Below in full is a copy of an email I received from Dave Brazier, publisher of Boar It Up Ya magazine. He speaks from the heart about challenges he faces in his business and his passion for our small business newsagency channel.
Gday Mark how are things?
I’ve just posted this onto my Facebook page, enough is enough.
Not only mine, but I know of at least three other mags on the verge of collapse due to the increase in popularity of internet based pages etc, resulting in massive losses in sales by the # 1 magazine sales outlets, Newsagents.
I have again stressed the importance to support local Newsagents and not the big boys (Coles, Woolies etc) before all is lost.
The following is what I’ve posted on Facebook, and would love for you to share on the Newsagency Blog.
“This email attached represents not only mine, but every other magazine publishers nightmare.
Newsagents are finding it tough, the daily grind to make an honest living for them is getting tougher by the day. Newsagents are the main source of supply for my magazines and have been since I started over 13 years ago.
If Newsagents cannot afford to keep their doors open, I cannot sell my magazines. Due to illness, this is now my main point of income. I cannot afford to lose anymore.
Online distribution does not work and is not a valid point of sale for the hours going into each issue I produce. The internet is quickly killing ALL print based media. Between publishers and Newsagents, it’s going to be close who’ll lose out first.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL NEWSAGENT – NOT Coles or Woolies. Give the Supermarkets half a chance they’d be selling Lottery Tickets, and that’ll be the nail in the coffin for Newsagents.
Please share this with your friends, technology is becoming a massive burden and cost to so many people like me. Support your local Newsagency, we need them more than ever.
Note: Due to ridiculous increases in postage of magazines Via Australia Post, I haven’t offered subscriptions for nearly a year. Postage rates now are even worse.”
Dave Brazier
Mob: 0418 502 760
Publisher / Editor “Boar it up Ya” & “Shoot Ferals Australia” magazines
Surely the recent events around dairy farmers, milk, and Coles and Woolies is both an inspiration and an opportunity for newagency industry groups to activate themselves in the court of public opinion.
The Newsagency industry, going on Marks latest quarterly results, is probably in a worse predicament than the dairy industry. Wheres the cry for a 20 cent levy on the newspaper to be paid direct to the newsagent??
Where are the cries of support for local small businesses in their battle with the anti trust mega retailers. Surely publishers, lotteries providers, card suppliers look at the commercial behaviours of “big grocery” and dont want a bar of it.
Or am I dreamin?? (Darryl Kerrigan style)
magazines are now a burden to my business rather than profitable department and i wish they all gone broke
Ironically for Dave I think that subscriptions were the first stab in the back ,never could understand how publishers could use us and our shelf space to actively seek to undercut us and poach customers.
Newspapers same deal ,plus they have had cheap labour with newsagents ditributing thier subscriptions.All the while chasing profitable online models leaving the old paper boy redundant.
Which leads nicely into the last remaining bit of leverage of the newsagent as we knew it.
Lotteries… Tatts wanting to consolidate its brand with their retail image upgrades yet not willing to foot any of the bill.Happy to let businesses close their doors because theyve done their maths and its obvious they can take those hits
Pushing promotions that aim at getting more members sign up to players club so as to have an opportunity to also poach customers from us.[which they actively do]
As with newspapers I believe firmly that once Tatts reach their online goal they too will pull the rug out with no sense of guilt whatsoever.
Sorry for the rave James but..
I think your “dreamin”
p.s Industry groups???????
p.p.s Sorry to hijack thread from Dave .Dave I feel for you Im looking down the barrel of financial oblivion from the other side of the fence and aint real pretty
*Eric how much space do you commit to magazines within your newsagency?
*Pat I wholeheartedly agree with what you have written. I will be stocking Dave’s magazines because he is backing the newsagency channel and his magazine is a point of difference to our customers.
I still cannot understand how Tatts can direct their business online (which they are entitled to do), 23% now online April figures, and expect us to pay the same for their Retail Image as we did last time. This is without the Corporates ready to get in on their slice. DO IT OR LOSE IT.
How did this get signed off with an equation like this??
Definition of Bastardize – to change something in a way that makes it fail to represent the values and qualities that it is intended to represent.
Eric, simple don’t do magazines. To wish anyone go broke is a real immature response.Lets hope you don’t
Paul, GG takes all of us as their cash cow and iam very furious with this broken system and GG balmes it on publishers who give them quoata how much mags they should dump to us, so publishers are the main culprit
Russell, have cut my mags from over 700 pockets tp 300 pockets and it is just enough to pay rent of its own not labour cost and i did the right decision to cut it to 300 and i think keeping best 100 titles should be more than enough.
so publishers are the main culprit- says who Eric.Maybe Dave and all small family publishers need you to explain to them why you think they should go broke.
Dave, we believe our shop is a “destination” for those who still like magazines. I have room for around 2700 titles.
We have people travelling to our store from a fair distance away purely because of the range I stock.
I will actively support Aussie publishers over international ones.
The Gotch and IPS are the problem with magazines, not the publishers. The big business mentality.
Fix the disty’s (attitude, oversupply and lack of small business support) and I’ll bet the rest will resolve itself.
On the other side, I’m also not a fan of subscriptions. Encourage the people to come into the newsagency to collect/puchase their magazine. Most people don’t realise what a newsagency is capable of in suppying other items they may need while they are here.
I agree prety well with you Eric.(different Paul – not split personalities !) In the 6 years I’ve owned here I’ve more than halved mr pockets to about 500. I already have plans to lose another 150 by Christmas with a broader ranging of a product group that has very little competition and has been doing very very well for me. If it doesn’t pay its way I no longer have a place for it.
My view is some publishers are the culprit as any oversupply issue starts with the print run and publishers control the print run.
I think we all ought to see how the July-September quarter pans out as by then Gotch will be settled. I am optimistic that changes are on the way. My optimism comes from what I know and what I suspect is coming.
I’ve been listening for 5 years to everyone on this blog debate about whether publishers or distributors are to blame for the oversupply.
It seems no one knows the real answer!
So whilst there is no activity in the food chain above us in fixing oversupply and all the problems, we will continue to do what is best for our business and that is cut mag space at every opportunity as sales fall.
I really cannot see many more than a couple of hundred titles in most newsagencies in 5 years time at the rate of decline. Gotch may not even survive that long for that matter.
This doesn’t mean a newsagency business won’t survive, there are endless opportunities in retail after magazine space is cleared. Who says a newsagent needs to sell magazines!
No, the answer is that it starts with the publishers. End of.
As for what is happening, plenty is happening. The closure of Network is a major move. Good things are happening as a result. I expect newsagents will see them flowing in the next quarter.
I hope you’re right Mark, that it happens very soon for the sake of the small publisher and those newsagents that won’t be viable without magazine traffic.
Dave’s email/message seems confused to me. He advocates that magazine buyers support newsagencies rather than large supermarkets, but he also says that the internet is killing all print-based media.
I am concerned that Dave needs to find other ways to provide his readers with value that they will be willing to pay for. He is targeting a small, niche audience. They, presumably, want the kind of information/articles/advertisements/sense of community of like-minded souls that he has been providing in his print magazines. But, in 2016 and moving forward, they’re happy to meet their needs in ways other than buying print magazines from a newsagency. So, rather than seeing himself as the publisher of a print magazine, perhaps Dave could change his mindset and see himself as someone who ‘meets the needs of pig hunters’ – whatever those needs might be. I can imagine that Dave has thoroughly enjoyed the work involved in producing his print magazines, but it seems unlikely that he will be able to sustain his business if he carries on ‘business as usual’. Perhaps he could gather some supporters around him, get together with pig hunters and brainstorm possibilities for how he could change his business so that it not only survives but thrives.
I wish him all the best.
Mark,
Are not the “audited” circulation numbers the root of the problem. If publishers owned up to true sales ie net of returns, there would be no benefit in oversupplying newsagents as their advertising falls to reflect their true sales.
Are the advertising agencies happy with circulation numbers ?
Peter if you’re reliant on magazine traffic and haven’t broadened your offer to generate other traffic and income then you had better get to it because magazine traffic WILL drop off a cliff eventually even more than it already has.
Colin this only hold true for audited titles. many are not audited,. In pitching to advertisers they promote the number of titles circulated.
I will continue to work magazines hard but sensibly so. They do produce foot traffic and the challenge is to give them the correct amount of space and time for the results they produce. As more outlets slash their range we become a far stronger specialist even if our range is reduced, so long as it is sensibly done. Don’t act out of spite or retribution for perceived wrongs as you may harm yourselves as well.
I’ve posted the text of Marks blog on facebook and shared it with local chat and community groups on my side of town. If we all do this we can raise awareness of the difference between us as specialists and the supermarkets who bastardize the product. We can all argue about magazine issues here but unless we are pro active in the community uit is just hot air and you may as well shut up shop (from a magazine point of view) right now.
Paul we have been diversifying for the past 3 years. We cut magazines by 2/3 and in that space with the help of newsXpress we now turn over upward of $100,000 in gifts per year and still growing, more profit than mags can deliver.
Of the magazine pockets left they are always under review with continually falling sales more pockets are earmarked to go before Christmas.
Nice work Peter B !
Mark , my question is, with many newsagents cutting magazine pockets and holdings along with the overall declining hardcopy circulation across all retail platforms when does it simply become completely unviable to continue to produce/distribute magazines in this way ?
in my business magazines don’t really generate foot traffic at all, lotto and Opal do generate more traffic . i wish i can get rid all mags and make my business life better and pleasant one.
I am not an advocate of magazines and have reduced the pockets by 40%. But you have to be careful. My emphasis is now on good quality gifts and homewares. Shopping baskets for my remaining magazine buyers, when lifestyle, women’s interest and cookery/wine, are inextricably linked with gift buyers.
We can be at the forefront of magazine reduction, but each outlet needs to be selective.
Big mistake Eric. You need magazines as they provide a core of habit-based traffic off of which you can leverage other sales.
In my view, right now, a newsagent needs a range of around 700 titles.