Bob Cauthorn has posted an excellent blog entry at Corante about newspapers and why sales are falling.
It is the product. Bob is right. His comments fit with my earlier entries here about the ridiculous number of product giveaways and competitions being run by News and Fairfax to sell their products. For every sale you win with a CD, a DVD or drink coasters you confuse a consumer about the value proposition of the newspaper.
Consumers are losing sight of why they are buying newspapers.
The masthead must stand for something beyond competitions and free product. Spike increases are not sustainable and while they may help with an audit they do not fix the newspaper malaise.
As a newspaper retailer I want product I can respect, product which consumers seek out because of content. That type of consumer will be more valuable in long term business and basket depth.
Newspapers don’t have to lose a race with online media. The two are different, serving different needs and even different consumers.