I spoke today at the QNF newsagent’s conference in Townsville. While far removed from some of the challenges of their capital city colleagues, newsagents in Townsville face other challenges. One is coping with an inflexible magazine distribution system when it comes to seasonal peaks and troughs. I heard stories of insufficient magazines in summer and too many in winter. It was the same in Cairns two days ago. It is a frustrating situation which is denying newsagents and publishers vital sales of magazines.
The other issue in focus today was partworks subscriptions and newsagent frustration at how we are used to drive subscriptions by promoting gifts not available in our shops. It’s a perennial issue but one which could be resolved with some will.
FOOTNOTE: I took the photo outside the conference venue this afternoon. It has been a while since we had a blue sky like this in Melbourne.