The New York Times has published an in-depth piece on the future of print from Fairfax. The article includes two excellent charts that challenge how newsagents deal with newspapers today and the reliance they have on newspapers for traffic into the future:
I urge newsagents to read the whole article. Too regulars here, the projections should be nothing new.
Fairfax is disfunctional.
Why is the newspaper rep unable to discuss IPS and Rural.
Why does IPS have a returns model that drives away outlets.
Why does Rural have its own back office support sending tiny invoices.
Reality is after years of under investment the cost of radically restructuring to meet current markets exceeds cost of closure.
Separation of Domain is coming, printing will disappear.
Why does Rural press fail to provide EDI invoices via the IPS Xchaneit platform?
I cancelled my IPS account some time ago
Why did they not act years ago and increase cover price?
Why did they not act years ago increase home delivery fees?
Why is the Saturday SMH still coming as a split delivery
when combined it’s thinner than the Sun Tele?
Why is the weekday SMH and our Fairfax owned local paper so thin, to encourage customers to no longer purchase it?
I can’t cancel my IPS account.
Best Bets
Winning Post
International Express
Saturday Paper
Its worth it to have it, for me
WELL WELL
HA HA, NOT SURPRISING GIVEN THE CUSTOMER SERVICE THEY PROVIDE TO SUB-AGENTS AND THE DEPLORABLE COMMISSIONS PAID TO SELL THERE PRODUCTS.
WATCH NEWS CORP GO DOWN THE SAME SHIT TUBE AS WELL.
SERVES THEM RIGHT FOR NOT SUPPORTING THERE NEWS-AGENCY CHANNEL AGENTS.
DIVERSIFY YOUR BUSINESS MODEL AND YOU WONT NEED THEM TO DRAW CUSTOMERS THERE ARE MANY PRODUCTS OUT THERE THAT WILL DRAW CUSTOMERS TO YOUR SHOP.
Why is it that Fairfax is cutting staff, reducing the amount of content etc yet you dont hear News doing the same thing to their major papers? (Australia, Telegraph, Herald-Sun etc)
What is News doing differently to Fairfax here?
News is relying on it’s non print media arms to bolster the flagging print sector whereas Fairfax isn’t spreading or hiding the damage so to speak. Fairfax has a fairly profitable print business (up until recently for instance all of the Good Guys catalogues were printed by Fairfax and they print quite a few foreign language papers on behalf of other publishers) however as far as I’m aware there is no such up side for News.
Newscorp might not be likeable, but they do have a history of innovation and investment. Fairfax by comparison are run by dinosaurs.
What does it say about our society that gossip is needed to fund quality journalism. Its a sad day and I do worry about the quality of journalism in the future.
From a business perspective, I have been telling my reps from News Ltd and Fairfax for years and years now that the type of relationship they had with Newsagents (dictatorship) 20 years ago can not be the same now. Newspapers are part of our business model but they are not a focus like they used to be. It needs to be a mutually beneficial relationship if they want to remain in the retail environment. I am willing to work with Fairfax as I feel there is still going to be a market for quality journalism but are they willing to listen to retailers on how best to target the market we see every day?
So much negative comment and whinging on this blog. Sell your newsagency and move on. Life is so short. Go and drive for Uber. I guess this comment will be deleted.
Andrew you only see what you wan to see. Plenty of optimism and good news. What is happening with newspapers is not bad news at all, and it is no surprise.
Where’s the optimism in the first 10 replies comrade?
I’m not your comrade Andrew. I speak for my posts. As to the comments, they are not pessimistic.
Andrew, maybe you are the one who should drive for Uber, it might relax you! My post was not negative but optomistic as I see a future for retail newspaper sales but only if Fairfax and News have a better relationship with retailers.
Well who woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.
Go be a troll somewhere else Andrew.