titles from which we make 50% and more. I am not about to take space from them for a title from which we make half the reasonable gross profit.
Had Bauer asked, we would have said no thanks. Instead, we early returned the lot and broke a rule we have to not early return the day of issue.
Alex Stewart, CEO of GNS, reached out to me yesterday about rumours about GNS that have made their way back to him. With his permission I publish here the facts Alex shared with me.
But before I share what Alex sent me, I want to say something about rumours. There are some in our channel who love spreading rumours. These people rarely fact check – it is like they do not want the truth to get in the way of the rumour they want to spread.
My experience is that people spreading rumours have an agenda of their own and their rumours are their weapon. Shame on them.
If you hear a rumour about anyone or any business in our channel, go to the victim, given them an opportunity to share the facts as they know them.
Here are the facts Alex Stewart shared with me about GNS:
I spoke to a Qld Newsagent this morning who has heard a rumour that we have sold Padstow – our NSW and HO Facility. I am planning to send a full communique about this to both customers and suppliers but for the record:
- We are relocating from our current facility which means the sale of Padstow. I announced this to NSW and National staff last Thursday.
- We have not yet determined the location, sizing and functional requirements of a new site
- We are doing this to increase efficiencies, increase capacity, reduce maintenance costs for the facility, completely redesign our materials handling processes, and provide both customers and staff a better environment
- We have not yet decided if we will purchase or lease a new property at this stage
- We are keeping staff and key stakeholders completely aware of the process and how we are progressing
- It is likely that we will occupy this facility for at least 12-18 months during the sale process and following to source new premises, plan and implement a move of significant magnitude without interrupting business
If anyone has any questions, concerns or otherwise I am free to discuss at any time. This is purely a matter of prudent asset management, as well as accommodating the business for growth and gaining efficiencies.
Before you post a photo of a lottery ticket anywhere, blur or hide the unique identifying barcode. If you do not do this, the photo could be used to claim a prize.
Advise everyone working in your newsagency and your customers – in-store and through your newsletter of business Facebook page.
There is enough petty crime in the world without criminals being assisted by publishing photos of live lottery tickets.
I heard from a newsagent this morning that they have received 285 copies of the Christmas issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly to go on sale tomorrow. Last year they sold 145.
Based on trend data from 2015, a supply of 185 would have been reasonable. If there is something truly amazing and unexpected about this issue then maybe 200 copies would have been okay.
285 copies is ridiculous, a waste of paper, time, space and money.
Some magazine allocations genius has decided to send this newsagency a 36.6% increase in supply. There is no explanation, no reason for the newsagent to think it is warranted.
I know if I speak with the folks at Bauer they will have an explanation, they always do. However, this type of oversupply continues and newsagents carry the cost. It is not good enough.
Bauer is part of the MPA and the MPA is making a big deal about a marketing campaign they are running next year to promote newsagencies. I think that investment is a waste unless they fix the oversupply issue, unless they respect newsagents through their actions.
I am constantly asked why newsagents are cutting magazine space. Here in this blog post is an explanation of the key reason.
Independent publishers need to pressure all publishers to stop this oversupply nonsense.
Here is exactly what the newsagent wrote to me. I am sharing it here to show the frustration they are experiencing:
Just arrived tomorrows mags as we received them today, we received 285 AWW ! Now I know it is the xmas issue but last xmas we got 209 and returned 64 copies. This would have to be the most blatant oversupply I have possibly seen. Plus there would have been approx 6 different Adult colouring mags as well. I might make a call to AWW today and make a complaint, not only is it wasting their money ( we top all mags ) its wasting mine as well
Is this unconscionable conduct?
Newsagents, like many small business retailers, often place more importance on the relationships with those who represent a supplier than the products they source from the supplier.
Put another way, a supplier with the best products and a poor representative can fail while a supplier with poor product and an excellent representative can succeed.
What makes a good supplier representative? The answer all depends on who you are. A supplier will say it is someone who gets results for their business while a retailer will say it is someone who gets good results for their business. This is what some call a win win. The reality is a win win is rare in business, especially between two businesses of vastly different sizes. That is not necessarily bad, the assessment of a win will be different to each side.
The newsagency channel has some excellent representatives in the supplier community and some appalling ones. It is the appalling ones we remember and talk about.
I am interested in what makes a bad rep a bad rep. Is it them, the rules of the company they work for, their manager? These are all factors to consider.
Just as a bad employee in your newsagency is your responsibility since you hire, train, motivate and fire them – it is on you to have good employees, you are in control.
The same is true for our suppliers. They are in control, if they want to be. It is their obligation to have good representatives with whom newsagents want to do business.
But back to the question I want to contemplate today: What makes a good supplier representative? I think it comes down to them exhibiting the following attributes in all their contact with newsagents, their customers. A good supplier representative is someone who:
I did not intend the list to become this long. But it did. In fact, I could add more.
For our part, we newsagents have an obligation to supplier representatives to match the above list with our side of each point. For example:
In fact, the last point here is at the heart of the newsagent / supplier relationship. Most frustration I hear relates to one or the other party, or both parties, not making the money they need to make in order for the relationship to be of optimal value.
There are two sides to every relationship. However, since suppliers rely on us to agree to take on their stock, the onus is on them to serve us better for without us, they have fewer retail outlets through which to promote and sell their products.
I expect this Hallmark Christmas card, a money wallet, will sell out quickly. It is a terrific card out at the right time of the year, in time for the release of the new Star Wars movie.
This is a card to place with Star Wars licenced product as well as with your Christmas cards. However, it is best displayed with the full card on show. If you can get more stock, I suggest you do – based on sales so far of Star Wars licenced items.
I like the card because people will buy it for family and friends at Christmas. It is an easy sell.
NewsLifeMedia is part of the MPA and as such they are participating in an initiative next year to promote newsagencies because they want to help our channel grow. Well, here is one way they can help us grow:
Do not send stock we do not need.
Take their new adult colouring titles. They entered the market too late, months too late. The product is not appealing to those buying multiple copies. Also, smart newsagents are sourcing their own product from which they make 50% and more rather than the 25% we get from magazines.
So, if NewsLifeMedia wants to help newsagents, they ought to behave in a way that is more commercial respectful of us.
To any magazine publisher thinking they can enter this adult colouring space and ship product off to newsagents: don’t! We are saturated with magazine titles and our own product we have sourced from book publishers for better margin. Do not abuse the magazine distribution model and newsagents with stock we do not need.