Newsagents selling the Taylor magazine from News Corp from this Saturday, December 9, for $9.95 make just 10% out of which we have to cover labour, retail space, EFTPOS and theft costs.
Depending on the payment method, newsagents can lose between 1% and 6% of a purchase price in fees. At the high end it would leave 39.8 cents, 4%, from which to cover labour and theft.
Labour on circulation products sits, on average, at 12% of overall revenue and theft sits at somewhere between 3% and 5%.
The Taylor magazine will be loss making for plenty of newsagents. Thanks News Corp.
What News Corp. is doing here setting a 10% commission / gross profit percentage is disrespectful of local small business newsagents. It does not allow newsagents to even make a living wage from selling this title.
All of this from a company heavily invested in shouting (yelling) at the federal government about cost of living. Yet, here they are financially harming newsagents in terms of cost of living.
I wonder how Taylor Swift and her organisation feels about the financial arrangements imposed by News Corp on local small business newsagents and their use of her name and brand to do so.
I am confident the News Corp. has it within its business capacity to treat local small newsagents more fairly with this Taylor Swift title. For a company so opinionated about others and their masthead commitment of we’re for you, their actions speak other words: selfish, uncaring and certainly not for local small business newsagents.
Their pitch to newsagents is gushing:
Taylor Swift fever has swept the globe during her epic Eras Tour, and now it is nearly time for Australia to bask in her glittering glory.
Celebrate the iconic singer with this special 100-page souvenir edition magazine with bonus poster inside.
Ahead of her concert dates in Melbourne and Sydney in February 2024, the Taylor magazine is packed with 100 glossy pages of details about the Eras Tour, the evolution of the singer from sweet country star to global sensation and a deep dive into her music.
Also in the souvenir edition magazine Taylor:
- Discover how big a Swiftie you are with our Taylor-made pop quiz
- The men (ahem, Travis Kelce, Harry Styles and Joe Alwyn please step forward) who have played a starring role in her life
- Her jaw-dropping red carpet fashion moments
- Plus, the records she has smashed as one of the world’s top entertainers
Taylor magazine is on sale from Saturday, December 9, for $9.95 at participating newsagents, Coles and Woolworths.
I wonder what the terms are for supermarkets Coles and Woolworths. While their margin may be the same, is News Corp. paying their a ranging or stocking fee, a promotion fee or offering some break in ad rates to compensate as I doubt that these supermarket giants would sell this for 10% only without any other financial benefit for them.
Taylor Swift has a track record of doing good where she travels and performs, helping local charities. her generosity has been well documented. If only News Corp. seeking to profit from Taylor’s fame was even modestly generous to local small business newsagents when it comes to the sale of this special Taylor magazine.
News. Corp is treating newsagents as if it is the 1950s. It is disrespectful. It demonstrates a lack of care for our channel.
If News Corp did care about newsagents they would offer this product at a considerably better margin.
Here is a perfect opportunity for newsagents receiving the title to show News Corp how they feel. Simply don’t put them out for sale and return the whole lot.
Sure, some customers will be inconvenienced, but our priority has to be being profitable or those customers will be even more inconvenienced when the doors they are used to going through are permanently closed.
This one title will (should) not make or break an outlet, but they can surely send a powerful message back to News Corp.
It is up to us to push back if we want to influence change.
I refuse to carry them. I’m so over newspapers and their ridiculous promotions.
I already decided to not put any out, and return 100%.
The Are Media title is better. I won’t be putting this thing from News out.
I am expecting rain so I think the water damaged product won’t make it out either.
I am sick and tired of sitting in meetings where managers from News tell us how much they appreciate newsagents only to then have them treat us like this. I have read about Taylor Swift and the things she supports. I doubt she would be happy about what News is doing to us.
When we received the Queen Elizabeth mag last year the initial email said they would be recalled “at a later date”. Months later after receiving no further communication I followed up with News Ltd and was told they were recalled 3 weeks ago. I was refused credits. I told them I would not participate in any further News Ltd magazine promotions. They ignored me and I’m now getting 120 Taylor Swift mags. They won’t be seeing the light of day. A small saving grace is at least they don’t make us pay for the whole lot up front like Fairfax do with the Leunig calendars.
Thank you for your advocacy Mark. Plenty of silence from representative bodies on this. VANA are you there?
Newspapers and their related products are dead.Over our 16 years in the newsagency industry paper sales have declined by over 90%.We too will be returning every single Taylor Swift magazine that is supplied to us by News Ltd.
Here is what is appalling about what happened to you Shayne. News Corp knows what they supplied and what you sold. They could auto credit you, reducing the need for you to spend time on out of date practices. Instead, they have these practices because some will miss them and it enhances their financial situation. While I appreciate that it would take time, if I was you, I’d consider a Small Claims Division claim: https://www.localcourt.nsw.gov.au/types-of-cases/civil-cases.html#:~:text=The%20NSW%20Local%20Court%20deals,%2420%2C000%20(up%20to%20%24100%2C000).
I wonder if we are far off from a situation where we see a newsagent (or agents) decide not to even carry any News Corp products (including their newspapers) and either have only alternative newspapers of some sort or not have any newspapers at all.
But if they don’t have newspapers, are they still a newsagent?
I know of 4 newsagencies that don’t have papers or magazines. I own one newsagency that has papers but no magazines. The pandemic experience has slowed thinking of any considering ditching papers.
Mark is right – News. Corp is treating newsagents as if it is the 1950s. It is disrespectful. It demonstrates a lack of care for our channel.
We are fools if we support this title.