Several newsagents forwarded to me an email from the ANF yesterday promoting a security product called Crimvid. They were surprised that the ANF is promoting this product.
If I was an ANF member and had received the email my first response would be why is the ANF promoting this product? What is in it for them? There is no disclosure of s commercial relationship between the ANF and the promoters of Crimvid. Given the endorsement of Crimvid by the ANF the organisation needs to be clear about why – otherwise members could distrust the endorsement.
As an association serving its members, the ANF would / should have done due diligence into Crimvid before endorsing it. The ANF communication offers no disclosure as to due diligence.
Some involved with the ANF will say that this blog post is an attack on them. It is not. It is pointing out that their communication endorsing and promoting Crimvid is incomplete: tell your members why you are endorsing it, share with them your due diligence insights as to why this is good for newsagents.
The ANF communication includes:
We often talk about a reason for customers to step into a newsagency, our point of difference and our unique selling proposition.
If the ANF is suggesting that a single product is a USP then they are mistaken. A USP is something deep within the business, something long term around which to build a business plan. It is not a single product.
Instead of mis-using catchphrases of others, the ANF communication should have clearly demonstrated the relevance of this product to a retail newsagency business so that newsagents could continuer it in the context of their businesses and what they do today.
hardly a USP, I see no appeal with the product nor it’s price.
There is a complete lack of tech specs for this product on either the web site or in the email and goggling crimvid turns up nothing. I’ve requested the specifications from crimvid and I’ll be interested to see if I get hard facts or a bulls**t story out of them. You would at least hope the ANF got this information before backing it.
I suppose someone has checked if this in genuinely from ANF an not a scam?
Carol ,you know what I thought the same thing ,it just looked like a ridiculous email and at $100 a pop I don’t think there is going to be to many that take up on it ,Really looks like something you see on pay tv adverts or on the deals direct website .Not a good idea for my store
And it is only a 1 month exclusive deal ….not such a great looking deal at all
Before posting I checked and an satisfied that the ANF did publish this promotional email.
I am not interested. I have a plan for what my store will be selling and this does not fit in at all at all! WTF
Try link http://crimvid.com.au/.
There seems to be people who are trying to use the Newsagency Network for the own ends (Crimvid and others) but have not sorted it out with Newsagents. The fact that someone can claim to use the Newsagents Network but has not signed up Newsagents is quite remarkable and ANF appears to be a part of it.
All in all not good for the Channel and apparently any old tom dick harry or nephew of Rupert can claim to be a user of our channel when next to no newsagents actually support them.
It does raise the Question what in it for ANF!
Which is why the ANF should disclose the details of any relationship.
Maybe ANF members need these installed at the ANF offices to see what gets done there, if anything.
SHIT! Wish I’d joined ANF so I don’t miss out on these great opportunities to build my business.
/sarcasm
After 9.5 years working in the NZ security industry, I can be pretty sure that these will not live up to the claims made. Is there a time/date stamp? Needed for evidential purposes. How easily can images be tampered with? And why won’t the thief just nick the camera?
Website says “Buy online or at newsagent, but no online sales function. Nice one, fullahs.
Jingos, someone needs to talk to the marketing department at the ANF. The email promoting this product comes with a big “MUST ACT NOW” in the header, and yes in capital letters.
It looks and sounds like something from a Nigerian Lotteries agent.
Frankly even if this product was the saviour of the channel and a must have, Id like a little bit of time to do some due diligence. Most peculiar is my immediate reaction.
This is the most bizarre thing I’ve seen in a while. So this Crimvid company has already committed to marketing around newsagencies even though the offer has only just been sent out? Also they are already advertising on their website that it’s available in newsagencies?
So we either gamble on the product and it doesn’t sell or we don’t take up the product and risk disappointing customers who expect to be able to find this in every newsagent.
I like the way they talk about USP’s. Clearly they have been reading this blog. Would love to see them comment more often though. Frankly I’d rather give my money to the Nigerian Lotteries Agent.
If you know of any Nigerian lottery outlets I’m in.
The thing is these are not even anything special , not new to the market not first of its kind. Google it and there are hundreds of different types out there , might not be the same specs but to the average joe customer its the same
it is about time the ANF came clean and cleared the decks. Trouble is if they did, the ship would sink
ACT IMMEDIATELY – DON’T MISS OUT – GET YOURSELF A USP NOW!!!
I have a bridge in Brooklyn, a tower in Paris and a castle in London that you all might be interested in selling shares in.
Every newsagency in Australia has access to this product, my web site says so!
I am having a long, boozy lunch with a minion from the ANF tomorrow so who knows where this product could go.
ACT NOW – DON’T WAIT FOR THE EMAIL – THIS OPPORTUNITY AND MY CREDIBILITY WON’T LAST MUCH LONGER.
Sign me up Jim …..
shauns – but wait, there’s more – as a valued member of the ANF you also get a free set of steak knives.
What’s that I hear you say – you’re not an ANF member – doesn’t matter, we’ll keep you on our mailing list coz that makes it look good for the purveyors of the next scam we try to push!
Jim can I pay with Bitcoin
You guys are funny. Some in the ANF will criticise this thread. They would be better served explaining their strategy.
Peter – you can pay with Bitcoin when we get our online payment scheme (oops, system) up and running. In the meantime, bundles of unmarked $US sent by ordinary mail to my PO Box will suffice.
Mark – not sure that the ANF would have time to read this blog – they are no doubt flat out producing the next industry-saving scheme, which when coupled with free lunches would make them very busy little vegemites.
We are having our new Tatts machines put in today (SA Lotteries no longer) and I noticed they didn’t have an internal capacity for credit cards. What do other newsagents do?
I have always had CASH ONLY at my lotto terminal as my eftpos machines are too far away from the lotto area to be viable and I do not wish to pay any credit card
fees for Lotto seeing as it is only an agency line.
Ticketek pay the fees for credit cards and I think Tatts should too.
Interesting that credit betting was a total NO NO until July last year when online betting for SA Lotteries came into being.
Suddenly we were allowed to use a credit card for betting (because online did the same for obvious reasons).
The rules changed but our % iprofit would go down if we allowed credit card use.
Advice here would be great.
Also our lotto drawers open automatically with SA Lotteries as we end a sale and now we find that we will have to use a key (security???????) for every sale.
Looking forward to some answers at the training session on Thursday.
NSW here and every time I go to a training session we are asked how can we help sell more NSW Lotteries product.
My answer is easy with all the Agents selling for you.
A. Have EFTPOS built into the selling terminal
B. Use your market share to cut me a better deal on Credit Cards and I will allow it to be used for payment for gaming.
But to answer June.
Be don’t allow CC for Lotto payment
We don’t have a cash draw with our Terminal (never has been built in EFTPOS)
Envy that you use to have this.
We allow EFTPOS for the purchase and at this point in time I take the hit in Fees although there is a increase in usage with cards that looks to be ramping up even more.
Brett do you think my CASH ONLY signs
at the terminal turns people away. I haven’t noticed anyone leaving because of it but I would be interested in your feedback.
I have been thinking long and hard about allowing credit and If I do I will not be imposing a fee on top of the sale.
I know a lot of Agents do this already but my real ….worry I suppose is not other agents or even Coles and Co.
If you have not done so jump onto, well for me its NSW Lotteries web site and purchase some games use your card to pay for the sale.
There is the real competition as that is just so easy and you have not even left your shop. Its happening now I think a lot more then we would like.
And Tatts keep running all the Promotion’s through there Web site 2nd Chance? Million Minute? Log IN!
Newspaper anyone?
The real truth is June a lot don’t complain about Cash Only no CC usage, they just don’t come back.
We allow EFTPOS for all purchases, always have.
Brett, thanks for the feedback – I may have to change my inflexible attitude (it comes with age) but I do hate being “done over” with extra fees for a product that isn’t even mine.
I am feeling slightly overcome with the 195 page training manual received today so maybe I just need one more sleep and I’ll be ok.
It is true that old people (sic) don’t like change!!!!!
If I sold lottery products right now I would take credit cards and not charge a premium as this is a declining market for over the counter and barriers like fees can hurt sales.
June, I moved our lotto machine from end of counter to between our 2 registers.
I put a tyro machine on each register to make life easier for staff and customers.
We take eftpos for lottery products but I put 1% surcharge on credit for lottery only purchase. Most say that’s fine, some use savings account instead.
I don’t believe I have lost customers over a CC surcharge.
June, I take cards for Lotto and don’t regret it. No extra fees for my customers, sure, it is a cost, but I have to compete with 2 of the biggest sales agencies either side of me. Neither take cards and I know I have gained a few of their customers because I do.
I’m not being “done over”, I am making sales I would otherwise lose and I make up for the small revenue loss with bigger margin items. The majority (about 98%) use Eftpos, not credit, so me fee is between 10 & 14 cents. Not a lot. And remember, those bank fees are a claimable expense.
Not all “old people” don’t like change. Many younger ones don’t either, and some of us “oldies” embrace change (as Mark keeps telling us to) and keep on growing.
We’ve always offered eftpos as a payment option and then CC when it became legal. Our competitors don’t offer this and we’ve been able to pick up a few customers, including a work syndicate that spends tens of thousands every year, because of it.
The number of people who don’t carry cash anymore makes it an increasingly difficult position, commercially, to not offer electronic payment. Consumers expect it. This trend only grows stronger with contactless payment.
We would never charge a fee for it. Aside from the contractual obligations to not charge the customer anymore than it costs you, customers are never going to look positively on a fee. They might not say it aloud but it will stick in their subconscious as a negative experience.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think I will have to revisit this issue of CC
for lotto.
My other worry is the time it will take (especially on Saturdays) to finish the sale
with a queue a mile long glaring at us if we
take too long (in their opinion) because we are processing a CC
June,
We do not charge a fee for any card purchase, all the shops in our strip do charge but we stipulate that all sales for cards must be over $10. We have never had a complaint once they realise there is no fee involved and most people we have found when paying with a card usually are going to spent more than $10 and if not will buy something extra to be over $10.
We have always accepted CC for Tatts transactions – like Jarryd says, electronic payments are a way of life and most transactions are of a substantial enough amount to make it worthwhile.
We used to have a minimum amount of $10 (which we weren’t that strict on) but that has gone by the wayside and we now accept cards for all but the ridiculous e.g. newspapers or a packet of chewy, etc but if the customer wants cash out then we will gladly let them use a card for those as well.
I think customers appreciate it when they might be short of cash to be able to use a card and I would never lose a sale for the sake of a few cents.
Today’s sale of a Cherry Ripe might turn into a nice stationery order tomorrow!
We take Bitcoin as we’ll. we are very progressive here
If processing time is a concern June, make sure you have EFTPOS terminals that accept contactless payment. Quicker than cash!
Has anyone else received the fax from CRIMVID. So I assume ANF have given my details to this mob?
Two points maybe others may know the answer to and I quote ” we would encourage every newsagent to join 000s of you fellow newsagents”. So how many have signed up?
2nd point, “we need your orders in ASAP so we can facilitate manufacturing of required numbers”
You will receive your stock on the 11th April.
What, they have not even been manufactured?
This all starting to sound rather desperate to me.
In the bin
Would love to see the fax. The question re where Crimvid got fax numbers is valid!
wouldn’t Yellow pages have contact+fax numbers for all listed newsagencies?
Immediately upon seeing the original offer I went to Crimvid website to see the product. As we sell home surveillance and alarm products from our Newsagency, I was interested regarding the way some of the features worked and some of the finer details of the product. I requested (on the website) more info re the above.
No reply was forthcoming.
Then on last Sat morning I got an email in which the sender indicated that I had not placed an order.
I replied that I had asked for more technical details and/or a user manual so that I could evaluate the product.
The reply was along the lines that tech details were on the website and that a user manual would not be avail until product launch. Then we get the fax today.
My concerns are, I like to know a bit about the products that we sell. After the television advertising every crim in the country will know what these things look like and no matter how sophisticated the built-in communication features are it would be so easy to grab the clock, take what ever else and disappear leaving no evidence of identity at all. Maybe there is a feature that will send live footage to a mobile phone but at this stage I don’t know. The fact that no-one from the company has bothered to contact me after two requests for more info makes me wonder.
The buy-back may be all well and good but
what is the good of outlaying time, wages and money on a product that I don’t know, at this stage, that I will be able to recommend to my customers. I am interested in knowing how many 000’s of fellow Newsagents have placed an order.
In no way am I denigrating the product, I am simply commenting that I need to know more about what I am putting in my store and that most suppliers are happy to assist when asked.
Upon receipt of appropriate info I may consider the idea of placing an order.