I thought I’d update how the Herald Sun Australia Day hat promotion panned out for us in our four shopping centre based newsagencies – two I own and two in which I have a 50% share.
In one newsagency we received around 30% more hats than Herald Sun newspapers. This worked well for us. We ran out at around 2pm with some of our newspapers still left to sell and while we faced frustrated customers, by that time of the day they were okay about it. Our distribution newsagent had given us as many as possible.
In another newsagency we didn’t receive any. We approached the supplying newsagent and we had to go pick up the stock. They gave us hats for around half our Herald Sun stock. Since we are outside a busy major supermarket we were, naturally, out of stock within an hour. We called for more stock and while a staff member answering the phone told us they had plenty the newsagent said they had none. Our people spent the rest of the day fending off upset customers.
In our third newsagency we received enough hats for 60% of our Herald Sun stock. We were out by 11am and the newsagent did not have any more stock. Again, upset customers.
In our fourth newsagency we received hats for 30% of our Herald Sun stock. We were out of stock of hats by 10am. The supplying newsagent agreed to give us five more – we had to go and pick them up. they were gone in minutes.. Being right outside a supermarket we were getting hit hard for hats. Plenty of angry customers for the rest of the day.
I don’t know where the supply problem is – with the Herald & Weekly Times or with the supplying newsagent – but I do know that there is a problem and the team at the front counter in newsagencies like mine are left dealing with upset and, occasionally, abusive customers. The damage to the reputation of our business and to the name of the Herald Sun is, in my view, considerable.
I love the Australia day hat promotion but, as is so often the case with newspaper promotions, am highly critical of the execution. What is the point if these things are executed so poorly so often?
I’d like to see the circulation people at the Herald & Weekly Times host a meeting with retail and distribution newsagents and work out a plan which serves customers better. If we get that right then the publisher, the retail newsagent and the distribution newsagent all win.
“I don’t know where the supply problem is – with the Herald & Weekly Times or with the supplying newsagent – ”
Of course you do Mark! How many comments are made here from every state, with pretty much every freebie News Ltd does, saying exactly the same thing? The problem is systemic within News Ltd!
There is only one way to solve that problem and that is for News Ltd to supply these things on a one for one basis when compared to supply of the papers for that day.Of course, this won’t happen, and they will continue to use the “while stocks last” or “it is up to you to ensure sufficent quantities” BS lines.
In the meantime, I will continue to keep my delivery dockets for both the freebie, and that days paper to show people the discrepancy.After you do this a few times, the number of complaints falls dramatically.Also, I offer people the numbers of News Ltd circulation AND our so called “rep” (I keep a diary, the last time we saw a rep was 6 years ago), so they can make their own complaints.
Mark,
We have never received a premium of anything from News to newspapers received. As posted on the other blog, we have direct supply and yet received 10% of hats to papers received…
How can you receive so much… when we would be happy with 75%… Why… and what are any of the state newsagency bodies doing about it…
Cheers
Peter
Up in QLD. Let the fun begin……… 8am and out of hats already.
8am and we have four left. But reasonably happy with the 50% supply ratio.
Nationwide’s pathetic excuse for a hat (if I can see through it, I reckon the sun can, too)’s supply ratio is also 50%, and we have just under half of that left.
Our regulars know to get in early and know that if they miss out, it’s not our responsibility. The ones who have mobility issues have one kept aside. The ones that give us a hard time are the ones who buy their papers elsewhere later in the day, then troll around for the freebie, getting angrier as their sorry day wears on.
Ah, no accounting for readership, eh?
weird, as i write I have only 3 papers left and probably around 70 hats left
That would just reflect the political leanings of your neighbourhood, perhaps?
Have 80 papers left
60 hats it will be close.
We close at 1pm
Received 720 Papers
480 hats Which we are more than happy with.
Here in NSW we receive 1450 Sunday Tele and got around 1150 hats, I give my subs around 50% of their supply and keep remainder for my shop. If I thought I was not going to have enough they would not get any, that includes a sub-newsagency in my area. So far so good, but, still several hours left in the day.
8.15am
Good on you NewsLTD
Another total F*#@ Up.
News have on their website a family of 4 wearing hats.
600,000 papers printed and only 150,000 hats distributed in QLD.
Our customers that have missed out are not happy at all.
Your phones will be running hot tomorrow.
9.30 and happily out of hats, not too much commission in free hats, as for angry customers, most of my regulars know how news ltd works with these freebies, so dont expect much flak.
these freebies are a pain in the bum, extra work for zero gain, in all honesty who here experiences a substantial gain in paper sales because of this freebie, is it worth the effort, i think not
Rick, I love the freebies – if they get the supply model right.
Peter, I received a good quantity in one of my stores thanks to a supportive supplying newsagent and their support from the publisher.
Another awesome News Ltd promo.No hats left after an hour and a half of trading.
Am giving out News Ltd phone number to disgruntled customers.
The money spent on the heavy TV advertising last night would have been better spent on more hats therefore more happy customers?
Most of our customers don’t care to understand that the supply of freebies is beyond our control. As a result we bear the brunt of their frustrations.
Maybe the hobnobs at News Ltd should get out their comfy offices and get into our stores to deal with our cranky customers. Can’t see it happening. Ever.
Warrick,
Obviously must be somehing about QLD… our counterparts down south appear to have got far more than we did…
Just had one angry non local after abusing a junior staff member throw a bottle of water at her cause he could not get a hat…
After coping abuse for 3+ hours enough was enough… A couple of customers tackled this idiot, and he is now waiting collection by the police… Looks a bit like a muddie waiting to go into the pot…
A bright point on a sour day… and another stuff up from News… Why do we bother…
Cheers
Peter
Mark,
It would be great to receive anything like what you received… 150 hats for 1500 papers… Not good.
Cheers
Pete
Physical violence over a stupid hat??
OMG what a caveman!
Not so much the hat, we see aggrevation and abuse for anything free that we dont get enough off as they all come out of the woodowrk… At a min we should be receiving 1:1, not 10%…
News would spend hundreds of thousands promoting this, and yet skimp on the delivery… Any marketing moron knowns that at a minimum you have to deliver on the promise and not refer to the ‘while stocks last’ or ‘at participating newsagencies’…
The hats probabaly cost 10 – 20cents to be made given the bulk order… Why skimp on the delivery?
Cheers
Peter
Well at least you got papers . I.m on Cyclone watch with no roads or airport open. Looks like we will be able to wear many hats on Australia Day.
Carol
do the punters really know how stupid they look in those crap papermache hats
Why give away free hat? What about $1 or $1.50?
The best promotion we have last year is $3 Aust Own Movies DVDs from Fairfax. We sold hundreds of DVDs, and customer happy to pay for it. On the same time, many customers asked for free DVDs, and found it costs $3, they are happy to say, “I think I will leave it.”
If publishers charge a small amount, it will reduce the demand for free staff, while still reach its target. and they can use the small fund to help someone in needed, (charity organzations, or its distribution agent/retailer).
Cheers,
Sunny
Sunny there is room for both promotions. Copnnecting the newspaper with Australia Day is laudable – if executed through the whole chain well.
267 papers, 67 hats, open the doors at 7.00am, hats gone by 7.30am, papers sold out by 10.00am, 10am till 12.00 noon lots of customer abuse. Now we have to run a dvd promo for 3 weeks, i think i might reconsider. As Peter said “why bother?”
Cheers
Al
Ah, yes. We saw the TV ad last night for the DVD promo. And got a box of albums this morning.
Some info would be good. Where’s the brief? Is it just us, or are there a lot of carts being chased by horses around here?
Received 250 hats to be shared around 1314 papers – less than 1 in 5! How come Queensland was at the end of the line for distribution of what could have been a great promotion.
Our shops ran out at 7.30, 7.45 and 8.00am – and staff were abused all day!
A rude little man thought he could chuck his mastheads at me this afternoon, saying I could ‘keep the bastards’, and get away with it.
So I gave him a number he could ring, his mastheads back, and told him that abusing a female alone in a shop, was very rude. And I suggested that next time, he could: a) go to a newsagent instead of a servo, and b) try collecting his worthless freebie on the morning of the promotion.
Finally, he was advised that he should abuse the circulation dept. instead of getting all bully-boy with li’l ol’ me.
Where do these so-called men get off?
And they worry about road rage! WTF is wrong with Society these Days if these peoples life revolves around a freebie for goodness sake get a life. I guarantee the sun will still come up the next day!
Mark thank you for covering this issue so well. VANA should thank you too for doing their work for them. They are in the publisher’s pockets and are too gutless to bring focus to the damage the publishers do to our businesses through these poorly managed and executed offers.
We don’t get promos because we don’t home deliver anymore, we have not had them for 18 months now. The first 25 phonecalss this morning was about the hats, we had a sign up all day and we still got abused about the hats. Tonnight while backing up I got a call … ‘noticed you were closed .. do you have any hats?’
What gived me the irrits is that the hats can sell a bucket of papers for the publisher – if they wish to get it right. I am happy to sell a bucket full of papers but apparently I am no longer a newsagent so they miss out, the customer misses out, and everyone gets cheesed off, me, the customer and the publisher. Remind me again what the aim is?
I have no doubts that News and the associations are all reading this… The silence for all is staggering…
If News want to develop an alternate distrubution model, keep running these shams of promotions and their problem will be solved. Customers will refuse to buy, Newsagents will refuse to participate, News can refuse supply and presto papers in the current form no longer exist…
lets bring out the conspiracy theroies…
Brett, we don’t deliver either but we get the promos in all of our stores.
how many sales did news ltd miss out on by not having enough hats?
how many customers bought the fairfax paper after finding out there was no hats left?
how many customers put the paper back when they got to the counter and found there were no hats left?
is putting a sign before the customer gets to the paper stand detering them from buying anything in the store at all?
news flash. news ltd do not care. as long as they have enough hats to make the tv comercial plausable, then why would they care if there is not enough hats, or how the numbers are distributed.
if they did half the tv advertising, there might be enough to pay for the right amount of hats to be produced, and even to take care with the distribution issues.
just a thought.
i am a delivery and retail agent. i will add a disclaimer that i recived 300 hats for 400 papers, so no issues here, i actually rolled the remainder of hats into todays deliveries.
peter
QNP’s DVD promo has got off to a great start.. Weather isn’t good anyway, so the place is quiet, but we’ve given a few free DVDs away, but only one person wants to spend money on the exercise i.e. buy a case.
And whose idea was it to put the token on page 4? Oh yeah, because there’s a full-page ad on page 2 :-s
i love the story on the cover of todays daily telegraph about the army uniforms being made in china now. the story implies that our diggers should have australian made gear.
less than a month ago news ltd did an australia day hat promotion with hats made from……. yeah you guessed it CHINA.