Following feedback here to my post about establishing a complaints forum, I can announce that I am involved in establishing a forum which will be open to all newsagents for raising topics including discussing the performance of newsagency suppliers. Here are some key points about the new forum:
- It will be separate to this blog.
- Only verified forum members will be able to comment.
- There will be posting rules.
- Moderators will have the ability to remove or edit posts.
- Suppliers will be welcome as long as they adhere to the forum rules.
- The topic coverage will be encouraged to be diverse – positive and negative.
- The forum will be searchable by Google.
I hope to announce more details in the next week.
Excellent
where is Graham
Thanks Mark. Only good can come from it.
This promises to be a very interesting exercise.
Will be interested to see whether or not improved, or more meaningful relationships arise from this process.
For so many, an on-paper equitable working partnership was never possible, compromising any chance of good supplier/retailer face-to-face relationships to develop, due to the all too – familiar
offence-is-the-best-defence strategy which has prevailed in dealing with ‘customers’ questioning of ‘policy’. Never mind any kind of dispute resolution procedures. How many of us have even got that far?
Would love to see suppliers actually represented, thus engaging with feedback. Some have been great at this, whilst others’ stony silences only prove to reinforce certain labels attributed to them.
All the best.
good news.
just one question….could someone please explain what are the benefits of having a moderator?
need a moderator to remove those comments we make after another stressful magazine arrival morning before we have had a coffee and time to settle down 🙂
Need moderator like this morning when fairfax deliver papers at 6.30am…and the comments that would be wrtten if i had not counted to 10 or 10,000
Great stuff glad to see it I wish you all the best I am sure it is the right way to go and I am only too happy NOT to be involved as it is a newsagents forum and NOT a public one.
Congratulations on this step forward
Shaun do you mean Graeme?
This is fine as long as the forum and moderators are independent. For example, what does only verified members can comment mean? And will moderators remove conversations they don’t like for political reasons.
so sorry Mr Day . yes i did mean you Graeme but not in a bad way i thought you would have jumped on the reply to this blog . it passes my day with a smile to watch mark and yourself go at one another .
Sounds good. I would like to be in touch with other agents and get opinions when I am for instance changing card supplier. A discussion group. I gained far more help walking around the GNS warehouse after the Fair in Brisbane they I did at the Fair. There is not way we can have the contact I would like with other agents when we are in remote areas. I noticed at he Fair that lots of the newsagents seemed to know one another but how?
having a forum to discuss things would be really good.
myself for example have been dying to ask ideas/opinions of fellow newsagents but lack the proper channel.
i think having a forum would really benefit all of us. sharing experiences, troubleshooting etc…
i just hope that the forum would not be turned into a place just to whinge.
Mark thank you for taking the initiative in this.
would the forum be browsable by unregistered members?
i’d quite like to see a section for displays and signs. it would be a great place to harvest ideas, especially with halloween and christmas coming up.
Graeme,
From what Mark details in the post, it appears that the forum will be publically accessible with only those wishing to comment having to register their details.
Shaun and the group,
I do not comment here to stir my days of that are over. It is my intention to pass on something without being too domineering unfortunately old age impatients come to the fore ..at times. My concern is the question at hand not the person.
This industry has been through difficult times before, however none of us have been through THESE times. These are times are not precipitated or founded on a dolid base of any wealth- just debt. Network is a private equity Group of investors that don’t know the industry but want a return-their debt is considerable, Fairfax -same family huge debt- the newsagents lots of debt and the industry lacks re-investment into the retail sector. Two schools of thought there 1. upgrade and re invest and maximise returns 2. upgrading and computerisation does not give a better return as I can’t charge anymore for the product I sell. Maybe somewhere inbetween. whatever these are a few of the pertinent subjects facing newsagents and small business today. The ATO has 17,000 SME’s that are outstanding in their GST payments. They have he;d off until after the election and the word is maybe until January when the deal with the Banks over the deposit guarantee is up they will start in earnest to collect.
These issues are not going to go away and we need to understand cash flows and just how we can play the game otherwise no matter how much we are “right’ we will lose. If newsagencies become like housing in that prices fall too much then the owner will opt to stay rather than sell. If there is negative equity even more the reason to stay. However if the cash flow strangles the business then it will be hung out to dry. This is the current phase hence the walk outs. So far there has not been as many as what occured in the 90’s early nineties but who knows what the bank is sitting on?
Anyway, I am pleased that Mark has decided on a closed forum for newsagents for I genuinely believe that if this forum is conducted properly-right Q& A’s then an invitation to those suppliers may well result in some sort of webinar discussion amongst an elected few with aquestions and input form the participants. As I said I believe that this new forum should be private becauseyou have more chance of discussing the issues in detail rather than looking like a lot of disgruntled retailers with no answers.
Beast of luck.
Sorry about the lack of paragraghs meant to don so at the end but slipped my mind Al what his name zima I think
Well and truly overdue. Had suggested VANA do this, but, you know…
Also the potential for newsagents to opt in and out of negotiations or product deals with suppliers. A members only section (not viewable by the general public)could be beneficial for commercially or strategically sensitive topics.
I look forward to newsagents sharing positive ideas – here’s something that’s worked well in my shop…
Mark, running such a forum may demand time that you don’t have on top of numerous other commitments.
Cameron, What you have described has been under development for some many months. It will launch in phases. The forum is expected to be part of the launch.
Mark I got an email about this the other day. Well done.
No David, not from me. The new newsagent forum which I have been writing about will launch in the next couple of days.
is http://www.retailnewsforum.com.au your new forum mark?
got this in the email this morning.
No it’s not ED. The forum I am involved with will launch in the next few days.
So, whose is it, then?
Greard Munday, VANA Director and newsagent at Patterson Road in Victoria.
Cool. Thanks.
Just found more info there, too.
🙂
I don’t get it. According to your post Mark, a Victorian newsagent is behind this retail news forum. Why isn’t it being supported on this blog? Doesn’t it achieve what newsagents have argued for here? Divided approach again.
Ted, the folks behind the forum have been emailing newsagents across the country attracting their own supporters. They don’t need me to assess what they are doing and make comment here.
Supporters? Is this a competition? Somes one developed a forum for newsagents ( and potentially suppliers) to utilize. Why wouldn’t we be encouraged to use it? Sounds political to me.
Ted what is the address for it i cannot even find it
http://www.retailnewsforum.com.au/
It appears to be in its infancy but seems to be on the right track. It just sounds to me like we are going to have two competing forums…why?
Mark says they don’t need him to make comment on the forum…..why? There doesn’t appear to be any reluctance to comment on anything else industry related. Makes no sense.
this site is a blog from mark fletcher. the other is a forum by you. if you want to talk about the staff in newexpress store down the road bought all the dougnuts in the bakery, you can.
they are not really competiting site.
Ted, ease up on the coffee, there can be more then one site, this is not highlander.
There is a very big difference between a blog and a forum. Yes, this blog has been used as a forum, however there are limits to what and how you can post.
Members of a forum can start topics, whereas on a blog (if it’s not yours), you can’t.
On the other hand, you don’t have to be a ‘member’ to post on here- merely subscribe. That said, Mark still knows where you are, according to your ISP, like a forum, whether you’re a member or not.
A blog format doesn’t suit everyone, just as a form format doesn’t necessarily, either.
Hopefully the forum will be as informative as the blog – actually, more so.
The more the merrier, I say.
i would assume that the guy who created a forum did not know that Mark is also in the process of creating a forum.
in fact, none of us here in this blog knows that there was a forum in the works. and a lot of us were in fact clamoring for our own forum. Now all of sudden there was a forum made by someone else.
think of it this way, if mark was also almost finishing up on this project but the other site came out first. do you just throw out all your hard work and ideas. what would you do?
would be a different story now if after knowing there is a forum available for us then you just start to work on another forum despite the fact that you know there is 1 available already.
Peter…the forum is not mine which is obvious if you read my post properly. I just think it would make sense to have a common forum. Sorry to have an opinion. Y&G…I realise this is a blog. I am referring to the forum Mark has flagged he is working on.
I had a look at the retailnewsforum and it seems someone took my earlier idea of using a free bbs.
It just looks rushed and quickly put together.
I first got involved in the site which will host the forum around two years ago. When it is released the reasons for the time taken to lauch will be obvious.
I announced the coming forum over a week ago. The other forum was launched a day or two after that.
I see no problem with multiple forums. Newsagents will go where they feel most comfortable.
I am not sure why Ted or others thinks I should endorse or comment on the other forum any more than I have. His history here as a commenter has been to challenge me and I’ll cool with that.
And Ted, there is plenty happening in the channel on which I do not comment here.
Ed, in reference to entry 36…..what mind altering rocket fuel were you on in writing that?????? sounds like “who`s on first”!!!!
Had a rep come in yesterday ,with out any phone call come in for a visit . Not normally a problem but in the middle of a 20 million lotto draw and in the middle of unpacking 2 pallets of stationary we asked her to leave the brocher with one of the staff . I waas really amazed when i here the sales rep telling my staff that obviously you don’t like to give your customers a choice . Little does she realise i just finished unpacking to boxes of her line of stationary ,oh well she will not be selling me anything in the near future .
Message to sales reps how about a phone call first . Do not come in on jackpot days . And don’t be rude to the people that put food on your plate .