CTN Report 2012

WIN A £5,000 Shop MAkeover

FLEX YOUR RETAIL MUSCLE

STREngThEn YOUR COMMUnITY LInKS

BUILD THE SHOP YOU DESERVE

IS YOUR STORE FIT ENOUGH?YES

YES

YES

NO

NO

NO

ARE YOU MAKING THE BEST OF PRO-MOTIONS?

ARE YOU USING YOUR SPACE EFFECTIVELY?

BUSINESS DIAGNOSTIC

PRITI PATELWhY CTNs MATTer

OUR PANEL | THEIR IDEAS | YOUR CTN PLAN

WhAT YoUrCUSToMerS reALLY ThINk

oF YoU

ShOP FOR ALL SEASOnS

Shop HealthShop HealthDECEMBER 2012 YOUR GUIDE TO CTN SUCCESS

DECEMBER 2012 SHOP HEALTH 2

CONTENTSON THE COVER

48 WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS REALLY THINK OF YOUWe commissioned in-depth research among 1000 shoppers across the UK.

24 MP PRITI PATEL’S WHY CTNs MATTERWe spoke to the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Small Shops.

55 WIN A £5,000 SHOP MAKEOVERHow would you invest £5,000 in your store’s refurbishment and why? Palmer and Harvey is offering a refurbishment package worth £5,000 to the retailer who gives us the best answer.

12 FLEX YOUR RETAIL MUSCLEFind out how to add bulk to your bottom line.

34 STRENGTHEN YOUR COMMUNITY LINKSHow to turn your neighbours into loyal customers.

22 BUSINESS DIAGNOSTICTake our quiz to find out how your shop is performing.

COVER MODEL BY KOIS MIAH

Alistair Woodroffe owns Woodies, a Supershop in West Sussex

DECEMBER 2012 SHOP HEALTH 1DECEMBER 2012 SHOP HEALTH 1

2012

A FITTER SHOP. A HEALTHIER BOTTOM LINE. A HAPPIER LOCAL COMMUNITY.

COMMUNITY

RESPONSIBLE RETAILING

We look at what being a responsible part of the community involves – including age restrictions

42

BEING A COMMUNITY RETAILER

Why your local community matters and what you can do to help

34

CRIME & ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

Don’t take crime, threats and vandalism sitting down

NEWS TRADE

IN THE NEWS

Making the most of a sector under pressure

28

BRINGING IT HOME

The value of home news delivery – the service that major retailers can’t provide

30

BUILD A BETTER NEWS OFFERING

Top tips on how to make your newspapers and magazines stand out

32

EXPERTS

CHRIS’S COMMENTARYPalmer and Harvey chief executive Chris Etherington offers his thoughts on the CTN sector

03

PRITI PATEL Q&A

We asked the questions. Priti Patel MP, champion of local shops, gave us the answers

24

RETAILER ROUNDTABLE

We brought six shop owners together to talk about the sector. Find out what they had to say

50

SHOP

BUILDING A HEALTHIER SHOP

Expert advice on using space, ranging, promotions and seasonal trends

12

YOUR SHOP HEALTH CHECKLIST

Areas to look at in the short, medium and long term

AN INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

What are the challenges and opportunities for CTNs?

06

RESEARCH

WHAT SHOPPERS THINK

We commissioned research among 1000 consumers. See what the UK buying public thinks of local shops

48

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

What you can do legally to deal with antisocial behaviour

43

WHAT SHOP OWNERS THINK

We surveyed 400 shop owners just like you. See what worries them and how they work

THROUGHOUT22 44

Exclusive discounts and promotions, the best advice and news category support plus easy ordering and free delivery.

Talk to us about joining the exclusive club for retail newsagents.

Call 08448 112345 today to find out more

3 SHOP HEALTH DECEMBER 2012 DECEMBER 2012 SHOP HEALTH 3

FOREWORD

Like most of us, I have fond child-hood memories of my local paper shop; buying penny sweets as a child and eagerly awaiting the de-livery of my weekly Beano. Back then these were also the only shops open on a Sunday.

Today you still provide a vital and much-needed service to your communities. There are currently around three and half thousand newsagents in the UK, seventy per-cent of which are independents. You’re a key part of your local com-munity, with the average newsa-gent customer visiting their local shop more than three times a week and over half of customers living within a quarter-mile1.

That makes you, without doubt, the heartbeat of your community. So much so that 70% of people think newsagents should be of-fered protection to compete fairly against larger shops. When times are tough, retailers like you are a vital part of the economic health of neighbourhoods across the nation.

Newsagents like yours can be high-ly lucrative and a valuable starting point for many entrepreneurs (the average independent newsagent can earn £27,000 in profit a year from their news section). You are also some of the hardest-working people in the UK. Three-quarters of you work 9-15 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Palmer and Harvey started out almost a century ago selling to-bacco and confectionery to retail-ers. These categories have been at the heart of our business since then, just like they’re at the heart of yours.

We’ve been hearing from our 55,000 independent customers that

many of you are facing some pretty stiff challenges right now. So we felt that the time was right to offer some heavyweight practical advice on boosting your bottom line and planning for the future.

In writing this report we spoke to 1,000 shoppers who told us what they liked, didn’t like and what they wanted to see more of from their local newsagent. They loved how friendly you are. Over half of shoppers interviewed rate their lo-cal shop’s friendliness as 80% or higher. However, they wanted to see more promotions and a wider range.

Inside, some of the best retailers explain the most successful ini-tiatives they’ve put in place to build their businesses.

We also spoke with more than 500 retailers and a key worry for most were issues around the law, crime and vandalism, so we have an in-depth feature explaining what you can and can’t do in regards to CCTV, pilfering and stopping sus-pected thieves.

Right now we feel that the newsa-gent sector, its importance, hard work and essential nature, is un-dervalued and under-recognised. We’re working to change this. There are some high-profile cham-pions of the newsagent sector, and one of them, Priti Patel MP, is in-terviewed in this report. She knows from personal experience, growing up in a family of small shopkeep-ers, how much effort goes into keeping open for business.

From the smallest rail station kiosk to the shop expanding into a con-venience store, newsagents are the heart of our economy. Let’s keep it beating.

A NATIoN oF ShopkeeperS

When times are tough, retailers like you are a vital part of the economic health of towns, villages and suburbs across the nation.Chris Etherington Chief Executive Palmer and Harvey

“

“

1 Source: Him! CTN Tracking 2012

Call today: 0114 268 8200

Now stocking...

Confectionery, medicines & cereal barsCrisps, snacks, biscuits & cakes

MORE PROFITDELIVERED DIRECT

TO YOUR DOOR

3 Top brands at C&C pricing

3 Regular visits to your store

3 Free product merchandising

3 Free stands and display equipment

3 Exclusive promotions

DECEMBER 2012 SHOP HEALTH 5DECEMBER 2012 SHOP HEALTH 5

EXPERTShop HealthShop Health

DEC12WE’VE COLLECTED THE LEADING VOICES IN THE CTN SECTOR TO ADVISE YOU ON HOW TO MAKE YOUR SHOPS MORE PROFITABLE

TONY STARTCommercial director, WS Retail

Tony has over 30 years in retail under his belt, working for com-panies such as Martin McColl, Balfour Convenience Stores and Spar. What he doesn’t know about convenience retail prob-ably isn’t worth knowing.

PRITI PATEL, MPMember of Parliament for Witham

Priti Patel’s parents have run a number of small businesses around the South East of Eng-land. She brings that experi-ence to her work in Parliament, especially as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Small Shops.

MARTYN WARDSales and commercial director, Palmer and Harvey

His career at businesses like SSL International, Alliance Unichem and Kellogg’s has given Martyn a wealth of ex-perience and understanding of what products sell, why they sell and how retailers can sell more of them.

BRIAN MURPHYNews product manager,NFRN

As part of the CTN sector’s in-dustry body, Brian knows the issues facing newsagents in-side and out: how they can take advantage of their unique role within communities, the con-tinuing importance of home news delivery (HND), and how to make shops more inviting to shoppers.

NOEL ROBINSON Managing director, Sweetdirect

Heading up the confectionery arm of Palmer and Harvey’s fast-growing van sales teams gives Noel unparalleled in-sight into what newsagents can do to boost sales and profits: what’s selling and why, how to leverage seasonal periods like Christmas and Easter and the currently untapped goldmine of sales promotions.

JAMES LOWMANChief executive, Association of Convenience Stores (ACS)

The ACS offers a wealth of advice and guidance to local shops and James is at the fore-front of its work lobbying on behalf of the sector. The ACS helps retailers through its de-tailed research and expert un-derstanding of issues such as community, supplier relations and business development.

COLIN MULLINSManaging director, FORE

FORE works with Palmer and Harvey on Supershop, provid-ing newspapers and magazines as well as expert guidance on how to make the most of them through planograms, promo-tions and home news delivery. Colin has 40 years’ experience in retail, 25 of them with Martin McColl.

RETAILERS LIKE YOU Independent CTN shop owners

We brought together a forum of shop owners to talk about the issues facing their businesses, their current concerns and the latest trends in retail. You’ll find their thoughts throughout this report.

6 SHOP HEALTH DECEMBER 2012

A SECTOR UNDER PRESSURETo survive and thrive you need to understand and pursue some of the key opportunities available.

It’s an uncertain time to be running a newsagent. There are fewer shoppers on Brit-ain’s high streets (footfall is down 2.3% from last year2), the big retail chains are of-fering cheaper alternatives to many key product lines and The Guardian’s research re-cently showed that around 10 independent newsagents go out of business every week. In addition, almost one in six shops in town centres stands

vacant, the highest recorded level3. All in all, it’s not ex-actly an ideal business envi-ronment.

You told us what worried you most about the future. Num-ber one was competition from the major retailers, fol-lowed by declining newspa-per and magazine sales and the upcoming tobacco legis-lation.

Even the standard industry term ‘CTN’, for Confectioner, Tobacconist & Newsagent, may not be appropriate any more. It highlights the three core categories that have traditionally been the corner-stone of the sector, but all of them are now under increas-ing pressure. The other common term, ‘newsagent’, faces the same challenges – with news sales declining, will it still be the

core business of your shop in ten years’ time?

The OpportunitiesTimes may be tough, but it’s certainly not all doom and gloom. The consumer trend for shopping little and often and the continuingly high price for petrol means smaller local shops are in a prime position to take busi-ness away from larger out-


Protecting The Local ShopBy forming links with your local community, you can ensure your neighbours become your most fervent supporters. In fact our sur-vey found that 90% of shop-pers thought having a local newsagent was important, and two-thirds thought so because of the sense of com-munity it gives an area.

MPs and communities regu-larly call for their local shops to be protected, especially in small towns and villages. Our research showed 80% of people want their local shop to remain independent and different as opposed to act-ing like a bigger chain store. As a local business owner you need to make sure you have the support of your community. Practical advice on how to showcase your lo-cal credentials is on page 36.

Tobacco

The display ban in England and Wales means that larger stores (such as supermar-kets) must keep tobacco products concealed from public view at point of sale. However, the law does not apply to smaller shops until 2015, which gives you a win-dow to build shop loyalty and boost sales before you also have to ‘go dark’.

Tobacco remains a key money spinner, responsible for over half of total sales in some shops. And so it is important to follow these five rules:

1. Excellent availability 2. The right ranging 3. Keen pricing 4. Speedy NPD 5. A well-organised gantry.

Promotions Our research shows over half of shoppers (55%) would buy more if there were more pro-motions in store. Unlike con-venience stores, newsagents rarely make the most of sales promotions. It’s worth bear-ing in mind that confection-ery, the paper shop staple, is the most commonly bought promotional item4. Practical advice on promotions is on page 17.

Confectionery and Impulse PurchasesThe confectionery category in independent stores is un-der pressure from heavy ma-jor retailer discounting, but there are still ways to make sure you are getting it right:

1. Make sure you are stock-ing the key lines – 80% of your sales come from 20% of your lines. In con-fectionery, the bigger the brand the better.

2. Multi-face your best-sell-ers. This can increase your sales by 23%.

3. Multi-buy offers are a great sales up-lifter and are a strong preference for the impulse shopper.

4. 70% of confectionery is bought on impulse, so therefore it is vital to get your display right. Follow planograms – make sure the best-sellers are in the middle of the fourth shelf up, on a five shelf unit.

In addition, related impulse-buying categories such as National Lottery, coffee, food-to-go, soft drinks and snacks are on the rise and these could be bigger con-tributors to your revenue. We’ll look at this in more de-tail on page 18.

ServicePerhaps the biggest oppor-tunity for newsagents is the personal touch. When we asked consumers what local newsagents did better than major retailers, they told us it was the service: “My local newsagent is a proper busi-ness, not a faceless giant, and they care about their customers”. Harnessing this positivity about your busi-ness is a strong way to create a point of difference to the multiples.

2Source: BRC/Springboard Footfall and Vacancies Monitor May/July 20123Source: The Local Data Company4Source: Him! CTP Tracking Programme, Spring 2012

A SECTOR UNDER PRESSURE

of-town-stores. The govern-ment are also on your side and are investigating ways to help out retailers like you. The Mary Portas Review was a prime example of this. It’s important to remember that 1 in 3 shoppers still buy a newspaper, and that is a lot of potential customers. To survive and thrive you need to understand and pursue some of the key opportuni-ties available:

YOUR BIGGEST CONCERNS

DECLINING NEWSPAPER &

MAGAZINE SALES

19%COMPETITION FROM MAJOR RETAILERS

42%UPCOMING TOBACCO

LEGISLATION

16%

Source: Palmer and Harvey / Him! – Shop Health 2012


The core categories of the CTN sector, confectionery, tobacco and news, are all in a state of flux.

Meanwhile, regional newspapers have been hit even harder. According to the Audited Bureau of Circulation (ABC), all but four of the major paid-for regional dailies saw their cir-culations fall between the period 2010 and 2011.

Many papers that once were daily have become weekly or even monthly in an effort to arrest the decline and many magazines have fared little better: ABC data shows that, for example, overall sales in the women’s weekly sector fell 11% year on year in the first half of 2012.

DEALING WITH THE DECLINE

“We’ve still got loyal customers coming in every day to buy their papers. The

news category is down, but it’s certainly not out for the count.”

Geoff Turner, Londis, hemingborough

Source: ONS/ABC circulation data, as quoted in Sixty Years of Daily Newspaper Circulation Trends

TOTAL NATIONAL DAILY / NATIONAL SUNDAY NEWSPAPER PAID CIRCULATION,

GREAT BRITAIN, 1950-2010

There are still considerable opportunities with the first two, but there is also little doubt that the print sector is under the most pressure. The way people consume me-dia is changing, thanks primarily to the growth of online news sources, and newspaper circulations across the board have felt the impact:

1950

21m

2010

10m

DAILY NeWSpAperS

SUNDAYNeWSpAperS

31m

1950

10m

2010


HOW WOULD YOU RANK THESE ISSUES/CHALLENGES IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE?

DECLINING NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE SALES

19%COMPETITION

FROM SUPERMARKETS

42%UPCOMING TOBACCO

LEGISLATION

16%

ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

2%WHO WILL TAKE OVER AFTER ME

3%NONE OF THE

ABOVE

18%


A SECTOR UNDER PRESSURE

How do you define a news-agent as opposed to a con-venience store or a kiosk?

The dictionary – “A person or a shop selling newspa-pers and magazines.”

The IGD – “If the range in a store exceeds seven of a group of fifteen food and grocery categories, then

by IGD’s market definition, it would classify as a con-venience store rather than a CTN.”

retailers – “The name CTN means nothing to anyone any more. When you have a shop sign or name above your door, that is how you are identified.”

NFrN – “CTNs and newsa-gents focus primarily on newspapers and maga-zines. Once they move into food and alcohol they’re more likely to be consid-ered convenience stores, irrespective of size.”

ACS – “We define a con-venience store as being un-der 3000 sq ft and stocking

eight out of 15 categories. By that definition, a CTN would stock fewer than 8 categories, which would include confectionery, to-bacco, news and maga-zines, and be smaller than the average convenience store.”

WHAT IS A CTN?

DEALING WITH THE DECLINEThe core categories of the CTN sector, confectionery, tobacco and news, are all in a state of flux.


Clive and Angela offer a very personal service as the shop is located in a village. Every single customer is greeted welcomingly and politely by name and they try to have papers and products ready and waiting for them from behind the counter. They know that the reason cus-tomers pop in day in, day out is because not only does the shop have what they need at a fair price, it also really goes the extra mile in customer service.

Their key competitor is a Co-op a quarter of a mile up the road. Clive and Angela have gone in to see what they do and how they do it – and one thing that really stood out is how Yatton News’ commit-ment to its customers is very different. They have worked really hard to establish a rapport with their customers and this has paid dividends when it comes to loyalty.

In the short term, Clive and

Angela are continuing to reg-ularly review their range and make adjustments as they also know that demonstrat-ing value is key for their cus-tomer base. They’ve upped the number of promotions being run and have them across two sites in the store. They have also increased the number of price marked packs on shelf and select promotions that are com-petitive against the multi-ples. It’s essential that these feature the big-name brands as that underlines the val-ue they offer to customers. Right now, promotions are where the sales growth is.

Longer term, they’ve hired an apprentice and one of the key parts of his NVQ will be liaising with the sales busi-ness manager from Mace to grow categories and develop the business overall. He will be looking at key footfall-driving categories and will be looking to see what cat-egories the shop needs to

expand, along with research-ing additional categories and services they could install, from food-to-go to an ex-panded chilled offer. The shop isn’t massive, so Clive and Angela have to be sure that they’re getting maxi-mum sales per square foot.

Mostly they use planograms, but as they have excellent relationships with their cus-tomers, if there’s local de-mand or customer requests, Clive and Angela will order different items in.

Last year they re-imaged the store, putting up the new Mace POS and graph-ics. They also worked closely with the Palmer and Harvey team, looking at the shop as a whole and increasing the number of promotions that they offer. By doing all this they’ve achieved a 12% year-on-year growth.

CLIve & ANGeLA MorTIMerYatton News, Yatton, Bristol

OFFERING A BETTER SERVICE

every single customer is greeted welcomingly and politely by name.

“

”


CASE STUDY



WHAT MAKES UP AN AVERAGE CTN’S TOTAL SALES?

TOBACCO

22%NEWSPAPERS &

MAGAZINES

27%SOFT DRINKS13%

CONFECTIONERY13%


STRENGTHEN YOUR PROFITS


35% of people said they would buy more if there were additional items on sale in their local newsagent. That could mean adding services such as seasonal items, basic gro-ceries, a bigger confectionery counter or of-fering other distress purchases such as bat-teries and over-the-counter medicines.

Many newsagents are already looking to diversify and are becoming a CTN or mini-convenience store. Lots now offer a cash ma-chine, parcel drop-off services, or a broader alcohol and/or food-to-go offer. As James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), notes: “An alcohol licence is usually the cusp point between a newsagent and the ‘CTN+’ model, which is basically a small convenience store.”

Vance Potter makes his cash machine work for him by using it to bank his takings instead of forking out for a business account. He puts money from the till in the machine and his customers withdraw without a charge. It saves him money and is a great footfall driver into his store. 34% of people say being charged to use a cash machine is their big-gest frustration with newsagents.

What services you offer will depend on your customers. It is important to speak to them and find out what they want. 77% of retail-ers said they conducted research with their customers within the past year – this is an invaluable source of information.

For some locations, home news delivery (HND) is a unique selling point that can be leveraged. 53% of the people we surveyed were keen to see their newsagent delivering

more than news, for example internet pack-ages and basic groceries. Some people we asked even suggested delivering fruit and veg boxes or local produce. One person said: “I would happily pay £10 a week for reliable dai-ly delivery by 9am of newspapers, cigarettes, and other groceries by order”.

It makes sense to look at other ways to make money from your store – and that means making the best use of every square inch of space, every relevant category and every re-tail trick in the book.

RETAILER ADVICE

STRENGTHEN YOUR PROFITS

“Times are hard right now and things are very different. I think the reason we are still here after 28 years is because

we’ve read the market, adapted and moved along.”

Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

Increasingly, it seems a healthier bottom line comes from bulking up your offer. With the traditional categories under pressure, news most of all, it’s time to have a long look at your business and see where you can add more value.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO COMPETE WITH SHOPS LOCALLY?

BETTER PRICES20%

MORE DEALS AND PROMOTIONS

15%



It is important not to overuse and overstock. Filling every available inch of space will not increase your profits. Instead, you should ensure there is easy access throughout the store and that your key categories are vis-ible (for more on what your key categories are, see below).

Similarly, front doors and front-age windows may be cluttered with cards, posters and adverts to the point where no-one can see inside at your special offer stands and promotional items. A more pared-down approach will actually be a lot healthier for your bottom line in the long run.

So what should you show and what should you hide away? Again, knowing your customers is the key. Use industry materi-als, suppliers and your own re-search to ensure you know what will drive people into your store.

In addition, many newsagents pride themselves on offering as wide a range of magazines as possible – but do you need to provide so many? It’s a balanc-ing act, as James Lowman of the ACS knows: “The ability of CTNs to offer more categories usually comes at the expense of space for magazines. However, many customers visit a newsa-gent explicitly for the wide range of titles.” Later on we’ll look into this issue in more detail.

A chilled cabinet could be a good investment. Soft drinks, food-to-go or staples such as milk and bread can be highly profitable.

MAXIMISE YOUR SPACEMost newsagents are under 1,000 sq ft, so using space cleverly is more vital than it is for bigger stores. However, the first lesson for every store owner is that ‘making the most of your available space’ doesn’t mean filling it up with merchandise.

kNoW YoUr proFIT MArGIN

CoFFee-To-Go 75%

GINSTerS ChICkeN AND MUShrooM SLICe 40%

ANADIN eXTrA 30%

BLoSSoM hILL WhITe ZINFANDeL 30%

poT NooDLe ChICkeN & MUShrooM price marked £1.09 28%

BISTo GrAvY GrANULeS BeeF price Marked £1.29 27%

BANANAS 26%

heINekeN Beer 26%

TATe & LYLe GrANULATeD SUGAr 1kG 23%

FeLIX poUCh TUNA 21%

pG TeA BAGS price Marked £2.35 18%

LAMBerT & BUTLer 6%

Source: Palmer and Harvey November 2012 based on RRP


RETAILER ADVICE

WHAT RANGE IS RIGHT FOR YOU?Smallest shops (kiosks/up to 300 sq ft)In a store no bigger than the average bedroom, every inch counts. You need to stock the top twenty items in each cat-egory – the key ones being confectionery, tobacco, news & magazines and soft drinks. A small chiller to hold your drinks is essential.

Tobacco products are usually among the biggest sellers in smaller shops, so be sure to know which brands and sizes are the best for your region and demographic. The trick is finding the balance between responding to your customers’ needs and stock-ing slow-selling products because one loyal customer buys it.

Larger shops (300 sq ft plus)As your shop grows in size,

so does the number of cat-egories you could stock. Those that should take pri-ority depend on your local demographic. To understand your local demographic you should look at other neigh-bouring retailers and gather feedback from your custom-ers. Other ways to under-stand your demographic: • Are you close to schools?

If yes, you should give as much space to kids’ con-fectionery lines as to adult lines. Food-to-go is a big growth area in shops near schools. Tony Start, com-mercial director at WS Retail, says: “Sausage rolls, doughnuts and Cor-nish pasties will sell be-fore school, at lunch time and after school and have a huge profit margin. A good range of snacks is also important: for exam-ple, cheese strings, Dair-ylee Dunkers. Milk-based drinks are also popular

with school children. “In areas with lots of uni ver-sity or college students you need to range your tobacco gantry carefully. Students will buy cheaper cigarettes during the week but switch to branded ones at the weekend.”

• Are you near offices/busi-nesses? If yes, again food-to-go and meal deals are key but this time, add a hot drinks/coffee offer. Extra services such as a Post Office or cash machine are a great way to drive foot-fall into your store. Start continues: “If you are near an office, your biscuit and tea/coffee range should be expanded — people are prepared to pay more for a higher-end range if they are charging it back to work. Boxed tissues are another big seller near of-fices.”

• Are you in a residential

area? If yes, stock greet-ings cards (especially if you have older custom-ers), food-to-go, grocer-ies and meal elements (consider a frozen foods cabinet), alcohol, extra services as above.

Tony Start comments: “Once your store is between 750 to 1000 square foot you can turn it into a distress shop. You need to have a broad but shallow range. You should be stocking the same product categories that a supermar-ket does, but only the best sellers.

“Once your store is over 1000 square foot you can look at ways to add differentials, for example adding a range of meat from your local butch-ers, some old-fashioned sweets or adding in some own label items.”

Close to schools? • More confectionery lines• Groceries • Stationery• post-school snacks

In a residential area? • Greetings cards• Food-to-go• Groceries & meal

elements • Alcohol • post office or cash

machine

Near offices/businesses? • Greetings cards• Food-to-go & meal deals • hot drinks/coffee• post office or cash

machine


A typical catchment area (i.e. the area where a location can reasonably expect to attract local householders, work-ers and motorists to choose them rather than the compe-tition) is a radius of around 1.5km.

So, look for factors in that area that will drive custom-ers to your shop, such as:

• Density of population – is there a lot of housing or offices nearby?

• Local facilities – hotels, schools, hospitals and

other public buildings nearby can drive people into your store.

• Transport links – the prox-imity of motorways, dual carriageways, rivers, train stations, bus stops and the like can have an impact on your business, both good and bad.

• Seasonal trends – does your catchment area in-clude, for example, beach-es, caravan sites, popular holiday destinations or annual events and colleg-es? This can include be-ing on the route to these

areas as well as being within them. Independent retailers have the flexibil-ity to tweak their offering quickly if an event or sea-sonal trend develops, so make the most of them.

• Complementary retailers – high-quality restaurants, butchers or delicatessens near at hand could make your local area more pop-ular to shoppers.

This information can help you determine who your cus-tomers are, when they shop and what they need. That in

turn will help you make bet-ter decisions on your stock and could help you define unique selling points to make your shop stand out from the competition.

Lots of companies provide detailed catchment reports, but a basic report only really requires an internet connec-tion and Google Maps. You can fill in any gaps by walk-ing/driving around the lo-cal area and observing local shoppers and other retailers – or by talking with the ex-perts at Palmer and Harvey.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS


RETAILER ADVICE

Promotions and special of-fers are what your customers want to see more of. Sales promotions have historically not been used as effectively by newsagents as they have by supermarkets and con-venience stores.

A cardinal sin of the smaller shopkeeper is buying items on promotion but not pass-ing on the deal to their cus-tomers. Although it will bring in more money in the short term, it’s not a good long-term strategy.

This is why, as Noel Robin-son of Sweetdirect suggests, all promotions should be passed on: “It can be tempt-ing to keep the extra margin on promoted items, but it makes more sense to pass those savings on to custom-ers. It builds loyalty, instils trust and leads to greater sales and more profit in the long run. Done right, promo-tions are a game-changer.”

Promotions – and particular-ly price-marked packs – are basket builders: 44% of cus-tomers are more likely to buy an impulse item when it is a price-marked pack (PMP)5. In addition, 98% of custom-ers want PMPs, but only 58% of shops offer them6.

Tony Start says: “Promotions have two benefits: 1. to build sales volume and 2. to build value perception. When you are building sales volume you need to pick the right products to promote. You need something where con-sumption can grow – people

will eat more chocolate if it’s on offer but people will only ever need so much kitchen cleaner.

“Promotions will pay for themselves. An item in the top ten impulse lines on pro-motion can bring in a 400% uplift in sales. Building value perception is about being clever with your promotions. Having offers on some stand-out items will give the im-pression of value throughout the store.”

Given the growing trend of price comparison, PMPs can help by demonstrating com-petitive pricing – especially if you happen to be the same price on a particular item as the major retailer down the road. LinkSave and MultiBuy promotions also help drive footfall.

Your wholesalers can help- for example, Palmer and Harvey offers newsagents many promotions a month on key brands and lines and can also provide you with useful information on best-selling products so you have a better idea of what to stock.

“Until three years ago I hardly ever used to

do price marking at all because we used to

charge a premium, but now we have to.”

raj Ganatra, Sweet News, Luton

12 34 5

Top Five Crisps

12 34 5

Top Five Soft Drinks

12 34 5

Top Five Confectionery

UK BEST SELLERS

Source: Litmus

5Source: PepsiCo research, quoted in Retail Newsagent, June 2012 6Source: CCE research, quoted in Retail Newsagent, August 2012

PROMOTIONS AND SPECIAL OFFERS


HOTAround three-quarters (73%) of shop-pers now regularly buy food-to-go and will buy these items on average three times a week. These are often space-saving options (taking up less room than food materials) so can be an im-portant category.

The profits on food-to-go can also be motivating. For example, to buy a Fresh Express coffee machine will cost you £275 a month for three years, but makes 75% profit on each £1.50 cup. This means you only need to sell ten cups of coffee per day to break even.

GROWTH CATEGORIESAs noted earlier, the major growth categories for each newsagent depend largely on its local catchment area. We see three growth areas for CTNs – Hot, Fresh and Chilled.

FRESHEven the smallest shop can add some fresh produce. It should be used to bulk up your existing offer. Start simple — some fruit next to the sandwiches at lunchtime or some onion and mushrooms to go with pasta sauces, for example.

Often, fresh can also fulfil shoppers’ desire for local produce. IGD’s Shopper Trends 2011 report revealed that over recent years, shoppers have sought to support local economies and com-munities: more than half of shoppers claimed to purchase local products in order to support local producers, and a quarter to support local retailers.

Showcasing a few local products (as a whole range is often not feasible) can help to reinforce your credentials as a key part and supporter of the local com-munity – and the profit margin on local items averages around 40%.

CHILLEDA chiller can pay dividends in extra foot-fall. Adding foods like pizza, milk and chilled alcohol will bring a whole new set of customers into your store.

A chiller will also ensure you can offer chilled soft drinks. Despite the tough economic conditions, the UK soft drinks market registered 0.7% growth in vol-ume and 5.1% increase in value in 2011. The continuing growth of this market, plus food-to-go, underlines the value of the chiller cabinet to newsagents.

“You’d be surprised at the amount of local stuff you stock anyway,

such as fruit and veg. The way to make it really successful is ensure your customers know it came from

down the road.” Geoff Turner, Londis

hemingborough


RETAILER ADVICE

Take a leaf from the supermarkets’ book – make sure the point of sale area portrays the right image, both on and behind the till:

• High-value items such as alcohol and tobacco need to be kept in order, par-ticularly before the latter ‘goes dark’ in 2015 – maximise visibility to max-imise sales

• Medicines can be moved to front of counter, where visibility is improved but employees retain control. And

over-the-counter medicines are a real growth area

• National Lottery, payphone cards and other counter services should not take up so much room the employees find it difficult to serve customers

• It can be frustrating for customers when there is a delay in service be-cause the employee behind the coun-ter is on the phone. It’s much better when customers perceive the same professional environment as they’d find in a major retailer.

FIXTURES AND SHELVINGOn a related note, many newsagents make an effort to maximise space by storing product boxes on upper shelves and on top of freestanding units. It may be ‘out of sight, out of mind’ to employ-ees, but customers will notice and it can give a negative impression.

KEEP IT NEATSometimes the counter areas in newsagents and local shops are untidy and this can put people off. Keeping your store clean seems obvious, but 18% of consumers said they would shop more if their newsagent was cleaner.


A growing trend in convenience retail is day part services, where different items are on display depending on the time of day. You can adopt this approach to offer items that fit changing customer demand. For example:

The morning/pre-work period is particularly important for local shops as many customers will stop by on their way to work to pick up a newspaper or cigarettes. Due to news delivery, many shops will open early and should look to take advantage of their position as the early-morning stop-off.

A hot drinks/coffee machine, for example, is an excellent option to sit alongside newspapers and doesn’t have to take up much room as smaller units are availa-ble. As noted earlier, the margins on coffee are considerable and are worth exploiting.

“There’s a huge growth in the sandwich trade. I’m seeing

more people than ever buying sandwiches for dinner.”


DAY PART RETAILING

12

6

39

12

6

39

12

6

39

• Breakfast food-to-go items such as croissants

• Newspapers• Coffee• Lunchtime food-to-go

options (as takeaways)

8.30am

• Lunchtime food-to-go (sandwiches etc.)

• Soft drinks• Cakes • Snacks

12.00pm

• Dinner food-to-go • Alcohol• Soft drinks• Family-size snacks• Groceries

6.00pm


RETAILER ADVICE

Supermarkets negotiate unbeatable deals with suppliers to offer season-al items such as Easter eggs, tins of chocolates etc. at prices wholesal-ers are unable to match – e.g. 2 for £5 on tins of Quality Street. So don’t look to compete on this, but add appropriate sea-sonal confectionery items such as Creme Eggs and Mini Eggs at Easter – of-ten with relevant promo-tions and special offers. A countertop unit with novelty Christmas/Easter chocolates for under £1 can be a big seller. Look for the pack sizes that the major retailers aren’t currently offering.

Depending on your cus-tomer base, you could also consider offering Mother’s Day, Christ-mas and Valentine’s Day greetings cards. You can also roll out certain cate-gories at seasonal peaks, e.g. don’t sell flowers all year, but bring them out for Valentine’s Day.

However, there are a cou-ple of key seasonal cate-gories that can be highly profitable to newsagents – ice cream being the ob-vious one. Although it is now a year-round product (more than 30% of sales are made in winter), sales do increase dramatically in summer.

Tony Start says:”We have an area of our store turned over to seasonal items. During the sum-mer we have an ice-cream unit in it. In Oc-tober we turn it over to Halloween, then Bonfire Night, then Christmas, Valentine’s and finally Easter before it changes back to ice-cream. We make far more out of those seasonal ranges than we would on winter ice-cream sales.”

SEASONAL RETAIL TRENDSYour shop might have space constraints, but being small means you’re usually more flexible in your ability to change what’s on sale at short notice.

PALMER AND HARVEY’S ICE CREAM TOP TIPS

Let people know you are selling ice cream Site external point of sale items. Pavement signs, flags and branded bins are available for free. THEY WORK!

Make the cabinet easy to find Use an attractive cabinet which is placed in a high-traffic flow area, near to both the till and other impulse products

Draw attention to your cabinet Make your cabinet stand out. Use indoor point of sale items such as cabinet stickers, display boards and basket labels

Stock the best sellers Stock best-selling brands with a high rate of sale to make more profit

Stock ice cream all year round Don’t miss out! 30% of ice cream sales in the convenience channel are in winter, so stock winter ranges to maximise profits. Make sure you defrost, clean and stock up with the right range to keep your cabinet attractive

1

2

3

4

5


Think like a shopper – take a step back and look at your shop the way a customer would. Are you offering the things they want, or just the things you think they want?

GIVE YOUR SHOP A CHECK-UP FOR A HEALTHY BUSINESS

We’ve developed a quiz for newsagents, so you can make the most of your shop and keep your bottom line healthy:

SHORT TERM (next 3-6 months)

Is your shop clean?

Is it cluttered and untidy?

Are your employees friendly and helpful?

Is your pricing right – are your prices easily visible and consistent? It makes no sense for a can of Coke to cost more (or less) than a can of Cherry Coke!

Ranging – do you know what the best-sellers are, and are you stocking them?

Services – can shoppers easily tell from outside that you sell National Lottery tickets or have a coffee machine? Are your key services lost in a sea of posters, business cards and handwritten promotional materials?

Is your behind-the-counter area neat and tidy? Are products such as over-the-counter medicines, batteries, alcohol and tobacco clearly visible and sensibly arranged?

Do you know your customers’ habits and needs? If not, review your catchment area and discover who your shoppers are and what they want

Do you know what your competition is up to? Look at other newsagents, convenience stores, forecourt shops and supermarkets in the area – and take inspiration from the good things they’re doing

Have you reviewed your business plan? Palmer and Harvey can help you run through your product range and business model

MEDIUM TERM (6 months - 2 years)

Pricing and promotions – are you making enough of special offers and PMP?

Do you review your sales data to see what’s selling and what isn’t – and do you amend your stock orders accordingly? Analyse the profit on return – you might make more % profit on a sewing kit than a chocolate bar, but if you sell just five kits a year (as opposed to 1,500 bars) it’s not right for your business

Community services – could you do more to build links with your local community? (see page 34 for more on this)

New ranges and layouts – could you install a coffee machine, a bigger chilled cabinet and/or more food-to-go items? Would day part retailing work for your location?

New services – is there anything you could provide that you currently don’t, such as a Post Office, cash machine or local produce?

YES NOMostly Yes – You have a solid grasp on what makes your shop tick

Mostly no – You need expert guidance right now. You could be losing money because you’re not getting the basics right

YES NO

YES NO

HAVE YOU PLANNED FOR THE FUTURE?


RETAILER ADVICE

HAVE YOU PLANNED FOR THE FUTURE?

Are you making the most of your industry bodies? If you’re not already in touch with the NFRN (National Federation of Retail Newsagents) or the ACS, do so. They can offer expert guidance and put you in touch with other store owners who are facing the same issues

Review your business partners – are you getting the right services and prices from your suppliers?

LONG TERM (More than 2 years)

Design and layout – can you refurbish or refit your shop to make it stand out and appeal more to shoppers in your area?

New technology – services such as mobile payments are becoming more mainstream. Can you be ahead of the curve? Wave and pay, for example, is perfect for most small shops

Changing media consumption – do you have a plan to deal with declining newspaper and magazine sales?

“The shop was very sad and very tired. We were bringing in more lines so it was more

and more squashed, and people didn’t know everything we did as it was hidden in corners.

So two and a half years ago we did a full extension and refit: big new chiller at the end

of the shop and new upright freezer. It has been amazing.”

Christine Southern, Southern’s News, Maidstone

Running a successful retail business means under-standing the factors that affect your profits and bot-tom line. If you’ve answered “Yes” to most of these questions you’re on the right track and will reap the rewards.

If not, or if you’d like to speak with an acknowledged industry expert about any of these (or other) issues, please get in touch with Palmer and Harvey by [email protected]

Mostly Yes – Thumbs up for thinking ahead - just make sure you’re doing everything you can

Mostly no – Make time to sit down and think about what more you could (and should) be doing

Mostly Yes – Excellent - you’re planning for the future and well ahead of the curve

Mostly no – It’s not urgent, but these issues should be on your radar

YES NO

YES NO


Q&APriti Patel is the Conservative MP for Witham in Essex and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Small Shops. We asked her why the CTN sector is so important and what more the Government can do to help shop owners.

WITH PRITI PATEL



Q&A WITH PRITI PATEL

Its purpose is to highlight the concerns of the smaller retailer (as distinct from large multiples) and to draw attention to their social, as well as economic role. Our

members are passionate about small shops within their commu-nities and recognise how vital they are to the UK’s economy. We look at issues such as: the Portas Review, regulatory barriers and improving bank lending to small businesses.

We also host an annual Parliamentary ‘Best Small Shops’ Com-petition, where MPs nominate their best candidate from their constituencies. It helps to engage MPs with retailers in their com-munities and encourages them to consider the interests of the independent retail sector. The next competition will take place in early 2013.

What does the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Small Shops actually do?Q:

A:

I would like to see the Government do more to cut the type of red tape that small shopkeepers face.

Small shops have been in my family for over forty years. I have spent a considerable part of my life living above small shops, ranging from newsagents to Post

Offices and convenience stores. Going to cash and carry after school with my father, stacking shelves, marking up newspaper rounds and serving customers were all a part of everyday life for me, so I know about the long hours and the commitment required to run a shop. I am also aware of some of the difficulties associ-ated with running small shops.

Why do you care about newsagents and local shops?Q:

A:

Business rates, the costs of running a shop and regu-lation are major issues for newsagents today. I would like to see the Government do more to cut the type

of red tape that small shopkeepers face. To add to the problems faced by our shopkeepers, local authorities can often be unhelp-ful, adding high-handed bureaucracy when it comes to issues such as: displaying signs, planning consent, local parking issues and litter.

The other long-standing issue is the stranglehold of Smiths and Menzies over newspaper distribution. The pressure they exert is felt much more keenly by small independent shops – retailers who lack the influence and buying power of the multiples. The newspaper market may have been in decline for a considerable period of time, however people still want to come into shops to buy newspapers and other goods, so we need more distributors to increase competition and offer more choice. I am sure that news-

What do you see as the biggest issues facing newsagents today?Q:

A:

Crime against retailers is both frightening and appall-ing. I am always horrified when I read news reports about shopkeepers being attacked. If the police were

empowered to concentrate on crime prevention and detection, some of the appalling cases we have heard about could have been avoided. Every newly elected Police Commissioner should make community policing a priority with a clear understanding of their local retail areas, the specific needs of shops in their area and the issues associated with those communities our small shops serve. Over the years, my family has experienced burglaries and intimidating behaviour, both of which are unacceptable. If we had genuine police engagement, rather than the police just being called out to respond to cases, this would help greatly, along with a criminal justice system that sends out an unequivocal message that crime does not pay and that those who commit crimes will be punished.

What more can be done about crime against retailers?Q:

A:

Importantly Parliament and politicians need to under-stand what makes small retailers tick as well as the challenges and issues faced by small retailers. We

tend to generalise far too much, but having a good understanding as to how a small shop runs, from the associated supply chain to cash flow, to the way a shop is set up, would enable Parliament to be far more effective in calling for the right measures and policies to lead to a pro-business environment and help existing shops as well as encouraging more people to open new ones. Hundreds of independent CTNs and convenience stores are closing every year and we have to reverse this trend immediately – these retailers are far too important to their local communities – and to the UK economy — to let them just disappear.

What can Parliament do to help small retailers?Q:

A:

Counting money and doing the banking with my father, and, of course, eating the sweets!

What’s your best memory of working in a small shop?Q:

A:

agents across the country have experienced problems with their suppliers and had no other option than to put up with the delays in delivering papers, the wrong numbers of papers and magazines being brought in and billing errors which take too long to resolve.


AND NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS...

Newspapers are not like any other product: you can’t sell your over-orders the next day, like you would with an excess box of Wispas, and the window for delivery and sale is incredibly nar-row. Most customers want their paper first thing in the morning, which means daily deliveries at 5.00am rather than the weekly delivery you might have for products such as confectionery, soft drinks and food-to-go.

Add to that the challenges that come with home news delivery (HND), carriage charges and ranging, and it’s no wonder the news sector is feeling the pinch. And yet, the products have fixed cover prices so you can compete against the big retail chains, and newspapers/magazines remain a major source of turnover for all newsagents – up to half in some cases.

The fundamental shift in how people get their news, with consumers going online and to social media sites instead of to a printed newspaper, is the primary force behind this decline – which is even more pronounced for regional newspapers. Unfortunately, it has also led to a drastic fall in the number of wholesalers that provide newspapers and magazines. Whereas there

used to be a hundred, there are now just two distribu-tors covering the entire UK: Smiths News and Menzies Distribution.

Independent retailers lack the buying power of a major retailer chain and usually work with just one wholesal-er. Although all retailers are dictated to through the sup-ply chain – not just independ-ents – unsurprisingly this lack of choice brings with it yet more hassles. Major re-tailers, for example, have inserts done for them by news wholesalers and often have weekend editions poly-wrapped, a service often not offered to independents (al-though independents do get paid insertion fees, which can be lucrative). Similarly, carriage charges are in-creasingly seen as a ‘tax on news retailing’.

However, there is cause for optimism. Although circula-tions have declined over the past ten years, cover price in-creases have put more mon-ey in retailers’ tills. News-paper and magazine sales have grown £1bn in the past decade and are now worth £5.3bn per annum.

The future of news retailing will probably be fewer titles, but a greater market share

of readership, advertising and circulation revenues for those left standing. Building brand loyalty is key for pub-lishers as they continue to improve the quality and value of print media. For example, a Daily Mail reader is likely to be a Daily Mail reader for many years to come.

And finally, in urban centres such as London the growth of free papers such as Met-ro has hit newspaper pur-chasing. In fact, the Evening Standard – for many years the number one regional newspaper in the capital – itself had to become a free paper to compete.

There are undoubtedly a number of issues that con-tinue to face the print me-dia industry and its retailers. However, these challenges can also, if viewed and acted upon in the right way, lead to terrific opportunities:

AvailabilityIf you have a standing order for 50 copies of the Daily Mail, for example, that’s usu-ally all you’ll get from your provider even if you could sell more. You might also have a Minimum Entry Level that forces you to take titles you don’t need. Changing order sizes is tricky for independ-

ent newsagents as they’re at the bottom of the food chain and getting the magazine titles that your customers actually want can be prob-lematic. The optimum level of availability to maximise newspaper sales is 85%, so are you achieving this?

This is why Palmer and Har-vey’s Supershop group has partnered with FORE for news and magazine provi-sion – having a group of in-dependents pool their orders and thus getting the buying power that none of them would have achieved indi-vidually.

RangingGiven the pressures on avail-ability, you should review your range of print titles at least twice a year, checking EPOS data to see which ones are the best sellers so that if you do change your order you’re doing so for the right reasons. The difference be-tween £4 monthly magazines and 60p weekly tabloids to your bottom line is, after all, considerable. Know the top titles and make sure you’re offering the right product in the right place at the right time: you’ll increase your profits and minimise losses/shrinkage.

The decline of the UK newspaper and magazine market has been headline news since the beginnings of the internet. It seems that every sector is feeling the pressure; from national dailies and Sundays to regional papers and weekly and monthly magazines. 19% of retailers said declining newspaper and magazine sales was the thing that worries them most about the future.


NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES

“The decline in the magazine market started when TV listings were deregulated. Why would people buy a newspaper to find out what was on telly any more when they have it all on their smartphones. They’ve

done a lot of damage to the industry.” raj Ganatra,

Sweet News, Luton


Planograms (for magazines especially)According to Brian Murphy of the NFRN, “you should regularly review your dis-play space and make sure you have multi-tier rack-ing so that new issues and products are clearly vis-ible”. That’s where plano-gram layouts are invalu-able, allowing you to put the right magazines at eye level or elsewhere based on what’s selling both nation-ally and regionally. Again, this comes from knowing your catchment area – if your shop is in an area near a riding school, ensure you carry the latest equestrian titles; or if you’re close to a primary school, do you offer sticker albums?

Promotions and special offersMost newspaper or maga-zine promotions are de-cided by publishers – par-ticularly Combined Lead Promotions involving linked products (e.g. ‘buy a copy of the Daily Express and get a Dairy Milk for only 30p’). Take your cue from such promotions and devise your own. The key is to tie the right product with the right title so that customers of one will usually be custom-ers of the other – and of course it encourages shop-pers to buy a paper rather than relying on the free alternatives. Publishers also offer their own promo-tions (special celebrity is-sues, price cuts, giveaways and cover mounts etc.) but these are provided indepen-dently.

Cash flow benefitsNews products can still generate amazing cash flow returns, with the cost of one

week’s supply from pub-lishers and wholesalers re-turned in just three weeks. According to FORE an initial investment of £1,550 for the first week in the aver-age independent newsagent will amass over £27,000 in net profits in one year, with the initial investment turn-ing over many, many times in the process. No other product category in a typi-cal independent store gets anywhere near this.

Shopper habitsDid you know that pur-chasing a newspaper is the number one reason shoppers visit independ-ent newsagents?7 Around 40% of all shopping baskets contain a newspaper and 8% of all shopping baskets also include a magazine. Plus, 87% of the population reads a magazine and mag-azine shoppers spend 60% more than non-magazine shoppers.

Availability is the single most important require-ment in optimising news sales. That is why inde-pendents benefit from the collected buying power and support from schemes such as Palmer and Har-vey’s Supershop.

BRINGING HND UP TO DATEHome news delivery (HND) has long been the key ser-vice that differentiates newsagents from other stores that sell newspapers and magazines – you deliver to your customers’ door and the major multiples don’t. A local independent providing great customer service, a strong tobacco offer and a professional HND service is

going to be tough to beat.Local shops usually don’t have advance bookings or guaranteed regular cus-tomers, except for those who get their papers de-livered in the morning. The value of HND comes from these retained customers – and the regular income they provide – as well as the fact that customers have to come into your shop to pay their delivery bills and may well make other purchases when they do so.

And despite the decline in newspaper sales more gen-erally, Government reports have noted that people aged over 50 represent 33% of the UK population but 49% of newspaper readership. It is also these customers who are likely to be more receptive to a HND service provided by their local shop.

Value of a HND customerAccording to FORE, the av-erage HND customer gen-erates £82 per annum in absolute net profits for a retailer – and five hundred regular HND customers will bring in over £40,000 each year in net profits. It’s not rocket science to un-derstand how serious in-dependent newsagents are still growing their business.

HND planning Map your catchment area and target houses within an 800-yard radius with a growth plan to infill news rounds and identify lo-cal businesses. It works for many newsagents and could work for you too.

Making the most of HNDGiven the value of HND to your sales, it’s vital to do everything possible to make it profitable and encourage more people to use it:

• Additional products – al-though not always an op-tion, especially for shops that rely on the tradition-al ‘paperboy or girl on a bike’, some newsagents have looked into other home delivery services to go alongside news-papers; most obviously, milk deliveries. Is this something you could do? We asked people if they would like to get internet parcels and milk deliv-ered at the same time as news. 32% said yes.

• Charge more for deliv-ery – many newsagents still don’t charge extra for HND, despite the fact it involves extra costs to you. But as Brian Mur-phy of the NFRN notes: “Customers who want delivered newspapers generally won’t object to paying a little extra. They understand that you have costs to cover.”

• Publicity – if you offer HND, consider flyers and leaflets to local residen-tial areas telling them about it to canvass new business (in fact, you may want to do this any-way to build awareness of your shop or to publicise promotions). Know your catchment area – areas with older residents or newly-built homes or es-tates can be well worth targeting, but find out if other shops in the area are offering HND already.

• Ask regulars – ask loyal purchasers of magazines if they’d like their regular read delivered to their home.

Source: 7Him! 2012


“When the News of the World collapsed, we sent out mail shots telling people that the paper was going

and we have alternatives, but I suspect we kept maybe 20 orders at most. We tried to fill that gap,

but that market was never really filled.”


Daily Mirror

Daily record

Daily Star

The Sun

Daily express

Daily Mail

The Daily Telegraph

Financial Times

The Guardian

The Independent

The Scotsman

The Times

Title % change year on year

National Dailies

-7

-10

-15

-10

-13

-7

-8

-16

-15

-55

-15

-9

The Sun (Sunday)

Daily Star Sunday

Sunday Mail

Sunday Mirror

The people

Sunday express

Sunday post

The Mail on Sunday

Independent on Sunday

The observer

Scotland on Sunday

The Sunday Telegraph

N/A

-41

-25

-42

-49

-25

-16

-14

-25

-10

-22

-7

-10The Sunday Times

Title % change year on year

National Sundays

NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES



TOP TIPS FOR NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINESWe’ve spoken with the experts and pulled together some useful tips for making the most of your print media. It’s still a highly lucrative area for the shops that get it right!

NEWSPAPERS• Availability is the most impor-

tant thing!• Keep outside displays free of

leaflets and litter, and covered to avoid rain/water damage.

• With regional newspapers, use the publisher’s branded stands where possible.

• Use a planogram.

MAGAZINES• Keep the shelves tidy and clut-

ter-free – avoid health & safe-ty hazards and don’t distract the customers from browsing!

• Where possible, keep maga-zines full-faced (no overlap-ping) to make the display more visually appealing, easier to browse and to emphasize the different categories you offer.

• Use a planogram and put sticky labels/SELs behind each title to make replenish-ing easier (and help to identify gaps quickly).

• Related titles next to each other can lead to multiple and impulse purchases.

• Leave gaps empty so new stock goes into the right fix-ture immediately.

• Keep space for new titles or promoted magazines (e.g. gardening magazines are of-ten promoted at the start of Spring).

• Return torn or damaged mag-azines to your wholesaler.

• Manage your overstocks – keep them in one, easily ac-cessible location and replen-ish your displays at least daily.

• Be meticulous with your news wholesaler returns notes. Don’t miss return dates – it adds up to category losses for you whilst boosting publisher and news wholesaler circula-tion and profits.


CASE STUDY

“If you do a leaflet drop, always include a letter from the manager saying that somebody will

call back in a few days’ time.”

vance potter, Mace Clifton, Nottingham

VANCE POTTER’S TOP TIPS FOR INCREASING HND SUBSCRIPTIONS.1. Do regular leaflet drops (every three months).

2. Secure publisher support for the activity. It’s a bit of a revolving door but there’s always one publisher investing in HND. We find they often provide us with some funding for canvassers or to pay for a delivery trial.

3. Follow up the leaflet drop with a personal visit a few days later.

4. Use professional canvassers if you can – you’ll see better results.

VANCE POTTER’S TIPS FOR A CUSTOMER LETTER.1. Write it from the shop owner or manager.

2. Outline the benefits of having a delivery along with supporting your local shop and community.

3. Say the manager will call back in person in a few days.


PART OF THE COMM UNITY97% of retailers surveyed said they were proud to be part of the local community, with 85% of retailers collecting money for charity and 61% keeping an eye on elderly customers. Your customers also said your roots in the community were important to them too. Nine out of ten said having a local newsagent in the area is important to the community.

Local shops are considered the heart of the community for good reason. According to the ACS survey, 89% of local shops actively support their local communities – for ex-ample, 70% have collected money for a local charity8. However the research shows that almost 67% of people haven’t noticed their local shop doing anything for the community.

As most of your customers live, work or study nearby, there’s plenty of reasons to highlight your community in-volvement. This can be done through charity8 collections, events, sponsorship and even stocking local produce. Doing this will boost your profile, foster good feeling and en-courage repeat business.

Promoting your commu-nity involvement is also an area where you can have an edge over the big multiples. With flexibility over what you stock, what you can do and where you spend money, you can either quickly seize upon community events or create your own.

You’re also offering a unique, bespoke service that big re-tail chains can’t match. Cus-tomers can’t ask the local multiple to stock their fa-vourite hard-to-find biscuits

or add a new service, but they can with their local shop.

Seize your freedom and make sure your shop is seen by everyone as the beating heart of your community.

Our research shows that 70% of people think local newsa-gents are so important to an area they should be offered some degree of protection to stay open:

3 64% want reduced rates if they do enough for the community or are a small business

3 61% want lower rents than a chain store

3 21% want major retailers prevented from selling things at lower prices than small shops can get from their wholesaler

What’s in it for you?• raise awareness – the

more people who know about your shop, the more who can potentially be your customers

• protection for local stores — building com-munity links allows you to become part of the ‘save the high street’ movement and could help you and fel-low retailers gain a level of protection: a city council

that stands behind its local retailers may be reluctant to let a multiple open a new superstore just down the road. Vocal support for local independent retail-ers can be found through-out MPs’ and councillors’ speeches, along with Gov-ernment initiatives such as the Mary Portas Review and regional newspapers.

• help cut crime – com-munity initiatives such as Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) allow you to work with the police to deal with problems in your area.

• Give something back – goodwill and profitabil-ity are closely linked. Big companies invest in Cor-porate Social Responsi-bility (CSR) because they know it makes business sense. Local shops should take a leaf out of their book.

• Grow your business – shoppers are often keen to support independent retailers they know and trust. That loyalty directly affects your bottom line.

8Source: ACS Voice of Local Shops research, August 2012


PART OF THE COMMUNITY

“We support the local clubs like rugby and football. We give whatever we can and contribute towards advertising and

promotions as well. We’ll do a big hamper filled with wines and cheeses for the club to raffle which usually makes them a

few quid and goes down really well.”Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

WHAT DO YOU DO TO SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY?

KEEP AN EYE ON ELDERLY CUSTOMERS

61%COLLECT MONEY

FOR CHARITY

85%COMMUNITY

NOTICEBOARDS

30%DONATE TO CHARITY

EVERY YEAR

18%SPONSOR LOCAL SPORTS TEAMS

21%


PART OF THE COMM UNITY97% of retailers surveyed said they were proud to be part of the local community, with 85% of retailers collecting money for charity and 61% keeping an eye on elderly customers. Your customers also said your roots in the community were important to them too. Nine out of ten said having a local newsagent in the area is important to the community.


What can you do?There are a number of ways you can build closer links with your communi-ties, including:

Events• Get customer feedback on your ser-

vices and products. Retailer Dean Holborn hosts a Christmas drinks party for customers in his shop to in-troduce them to new ranges.

• Organise or sponsor local events.

• Host local community meetings.

• Offer a notice board or listings for upcoming events – ideally free of charge.

• Support local organisations.

• Sponsor local sports teams.

• Support your nearby schools. Retail-er Vance Potter gives a bike to his lo-cal school every year as an incentive/prize for pupils. He also runs his own ‘equipment for schools’ scheme.

• Take part in local environmental schemes.

• Provide mentoring support. Retailer Darren Macdonald teamed up with local university students. They inter-viewed his customers for a research project and he got free insight into his shoppers.

• Donate to local charities (i.e. by charging for carrier bags).

Think local• Stock locally-sourced products —

Palmer and Harvey can help to put you in touch with local suppliers. Re-tailer Geoff Turner calls stocking lo-cal produce “the best thing I’ve ever done”.

• Offer community-specific items. Re-tailer Ugur Addis is near a college with a large international student population. He offers them a taste of home with a range of foreign news-papers and snacks.

• Be the heart of your community.

• Talk to your local MP – and act as the focal point for the community in dealings with both local and central Government.

• Get to know local police officers. Re-tailer Jonathan James offers free tea and coffee to his local police.

• Get to know other local retailers and come up with ways to work together.

• Provide tip-off boxes for the police.

• Help senior citizens (e.g. through home delivery). Retailers Phil and Menier Simpson have the personal alarms of several local pensioners linked to their shop and employ other pensioners as delivery staff.

• Always act responsibly (e.g. don’t sell under-priced alcohol).

• Create a website or local newsletter for your area.

• Get to know the local paper(s) and/or local radio – publicity is free and is a vital tool.

These initiatives don’t have to be expen-sive and will often pay for themselves in terms of business growth and increased awareness. You can get advice on the best way to develop your local relation-ships from Palmer and Harvey, your in-dustry bodies or organisations such as Business in the Community.

Sources: ACS, NFRN, Business Link, Palmer and Harvey

“I’m very active with the local website and the school, the church

and all of the charity events. We also sponsor the village football team. If there is a village fete or the like

then we hand out branded bags with bottles of water.”


A recent YouGov survey revealed that 25% of consumers are prepared to pay more for locally sourced produce.

According to Independent Retail News, research has shown the impact of a major retailer opening was “four times less” for a local shop with close community ties.


Research has shown that 70% of newsagents employ family members, which can sometimes make it difficult to employ the same HR techniques as you might use with other employees. However, all the people who work at a store are a community and there are some key motivational tools to help get the best out of them:

3 In-depth interview process – make sure you get the right people first time.

3 Training.

3 Regular appraisals – don’t be afraid to highlight areas for im-provement and development.

3 Incentive schemes.

Most smaller retailers will not have a dedicated HR person, so owners and managers who want to broaden and improve their skills in this area can talk to organisations such as Busi-ness Link or industry bodies such as the ACS or NFRN.

YOUR STAFF ARE ALSO A COMMUNITY

“Me and my wife operate the shop. If you have one serving and the

other one just hovering around, it makes a world

of difference.” raj Ganatra,

Sweet News, Luton


FAMILY MATTERS

54%of shops employ three or more people, including family members

60%of shops employ one or two family members

HARD-WORKING

75%of retailers we surveyed work 7-day weeks

WeD ThU FrI SAT SUNMoN TUe


TOBACCO

£2,500PENALTY:

18ANDOVER

ONLY ACCEPT CREDIBLE PROOF OF IDENTITY

AGe reSTrICTeD proDUCTS

ALCOHOL

18ANDOVER

£1,000PENALTY:

& FORFEIT OF LICENCE

£5,000PENALTY:

& UP TO 6 MONTHS’ IMPRISONMENT

LIGHTER REFILLS

CONTAINING BUTANE18

ANDOVER

You should also ensure your staff only accept a credible proof of age, such as a photo driving licence, passport, Citizencard or Young Scot. Also ensure that your staff are legally old enough to sell these products.

AGE VERIFICATIONShop owners are encouraged to use the Challenge 25 strategy introduced by the Retail of Alcohol Standards Group (RASG), where customers attempting to buy any age-restricted products should be challenged if they look under 25, even if the legal age for these products is only 18 (or under). Signage is downloadable for free from RASG member organisations, and retailers in Scotland should be aware that they are legally required to implement this strategy.

Download signage from www.wsta.co.uk/ downloads.html

Being caught illegally selling age-restricted products can lead to fines, appalling publicity and even loss of the relevant licensing, so it’s vital that your staff enforce your age-verification policy – and are aware which products fall under it:


FIREWORKS

18ANDOVER

£5,000PENALTY:

& UP TO 6 MONTHS’ IMPRISONMENT

LOTTERY TICKETS / INSTANT

WIN CARD

16ANDOVER

£5,000PENALTY:

& UP TO 2 YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT

VOLATILE SUBSTANCES/ SOLVENTS

/ GLUES 18ANDOVER

£5,000PENALTY:

& UP TO 6 MONTHS’

IMPRISONMENTSource: ACS

OFFENSIVE WEAPONS /

KNIVES

16ANDOVER

£5,000PENALTY:


£5,000PENALTY:


VIDEOS & VIDEO GAMES

CLASSIFICATION

15 ANDOVER

12 1518

18 ANDOVER

12 ANDOVER



Phil and Menier Simpson have built a loyal customer base by positioning their shop at the centre of their community in Wales. The shop always plays a prominent role in commu-nity events, providing food at a substantial discount for lunches held for the elderly community and giving prizes for fundraising events.

The store works very closely with the local police force, helping to tackle any crime within the local community. Phil and Menier have an in-store police suggestion box where customers can log comments or complaints – it also works to drive footfall into their store.

And they take their respon-sibilities seriously. Phil will often give elderly customers a lift home if their shopping is too heavy to carry and they are the first point of contact

for the panic alarms of six elderly ladies in the village. Should the alarms go off, Phil will respond, often trav-elling to, and checking on, the owner.

Working in partnership with other local businesses is very important to the store, which also gives them a point of difference to the major chain retailers. All milk, eggs and meat comes from local farms. Addition-ally, the store sells cakes made by ladies in the local village hall, and the local baker provides the bakery products.

As an additional service, Phil and Menier’s team deliver groceries to local holiday cottages before the arrival dates of holiday-makers. This is a great community service but also builds loy-alty with regular holiday-goers and those involved in the tourism in the area.

phil and Menier Simpson Mace Kiel House Stores, Pembrokeshire

WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY

The shop always plays a prominent role in community events.

“

”


CASE STUDY



To be a trusted part of the community, you need a simple and robust approach to re-sponsible retailing. That means you should have policies in place to prevent under-age sales of tobacco products and other poten-tial risk items such as alcohol and National Lottery / Health Lottery tickets.

In addition to the difficulty in telling how old a customer actually is, under-age youths may attempt deception, waiting until the store is very busy (and your staff are there-fore under pressure) or even using intimi-dating tactics such as gathering in large groups.

Tobacco display ban and signageAs noted earlier, stores in England under 3,000 sq ft have until 6th April 2015 to im-plement the display ban on tobacco prod-ucts. It is worth preparing now and deter-mining if/how you will have to change your pricing labels and lists or your display area and cabinets. Plus, at present you are le-gally required to display prominent signage at point of sale stating that ‘it is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18’, as well as a ‘No Smoking’ sign in the shop.

As the UK’s largest wholesaler of tobacco items, Palmer and Harvey can help advise you on the likely impact of the display ban and how to ensure you’re fully prepared for when it comes into force.

Energy drinksThe British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) has introduced a code of practice on the sale and marketing of high-caffeine ‘en-ergy’ soft drinks. The main thing to bear in mind is that your promotions, signage and marketing should not target persons aged under 16.



KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!

Sale of Goods Act and pricing• Customers only have a legal right to

a refund, repair or replacement if an item they purchased does not match the description, is not of satisfactory quality or is not fit for purpose – not if they don’t like it or damaged it them-selves.

• You don’t have to sell any item in your shop – you can always refuse to sell.

• If an item is incorrectly priced due to error, you don’t have to sell it at that price (provided you spot it before con-firming the sale).

CCTV• If you have CCTV, you must have

clearly visible signs up letting people know.

• Keeping cameras highly visible can act as a deterrent.

• Your staff need to understand their CCTV responsibilities. For example, it’s an offence to misuse images,

such as sending them to the media or posting on social networks.

Vandalism• It is illegal for anyone to damage or

threaten to damage your property, in-cluding temporary damage (e.g. graf-fiti or smearing mud on the walls).

Theft and antisocial behaviour• Prevention is better than cure. Con-

sider putting up signs saying you ‘always prosecute shoplifters’ and, if possible, locate your till and/or staff near the door.

• You have the power to detain any person that you know just com-mitted an offence, after they’ve left your shop. You are also empow-ered to use reasonable force to do so. The most effective way of ap-prehending an offender is usu-ally to stop them and ask them to accompany you to the manager’s

office (or back of the shop).• You need to say why you are mak-

ing this request and state that you do not wish to resolve the matter on the street. Most offenders will simply go with you and you can then call the police. Of course, personal safety is paramount.

• You’re fully entitled to order some-one out of your shop and ban them from coming back. It’s even better if you can write to the person con-cerned, assuming you can obtain their name and address (writing avoids confrontation and you have written proof of your actions to pro-duce in the event of any future prob-lems with them).

You could also contact your local police force, as most offer guidance to retailers on crime prevention.

With theft on the increase and concerns over staff safety, are you aware of all your legal rights and obligations? Beyond the specific laws on age-restricted sales, there are some things you should know…


The most common crime committed against busi-ness is theft, accounting for around 74% of the total vol-ume. Most of this is simple pilfering, but the number of thefts involving force or vio-lence has also increased by around 6%9.

What can you do?There are a number of things you can do to make life diffi-cult for criminals. The Asso-ciation of Convenience Stores has a number of useful rec-ommendations:

1. Make your store exterior as secure as possible• Keep it tidy and well-lit.• Install CCTV (if possible,

share the costs with neighbouring retailers).

• Install appropriate fencing, walls and railings where necessary.

• Install secure doors and windows that conform to relevant security standards.

2. Protect your assets• Record equipment make,

model and the relevant se-rial numbers.

• Set up passwords and in-ternet security for com-puters.

• Store equipment/assets securely.

• Use a safe.• Keep stock records and do

regular checks.• Keep easy-to-steal/high-

value items behind the till or in display cases.

• Fit an alarm and check it regularly.

3. Protect your people• Invest in personal alarms.• Newsagents often only

have one member of staff working at a time – so give that person systems like CCTV to ensure he or she always feels safe.

4. Be part of the community• Join up with your local au-

thority’s Crime and Disor-der Reduction Partnership (CDRP).

• Get to know your local po-lice officers and how to contact them.

• Ask your customers what they’d like to see you do – are there areas in or near

your shop that they feel are not secure?

Counterfeit goodsWith your customers feel-ing the pinch, it might be tempting to respond by add-ing counterfeit, stolen or grey products into your shop. This isn’t a good long-term strat-egy and can lead to fines, loss of licence and even imprison-ment. It will also do nothing to build your reputation with the local community.

Crime committed against businesses in the UK has grown by a troubling 16% in the worst hit areas, with a 3% increase in overall crime nationwide also recorded for each of the last two years.

“We insist on ID and our

customers know we won’t sell

energy drinks to anyone under 16. Being responsible

creates better feeling in the

community and they know that we are looking out for

their kids.” Christine Southern, Southern’s

Newsagents

“CCTV is the most important thing so that you have got back-up for your staff – and it also helps to defuse a situation very quickly.”


Source: 9AXA Business Crime Index, August 2012

CRIME AND ANTIS OCIAL BEHAVIOUR


CRIME AND ANTIS OCIAL BEHAVIOUR

CRIME AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

WHAT ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR HAVE YOU SEEN AN INCREASE IN?

VERBAL THREATS

42%SHOP-

LIFTING

56%ASSAULT10%


Crime committed against businesses in the UK has grown by a troubling 16% in the worst hit areas, with a 3% increase in overall crime nationwide also recorded for each of the last two years.


Dean Holborn and his two stores donate prizes to lo-cal school and community raffles whenever a large event is taking place. Ad-ditionally, he sponsors the local cricket team and local football teams. He has been sponsoring one of the foot-ball teams for the past nine years, buying sports kits and equipment for them.

The stores also hold an an-nual Christmas drinks get-together for the community. It is an open-invitation event that aims to bring everyone together over the festive pe-riod. It gives customers the chance to come together over a glass of mulled wine and mince pies. Custom-ers with families are also welcome, as the company organises for a Santa to be at the event for any children that are attending. The com-pany also stocks Christmas trees and sells them over the Christmas season.

Last year, Dean’s store be-came the target of a group

of young people, who not only terrorised his store and his employees, but also the village. With the help of the police and Dean’s own input, the youths involved were giv-en ASBOs.

Dean feels this was an un-fortunate situation, but also believes there were positive outcomes from these at-tacks: they now have a very close relationship with the local police. Whenever po-lice are in the neighbourhood they visit the store just to say hello or to have a cup of tea. The police were incredibly supportive when the youths were creating problems and have continued to show their support for the family-run business.

If customers cannot get to the store, the store will de-liver shopping to them. They have a selection of elderly lo-cal customers to whom they often deliver.

They also offer to bag up items for customers ahead

of time; customers just have to call and the items that they want will be put aside for them for later collection. The store and its employees also deliver newspapers to the lo-cal community.

Dean and his team are pas-sionate about tailoring prod-ucts to what their customers want. If a customer wants a specific item on a one-off occasion, they will order it in and will then evaluate the product’s sales to see if it would be beneficial to have in the store on a more perma-nent basis.

If a customer wants a prod-uct to become available on a permanent basis, then Dean will make sure that the store begins stocking the product as soon as possible.

All staff members are trained to deal with under-age sales, and the procedures when presented with fake IDs. The store strives to follow ‘Chal-lenge 21/25’ and has a repu-tation of not selling alcohol,

cigarettes or any other prod-uct without a legitimate form of ID being present. Individu-als are denied sales if they do not have the correct identifi-cation to show their age.

The store generally hires lo-cal young adults. Therefore, if any underage young people come in trying to purchase certain products, they are usually recognised by the staff and denied sale. This knowledge allows everyone to be aware of the ages of lo-cal young people.

DeAN hoLBorNHolborn’s, Surrey


passionate about tailoring products to what their customers want.

“

“


CASE STUDY



WHAT DO YOUR CONSUMERS THINK?We commissioned in-depth research among 1000 shoppers across the UK. We wanted to see what people really thought about their newsagent. The results were surprising, with more people feeling strongly about the role their local shop plays in their community.

FOR PEOPLE TOO BUSY TO QUEUE

26%

WHAT CAN YOU DO BETTER?

PROMOTIONS54% 18%

CLEANER SHOP34%OFFERING

ADDITIONAL ITEMS

WHY NEWSAGENTS ARE IMPORTANT

FOR PEOPLE WITH NO CARS

76% 52%FOR PEOPLE WHO

CAN’T WALKFAR

53%CUSTOMERS KNOW THEIR NEWSAGENTS BY NAME

52%CUSTOMERS GET GREETED WITH A SMILE BY THEIR NEWSAGENT

70%CUSTOMERS THINK NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILERS SHOULD GET SPECIAL TREATMENT TO STAY IN BUSINESS AND KEEP OPEN

89%CUSToMerS ThINk hAvING A LoCAL NeWSAGeNT IS IMporTANT To The CoMMUNITY 47%

CUSTOMERS WOULDN’T WANT THEIR MILK AND INTERNET PARCELS DELIVERED AT THE SAME TIME AS THEIR PAPER

67%HAVEN’T NOTICED THEIR LOCAL SHOP DOING ANYTHING FOR THE COMMUNITY

Source: Palmer and Harvey / Toluna – Shop Health 2012


CONSUMER RESEARCH

WHAT FRUSTRATES CUSTOMERS?

BEING CHARGED TO USE A CREDIT

CARD

25%PRODUCTS NOT BEING AVAILABLE

32%34%BEING CHARGED TO USE A CASH

MACHINE

79%I WANT MY LOCAL SHOP TO REMAIN

INDEPENDENT AND DIFFERENT

HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT YOU

I WANT MY LOCAL SHOP TO ACT MORE LIKE A

MAJOR RETAILER

20%

Source: Palmer and Harvey / Toluna – Shop Health 2012


AT THE RETAIL COAL FACEPalmer and Harvey brought together five independent newsagents to debate the issues facing their businesses, the areas they felt were of the most concern and what they’ve done to make their shops better and more profitable.

Chaired by former Retail Newsagent editor Guy Campos and joined by Palmer and Harvey expert Martyn Ward, the discussion provided some useful insight into the current thinking of UK newsagents.


AT THE RETAIL COAL FACE

BOOSTING PROFITS AND FOOTFALL“The shop was very sad and very tired. We were bringing in more lines so it was more and more squashed and peo-ple didn’t know what we did as everything was hidden in corners. So we went for it and two and a half years ago had an extension and com-plete refit: big new chiller at the end of the shop and new upright freezer. It is the best thing we could have done.” - Christine Southern, South-ern’s News, Maidstone

“I looked at the demograph-ics and I thought ‘people are going out to work at 7am and coming back at 7pm – what can I offer those peo-ple they can’t get down the road?’ I had a vision of how I wanted the shop to be and I’ve stuck to that vision.” – Geoff Turner, Londis, Hemingborough

“Being an independent news-agent. Secondly, we spe-cialise in jar sweets and the number of elderly people that come from afar to have these old sweets helps immensely.” – Raj Ganatra, Sweet News, Luton

“Being part of a symbol adds value for your customers. Also understanding your de-mographics so you can play to that strength and give the customer what they want.” – Vance Potter, Mace Clifton, Nottingham

“Going from a traditional CTN to a convenience-style store. I am very proud with how we have developed the store and we filled a gap for those peo-ple leaving early and com-ing back at night. It works.” – Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

CRIME AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR“One of our guys saw the community advice officer, who said that if you don’t have CCTV there are a couple of things that you can do. You can take a photograph and if you know what school they are from you can go to the school and say to them that you would like a banning let-ter, with the wording author-ised by the police, delivered to this person.” – Vance Potter, Mace Clifton, Nottingham

“Antisocial behaviour is on the increase: people getting drunk and coming in. It’s up to you to monitor the situa-tion and put things in place to prevent things from hap-pening. CCTV is the most important thing so that you have got back-up for your staff, and it also helps to de-fuse a situation very quick-ly.” – Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

“We run a very tight ship and we don’t even tolerate swearing in the shop. We don’t swear, the staff don’t swear and the kids know now that they can’t swear. If there are a group of them and one swears, the others will tell them that they can’t do it in here. It may seem petty but I think it builds up respect.” - Christine Southern, South-ern’s News, Maidstone

“Me and my wife operate the shop. If you have one serving and the other one just hover-ing around, it makes a world of difference.”– Raj Ganatra, Sweet News, Luton

“I think it’s about being tuned into your own store, being vigilant and having every-thing in place. Panic alarms

have got to be all there and you need to train the staff to be aware of who is coming in and what they can do about crime. That’s all you can do.”– Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

“I get a lot of kids and you try to limit them to 2-3 at a time but they are very clever be-cause they know we can’t do anything about them. A kid can walk into your store, take something and put it in their pocket and there’s nothing you can do. You can’t say ‘can I look in your pocket’ or ‘show me your hands’ or ‘take it out’. He’s untouchable.”– Raj Ganatra, Sweet News, Luton

DEALING WITH SUPPLIERS“One of the most frustrating things is that you have con-trol over everything else that you sell – you order what you want and when you want it – but using newspaper whole-salers you have no control over what we get or when we get it, and we pay for the privilege.” - Christine Southern, South-ern’s News, Maidstone

“The Newspaper suppliers should allow us to control how many papers we order, for us to improve sales and control returns.” – Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

“PayPoint is a good system and it works, but I do think that there should be com-mission on all transactions along with a better commis-sion percentage.” – Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

“It would be great if a group of retailers could come to-gether with regards to elec-tricity companies overcharg-

ing, as it is such a cost.” – Vance Potter, Mace Clifton, Nottingham

PART OF THE COMMUNITY“I am certainly active within the local school, the church and any of the charity events and the village football team. We invest a fair bit of money.” – Geoff Turner, Londis, Hemingborough

“We have a community no-tice board, and with anything that happens in the area they know that they can come in and put it on the board. Schools sometimes use it and it’s amazing how many people look at it for informa-tion about what’s happening in the area.” - Christine Southern, South-ern’s News, Maidstone

“We do what we can. We could do more – I think we should and it’s something that I am looking at now. It is a growth area.”– Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

“I think we are probably more involved in the community than we realised. When it snowed last we were running out of bread and milk very quickly and apparently there was a note on Facebook that said to go to our shop as we had supplies.” - Christine Southern, South-ern’s News, Maidstone

HOME NEWS DELIVERY“Something I would like to move into is home deliv-ery like the major retail-ers do and put an ad in the papers. There is a growing market for home delivery.” – Geoff Turner, Londis, Hemingborough


“My shop has always been big on news delivery. When I bought it I used to have 20-22 rounds with a minimum 35 addresses on each round. Now I am down to 12. But that is what is keeping me and has kept me alive.” – Raj Ganatra, Sweet News, Luton

“It’s really useful to do a leaf-let drop to publicise home news delivery and say some-body will call in a few days’ time. Then you send some-one out to go and follow up. The ‘support your local com-munity and support your lo-cal shop’ message is really powerful.” – Vance Potter, Mace Clifton, Nottingham

DECLINE IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE SALES“Magazines have become very pricey; it used to be that people got them as a monthly regular subscrip-tion but now people monitor what is in them before they buy. The news is in a differ-ent format – you’ve got your iPad, your phones and you can download your news-papers.” – Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

“TV listings started the de-cline in the magazine mar-ket.” – Raj Ganatra, Sweet News, Luton

“The only way you can im-prove it is with support from the publishers. With kids’ magazines, as soon as the summer break comes they go from £2.25 to £4.95 and all you get is a little toy. Maybe 4-5 years ago you could get away with it but nowadays you can’t. Kids tell me the grandparents buy them but as soon as the price goes up for the same magazine they think ‘gee, I can’t afford this’.” – Raj Ganatra, Sweet News, Luton

STARTING UP“I started off as a small CTN, a traditional newsagent. I watched the marketplace change and as a conse-quence adapted things and moved a bit more into con-venience, though not too much. Then an opportunity came by where the next door premises became available, which I decided to take on rather than fight the com-petition. We developed that into an off-licence cum farm

shop so we’re now running two side-by-side business-es.” – Clive Mortimer, Yatton News, Bristol

“If I had to start over I’d keep the news and the magazines but I would focus on the con-fectionery. Not just Mars bars but more of a whole wall of the 99p bags. If there is one part of the CTN that has survived it is confec-tionery. There’s also been a mushroom effect with more sweetshops doing tradition-al sweets.” – Geoff Turner, Londis, Hemingborough

IS THE NAME ‘CTN’ A PROBLEM?“I never hear someone say-ing ‘I’m going to the gro-cers’. It’s always I’m going to the supermarket, the su-perstore, the convenience store or the market. The names have transformed, so rather than the type of store it’s a description of the size of the store that you go to.” – Vance Potter, Mace Clifton, Nottingham

“In my store, when the cus-tomers say where they are, when they are talking to

somebody, they either say ‘I’m in the sweet shop’ or ‘the paper shop’. They keep it simple.” – Raj Ganatra, Sweet News, Luton

“When people ring they refer to it by the name of the shop or ‘the Co-op’, as the name ‘CTN’ means nothing to any-one any more. Even inside trading it means nothing. When you have a shop sign or name above your door, that is how you are identi-fied.” – Clive Mortimer, Yat-ton News, Bristol

“Definitions are unclear. When you ask a manufac-turer what the difference is between a CTN and a con-venience store some people will tell you it is around size, some people will say it is be-tween percentage of news-papers and magazines they sell and some people will say ‘if they sell 12 out of these 20 categories then it’s a conven-ience store’.” – Martyn Ward, Palmer and Harvey

rAJ GANATrA

vANCe poTTer

GeoFF TUrNer

CLIve MorTIMer

GUY CAMpoS

ChrISTINe SoUTherN


AT THE RETAIL COAL FACE


YOUR LETTERS

My electricity bill has gone up 20% over the last year and I am worried it will be going up more. I am already stretched to my limit. Is there anything I can do?

You are right to worry. Electricity bills are predicted to rise more than a third over the next few years. This could be disastrous for smaller retailers. Firstly you can try to lower your bills by sav-ing electricity in the store. Fitting chiller doors can bring a 35% saving in elec-tricity. Look at other ways to save elec-tricity, for example having lights in the back room on a timer, insulating your walls and roof and switching to LED lighting. The ACS is campaigning on this issue on behalf of small retailers. Its Switch to Fair Energy campaign is protesting back-billing abuses from the electricity companies by introducing a 12-month limit on the bills of small businesses like convenience stores. ACS is calling on retailers to highlight these issues with their local MP.

A major retailer has opened up down the road from my shop. My profits have taken a massive hit. What can I do to get people back into my store?

I think the first thing you need to do is ask them. Use a simple questionnaire to find out what your customers like about your shop, what they would like to see more of and what you could im-prove. Savvy retailers understand that they need to invest to survive and grow in the face of stiff competition, which may involve revamping the store and creating a smart new interior.

You must invest in your staff and pro-vide effective and on-going training. But more importantly, you must think of your number one strength: being lo-cal. You can also engage with your local community by getting involved in ac-tivities which give your store a positive, friendly image; and if you support your local community, they will support you.

I am thinking about getting my store on social media. Do you think there is much point?

I always think that asking yourself if the multiples are doing it is a good rule of thumb. If the answer is yes then there is probably money to be made in it. When used correctly, social media channels such as Facebook can help you to inter-act with your customers and drive foot-fall into your store.

Social media can also help you talk to your customers, deal with feedback and allows store information to be posted and updated regularly, making it easy for your customers to find your store. You have to be prepared to invest time in social media and always be aware that you are interacting in a public space.

YOUR PROBLEMS ANSWERED

BY PALMER AND HARVEY’S MARTYN WARD


WIN £5k To reFUrBISh YoUr STore!

Palmer and Harvey is offering a refurbishment package worth £5,000 to the retailer who gives us the best answer to the following question:

how would you invest £5,000 into your store’s refurbishment and why?

Entries will be judged by a panel of retailers and senior Palmer and Harvey management.

To enter – email your name, address and phone number along with your answer to [email protected] by 18th January 2013.

Alternatively you can post your entry to ‘Store Refurbishment Competition’, c/o Velvet PR, Barley Mow Passage, London W4 4PH. Entries must be received by 18th January 2013.

If sending videos, photographs or other large files – please use wetransfer.com Terms and conditions at palmerharvey.co.uk

We asked retailers what they’d do with £5,000 and nearly 90% of you said you’d use it to refurbish your shop.

IF YOU HAD £5,000 TO INVEST IN YOUR BUSINESS WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

REFURBISH THE INSIDE OF YOUR

SHOP

53%REFURBISH THE

OUTSIDE OF YOUR SHOP

23%




SIGNING OFF

Building a healthier body means focusing on the right nutrients, exercises and be-haviour. Building a more profitable shop requires the right suppliers and stock, a keen understanding of who your custom-ers are and what they want, and a will-ingness to identify and make the most of relevant new services.

That’s why we’ve called this report ‘Shop Health’ – at Palmer and Harvey we want to help you become a lean, mean retailing machine.

It’s not just about selling the right prod-ucts or tagging on a new service, how-ever. Time and again we’ve found that the most successful newsagents and local shops are those with strong ties to their local communities – responsible retail-ers combined with the kind of personal, hands-on service that major retailers simply can’t hope to duplicate.

So if you’re looking for growth, success and profitability, strive to keep your shops at the centre of their communities – be their heartbeat. Our research has high-lighted just how vital paper shops are to their customers and that even with some core categories in decline (such as news-papers themselves), you can still make sure you offer the service people need at the time they need it most.

If you’d like to know more about how Palmer and Harvey can help your shop raise its profits and boost its service, please get in touch.

Chris Etherington Chief Executive Palmer and Harvey

106-112 Davigdor Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 1RE

SIGNING oFF

If you’re looking for growth, success and profitability, strive to keep your shops at the centre of their communities.

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Bigger discounts, lower prices and higher profits with our new and improved tobacco pricing scheme

REGISTER TODAY AT - www.palmerharvey.co.uk or call 0845 0176 600

Documents

CTN Report 2012