A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Day: October 21, 2017

Lottoland pitches in media for newsagent support

At the same time Lottoland wrote to ALNA offering what appears to be a commission to newsagents they engaged a PR campaign, giving the ALNA letter to journalists. It’s been reported in newspapers and online.  Lottoland CEO Luke Brill says Newsagents are an important part of Australian communities… So important that newsagents were mocked by Lottoland.

If Lottoland were serious about mending bridges with newsagents they would make their pitch, apologise for the harm they wreaked on newsagents and their families, negotiate their offer and then talked publicly about it. Instead, Lottoland made a somewhat vague pitch and gave it to at least one journalist as the same time.

Lottoland needs to apologise, publicly. They should promote newsagents on TV in a national make-good campaign. They need to do this first, as a gesture of good faith, to remonstrate their their pitch today is genuine. Apologising and declaring they were wrong is the starting point.

Footnote: I remain firm in my view that online overall is the biggest challenge to newsagent lottery revenue. Here in Australia, the lion’s share of online is driven by Tatts. They are the newsagents competitor.

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Ethics

Is the fax machine redundant in today’s newsagency?

We have not had a fax machine in one of my newsagencies for two years.

There has been no negative impact on customer service or revenue.

Customers who ask to send a fax are offered a lower cost, and easier, email service alternative.

The fax machine is very much yesterday’s technology. It has a limited life before a new machine is needed. Plus, it relies on consumables and often uses an additional phone line.

I can’t see the value in putting a fax machine into any newsagency.

I understand in some locations there could be thought of offering a fax service as a point of difference. To that I’d suggest that you need to understand the break-even point for the capital invested. That analysis may result in the value of offering a fax service being reinforced.

Offering a fax service could pitch your business as old-school to some and that may not match the image you want for the business.

With copiers offering PDF services, it is easy to fill in forms and return them to suppliers. Ideally, however, such forms move online, eliminating paperwork and handwriting.

All of this is about eliminating processes and making our businesses more efficient.

The purpose of this blog post is to get you to think about whether offering a fax service is right for your business and to open a conversation on the topic.

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Newsagency management
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