Ben Fenton, writing at The Financial Times, reports speculation about whether The Sun and or the Daily Mirror will go completely free. That the prospect of such a move is being discussed makes it more than one person’s thought.Â
Roy Greenslade, writing for The Guardian, makes some sense of the situation facing the two newspapers and points to the more dire situation facing the News of the World. The year-on-year 6.31% fall in sales in December is close to the sales fall I have seen for newspapers in city based Australian newsagencies for the same period.
There is no doubt that newspapers face a tough year here. Disruption from new technology and changes in news access habits are only part of the problem. Publishers make life difficult for themselves by working against the best network they have – newsagents. They disrespect retail newsagents by not offering any incentive to drive retail sales growth. They disrespect home delivery newsagents by trimming margin and refusing opportunities to keep up with CPI.Â
Australian newspaper publishers who want to grow their sales in 2008 would do well to engage with newsagents as business partners. While this would be a dramatic change, it would focus newsagent attention on growth rather than survival.
Mark
Love the blog. In ‘retirement’ I am helping a friend who is a significant player in the newspaper distribution channel. Having spent a lifetime in a distibution environment, I am staggered at how the Publishers dont leverage the newsagent channel. In a previous distribution life, I would love to have had access to the ideas, professionalism, knowledge of the market and enthusiasm of the people I currently work with.