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How is BBC Earth going for you?

A couple of newsagents I saw on the weekend asked me to open a post here where newsagents can comment on how the BBC earth promotion from News Corp. is performing.

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  1. shauns

    Not as good as previous years .

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  2. Brendan

    Overdone, customers have lost interest in what has become a too repetitive promotion

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  3. Budi

    Only 2 customer interested…very bad

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  4. Chris

    We have 17 prepaid customers and about another 50 regular daily sales. Not too bad but you can tell that the 2 week collection format used by News Ltd is not successful anymore. Time for a rethink but these would be awesome money spinners for News Ltd (esp as we only get 15% or if you are a sub only 7.5%)!

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  5. Bruc G

    selling about 26 out of 30 supplied. Not as much demand as prev promotions. Woolies next door has too of course. I too think 2 weeks is a week too long. I don’t think we get enough $$ out of with all the work involved with putaways etc etc.

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  6. Stacey

    Average. Yes we sell a few extra papers but nothing to get excited about. Not even a blip on the radar really. We don’t do putaways as not profitable enough and more headache than it’s worth. I prefer that they come in regularly anyway

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  7. Mark Richardson

    Slow here in SA, but what makes it worst for SA Retailers is almost all of the retail Newsagencies in metro Adelaide are subagents to a large distributor .

    Therefore their profit margin is only 12.5% which is not enough for the work involved.

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  8. Dean

    We only get 7.5% in Victoria, I wouldn’t complain too loudly

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  9. Mark Richardson

    I wonder what Woollies and Coles get ????

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  10. Gary

    The old argument for these low margins was that at least it was an newsagency exclusive.

    Now that the supermarkets are getting a share, where are the higher margins???

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  11. Peter B

    Only selling about half of 120 allocated. Flogging a dead horse.
    Newscorp need some new people, with new ideas.

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  12. Mark Richardson

    He who rejects change is the architect of decay

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  13. Paul

    Selling out of what we have but not really worth it for the margin we get anyhow and newspapers are hardly worth the margin themselves. This will be my last promo unless they significantly increase the return to us. From now on we won’t be taking part in the News Corp promotions.

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  14. david@anglevalenews

    And, to rub salt in to the wounds, next week the Advertiser expect us to exchange a coupon for a build your own zoo animal, free to the “customer”.

    If they buy the paper at the same time, I get 17.5 cents. If they bring the coupon from elsewhere I get $0.00. And they claim they want to support newsagents! Don’t make me laugh.

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  15. david@anglevalenews

    Paul, when the Advertiser rep visited the week before this began, I asked for 20%. Haven’t seen him since, don’t think I want to part of any more of these either, unless I do get 20%.

    (And yes, I know the Advertiser read this blog).

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  16. Mark Fletcher

    A serious and transparent conversation with the publisher is warranted because these promotions are about driving single copy (over the counter) sales and single copy sales are vital to converting the customer to subscriptions and subscriptions are essential to the digital model at the heart of future plans of the company.

    The current margin for promotions is not adequate for newsagents.

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  17. Mark Richardson

    Here in SA Newsagents received a letter from Advertiser management wanting a photograph of our display for BBC Earth.

    If the photo was not received by a set date, it was stated it would be highly likely that we would not receive any future promotions.
    I took this directive as a threat.

    In the past we have been happy to give up a prime selling space to advertise their promotions. But with the pressure we and all Newsagents have to grow GP It’s time to reassess how I best utilize that space .

    I agree with Mark its time the publisher engaged in meaningful discussions on how to best go forward for both parties from here and grow sales and profit

    I did write to Advertiser Management with some suggestions but the response was very negative which is disappointing .

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  18. david@anglevalenews

    Agree Mark, I also took the letter as a threat.

    And to top it off, now they are going to run the promo for another week, so we’ll be clipping coupons for 2 promos. Bugger that for a game of soldiers.

    I have removed the Advertiser stand from the shop, placed the Advertiser in a pocket with other papers and no loss of sales. But I have gained a space I have filled with Pokemon cards, rushing out the door at 40%.

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