Magazine publishers only need to look at how newsagents have supported the royal engagement issues over the last few days to see the value of the newsagency channel compared to supermarkets, petrol, convenience and others. Newsagencies have promoted OK!, Who and the early edition of Woman’s Day with clever placement in-store, good displays and training of employees. I have visited Coles and Woolworths supermarkets on the weekend and they have done nothing. I asked at a Coles whether they had the special issue of Woman’s Day and could not get past a shrug of the shoulders.
So why is it that magazine publishers give supermarkets more favourable terms than newsagents? We work harder for them, we support initiatives like the royal engagement issues yet we are treated as the poor cousins to the supermarkets.
A smart magazine publisher would go back to basics in their relationship with newsagents, realise that we are the magazine specialists, respect the attention and support we bring to the table and pull back from their supermarket and other relationships.
Yes, we make money from the sales. That is the argument put by publishers when I discuss this with them. However, we are penalised with more time consuming returns and range management work than supermarkets. We are also burdened with products which fail and this dilutes the value of the top sellers to our businesses.
The photo shows the smart work from the team at one of my stores. They re-purposed this small footprint stand to enable us to get the engagement issues on display and facing into the mall. It worked a treat! No supermarket would be smart or interested enough to do this.
I wish that magazine publishers would show newsagents respect for the extraordinary work we do.
Mark I think you will find that your stores are an exception.The majority of agents would have done nothing with the early issues.It is such a pity that more Agents aren’t as proactiv as Newsxpress members are.They make their own downfall imenent.
Mary, we will not be getting the mags until monday morning, we cannot promote what we do not have.
It’s great that the cities get the issue early but when the advert states it is available now ( with no mention of metro only ) and then we tell customers we did not get it it makes us a bit gun shy next time to promote it.
I’m sounding a bit old and grumpy with all my comments today but on a bright note we have had a great week with xmas sales this week so I hope all newsagents have a great lead in to the big day and the tills keep ringing in 2011.
.Mark In times when they need us they use us but when it comes to tipons Coles get them and we do not ,this week a dvd rental worth 60 bucks just across the way bull dust
this weeks womans day cover is a different type of paper and the top ones just keep curling over….. it looks crap.
you see this sometimes with the heat of the day, but it has done this before 6am?
Peter, it takes about 2 min to start curling up and that was at 4am imagine what it is going to look like later on in the day
Mary , i think if you have a good look out there you will find just as many stores as good as Newsxpress . It comes down to the owner of the store wether it be Newsxpress ,newspower, nextra ,luckycharm or any other individual newsagent out there .
Shaun, newsXpress is the only newsagency marketing group with an integrated magazine strategy which drives traffic, impulse purchases and loyalty.
maybe for marketing groups mark but not for all newsagncys . i have my own strategys that drive traffic that work and loyalty is something that we push with our customers and new customers . It still comes down to how much effort the owner wants to put in i have seen some pretty shocking newxpress stores out there as i have with other marketeting groups and independant newsagents .
By the way before you say this blog is not about marketing groups as normally happens well i did not bring it up .
The differences Shaun are employee training, structure, standards and supporting materials. While an individual newsagent could do some of what newsXpress does, they would not have the capacity to do everything.
The origninal post shows an innovative use of collateral in pursuit of impulse purchases. I am proud of what the team created and the sales results achieved.
Could not figure where to post this.
Local supermarket ( part of a chain ) has been told by Gordon and Gotch that they do not sell enough magazines and their account will be closed. They were told by G&G that will have to get them off their newsagent ( me ) as a subagent.
Great news. I suspect we will see some newsagent direct accounts closed as a result of the review.
All of my local supermarkets are now my subagents. Surprisingly GG has realised it is cheaper and easier for them if we manage our local supermarkets like we were doing years ago!
I have gained magazines for a Foodworks and an IGA in the last year or so, and am about to gain another Foodworks. I have lost a BP though who managed to get direct supply.