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

Dog day brings smiles to the business

12186245_10156099084830212_1463394672832244133_oIt was dog day at my software company Friday last week. It was smiles all round. The eight dogs got on well and we only had two minor accidents. Productivity was not affected. In fact, I suspect it increased.

Everyone was as happy as the dogs. It was a thrill.

What I liked the most was the disruption to the office. What we usually experienced in-store was different and this got us to see and experience the business differently. With this comes solutions to challenges or answers to questions. Such is the value of this type of disruption.

The experience was one I recommend to newsagents. While I know some have their own dogs in-store or welcome customer dogs, what about having your own dog day and turning it into a delightful event? Doing it in-store could deliver a level of disruption from which the business benefits. Just don’t tell the cats.

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Management tip

What we can learn from the Woolworths decision to change its loyalty program

Screen Shot 2015-10-25 at 5.11.25 pmThe announcement by Woolworths yesterday that it will replace offering Qantas points for purchases with Woolworths ‘dollars’ is one newsagents ought to take note of. The change is fundamental: points are being replaced by dollars, or, at least, something closer to dollars – that can be spent in-store.

The email from Woolworths to customers included this:

Members told us what they really want is money off their shopping, so we’ve changed points for Woolworths Dollars!

My own experience through my software company with a variety of loyalty programs including points, points for gifts, buy X and get Y (like the magazine club card), points for entries in competitions, discount vouchers offering a discount off purchases and points accruing to FlyBys and other programs is that shoppers want value now.

Value = real savings.

Now = today or at least soon.

People are tired of points based programs where the value of points is not easily understood. With good reason there is scepticism about points based programs.

For what it is worth, the discount voucher program, offering $$$ off purchases immediately, continue to work well, driving far greater value than the small cost to the business. The program continues to offer a terrific point of difference in the eyes of shoppers too. This is the closest to the Woolworths offer – except that with Woolworths you have to spend much more to get $10 in value. It does not sound all that good but compared to points it is better.

While not exactly what Woolworths is switching to, their program sounds like it will be pitched like discount vouchers – real savings available immediately.

This video I shot last year about discount vouchers is as relevant today as it speaks to how this type of loyalty offer works in a newsagency compared to the old-school points based program:

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marketing

Did you get Coaching Life magazine?

IMG_1325We received Coaching Life magazine, a title we do not expect to sell. because of how the magazine distribution model works we are now a financial backer of this launch issue, investing retail space and labour into the title. We are also a banker in that we will pay for the title at 30 days, return what we don’t sell and, a few months after the title arrived we get our money back. This is why I mean by being a banker – our cash is used to financially support the distribution of the title.

I get that publishers want to launch titles and that the newsagency channel is pretty much the only channel for the launch of niche magazines. Expecting newsagents to invest space, labour and cash without any control over whether we get a new title or the quantity we receive is unreasonable. delayed billing is not the answer.

I want to be paid for the space and time to be invested into a launch. I ought to be compensated if the launch title fails to perform. Otherwise I am encouraged to reduce further my commitment to magazines.

read what I wrote in 2005 and again last year on supply standards as I covered this issue at length.

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magazine distribution

Sunday newsagency challenge: stop, change tracks

Stop any pitch that says shop here or buy me or promotes and offer or price deal. Instead, use your social media and other comms platforms to tell a story. Explain something about your shop, products you sell or your people that is unique. Share something that people reading or listening will appreciate.

Sometimes stopping the usual marketing and telling a story can get more attention than your usual marketing. This can help you as much as it helps your customers.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: clever use of a mirror in the shop window

IMG_1291The bear in the photo is facing away from the shop window – and looking in the mirror. This simple placement is more effective than if the bear was staring straight out the window. It is fun and haunting, which is keeping with the Halloween theme. I love the use of the mirror. It offers a fresh approach to grabbing attention of those in the street and grabbing their attention is the first step to a sale.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: the data is always right

I bet more than half who read the title of this blog post have scrolled past already.

I get it, any talk about data is boring.

The thing is, data is vitally important to the success of any business, especially a newsagency business today, in 2015. Data reveals trans in your business, how you are travelling and, most important, opportunities.

Too many newsagents continue to rely on their gut more than data. This is hurting too many businesses.

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Management tip

Dressing the newsagency for the weekend

We dress the front of the shop differently for the weekend compared to the week days, to reflect the different shoppers in the centre. The setting in the photo is entirely appropriate for Friday through to Sunday shoppers this time of the year.

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I mention this today as it goes to a comment I made in response to another post earlier – that we have flipped from relying on magazine traffic to drive other purchases to new traffic now driving impulse purchases of magazines.

And, yes, this type of display could work in a high street or rural situation as well as it works in a capital city shopping mall.

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Newsagency management

Bullying in the workplace

I urge all newsagents to read the Fairwork bullying in the workplace advice and guidelines. If you are looking for this after an incident has been reported you may be accessing the information too late.

I was talking with a newsagent this week where it could be the case – where a situation had gone too far and could have been addressed sooner had the business followed the Fairwork advice.

The online guide is especially useful in outlining what is bullying and what is not.

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Leadership

Plenty of newsagency suppliers in Hong Kong

IMG_1215I was in Hong Kong at the start of the week for the Gift Fair and met up with plenty of Australian suppliers there sourcing products for our market for 2016.

I appreciated the opportunity of sharing products I liked the look of with suppliers who could themselves see the products in Hong Kong and consider them with a retailer’s endorsement.

Importing is a complex and fraught process. You need to commit up front to large quantities, negotiating with companies that may have differing quality commitments to what they show you and doing this is a situation where copying others is rampant.

Get it right and you can make a lot of money. Get it wrong and you warehouse in Australia will be stocked with goods that do not sell for years.

I’d like more suppliers to meet retailers in Hong Kong. I think such co-operation would lead to more successes for both.

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Uncategorized

Neil Mitchell’s puerile engagement with adult colouring

12118974_10205525042590409_7297578508082588900_nOn the way to a supplier meeting today I caught Neil Mitchell on 3AW talking about adult colouring. What for many is a relaxing passion, Neil made out to be puerile. He sent out his program producer to ‘research’ the market. This chap when to a WH Smith store near the 3AW studio where encountered a small range of books – seven or eight titles I think.

Check out the range at newsXpress Beers Port Lincoln as of earlier this week. 108 titles – beautifully displayed.

What Mitchell made fun of is a serious pastime for many and a valuable category for engaged newsagents. Sure it is a craze right now and will fade, but it will remain an important activity for plenty.

Mitchell made out it was a new thing when, in fact, many of us have been engaged since last year.

3AW is owned by Fairfax. fairfax supplies newsagents. Mitchell ought to have been better advised and the segment better produced.

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Newsagency challenges

Newsagents need to get tough with publishers over what they stock, says NewsLifeMedia CEO

The headline of this post is a direct lift of the headline of a report published by mUmBRELLA yesterday. While I urge newsagents to click on the link and read the article, I will post portions here and comment.

The boss of publishing house NewsLifeMedia has said newsagents need to be more critical about the range they stock and emulate the way that supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths operate.

I am not sure what Ms Sheffield is reading but I think newsagents have been vocal for years. Look at the recent comprehensive submissions to the ACCC, copies of which were provided to NewsLifeMedia as well as other publishers and the distributors.

What we learned from this and previous experiences is that being critical achieves nothing. The lesson from the ACCC and other recent experiences is: complaining gets you nothing.

Speaking at Wednesday’s Publish conference, Nicole Sheffield said: “Every time there is a range review [at a supermarket] it’s got nothing to do with anything emotional, social, digital – it’s what that pocket is yielding me and if it’s not doing it, you’re off the range,” she said.

As it should be I say. Retail is tough for supermarkets and for us. If a product does not pay its way it ought to be removed. The challenge for newsagents is we are not permitted the same control of supermarkets. This disadvantages us and advantages supermarkets. The model agreed by publishers and supermarkets is a model that makes newsagents less competitive.

“Newsagents are under enormous pressure. There’s a lot less of them. Running a newsagency today is a very difficult, challenging business. You’ve got print products that are in decline and you’re heavy reliant on lotto.

Nicole needs to get out more and understand there are now considerable differences between newsagencies.

“People used to go there for a lot of different reasons and we have to be a reason to make them a destination again.”

Yes, I agree. Magazines ought to be a reason for newsagencies to be a destination. I have a proposal regarding this and will submit it to mUmBRELLA for publication consideration. More on that later next week.

Sheffield’s comments followed those made by Ash Hunter, the chairman of Publishers Australia and CEO of Hunterfive Group, who said the influx of new, poorly trained newsagents is causing problems and it is something the print publishing industry needs to address.

“There is a fundamental failure that’s taking place within the newsagency network and part of it is quite challenging, it’s around cash flow,” he said.

“Many of the new newsagents coming in don’t understand the business as well as they should and they have to manage cash flow.

I’d love to know Hunter’s evidence for these statements, especially the last statement. Sure, there are some who don’t understand the business. That is a failure of the parties that approve entrants: Tatts, magazine distributors, newspaper publishers – any supplier agreeing to open an account. That said, under needs to back the statement with evidence.

Hunter then picked up his game and got to a core issue:

“The issue is reducing range and sending back their returns. This is an area where part of the (print) decline is due to neglect to that distribution network.”

He said it was handing the power to the likes of Coles and Woolworths who typically stock magazines from the larger publishers like Pacific Magazines, NewsLifeMedia and Bauer Media.

What I am submitting to mUmBRELLA to consider publishing next week is one option I think could address this issue.

Publishers can complain all they like. If they want the situation to change, they need to change. They also need to engage commercially and not through the industry associations as that has proven to be a waste of time for years.

I do have a plan to put out there for suggestion. More on that next week. Hopefully, too, more plans from others on this critical issue for smaller publishers and newsagents.

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magazine distribution

Coles embraces the Diwali festival – why not newsagents?

IMG_1094I was surprised to gift cards for the Diwali festival at a local Coles supermarket a few days ago. Interest piqued, I researched Diwali online and discovered it is a Hindu related festival. The 2012 Census revealed 275,534 people identify as Hindu.

While it surprises me that Coles would have a gift card produced festival, that they have done so could speak to a localised focus and if so it reflects an almost small business approach.

With newsagents selling around 32% of all greeting cards sold in Australia you;d expect our channel to be the occasion channel. Why, then, is the Diwali festival not on our radar? Have we missed something here?

We are in a time where focus on special interests is more important than ever. That Coles is serving the Hindu community in this way speaks to an attention to special interests. We newsagents need to catch up if we are to serve such special interests.

On the gift card itself, I know a bit about the cost of producing such cards because of my work with tower Systems. Sure, the cards cost a few cents to make. For a company like Coles there would be considerable overhead involved in design, production and in-store space allocation.

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Newsagency opportunities

Would you prefer your drinks mixed by a human or a robot?

Screen Shot 2015-10-22 at 6.32.08 amMe? I prefer my drinks mixed by a human. I prefer the surprise, the personal experience and that the transaction is part of the world of which I am part. I like that each drink is unique.

Royal Caribbean Cruises is promoting its robotic drink mixers to entice people on board. Beyond a brief moment of oh wow, I cannot see the interest to the drinker. Bartenders offer a personal specialist service. Surely this is more important than a robot service where every drink tastes exactly the same.

A bartender can mix two of the same drinks right after each other and they can be different. Surely we should cheer the differences from live human engagement compared to a passionless same same experience from a robot.

What is the world coming to?

Our newsagency businesses provide personal service every day. Our service is our most important point of difference for products shoppers can purchase at nearby competitors.

In providing our services we provide personal human interaction that ought to be more authentic than the interaction people get from the auto checkout at the supermarket or the tired student service at a 7-Eleven.

We ought to cherish the human contact, enjoy it and give those working our businesses permission to be themselves, to be in the moment.

While some may laud the robotic drink mixers as innovation, I see them as dehumanizing society in pursuit of higher profits. That is not what I am in small business for. What about you?

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Ethics

The Press Reader pitch encourages digital engagement for newspapers and magazines

IMG_1266Further to my post a while back about Qantas offering free access to thousands newspapers and magazines through Press Reader prior to flights, hotels are making a similar pitch – providing free access to Press Reader during your stay. It’s better than a newspaper hanging in a bag on your door.

These offers of free Press Reader access are facilitating more trials of Press Reader. I suspect the goal here is that the more the service is trialed the more people will pay to access newspapers through it.

I received the offer of free access most recently early this week while in Hong Kong for the Gift Fair.

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Newspapers

Small business retailers don’t need to follow big business and pitch on price

IMG_1114Big retailers like the supermarkets, K-Mart, Target, Big W and similar pitch price because they are challenged differentiating on anything else.

I think pitching on price is a mugs game as the only way to bring a shopper attracted by price back is on price. This is especially true in smaller basket businesses such as newsagencies – the basket depth in our stores is considerably lower than a supermarket or department store.

It is the shallower basket that makes price a more important consideration for us.

We in small business are challenged on price as we cannot buy in the volume of a Big W or the like.

We recently encountered a challenging situation in my newsagency with the Bunch-O-Balloons product. Our $14.99 price was fair given our purchase price. Woolworths had it at $10.00. The decision for us was – do we match it or have customers say we are expensive.

Since shoppers think newsagencies are expensive we held our ground on the price.

What is interesting is that we sold more in the week of the Woolworths catalogue pitching the product at $10 than in the two months prior for which we had the product. The Woolworths ad helped drive our sales without a doubt.

I suspect our sales would have been the same had we dropped the price to $10.00. The only difference would be that we made less per sale.

Maintaining our position on price for the Bunch-O-Balloons product helped us maximise our return, meet shopper expectations on price and reinforce the relevance of our business by having stock that is being actively promoted.

My point here for newsagents is – you do not have to match a major competitor on price. If you do decide to match them you are building an expectation that you are more like them. You are more likely to attract price fickle shoppers.

Thinking about this issue more broadly, being aware of what the majors are promoting on TV and in catalogues provides us with opportunities to do as happened for us with the Bunch-O-Balloons product. Have the named product in store and ride off the coat tails of the major competitor. That your price is higher does not matter. What matters is that you have the product they recognise from your competitor’s advertising.

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Newsagency management

Competitive gifts with Girlfriend and Dolly

IMG_1119The gifts with purchase with Dolly and Girlfriend magazine this month are well pitched, making it difficult is a customer has money for one magazine.

I’m not complaining as good gifts do help sell magazines. Most times they drive one title over another because it has a gift. This month, with these two titles, the gifts are equally good and targeted. Girlfriend has a felt pen and Dolly has 5SOS bookmarks.

We are making the most of the opportunities with both titles placed with each other and the gifts fully visible – the way it should be.

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magazines

More on the APN / News Corp. tie-up

Here is an ad promoting The Morning Bulletin digital pitch to the Rockhampton region. Like with the Daily Mercury pitch I wrote about yesterday, if you take the deal at the 50% off price you get free access to News Corp. content.

The folks at The Morning Bulletin must have realised that there would be concerns about the dilution of local voices to cause them to run with a headline of LOCAL STORIES MEAN A GREAT DEAL TO YOU. With the majority of the content on offer through the deal not local, the headline could be seen as misleading.

While I am all for publishers monetising content, I am concerned for the impact of moves like this on local voices. People in regional communities need to decide how much they are prepared to spend on local content. That is the key driver of moves like this.

Here is the flyer:

Screen Shot 2015-10-20 at 4.47.33 pm

Where does this end? Given the different stories they publish, could Fairfax offer free digital access to News Corp. content in return for a discounted long-term subscription?

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Newspaper marketing

A telling experience with job seekers

My newsagency software company advertised two new roles created in the business. The first role, the one seeking broader and more commonly available experience, was filled within 48 hours and the ad pulled to stop more applicants. Sixty applicants in less than 24 hours was more than was needed.

After talking to several candidates, I realise unemployment is worse than I had thought, especially among those with general or widely accessible skills.

The experience is guiding several changes for my retail businesses that I will write about soon, changes that reflect the economic situation, opportunities it presents and care the situation demands.

The experience also reminded me that for certain roles there are may good candidates. If you have employees engaged on a casual basis you have greater flexibility in being able to ensure you always have the right people on your team.

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Hiring employees

What is the APN / News Corp. tie-up and why is this not news?

The APN owned Daily Mercury newspaper is promoting Daily Mercury Unlimited, a digital subscription package for the Daily Mercury stories that also provides access to the News Corp. owned Courier Mail as well as Fox Sports.

I wonder if this deal has been facilitated by Michael Miller, former CEO of APN, returning to News Corp. as Executive Chairman. The link itself feels like it ought to be big news as it appears to strengthen the concentration of influence of the News Corp. organisation.

Here is the announcement as it appeared in the Daily Mercury:

Screen Shot 2015-10-19 at 7.49.42 pm

How does the ACCC look at such a move? Is there a commercial relationship between APN and News Corp. that the ACCC ought to consider? I am surprised at the lack of coverage about this – or have I missed it?

Check out this follow up ‘story’ in the Daily Mercury making access to News Corp. content clear.

Screen Shot 2015-10-19 at 7.41.51 pm

Newsagents selling the Daily Mercury are left wondering about the move. Should they be concerned for the future of the masthead or is the Courier Mail tie-in icing on the cake with their local masthead the main focus? Regardless, it feels like there ought to be reporting on this move by media analysts and reporters so we can be fully informed. All we have to go off at the moment is the APN spin.

One newsagent drawing my attention to this issue commented: The demise of the local paper just accelerated.

What do others think? Am I wrong to be concerned or to question this?

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Media disruption

Make the most of the Total Girl opportunity

20151019_110224The free Beanie Boo bagged with the latest Total Girl magazine from Pacific Magazines is a newsagent-only promotion. I urge all newsagents to ensure they have not inadvertently early returned this item as doing so would be a dumb move.

Promote it on Facebook with a boosted post to your local area and you will be sure to attract shoppers who might otherwise not purchase or purchase in a non newsagency location. This type of Facebook promotion is easy to do.

I have a promotion running on Facebook and it will generate new traffic for the newsagency.

This gift is perfectly targeted for the title. Making it a sell out is up to us.

I sell well over $50,000 worth of Beanie Boos a year from one newsagency so I have a ready market for a promotion like this. More than half following the business Facebook page are beanie Boos lovers or collectors.

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magazines

Ideas for freeing time in your newsagency business

Time is money as they say. Saving time in the running of a newsagency usually saves money. Here are my suggestions on things you could stop doing or change how you do them in order to save time and money in your business.

  1. Stop labeling magazines. Only label low volume monthlies. All other labels are unnecessary, time consuming and damaging to the covers.
  2. Stop pricing stationery and other items displayed on traditional shelves. Use shelf labels. Save time and more easily adjust prices.
  3. Preference suppliers who provide electronic invoices. Manually entering an invoice takes time, generates mistakes and binds you to work bigger competitors do not undertake. Let your suppliers know you will preference electronic invoices. There are ways they can produce these in a cost effective manner for their businesses. Give them time to make the move. Explain it will help you better support their products.
  4. Feed your sales data to your computer system. Stop double entry, stock mistakes and reduce your accounting costs.
  5. Stop seeing reps who do not make an appointment.
  6. Connect your EFTPOS terminal to your POS software. Streamline the counter.
  7. Do your end of shift balancing using your software. Reduce mistakes. Stop doing manual paperwork.
  8. Stop writing up a sales ledger for each day. Yes, some newsagents still do this.
  9. Order using your computer system. Stop generating orders by walking the shop or going off gut feel. Your computer system will save you time and help you buy better.
  10. Do your roster using software. Build the roster to a target labour cost that reflects a lower cost of business.
  11. Use the federal government super portal. Less paperwork. Less payment processing time.
  12. Stop buying stationery at the warehouse. The time it takes is usually more expensive than you can justify based on what you make.
  13. When magazines are taken off the shelves, scan returns at the counter, remove covers and package ready for return. i.e. one step process.
  14. Do not store stock off site. You can lose it. It can get damaged. You spend time moving it around.
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Newsagency management

Simple signs help drive sales in the newsagency

IMG_1124If you want to quit stock I suggest you use simple clearly priced signs for your dump bins. Half price or 75% off may sound good to you but to some customers they don’t know what they mean. $1 is easy to understand. Everything on the display or in the bin is $1. I don’t have to think about it.

I have seen 75% off sales where everything is close to a dollar not work – until the 75% off sign is replaced with $1.

Simple signs in retail are vital to driving shopper engagement – especially in locations where you have plenty of foot traffic.

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newsagency marketing