Check out this terrific email from Dave Brazier, Publisher and Editor of Boar it up Ya and Shoot Ferals Australia magazines:
Hi Mark how are things?
I cannot remember if I advised you of some changes I’ve made to assist in helping Newsagents that little more. Reading your thoughts on IPS on the Blog prompted me to send this to you.
Boar it up Ya & Shoot Ferals Australia magazine titles recently returned to IPS for all distribution requirements throughout Australia.
I have used all distributors available within Australia in my 13 years of publishing, and am of the firm belief that IPS now offer the best sales and support model for Newsagencies by far.
Offering 27% commission for Newsagents that stock and sell my titles I see is a step in the right direction in supporting so many agencies that continue to struggle in the current business and technology climate.
In my direct support of Newsagents also, as of March 2015, subscriptions to both of my titles have ceased as I continue to promote and encourage readers to purchase or pre-order my titles from Newsagents and sub-agents direct. Newsagents are by far the biggest sellers of my titles and I fully appreciate the effort and struggles to house so many titles now within my particular market.
After speaking with many local Newsagents here in Newcastle where I am based, I have a better understanding of the day to day problems Newsagents are faced with. As a publisher I am doing my best to try and alleviate some of those problems, firstly by utilising IPS who will supply what is required to avoid over stocking, offering an extra 2% commission, not accepting subscriptions and reducing the overall sales period due to storage and display area restraints. My previous distributor initially pushed for a 16 week on sale period without me knowing or understanding that a majority of agents would pull stock off the shelves after just 8-10 weeks of on sale. In light of that, both of my titles will now be offered for sale for a period of 8 weeks only throughout Newsagencies in an aim of helping you with cash flow and storage procedures. I think a maximum 8 week on sale period is reasonable.
I’d like to thank all agencies who stock and supply my titles, and wish you well into the future.
Dave Brazier
Mob: 0418 502 760
Publisher / Editor “Boar it up Ya” & “Shoot Ferals Australia” magazines
PO Box 596
WALLSEND NSW 2287
www.boaritupya.com
www.shootferals.com.au
FIND US ON FACEBOOK / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM
I am grateful to Dave for giving his permission to publish the email here. If ever newsagents needed encouragement to support these magazines here it is!
thanks Dave, we’ll give both mags a trial.
Thanks Dave for considering newsagents in your approach to magazines.
Hopefully there are other publishers out there who will follow your lead.
While IPS are a little difficult to keep in control for us, we do have your mags and will support them.
Dave I will put extra effort into pushing sales of your mags, thank you
I would much prefer he use the extra 2% commission to help fund a publisher protest of distributors. It is great that he is communicating and has recognised a problem but an extra 2% will not change my business decisions. IPS oversupplies and when they oversupply you can not early return so you are left to carry the cost for the whole on sale period. The whole supply change system on the IPS website is time consuming and then the changes you make are outside your contract terms so you have to email them only for them to reject your changes anyway! I feel that as more publishers go to IPS the bigger an issue it will be for Newsagents. They are not a concern right now whilst they carry limited titles but how would you cope if they were the size of GG or NDC?
But hopefully this is snowball effect and as more publishers realise that newsagents are becoming better retailers they will push for distribution change.
IPS has also cut the commission for a lot of tittles back to 25%.
I am really on the boarder of dropping them.
Changing the commission status without notifying us is pretty sneaky and doesn’t sit well with me.
Early returns are also an issue and if the MPA are allowed to ban early returns we will
see wholesale dropping of mags by newsagents.
I hope Network, GG and IPS are aware that newsagents are thinking this way because the days of being exploited are well over and they need to know that we mean business
Newsagents take the bulk of their mags and good luck with getting the duopoly to take what is dumped on us e.g. trading cards for
almost everything and overseas mags (never seen one in a Coles/Woolies)and good luck with getting the SS sector to take anything other than their “planogram” which was obviously devised on the eastern seaboard and some of the mags are totally irrelevant
for our demographic but because they are in the planogram each SS is forced to take them.
It is a system under attack and for good reason.
Newsagents need to keep up the fight for better and more viable agreements and we need to ensure that we do not sign for anything less than returns whenever we see fit to do so as our businesses are suffering with these exploitative practices and we need to stand up and be counted.