Crikey.com runs the story today asking whether News Ltd is considering a free newspaper model. While I don’t know whether this is under serious consideration within News, I do understand that they considering many changes as they assess their newspaper distribution model.
I do enjoy this site but sometimes I dont understand it. I have followed the multitude of emotional comments following News Ltd’s changing of the unsuccessful Alpha model (if it was successful they wouldn’t have changed it), but when something as important as this gets aired…not a comment
Tony,
Newsagents made Alpha successful. For News to achieve growth they felt they needed to play more in other retail spaces. This is what is behind their move.
I agree with your question about comments relating to this. My theory is that newsagents are too scared to contemplate such a change. This is based on overall reluctance by the newsagency channel to worry about the challenge of devices like the Amazon Kindle.
We need to understand and debate these challenges otherwise we will be taken by surprise and by then it will be too late.
As News Limited changes and evolves so do the retail outlets like newsagents. Whilst we personally are in a marketing group and call ourselves a newsagent the reality is that newspapers do not play a major sales department in our store. They are, admittedly, a traffic puller but less so as our offer changes with time. Today we are a bookstore, a browsing/sales destination for magazines, large retailer of stationery and a destination retailer for gifts, cards and much more. Newsagents represent a fantastic channel for retail. Newsagents may have been founded to support newspaper distribution, but perhaps tomorrow they might offer many other items…Perhaps even kindle devices, download top-ups for newspaper subscription, magazines, and books…the offer can be endless, the channel irreplaceable and of high value to any wholesaler/publisher/manufacturer…The future will be what we make of it and is full of opportunity.
Great point Steve, in our business newspaper sales make up only 9.9% of our business and contribute only 7% of our profits. It is not that newsagents ignore what is happening with newspapers and other devices such as kindles it is just that it only gets the attention it deserves in the big picture.
We came to a cross roads a few years ago and made the choice not to be slaves to the newsagent model in the way that we would not be tied down to unreasonable contracts or outdates practices. Now we are in a position that if we lost one of our core departments be it lotto, newspapers, magazines, cigs or even stationery then the business could still survive. If you are unable to say that in your current businesses then you are a slave to the suppliers that can play god with your futures.
This is a great industry that allows us to change with the times if we are brave enough to step out of our comfort zones. News ltd will only offer free papers if it gets the advertising $$$ and will only screw the newsagents over by cutting our commissions and using us as a cheap distribution point. I say no way.
Enjoyed reading all comments, Steve and Luke have seen the light and understand what needs to be done for tommorrow.
We all have to change, Newspapers drive people into my little shop but over the few years of reading this blog I have changed my thought process, my whole world does not rely on me selling Newspapers and I am trying to implement sensible change before it is too late.
Tony,
I’m with the others here. Newspapers are but a small fraction of the mix. They do represent traffic flow to a certain extent but take that away and we still move on. I have a large area at the front of store that New Ltd want me to have. If they go free then that stand goes and it becomes a much better return for space.
Newsagents are a wonderfull ground for getting to the heart of retail. Find a product, market it, promote it and the move to the next. You can’t get that in many retail outlets anymore.
I would not be alarmed if newspapers go free. As I can see it they can only go free or double in price. A free courier mail may be read by 30-50% more readers but where are they going to be distributed, who will house them and then who will clean them up when it comes time for the next issue? Double the price then the readership goes down, papers loose their space and we find something else to sell.