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newsagents

Marketing tip: How to run a MY FAVOURITE MAGAZINE promotion

The range of magazines available in newsagencies is the one point of difference all newsagents in Australia share.  While there are other points of difference in individual newsagencies, magazine range is the one national point of difference.

Despite the challenges with the magazine distribution model, the migration of some print traffic to digital devices and other challenges around the print model I am confident that magazines will continue to play an important role in newsagency businesses for at least some years yet.  This is why I am always looking for and thinking about different ways to promote magazines in my newsagencies.

So, to my marketing tip for today, why not run a magazine focused shopper engagement promotion in your  newsagency…

MY FAVOURITE MAGAZINE

I see this as a very simple yet engaging in-store promotion.  It is unlike anything you would or could see in any other magazine outlet.  It is too customer engaging and too local to be of interest to supermarket, petrol and convenience outlets.

No, this promotion is designed for people who think about the magazines, people who have a relationship with the titles they purchase.

The idea is to engage with your shoppers about the magazines they like and through this to attract more shoppers to engage.  The subtle narrative I would hope for from such a promotion is: what a wonderful range of magazine titles there is in this newsagency and what a passionate group of regular and local shoppers who love these titles.  That has to be the goal for the more shoppers who realise the range and who connect with a regular visit the better.

Here is how I see a MY FAVOURITE MAGAZINE promotion.

  1. Set aside a fixed time for the promotion: two weeks, a month.  You decide and stick to this period.
  2. Before you start, review your magazine department, make sure that the layout is fresh and easy to navigate.  Also make sure that each section is anchored around a good strong title for that niche. your magazine department needs to sparkle!
  3. Find a space near the front of the newsagency for a whiteboard or a wall of paper on which you can post customer entries / notes.
  4. Headline the promotion space: MY FAVOURITE MAGAZINE and note some simple rules like:  Tell us your favourite magazine and let others share your passion.  You could a $50 worth of current issue magazines of your choice. Get your most creative team member to make this space look professional.
  5. Work out your own prize package.  While I’d recommend it be free current issue magazines, you choose the value, the frequency of the prizes and how many.
  6. Create a A5 entry form where they write: the title of their favourite magazine, some notes about why it is their favourite magazine and their name.  On the back have them put their phone number for contact purposes – maybe an email address to build your email database.
  7. Kick off the promotion with entries from every employee and their family members.  I think that a white board or a wall with notes already will look more interesting.
  8. Let the local newspaper know.  It could be a photo opportunity for them.
  9. Get your team to hand entries to every shopper … drive engagement from the counter out. This is not something o do just once, do it through the week to engage with difference shoppers you see.
  10. Offer pens for shoppers to fill the entries in then and there at the counter.  Encourage this with your team.
  11. Send entry forms out with you customer accounts, with a note explaining the competition.
  12. Keep a running total of the top five magazines by popularity of entries.  maybe augment this with a list of the top five selling titles.  This is where a white board can help as you can change it daily – butcher’s paper is just as good.
  13. Encourage your team to hand out entry forms to browsers, yes even those who browse and never purchase. Who knows, getting out onto the shop floor and into the magazine department may lead to engagement which drives purchases.

That’s pretty much it.  As I said, this is a simple and local campaign designed to show off an important point of difference between your newsagency and other non-newsagency magazine outlets nearby.

I have not run this promotion as described.  It’s only something I have thought about in this format this week. I have run promotions where customers vote and others where we focus on top sellers in categories – but nothing like this where customer opinion and feedback for the magazine titles about which they are passionate is so vital.

If you try this marketing tip please share with us your experiences.  Also, let your magazine distributors and key publishers know.

Magazines are vitally important to the newsagency channel.  The value we harvest is up to us.  Local engagement around our point of difference is vital over the next couple of years.

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magazines

Christmas theft advice for newsagents

I first published this advice to the 1,700+ newsagents using the newsagency software from Tower Systems a few weeks ago.  I publish it here because of  the concerning number of recent thefts in newsagencies.

With sales up and cash in the business up, Christmas time is the time for newsagents to be more vigilant than ever in managing cash. From taking care at the counter in customer interaction to ensuring honesty of employees, now is the time to revisit processes to ensure that the business is protected.

  1. Use employee initials or codes for each sale. Yes, this adds time to each sale. The benefits far outweigh the time cost.
  2. Require that the amount tendered be entered for each sale.
  3. Run refresher training on handling giving change to customers.
  4. Remind your team about counterfeit notes.  (See my blog post yesterday on this.)
  5. Give out receipts for all sales over, say, $5.00.  This helps you avoid disputes down the track if someone asks for a refund.
  6. Be on the lookout for over the counter scams by customers – scams around change given or getting free mobile phone credit.
  7. Take a zero tolerance approach to end of shift balancing.  All too often I see newsagents turn a blind eye to cash being out by $50 or even $100.  Good Point of Sale technology when used properly can help you drive zero tolerance.
  8. Do spot cash balancing during the day, at random times.
  9. Use stock control for high at-risk items such as cigarettes. This will quickly identify a theft problem. Indeed, you should use full stock control for all stock items.  Ideally, you will use stock control for everything.  Not managing stock on had in an invitation to be ripped off.  No excuses.
  10. Talk to Tower Systems about theft check options within our Point of Sale software and the FREE Theft Check Service for newsagents.

Yes, some of these measures take time. The financial saving from greater vigilance to the business could be considerable. Christmas in retail is a time of higher than usual risk.

Take care. If I can help in any way, please contact me.

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Newsagency management

Julian Assange to help sell Time magazine

assange-time.JPGThe Julian Assange cover of Time magazine presents newsagents with a perfect opportunity to achieve excellent incremental business with this title.   We have it placed prominently with newspapers.  His arrest in London and the controversy around the WikiLeaks have ensured that Assange is easily recognised.  This is another example of the attention we need to give to magazine covers.  Covers like this one on Time magazine can drive sales.

Other retailers of magazines are unlikely to be tactical in placement based on a cover.  This is another way we can demonstrate our point of difference.

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magazines

Retail turnaround tips for newsagents experiencing flat sales

Reading the comments at my recent post on flat retail sales got me thinking about practical ways newsagents could turnaround their retail businesses. I have put together a few ideas below which are a mix of basic business advice and out there crazy ideas. They are offered as thought starters.

If your newsagency sales are flat and you are doing the same things today that you have been doing for the last year it is not good enough.

Business will not come to you. You have to go out and find it – often through a series of small steps as opposed to a big bold move. You have to obsess about presenting a compelling offer to everyone walking through your door.

Different businesses are approaching the tough retail conditions differently. Take Myer. I heard CEO Bernie Brooks speaking the other day and he made it clear that they remain committed to their discount policy for now. Price appears to be working for them as a point of difference and while they don’t see it as ideal, that it is working in a tough market sees them sticking to is.

Price is not a point of difference option to newsagents – not across the board at least. Australian consumers expect us to be expensive. That has been shown in plenty of consumer surveys. Railing against this is a challenge. We can do this for some categories and at seasons but not across the board. Ink is a terrific example where we can promote on price – it is a key driver of the success we are having with that.

Other retailers focus on a unique range as their point of difference. The mix requirements of our shingle make that a challenge.

Here are some tips for newsagents on responding to flat sales:

  • Refresh the counter. Most newsagency counters look the same today as they did a year ago and beyond. Create something different and fresh. Take everything off and rebuild the counter with the purpose of selling product on impulse. Make strategic choices. Develop a plan for moving products through the counter – it may be a magazine next to a register this week, a candy bay next week and some cheap pads the week after. Have an impulse offer at every high traffic touchpoint. Once you have created what you think is a better and more business focused counter, look at it critically as a customer would. Is it the best you can offer? Monitor your results. If the changes have not drives a sales lift, do it all again.
  • Refresh the window. Look at your shop from across the street or the mall. What do passers-by see? What are you selling? What is compelling about your business form the window? If the answer is not obvious then take everything out and off the window and create a compelling story which draws people to the business. Let people see why they should browse your shop. A full and busy window is all to often a barrier to the business.
  • Refresh the shop. Change change and change. Move departments and categories. Make the shop feel fresh to regular customers and to your team. Make strategic choices about what products go where. Use dump bins for specials. Place impulse products next to high traffic products. Once you have undertaken the big moves, create a plan for continual change each week. Change shows that the business is a, living and breathing thing. It can make the shop appealing to new visitors. Newsagents who don’ change their business reinforce that the model is a retail dinosaur.
  • Refresh the team. Let your team know than business is tough. Ask for their ideas. Take some time out of the business to relax over a meal or drink or some other social activity (mini golf, go kart racing, fishing, bushwalking) and share an adventure outside the business. Sometimes getting away like this can get creative juices flowing about changes which can be made back at the business.
  • Ask suppliers for help. If your business is slow it is likely that your suppliers are finding it slow too. Ask them for some good value deals – not the stock they can’t sell but the stock they have plenty of and which sells well. If you can get some of that for a good discount you can pass this on and offer good value impulse opportunities. Talk to suppliers about visual merchandising opportunities too. I know one newsagents who did a brilliant window display for shredders – thanks to supplier support. The store ways around security. He sold plenty. The supplier was thrilled. New traffic was generated. Ask suppliers for suggestions – they are a source of excellent ideas.
  • Lure customers back. Look at the top selling items in your newsagency. Create a strategy for getting these customers back. Create a small flyer offering a discount on something if they come back in, say, a couple of days. Do this for newspapers and or lottery tickets. Have a small flyer saying – As a valued customer come back within two days and you get 25% off a greeting card purchase. Make it look life a gift card or a coupon. It has to look like it has some value. Put the works THANK YOU across the top. Date stamp each one. Track how many you give out and how many come back. Newsagency point of sale software can automate this process of handing coupons with sales.
  • Create an event. Look at your magazine sales and in particular the segments which sell the best. Let’s say you sell plenty of craft magazines. Consider running a craft day when you get an expert on a craft topic and promote that you will have a free in-store demonstration. Local clubs are happy to provide an expert for free as they can recruit new members. I know of a newsagent who once gave over part of the shop to a model train club – they had over 100 people in. The flow on buzz was fantastic. Don’t run an event like this once. It could be quarterly with a different subject each time.
  • Get in the newspaper. Seek out ways to help local clubs and groups. It does not need to cost a lot. Support could be more practical than financial. Maybe the shop could become a hub on a local issue – a place where people can go to sign a petition on an important local issue. Get in the local paper and get known for your community connection.
  • Run an event. Have fun. Get the community involved. Create an event based on what you sell: a paper plane competition, a papier mache local attraction model competition, host a bake off from a cookbook you sell, run your own Project Runway event to find a local fashion designer or run a cute baby contest. Any idea which connects in some way to products you sell is fair game here.
  • Connect with the community. Go to community clubs and offer a discount to members and a rebate back to the club for business their marketing efforts on your behalf deliver. This is easy to setup and manage. The more people you have in the community saying to their friends that they should shop with you the better.
  • Ode to you. Run a competiton to find the best poem which reflects why your newsagency is important to the local community. Get the finalists in to read them live and get your customers to vote. Maybe the local newspaper will run the winner?
  • Crazy ideas. Think outside the norm. Nude day has been done so has the underpants idea where customers get a discount for shopping only wearing underwear.

Stop talking about it. Yes, retail is tough. Talking about will not improve your situation. Doing something is better than talk.

The ideas in this blog post are offered to get newsagents thinking of ideas which are appropriate to their businesses.  It would be easy to dismiss them and say there is nothing new there.  Maybe not.  But what are you doing about tough times in your newsagency?

Change is oxygen to any retail business regardless of its current sales health. Doing nothing in tough times will make the tough times tougher for you.

Personally, I am optimistic about the future for newsagents.  There are enough good operators who enjoy embracing change for the channel to have good prospects.

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Newsagency challenges

Refreshing Inkfast our online ink and toner offer

inkfast_ink_toner.jpgEarlier this week we launched a refreshed website for Inkfast, the online printer ink and toner business we started out the back of our newsagency four years ago.  We created Inkfast to capture printer ink and toner sales which we could not get in our newsagency, especially business and government sales.

Inkfast has performed well, attracting business across the country from single cartridge orders delivered to homes through to orders from government departments worth thousands of dollars.

I think that newsagents wanting to chase online business need to do so away from the shingle of a newsagency.  Whether we like it or not, the term newsagency has many preconceived opinions and biases around price, range and competitiveness attached to it.  People buying ink and toner online are looking for something different be it price, range, speed of delivery or delivery to the door convenience.

The online world is different and offering newsagency products and services online under a newsagency name will do little more than serve the existing newsagency customer base.  Sure, it is a feel good to be online but does it really drive incremental traffic.  I see little value in slicing existing traffic and reducing shop visits.

Going online is all about finding new customers who live and shop online and are unlikely to walk through your front door.  This is best achieved by running the online business separately from the bricks and mortar business.

If you research online businesses you see that strong brands have a value proposition different to what you see in the bricks and mortar world. The Inkfast value proposition is speed, it’s there in the name.  This is backed by our support for brand name product at highly competitive prices. Through Inkfast we have connected with customers we could never have reached from our newsagency.

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marketing

How much do newsagents spend on marketing?

I am curious about how much newsagents spend marketing their retail businesses outside their four walls on: advertising (newspaper, TV, outdoor), direct mail (catalogues), sponsorships (sporting and community groups) and in other promotions designed to promote the business outside the business.

I have always used 2% of revenue as a guide to marketing spend. By revenue I mean commission from lotteries, transport tickets, electronic voucher and agency lines plus sales for everything else – newspapers, magazines, stationery, books, calendars, diaries, ink etc.

Two newsagents I was talking with this week did not have a budget so we worked out the number. In calendar 2009 they spent under half of one percent of revenue on marketing. They were shocked when I suggested they quadruple this. They felt that being a newsagent should bring people in and that newsagent suppliers should do more to advertise newsagency businesses.

While I can understand the view that newsagents suppliers should promote the channel from a historical perspective, it is not appropriate today. Most of what we carry is in so many other retail channels that it is not appropriate to expect a supplier to promote us.

We need to market our businesses to bring people to us. This is best done in our local communities. All of what we spend in my newsagencies is designed to get people living and working near us to visit for seasonal, category and sale opportunities we promote.

We use a mix of direct mail, email and print advertising consistently throughout the year. This investment does bring in new customers. It also guides existing customers to spend more. The investment pays off.

While it is expensive to find a new customer, this is vital given the competition from other channels attracting shoppers to what we sell.

So, what do you spend as a percentage of revenue?

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Newspaper marketing

Powerball $80 million jackpot sales strong

We are finding that sales for the Powerball $80 million jackpot are strong already, especially for syndicates.  This is a change on the previous week where it took several days for the opportunity to kick in.  We are also finding that sales for the $20 million superdraw next Saturday and the $15 million OzLotto are good too.  This is, in part, due continuing to pitch these opportunities and not just focusing on the Powerball $80 million jackpot.

Newsagents and dedicated lottery outlets I have seen are demonstrating their value as a retail channel by actively promoting the Powerball jackpot.  7-eleven, however, is not from the stores I have seen.  That is good for newsagents.

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Lotteries
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