http://www.connectionswithacp.com.au/AboutACP/News/newsItem.asp?id=1253…
It actually very nice when someone writes such a nice letter to our director especially when it is Yarrawonga Newsagency which won first place in the ACP Magazines Newsagent of the Year Awards.
Zac,
Newsagents and POS Solutions Working Together
The idea of the 100% Returns Report came about because we wanted to improve our ROI on our magazine sales. We have been working in tandem with ACP Magazines on a project with regards to 'range optimisation', which simply relates to stocking the optimal product mix to achieve maximum return.
We sent some historical magazine sales data to ACP who fed it into their specific software which calculates which titles are a. profitable, b. breakeven, or c. unprofitable. These were determined to be core product, negotiable product lines, and those titles 'recommended for deletion' respectively. ACP then reported back to us with the results. We determined from the data that we could delete 208 titles from our range, which represented 17% of the titles on our database. These accounted for less than 2% of our sales!
We then proceded to write to each distributor and ask for those isolated titles to be deleted from our standing order. (This was negotiated successfully, once we convinced the distributors that we could use the space to sell more of their popular titles). Once this was agreed to, we marked each of these titles as discontinued in our stock database, which means they are automatically marked for early return upon receipt. These titles will no longer reach our store shelves.
The effect that this method has on our magazine display has been phenomenal. No longer have we overlapping magazines and cluttered shelves, a much more attractive display has transformed into a 12% increase on turnover, as compared to the same period 12 months ago. Now we have trouble keeping the stock up to the customers!
We wanted for all newsagents to have access to this handy software, so I apporached Andrew Lloyd, senior programmer at POS Solutions with the idea of writing a similar package for POS Browser. This would make it easier for agents to do this range optiomisation themselves at store level, and on a regular basis. So Andrew took the time to write the software into a comprehensive, but user-friendly format. The results and feedback has been outstanding. Newsagents now have the tools to isolate poor performing titles, delete them from their database, free up the space for better displaying of magazines that actually sell in their location, and more importantly, improve cashflow and overall segment profitability.
I look forward to working with Andrew on developing this software even further, and on other tools to help us improve and grow our business in the future.
Regards,
Darren & Gary Tribe
Yarrawonga Newsagency
