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

Stunning retail theatre in London

IMG_9556A couple of days ago I got to visit and get a good look at Choccywoccydoodah, a chocolate shop selling chocolate cakes and confectionery.

Their displays are stunning and inspiring, showing the value of allowing good products to be the hero. The fittings and the shop itself are not relevant as the products are all you see.

When you first enter the shop you are hit with a sea of colour – so much so it is hard to notice individual product. Once you have been in the shop for a couple of minutes and have realised that everything on display is edible you realise you are in a special place, especially for chocolate lovers.

This is the sort of shop you talk about once you have returned from a trip. It is a one-off, a wonderful place you’d probably want to visit again.

Thinking about it over the last couple of days, while we do not sell these stunning chocolate cakes, the challenge for us has to he to create stunning retail experiences that set our shops apart from others selling what we sell. We can do this through our buying but more so through thoughtful displays that leverage colour to create a visually rich experience.

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confectionary

Twitter gives newsagents the best opportunity of talking with Rupert Murdoch

Screen Shot 2015-09-04 at 6.19.37 amNews Corp head Rupert Murdoch is active on Twitter, using the handle @rupertmurdoch. While he only rarely responds to Tweets to him, posting a Tweet referencing his handle gives one the feeling that he has at least read what you typed.

Following a series of tweets from him Thursday night, I sent this Tweet to @RupertMurdoch. While he didn’t respond I felt better that I’d at least made the suggestion. I sent it at a time he was on Twitter, increasing my chances he saw it.

I think if more newsagents engaged with him it would place Australian newsagents more present in his mind.

I like Twitter in that you have little room to make your point. This can be good in helping you focus your message down to your core goal.

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Social Media

Inspiring, innovative Visual Merchandising

The most innovative and inspiring visual merchandising I have seen over the last few days in the UK was in a pop-up gift shop on Carnaby Street. Nothing purpose made here. A trestle table and some bricks. The natural timber and brings provide a warmth base to the display and the shop overall. Click on the image for detail.

IMG_9543

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visual merchandising

Diverse newspaper voices reach beyond major cities in the UK

IMG_9620 (1)I love the competition between newspaper proprietors in the UK, especially the ;level of competition I have seen outside the major cities.

In the village of Lifton in Devon (4 hours from London) Wednesday night, the photo shows how I found the newspaper stand in the one and only shop in town. This stand is in the entrance to the business. Thirteen daily newspapers. Those visiting the shop are point for choice.

Leaving aside the challenges for distributors and retailers for a moment, consumers who rely on print for news and opinion benefit from such a diverse mix of voices. This is something we lack in Australia.

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Newspapers

Free water with the newspaper

IMG_9609It is in train stations in the UK where you see the free and discounted items with newspapers to drive newspaper sales. This photo shows the free water offer with The Daily Telegraph I saw at Waterloo station in a WH Smith outlet.

As with all the deals, they are set as self-service. I saw no evidence of upsetting at the counter to drive engagement.

Curiously, in no outlet did I see subscriptions being promoted.

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Newspapers

Another poster for promoting adult colouring partwork

Art Therapy - A2 PosterHere is art for another poster newsagents can use to promote the adult colouring partwork that launches Monday. I have the poster courtesy of Gordon and Gotch.

I suggest newsagents remove the website address at the bottom as anyone going there is encouraged to bypass newsagents and subscribe.

Right click on the image to download a copy to your computer for your own use.

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partworks

Knowing your adult colouring customer

IMG_9633This poster is next to the door to the ladies toilet at Exeter railway station in the UK. Besides the purposeful placement, that they are advertising this adult colouring title speaks to a crowder adult colouring space.

The advertising poster is a further reminder to be careful on your stock holding of adult colouring titles in your newsagency.

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art supplies

Magazines and newspapers in Starbucks

IMG_9630This photo shows the range of magazines and newspapers for sale this morning in a Starbucks in Exeter in the UK – the biggest magazine and paper display I’ve seen in a Starbucks. There are two newsagents within easy walking distance as well as supermarkets.

The only way to preserve a specialist retail channels is for all (including suppliers) who want this to respect specialisation.

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magazines

Ryman Stationery is a stationery model newsagents ought to emulate

IMG_9530Every Ryman Stationery store I visit in the UK is inspiring. They offer a good range of stationery at competitive prices. Brands are blocked together. The layout is consistent across the network. I especially like how they manage floorspace in small format stores.

One store I visited yesterday was no more than 70 square metres yet they offered an excellent range laid out in a shopper friendly way with enticing impulse purchase opportunities along the way.

Any newsagent visiting to the UK should include visits to Ryman outlets on their agenda. There is much to learn. They make shopping for stationery desirable.

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Stationery

Reminder of the stamp up-sell with the greeting card purchase

IMG_9583 (1)This simple sign I saw in in the card department of a bookshop in London yesterday is something we could use in our newsagencies.

It looks professional, part of the fixture and delivers such a simple statement.

This pitch is perfect in location and execution.

A message like this could also drive card sales as it makes using a card easier. Imagine if you see a card you like and want to send it right away before you forget but you do not have a stamp. The sign eliminates that barrier.

Small moves like these can drive good outcomes for our businesses. They cost almost nothing to implement yet can drive valuable sales for us.

There is no one big move newsagents can make to drive better outcomes for their businesses. Success comes from many small steps, like this simple sign in the card department.

I think some in our channel obsess about big things, often things over which they have little control, and ignore small steps they can make in their businesses that will 9increase revenue and traffic.

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Greeting Cards

Confusing newspaper marketing message in the UK

IMG_9573Check out the marketing pitch confronting shoppers at the newspaper stand in a WH Smith outlet I visited yesterday. Two newspaper publishers are pitching discounted books offered when you purchase their newspaper.

I say the offers are confusing because they get in the way of the newspaper shopper who has to consider the books and weigh up if they want them. Since publishers are using the books to drive newspaper sales one needs to consider each book as well as considering the respective newspaper titles.

I think they are also confusing as the offers are not in every location with the newspapers.

I prefer the days when publishers relied solely on their products to drive sales.

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Newspapers

Resources to help you sell Art Therapy issue #1 launching next week

Art Therapy - A3 Colouring In PosterThe Art Therapy partwork launches Monday next week. Courtesy of Gordon & Gotch, here is a poster you can print for customers to colour in.

You could also use this poster in online marketing to leverage the most from this launch.

My suggestion is you start your marketing for this immediately, ahead of the launch of the title as none of your competitors are likely to do this.

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magazines

Laughter is an instant vacation

Laughter is an instant vacation.
Milton Berle, 1977.

I was reminded of this a couple of times today. First up I noticed the quote on a sign in a coffee shop devoid of laughter and devoid of good coffee for that matter. What is the point of a sign pitching a message of inspiration in your business when you ignore it?

Later in the morning I visited Hamleys, the biggest and best known toy store in London, to see their merchandising of ranges I am connected with back in Australia.

On every floor at Hamleys I heard laughter from kids and adults as they interacted with demonstrations of products ranging from magic tricks to drones to art kits. The demonstrators, and I lost count at fifteen throughout the store, were engaging and funny.

Visiting Hamleys was a tonic. I found myself smiling plenty as I walked the various floors. I had a good laugh when one demonstrator had some fun with a drone at my expense.

The whole experience was a reminder of the importance of laughter in retail.

I imagine there are people who work nearby who visit Hamleys for a reset during a particularly tough day. Leaving the store today I wanted to suggest to the folks at the coffee shop they visit.

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Optimism

A WH Smith exclusive

IMG_9571I noticed this Pictorial History of World War 11 is exclusive to WH Smith – there is a sticker in the top right corner. With over 1,000 retail outlets, WH Smith can make a compelling pitch to publishers not only in terms of retail critical mass but also in terms of discipline across their retail network.

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magazines

New Build A Precision Mechanical Solar System partwork on the way

IMG_9570I saw this in a WH Smith in London today, the launch issue (a re-launch actually as this has been out before I’m told) of Build A Precision Mechanical Solar System, a new partwork. The first issue here is 99p – A$2.18 on the current exchange rate. I expect we will see it in Australia sometime. It would sell well. Merchandising issue 1 would be easy as it is less bulky that other partworks.

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partworks

Adult colouring titles growing in the UK

IMG_9581I am in London at the moment and an seeing even more adult colouring magazines and books than when I was in the UK a month ago.

This photo shows the range I saw near the counter of a WH Smith store on Oxford Street today. Deeper into the business they had a large range of adult colouring magazines in their magazine department. Even more interesting, none of the high street newsagents I visited today has adult colouring magazines.

What is interesting is that I noticed few bookshops and card shops with adult colouring titles than a few weeks ago. However, it is hard to tell if this is a trend because a few weeks ago I did not get to London.

My advice to newsagents is to be thoughtful when ordering. Adult colouring will peak. You do not want to be loaded with stock when that happens.

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magazines

Comics fit best next to movie magazines

IMG_9401With the everyday comic range thinning and a stronger than ever interest in pop culture, the best location for comics in the newsagency enemy opinion is next to movie titles.  This is where we have our limited range of comics. Genuine kids titles are elsewhere, in the kids section.

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magazines

Leveraging sand for magazine sales

IMG_9378We have been moving the CDU for K-Zone and Total Girl magazine to locations relevant to the target reader of the titles. This week we have it placed behind kinetic sand. This position is passed y all who head to the counter. Thoughtful placement can help drive sales. Units like this CDU can help us create space that otherwise might not be useful.

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magazines

Did the ATO and other federal government departments fail 7-Eleven workers?

The ATO has a set of benchmarks against which it can assess businesses in various channels, including benchmarks for convenience stores.

In the wake of the 7-Eleven employee wages and entitlements scandal that has broken over the last few days, we can ask where was the ATO in this? Were they companying business returns with the ATO determined benchmarks? If not why not?

I have been questioned about business KPIs against ATO benchmarks several times. They are thorough in their questioning.

I’d like journalists working on this story to dig deeper.

FYI you can see the latest newsagency benchmark here.

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Ethics

What newsagents can learn from the 7-Eleven employee exploitation story

All 7-Eleven franchisees and employees are tainted as a result of the actions of some in ripping off some who work and worked at 7-Eleven stores. 7-Eleven corporate is in damage control to preserve some value for the brand.

What has happened since the story first broke on the weekend in Fairfax media and gained momentum last night with the 4 Corners report on ABC TV, is a rising up of voices against the entire 7-Eleven network.

Personally, I am all for the rising up against 7-Eleven. They promote their businesses on price. Now we know plenty of their stores could afford the cheap prices for coffee, for example, because they were not paying award wages to their employees and they hired some such that others missed out on work. On a side note, I am also against 7-Eleven as it was this organisation that agitated for many years for the deregulation of the distribution of newspapers and magazines in Australia.

The scandal hitting the whole 7-Eleven network is what happens you are part of a branded network. Your ethics are only as strong as the ethics of the most unethical member of the network. The resolution of any scandal is only as strong and good as the leadership and capacity of the owner of your brand.

I think one reason not publicly discussed for declining foot traffic to newsagencies is the unprofessional standard of some businesses trading under the Newsagency shingle. Some poor operators are hurting others in the channel and we are doing nothing about it.

Newsagents trading under the N symbol are only as good as the worst store. Likewise newsagents trading under the generic Newsagency shingle and newsagents trading under each of the marketing group names.

The difference with some marketing groups is that they have mechanisms in their contracts for discipline of members – even to exit them from the group for damaging the brand. No such discipline exists for the N brand or the Newsagency shingle.

If you missed 4 Corners last night, catch it on iView.

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Ethics

Ransomware warning for newsagents

The help desk of my newsagency software company has recently taken calls several small business owners hit with ransomware – where they have opened an email with a virus that controls the computer and criminals demand payment to unlock the computer. TAKE CARE. here is our advice:

  1. Do not open any attachment unless you expect it.
  2. Do no click on a link in an email unless it is from a trusted source.
  3. Do not open any email from the ATO.
  4. Do not open any email from the police.
  5. Do not open an email from a bank.
  6. Do not open any email from PayPal.
  7. Be suspicious of any email asking you to log in.

This is real folks. Ensure you are protected. The best way to do this is be vigilant.

A cloud backup service could help you recover quickly should you be hit.

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Newsagency management

Promoting Your Garden in the newsagency

IMG_9377We have been promoting the latest Your Garden magazine with newspapers and shoppers are picking up the title on impulse.

I encourage newsagents to try this. We found space by placing it above papers. If papers are on a flat shelf, shuffle them for room next to your top seller.

Your Garden is quarterly and people forget about – hence the importance of driving impulse purchases.

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magazines

Secondary location driving adult colouring sales in the newsagency

IMG_9402While the display of adult colouring art therapy titles at the front of the shop attract shoppers from the busy mall, this second location half-way into the shop and near the card department is driving excellent sales.

The table in the photo is placed in front of the main magazine aisle. It has been placed to confront destination traffic as well as to push people either side to ‘notice’ other products we have in-store.

Adjacencies are everything in retail. Get them right and basket depth grows.

Time spent thinking about product adjacencies and destination traffic disruption can pay terrific dividends for us in our retail businesses. If you look at the photo you can see the cul-de-sac we have purposefully created for the shopper. It is working a treat.

Putting adult colouring titles in is okay. Do9ing so with thought to maximise the opportunity is vital given the competitive marketplace.

We make our own success and earn our own failure.

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retail
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