I am trying to help a newsagent get approved by a magazine distributor for processing magazine returns electronically. The distributor says no because the newsagents has only sent sales data for 50% of the trading days of the month.
Fair enough, the newsagent should be sending sales data every day. However, this is a one-sided relationship. The magazine distributor imposes tough KPIs on newsagents on sales data, invoice payment, displays etc and accepts none in return. They are supplying some titles which sell through at less than 30% yet the newsagent has no mechanism to use against the distributor.
Let’s play this scenario through a bit. The newsagent fixes processes at their end and does send sales data through every day, they are then permitted by the magazine distributor to process returns electronically. What happens about underperforming titles? Nothing.
This is a one-sided, unfair relationship. A magazine distributor treating newsagents as partners would have used the electronic returns request as a carrot rather than a stick.
The magazine distributor ought to stop managing newsagents by blackmail and start treating them as business people.
Blackmail is the magazine distributors right as they have a monopoly on supply. They play God every day with newsagents nationwide because they can. We paid our account 2 days late and as a result we were told we would not recieve a weeks worth of supply as punishment. This has killed our sales for the week but because the distributors don’t care about sales they are not interested. They have my money albeit 2 days after the cut off but to then say no more for you is what in most cases is called a little man syndrome, some people cannot handle the power trip.
Maybe I should be a coward and comment under anonymous, I’ve recieved a call from the distributor within 1/2 an our of my comment, jumping up and down. The comment I made was in relation to the Distributors being on a power trip, and withholding supply when it sees fit, I was still billed up to the last day of the month and returns are not going to be processed unless they are recieved by the 10th of the month, but hey I’m only the one selling the publications. The comment about little man syndrome must have hit a nerve sorry.
Has NETWORK services resorted to cowardly prank phonecalls. I mention Network because the last phonecall I got seemed to know all my details but refused to identify himself. I know it was network because he called from within Network office as per his caller id. If you want to call back have the professionalism to identify yourself not just start raving on.
Mark I see he hasn’t got the guts to post a response here so we can see who he is