Eyes and ears

If retail sales are important to your title, then, presumably, how your title is handled at retail is also important to you and your relationship with the shopkeeper is a pivotal one. Since, with our newstrade dominated circulation model, retail sales form a large proportion of many titles’ total circulation, it is perhaps surprising that relatively few publishers communicate effectively with retailers.

For those publishers, like Reed Business Information (RBI) and the Economist, that do believe in communicating directly with retailers, they are increasingly relying on the growing network of independent merchandisers operating in different parts of the country. The three main characteristics of good merchandisers are good interpersonal skills, local knowledge and experience of the newstrade – the type of work ideally suited to either sole traders (people steeped in the industry and fancying a change) or small companies. The Economist, for instance, uses a sole trader merchandiser in Birmingham whilst for the London area they use MMS to look after independent retailers and BMS to look after the main travel points (air and rail). The country is dividing up into a patchwork quilt of merchandisers – individuals and companies operating in patches they’ve known for years and generally respectful of each other’s turf.

These merchandisers are slowly filling the void created by publishers, distributors and wholesalers cutting back on their field reps over the last ten or so years as the industry started to rely more heavily on increasingly sophisticated and centralised copy allocation systems. But as Martin Parr, newstrade manager at RBI, says "no doubt the copy allocation systems are infinitely improved, but computers work on assumptions and these need constant review and input from people on the ground – it is vital to have people out there." Computers are great but they can’t put up posters, they can’t check on compliance, they can’t share a laugh over the counter and they couldn’t possibly say "how about trying us next to the till next issue?" One day they might!

If you think that merchandising is something you can do without, then it is worth looking at the underlying reasons why people like Martin Parr and Jeremy Parfect, circulation manager at the Economist, see merchandising as an essential part of their marketing armoury.

Insurance

Some titles have key selling areas – be it geographic regions or type of outlet. For the Economist and, no doubt, titles such as BusinessWeek and Newsweek, the key travel points are major sources of sales. For two of Martin’s titles, New Scientist and Caterer and Hotelkeeper, the London area is vital. For distribution to be disrupted in these areas can have a dramatic impact on sales. The role of merchandisers, in this situation, is to firstly spot the problem and communicate it back to the publisher and secondly to assist in the solution. Jeremy recounts examples where normal routines have been disrupted, either as a result of computer breakdown or inclement weather and the merchandiser has come to the rescue by picking up copies from the wholesaler and delivering them direct to key outlets.

Educate and inform retail

Blindingly obvious though your title’s USP might be to you, to the retailer yours is just one of hundreds of titles. The cover price / frequency / value mix might seem a sure fire winner to you, but will definitely need explaining to the retailer. After all, you’re not an expert on the key drivers of his business so why should he be of yours? The better the retailer understands your title, the more likely it is that they will make intelligent decisions regarding its display. But the communications process is tactical as well as strategic. It is not a once-a-year conversation but an ongoing communication. Take the Economist for instance. It publishes two annuals (The World in … published in November and Intelligent Life published in May). Says Jeremy Parfect, "the major risk with these two publications is that the retailer is not looking out for them." They need to be informed so as to avoid any chance of the copies being returned. But it is not just one-offs that need publicising – potentially fast selling issues need to be brought to the retailers’ attention so that they can either order more copies in or be aware of the chances of early sell-out.

Fight our corner

For any newsstand title, the two pillars of circulation strategy are awareness and availability and the decision to stock or display prominently at retail are major components of that. In this area merchandisers can ‘fight our corner’. Where a retailer does not stock our title then a merchandiser can bring it to his attention, talk it up and encourage trial and solicit for orders. Where a title is stocked, then the merchandiser can focus on the display, drop off point of sale material and generally fine tune the relationship. If you haven’t got a merchandiser fighting your corner, then who is?

Compliance checking

Computers are getting much better at allocating copy but they can’t yet check on compliance and until some brilliant combination of a webcam in every store linked to mind bogglingly clever software comes on stream this will continue to be the case. Copies can be allocated and retail promotional schemes agreed but neither guarantees compliance. The final sales figures might give you a pretty good indication of compliance levels, but by then it will be too late to take corrective action to address any problems. Compliance checking is not easily systemised – it’s a low tech job that needs eyes and ears. Furthermore, and it is not often you can say this, in this area at least, humans are quicker than computers.

Tactical support

As with any service there are different levels of merchandising support and companies like MMS and BMS will work to each publishers’ specification – be it a requirement for year round servicing or tactical help in support of a particular project. Jeremy Parfect goes for the year round option for the Economist, whilst Martin Parr generally works in three month bursts for his titles. One of Martin’s titles, Farmers Weekly, recently ran a point of sale promotion through 2,000 independents. The material was delivered by the wholesalers but Martin used merchandisers to administer a mystery shopper scheme whereby retailers found using the point of sale device were rewarded.

In terms of which merchandising services you want to take advantage of, that will depend very much on your title and objectives. If yours is a high selling glossy then you are unlikely to need merchandisers to solicit for orders, but you might want them to check on compliance for agreements regarding facings and retail promotions. If you’re disproportionately reliant on certain geographic regions or outlet types for the bulk of your newsstand sales then you might want the peace-of-mind of knowing that someone is keeping an eye on these for you.

Effective communications channel

Much of what merchandisers do boils down to communication. Of course there are lots of other communication channels publishers can use: email, phone, mail. I suppose that if we could guarantee the right response to every email, phone call or letter we sent out then there might be less of a need for investing in merchandising but the fact is that face to face contact – the ability to develop a relationship, propose a course of action and then gauge response - still has much to recommend it. Jeremy Parfect sees this as key – and that is why he prefers not to post his point of sale material. He wants his appointed merchandisers to deliver it (and install it) personally as part of the Economist’s ongoing relationship with retail.

Investment in retail

Last, and by no means least, both Jeremy and Martin believe passionately that retailers are key to their sales effort and they need to be talked to and invested in. According to Martin, independent retailers are feeling increasingly lonely, isolated and ignored by the newstrade. Other industry sectors (confectionary, drinks, tobacco) are forever wooing them, but not publishers, yet we still expect them to get out of bed at 5am every morning! Says Jeremy, "the Economist is keen to invest in retailers, be it Tesco, WHS or the independents and merchandising allows for a direct relationship."

Measurement and control

Jeremy Parfect says that it is essential for each publisher to be very clear about the brief and what it is they expect from their merchandisers. In April, the Economist hosted a one day conference in London, where Jeremy presented the Economist’s retail goals and aims for the year ahead. Martin believes merchandising is vital but that, owing to the nature of the work, precise cost / benefit analysis is not always possible. He does however point to two recent examples where RBI’s investment in merchandising has paid rich dividends. One of his titles had a full listing agreement with a retail chain. However the group accidentally omitted the title from a planogram sent to all its stores. This oversight was picked up, in the field, the very next day. The group was alerted, new planograms immediately reissued and no lasting damage done. It could have been very different. The second example was a dispute over compliance levels for a retail promotion run with another group. The group claimed 68% compliance, the merchandisers reported 27%. To cut a long story short, RBI got £60k back from the retailer.

Is it for you?

If newsstand sales are important to you then you should be talking with retail. Is using a third party merchandiser the right way to do it? Why not call Bill Stocker of MMS (01780 444 007) or BMS (Colin Smith for mainlines: 07950 917 565; Ian Lake for airports: 07870 619 876) to find out more.