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

Author: Mark Fletcher

Monitoring shopper forums is as important as listening to customers

Local shopper forums are another place to check and watch for comments about your business, especially in regional and rural areas.

These local forums, usually on Facebook, are often started by shoppers. You have to get permission to join. It is important you do this to every such group in your area so you can see what they say.

As well as providing a live insight into what your customers and would-be customers like, you can see first-hand if your business is mentioned.

People can be fierce in these forums. I saw one regional Australian small retail business ripped apart recently because of one poor customer service experience that was not handled well. Rather than complain to the owner of the business, the person tore shreds off the business and rallied support for others on the group to never shop there again.

Back in the day we retailers would talk about one poor customer service experience rippling out to, say, thirty people. Today, that number could be in the thousands thanks to social media.

By being on a local shopper page you can comment in your business is unfairly targeted. If the business screwed up, own it. If the business did nothing wrong, own that. At least by being on the group you can be aware of what is being said about you and how people are responding.

Sure, you can ignore these groups – but you may miss an opportunity ti right a wrong.

The New York Times yesterday published good article about groups and while not directly connected with what I write about in my post it makes interesting allied reading.

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Ethics

newsXpress invents a season and drives traffic for its members

Two years ago newsXpress launched unicorn promotion. It was a success.  Last year, it expanded the promotion, launching Unicorn Season. Thanks to the support of a group of different suppliers, terrific in-store displays and collateral and online marketing, it was a hit.

This year, on July 1, newsXpress launched Magical / Unicorn season – a broader season build around the fun, magic and mystery of unicorns.

This now established season has broad demographic appeal. It is also easy to engage with in-store as well as online. Plus, it is a leave-behind opportunity, with unicorn and related products a key segment offer inn the gift department.

Attracting shoppers through a campaign that is fresh and banner group specific is a good move because there is less competition in this same space. I think that is a factor in the success for this season.

While the usual seasons remain important, it is these new seasons that can be more valuable at driving incremental traffic and purchases.

Here are a few photos of in-store execution from different newsXpress businesses.

There are plenty more stores engaged than these four. The traffic and revenue success tells us this type of blue ocean promotion is well worthwhile.

The supplier offer is broad with ten different suppliers offering products for this season.

The season is worthwhile because not recasts how people see each business and what they expect they cn purchase there.

While I see other retailers, including some newsagents, with unicorn products, none has embraced it as a season with in-store support through collateral, events and more.

As our channel continues to evolve through falling traffic for newspapers, magazines, stationery and lottery products thanks to online and other factors, we must create other opportunities for shoppers to visit our shops. This is where unicorn season, and similar fresh and unique seasons, play well for us. The new shoppers they attract can become shoppers beyond the season. Existing shoppers, too, as I have noted, spend up thanks to a great display.

This season is one example of how we can grow our businesses in the face to the doom and gloom of some. It is not too late.

Footnotes:

  1. To any who may make fun of this when talking to colleagues in the channel, and not here, unicorn season is one small tactic of a comprehensive year-round online and offline newsXpress strategy pursuing new traffic and revenue. Any criticism would be ignorant without store performance data.
  2. I am a director of newsXpress Pty Ltd.
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Newsagency management

Time – Game of Thrones

With the new Game of Thrones season upon us it would be terrific to have easy access to this special issue of Time magazine to place in the pop culture department right now. It would sell easily in newsagencies that play in the pop culture space – a space that is valuable at attracting new shoppers and driving basket depth. It’s a perfect fit in the newsagency.

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magazines

Sunday newsagency management tip: quitting stock

If you want to quit stock, quit it, quickly. Quickly means different things to different people. To me, this think it means 7 days … gone and out of the shop in 7 days from when you decide to quit the products.

The easiest way to quit stock is for your shoppers to understand the deal. Understanding the deal starts with how you brand the sale.

A sign with SALE on it could mean anything. I suggest you NOT use this.

A sign with, say, 50% off could be confusing as they don’t know the starting price and some may not understand percentages.

Sign with HALF PRICE is more easily understood but they still do not know the starting price.

If you really want to quit stock, I suggest you have tables or dump bins at price points: $1, $2, $5 – or that ever is appropriate to you.

I have tested this. I have tried $9.99 priced an item at 50% off, half price and $5.00. The $5.00 pricing worked the best, by far.

This is my recommendation on quickly quitting stock: get the price messaging right.

If your price messaging is hard to understand or if there are too many different price messages you could be creating a barrier and this could stop you achieving the sales outcome you want.

Also: display the product for a sale. i.e. not pretty. Reorganise it daily. Keep it separate to the premium merchandise.

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Management tip

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: give people a reason to stop

If your business is in a regional or rural location here is a tip for getting people to stop in front of your shop. Given them something to play with. Try it and see how it goes – this Jenga like idea or something similar. Sure, pieces may be stolen – but I think it is worth it.

Oh, and I say regional and rural because in the city council chills would stop this.

I’d try it if I was in the right location – anything to get people stopping and having fun in front of the business is worthwhile.

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marketing

Wiggles products selling well in the newsagency

This display of Wiggles products has worked very well for us. We leveraged the brand-focussed in-store as well as online. The experience reinforced the value of the Wiggles brand, still. It also reinforced the value of thoughtful sourcing from a range of suppliers to tell a deep story for a licence. This display has products from five suppliers.

For me, this display demonstrates a difference between a retailer and an agent. An agent would stock what is presented to them whereas a retailer works to bring in products to tell a deeper story. This extra work pays off though more items purchased in single transactions and through visits from new shoppers.

The display also reflects a point of difference over majors in that the majors with Wiggles product would not have this diverse range. While they have more inventory, it is more of the same, usually from one supplier.

With licences we have to research suppliers to achieve the diversity shown in the photo and to achieve for the business the type of outcome I am writing about here.

This display is one example of how a newsagency of the future needs to operate – playing against expectation, with a comprehensive display supporting a single brand, done in a way that is interesting, entertaining and competitive. It reflects optimism for a transitioned newsagency business that is trading away from that shingle.

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Newsagency management

Great Australian Storybook Collection information

Click here for the notice from the Herald and Weekly Times for details of the Great Australian Storybook Collection promotion that will launch in Victoria in a week. As with all these promotions, Tower Systems will help newsagents track stock and manage reconciliation.

The promotion coincides with a cover price increase, as is often the case from News Corp.

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Newspapers

Supporting the ALNA newsagent / lottery agent meeting in Western Australia

ALNA approached my software company to support its meeting in Perth later this month for newsagents and lottery agents to hear from WA Premier Hon Mark McGowan about his vision for the role of retailers in Lotterywest. As the only government owned lottery operation left in Australia and given its terrific community engagement program, Lotterywest has a valued role with WA newsagents.

I am glad to have been able to help support this ALNA facilitated meeting.

Here are some details:

The Australian Lottery & Newsagents’ Association (ALNA) is hosting the largest event WA has ever seen for WA Lottery Retailers to hear from WA Premier Hon Mark McGowan about his vision for the role of retailers in Lotterywest.

The event is being held in the Grand Ballroom of Crown Perth on Friday 28th July from 11.30am to 3.30pm.

In addition to WA Premier Hon Mark McGowan MLA, the event will also be attended by the WA Small Business Minister Hon Paul Papalia MLA.

Lottery Retailers can come and meet, enjoy lunch and listen

to the Premier and hear about some of the changes underway, as requested and lobbied for by the Australian Lottery & Newsagents’ Association (ALNA).

This wonderful event will provide all WA Lottery Retailers with the opportunity to show Premier McGowan the difference that his leadership has made to their businesses and their lives.

The event will be complimentary for all WA Lottery Retailers. 

At a similar meeting earlier this year significant progress was made, which benefited retailers. While no obvious direct benefit flowed outside the state, I suspect Tatts watches WA engagement. Hopefully, they learn from a more co-operative approach.

The event is not a money marker for ALNA nor is it one for those involved in supporting it. It is an example of people and businesses engaged in the channel pulling together to support the channel.

I encourage all WA newsagents with lotteries in their business to attend.

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Lotteries

The latest Australian Women’s Weekly should sell out

If covers sell magazines then the latest issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly should sell out. It is beautiful and timely. We have it placed in several locations to make the most of the opportunity. The next few days are critical – I say this based on sales decay data showing close to 80% of sales in the first week.

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magazines

Gordon and Gotch gets the most basic task wrong, still

The most basic task magazine distributor Gordon and Gotch has serving newsagents and publishers is to accurately and ethically supply magazines based on sales data. I regularly receive evidence from newsagents of the company’s people or systems or both failing to do this.

The image shows the worsening situation regarding People’s Friend for one newsagency.

The graduation of supply suggests that the problem here is systemic rather than human error.

It looks to me like Gotch has stock it has to move, regardless of sales. I would love to be wrong but the evidence suggests I am not. There is no reason for the ramping up of supply as Gotch has done.

This action disadvantages newsagents. It makes them less competitive. It is unfair. Yet here we are in July 2017 with a post about an issue that I was writing about here back in 2005 when I started this blog.

Magazine publishers, we need your help.

It is action like this that causes newsagents to cut space for magazines, thereby forcing Gotch to cut the range of titles carried. I have written about newsagents doing this, and why, yet no one appears interested enough to fix the most fundamental problem: the continuing systematic oversupply by Gotch.

What happens here is that each oversupply has a cost to newsagents of labour, space and freight. All of these costs are borne from an acton over which the newsagent has absolutely no control.

There are not many businesses where poor (or deliberately harmful) supplier practices lead to significant loss making activity for the recipient business.

The newsagent who sent me this screen shot has good data, reliable data, provided on time. The actions of Gotch have nothing to do with recent returns notification changes. No, the actions here go to the core of magazine distribution, they reflect decades-long problems that are a blight on the newsagency channel, but not supermarkets it would appear.

That magazine publishers remain silent on this issue is appalling as their interests and newsagent interests are aligned. Only over the counter sales matter. Everything else is overhead to be kept as low as possible.

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magazine distribution

Refreshed advice on how to do a magazine relay in a newsagency

In the years since I published How to do a magazine relay in your newsagency plenty has changed. In this post I provide up to date advice.

Before you start the relay, consider the amount of space you want to allocate to magazines. Do not allocate space to fit what you are sent. Allocate space to make money.

Today, magazines are best located on a wall, ideally at the rear of the shop, such that can be seen from people walking past the shop. A simple MAGAZINES sign above works well.

This back of shop placement, with magazines owning the space can work well as a traffic driver. Where I have seen this move implemented it has not increased the decline in magazine sales.

Ideally you can fit all magazines on the back wall and eliminate all aisle use of magazines.

On to the relay.

The relay you do in your business is your relay. There is no right or wrong way. What I have written here is my opinion, which may be wrong for you.

There is also no end point to a relay. What you do today will need refining next week and the week after. So, do not over think what you want to do as that would be a waste of time.

The goal of the relay has to be to disrupt magazine traffic in pursuit of an increase in sales. What I mean is: change everything, upset customers and staff, sell more magazines as people discover titles they did not know you had.

PLANNING

Map out the wall, determine your zones shopper: garden, food, men, women, sports etc.  The categories where I use less than one pocket per title are: special interest, British weeklies, food, comics and some craft segments.

Look at the percentage of sales delivered by each magazine category and look at sales trends for the categories.  Tote up broad groups. For example the percentage of sales for women’s weeklies, women’s interests, crafts & hobbies, crosswords, home & lifestyle and food & wine.  If your newsagency is like mine, this grouping will account for more than 50% of your magazine sales.

NOW, THE MAGAZINE RELAY

I suggest it is done by one person, an owner, working alone.

  1. Take every magazine off the shelves. That’s right. Don’t be precious as a jumbled pile gets you looking at the titles and categories differently. Take down all your magazines and all your posters.
  2. Clean the shelves.
  3. Start at the centre of the wall and build out. Build the women’s zone. I place this at the heart of magazines, so shoppers see it easily. I suggest you start here as it is the core from which all else flows.
  4. Place a half or full column of crossword titles next to weeklies.
  5. Next to weeklies place, in order, pockets of Better Homes and Gardens followed by Australian Women’s Weekly, British women’s magazines (yes, all of them), country living titles, home and living titles, food, wedding with a waterfall of the major title and hair.  For me, space wise, that sees out one side of the aisle.
  6. Then, I have fashion young, fashion older and I end this with a waterfall of Frankie.  Next is women’s health starting with younger target titles and blending to older ones. Next is pregnancy and baby followed by crosswords. This usually rounds out that side.
  7. Create sections, where the titles demonstrate clear zoning. But don’t be generous on space allocation as space costs money.

What I do in women’s is the same for the other zones I create.  I do each zone separately and try and get into the head space of the shopper of the zone – using the most popular titles to act as beacons, or signposts, for the zone.

I am careful what I place next to top selling titles. This is a prime spot, next to the popular titles. Choose wisely. Choose titles that naturally fit next to the big titles, titles shoppers are likely to browse and purchase on impulse.

If I am not sure about where to put a title I put it aside and move on.

I take extra time with special interest and hobby titles.  For example, I put railways and model railroad titles near each other but I am careful to ensure that they are separated as they appeal to two shoppers and only occasionally do you see titles from both segments in the same basket.

Within the zones I look for and respect specialisation. For example, within men’s lifestyle and sports I create a clean space for the quality serious fitness titles like Coach, Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness.

REVIEW, FEEDBACK, FOLLOW UP

You’re not done when you think you are done. Track sales, listen to your team and your customers. Tweak where you feel it is necessary.

Bring new issues to the fore. Continue to be engaged in how your magazine department looks.

Continue to look at your sales data.  If there is no lift be open to further change.

FINAL WORDS

Doing a magazine relay can be like doing one of those kid’s puzzles – you move them around and around until you have the completed image. That image can look and feel like a work of art once you are done.

While some readying this will be tempted to say why bother, we only make 25%. Get the relay right and sales will increase without any extra capital investment and with a lower retail space allocation. That is a win in my view.

If you have made it this far, thanks for reading.  Magazines really are a point of difference which we need to work harder at embracing – despite the challenges of the distribution system.

I’d be happy to answer questions or discuss magazine relays with anyone: mark@towersystems.com.au or 0418 321 338.

Over to you…

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magazines

When an employee steals from your retail business

The harm to a retail business from employee theft can be far reaching, debilitating the business and those who work in it. The keys for moving on from the crime, because you must move on so the business has a future, starts with confronting the situation.

Too often I find newsagents who do not confront the situation. Too often they are angry, hit out in anger but do not deal with the matter such that it is resolved and they free themselves to move on.

Through my newsagency software company I have been engaged in helping newsagents deal with employee theft for many years. The practical advice I offer here on handling a discovered situation of employee theft is based on that work.

The goal is to offer straightforward steps to help you get through as it is on the other side of this where you can find the opportunity to move on from the feeling of violation that often accompanies employee theft in small business.

  1. Be sure of the facts, gather the evidence. Evidence could include, video footage of cash being take from the business, business records being modified to cover tracks, stock being stolen and more. Evidence does not include gossip, feelings and opinions. Without evidence you have nothing to proceed with.
  2. Once you have all available evidence and if this clearly implicates one or more employee, quickly work out what you want.
    1. If you involve the police, they and, subsequently, the courts, will control the process including getting your money or goods back, an apology and more.
    2. If you don’t involve them, think about if you want the money or goods back, an apology, the person to stop working for you without negative impact on you – or a mixture of these.
    3. Check your insurance policy. Be sure you understand what you might be able to claim and in what circumstances. For example, your policy may require a police report. This could determine your next steps. If you are not sure what your insurance policy says, call the insurance company for advice. Knowing your insurance situation early is vital.
  3. If the person committing the crime is a minor:
    1. Advise their parents or guardian by phone. Invite them to the shop or an independent location to see what you have. Have someone else there with you, as an observer. This meeting needs to happen quickly.
    2. Present the evidence.
    3. Listen for their response.
    4. If they (their parents) ask what you want, be clear.
    5. If agreement is reached, put it in writing there and then and all involved sign it, so there is clear understanding.
    6. If agreement is not reached you need to decide your next steps and engage them with haste.
    7. A return of the money, likely by the parents, should be in a lump sum, immediately. I have seen a parent pay $22,000 where a uni student studying psychology stole and out their career at risk by being caught. I have seen another situation where a 75-year-old mum repaid the $12,000 stolen by her adult daughter so the daughter did not have to tell her husband about her gambling problem.
  4. If the person committing the crime is not a minor:
    1. Get an opportunity to speak with them face to face, ideally with another person there as a witness.
    2. Tell them you have evidence of them stealing from the business.
    3. Ask if they would like to see it. If they say no, ask what they propose.
    4. If they do want to see the evidence, show it and ask what they propose.
    5. If there is an offer of a full refund, an immediate resignation and never entering the business again it could be a good practical outcome. The challenge is you may not know the value of what has been stolen. Experience indicates that someone stealing cash will understate the amount considerably. I was involved in one case where they said they stole $10,000. The irrefutable evidence showed it was $75,000.
    6. Get any agreement in writing. If there is an offer to repay, our advice is to only accept an immediate lump sum. If the proposal is payment of, say, more than $10,000 over time, involve the police.
    7. If the person denies any wrongdoing, go to the police immediately.
  5. If you have suspicions and do not have the evidence, put in place opportunities to gather the evidence without entrapping the target, without setting them up. I have seen situations where local police have provided advice and support for this. It could be worth asking them if you are in a regional or rural situation.

If you are nervous about meeting the person or their family, write down what you plan to say. Keep it short. To the facts. No emotion. Having a script prepared can be useful even if you do not read it.

If there is any risk of violence, do not have a meeting. Go straight to the police.

Time is of the essence here. The longer you know about the situation and the longer you do not act the less useful the outcome is likely to be.

If you are not sure what to do, contact me. I will help in any way I can.

I am not law enforcement, a lawyer or an investigator. The advice here is based on my own experiences in my retail shops and my work with other retailers.

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Management tip

Woolworths newspaper offer pitches newspapers at below cost

A newsagent in Brisbane was asked to honour the price on this Woolworths coupon for News Corp. newspapers:

If News Corp. is behind this offer, shame on them for making Woolworths look cheap compared to the local small business newsagent who has the titles at full price.

It is galling that this $1 price is considerably lower than the cost price of the newspapers to newsagents.

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Newspapers

When a customer complains about your retail business on social media

It is easier for customers (or anyone) to complain in a way that hurts your business (and you) than ever before thanks to the megaphone of easily accessible social media.

Through local community groups on Facebook, category based groups and more it is easy for a negative story about your business to gain traction and spin out of control before you know about it.

It is a bit of a sport today to pile on. I have seen it happen plenty of times.

Often, people pile on without knowing the facts, because the original post does not accurately represent the facts and because they enjoy the sport of piling on without regard to the facts.

On social media today people often complain about situations that are not real. They often spin a story to suit their outrage. Simply challenging this is not enough. Indeed, it can make it worse.

Here is my advice of how to handle criticism of your business on social media:

  1. Take a screen cap of any negative post, to capture evidence while it is still accessible.
  2. If the post is inaccurate, challenge the inaccuracies with facts. But do this in a calm and respectful way. Leave no room for twisting you response against you.
  3. Make yourself accessible. In any comment or response, include your phone number and email address. This makes you real. It shows you are not hiding.
  4. If the post does have some accuracy. Apologise and explain what you are doing about it.
  5. Depending on the circumstances, you may wish to call out the post on your business social media pages – to be transparent and responsive.
  6. In any post you respond with, anywhere, be respectful and truthful. Do not get drawn into being personal or petty.
  7. If appropriate, explain in detail why something is done as it is. Provide enough information for people to understand your decisions and, hopefully, agree with you.
  8. If the post is by a competitor and contains false and misleading information about your business, consider asking them to take it down as the post. Consider including this: You action in publishing what you have published about my business puts your company at peril of action under the Australian Consumer Law Act. The information is false and misleading. I think you have published with the intent of commercially harming my business. I request that you remove it immediately and refrain from publishing any such information, anywhere, in the future.

Don’t rely only on this advice. Do more research to be prepared. Any business active on social media will experience the kind sof attack I describe here. Be prepared.

Do not ignore any negative post or comment about your business. Fight for your business and those who rely on it for income. But do so with care, respect and professionalism.

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Ethics

Sunday newsagency marketing tip: declutter the counter for better shopper focus

If your shop is pitching more than three key product categories at the sales counter you are probably using your counter space and not achieving the return you can achieve.

Ignore history. Push back on what you have always done. Go for a simpler and clearer message and expect better results.

Here is one focussed counter pitch we did with terrific success at pushing how shoppers saw our business.

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marketing

Sunday newsagency management tip: explain your business decisions

Context can be everything if you expect an employee to embrace a change of direction, a new product mix or some other decision that is different to what the business has usually done.

My management tip today is to explain these decisions, provide a data context that encourages belief and support.

Get this right and you can anticipate greater support from within for the business decisions you make.

Why matters.

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Management tip

Pre-selling the Diana book from Pacific Magazines

We are offering this one-shot Diana publication from Pacific Magazines as a pre-sell, prior to launch. This is something we have done many times before with one-shots, with terrific success. Given  the broad appeal, still today, of Diana, a presell makes sense to me.

We are pitching the pre-sell ion this title online as well as in-store at the counter. Once we have the product next week we will pitch this at the counter too. Simple.

I encourage all newsagents to do this. It is an excellent opportunity to capture the sale and revenue prior to the goods arriving in-store.

Look at things like this as a race to get the cash. It is better people spend the money with you on this title. Jump on this and pitch a product that your competitors will only engage with once they have the product. Yes, it is a first mover advantage in your area if you jump on this idea.

Once you get the product in-store, be tactical rather than pretty. The cover will do the work for you in my view. The opportunities here are terrific.

I suspect this title will be a reminder of the value for our businesses of a smart and timely one-shot and how we newsagents can handle this better than other retailers. More please.

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magazines

Why XchangeIT should cost nothing for newsagents

Through my software company I do work in a range of specialty retail niches. The newsagency channel is the only retail channel with an EDI platform owned by suppliers and for which retailers pay an access fee.

Having to pay to access XchangeIT disadvantages newsagents. It imposes a fee that newsagent competitors do not have to pay for similar type services from what I understand.

Suppliers benefit tremendously from EDI data flowing to and from newsagents. Newsagents should not be required to pay for this. It is time XchangeIT access was free for newsagents.

And while I am at it, it is time for XchangeIT services to be best practice rather than perpetuating out of date practices.

For the record, newsagents using software from Tower Systems are not forced too pay software support fees to retain access to XchangeIT. In my opinion it is wrong to force newsagents to have to pay a POS software co. to maintain such access.

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XchangeIT

Please protect your business against malware attack

Another newsagency business was hit overnight with a malware attack. They have been asked to pay money to regain access to their computers. They don’t have a current backup. The options for them are not good.

The no backup think is appalling business management.

The malware attack is also poor management as it could have been avoided.

Click here for a computer use policy that I recommend you ensure all employees read, understand and commit to. The steps needed for protection against a malware attack are simple.

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Newsagency management

Five reasons why newspapers work better in the back of the newsagency

I heard from a newsagent who was “told off” for moving newspapers away from near the entrance to the business to the rear of the business.

The newsagent made the move based on the return on floor space being achieved and based on the trajectory. I am aware of the numbers. The move was the right one in my opinion.

The newspaper publisher rep was having none of the logic. I am told there was a threat to pull newspapers from the business.

I am not aware of any decline in newspaper sales in a business that has moved newspapers from the front of the business to the rear. Without such evidence, any claim or demand from a newspaper publisher rep is without any evidentiary basis.

Here are five reasons why moving newspapers to the back of the shop can be a good move:

  1. Newspaper readers have more room to read. This provides better customer service.
  2. There is more space for the volume of papers on busy days. Better space management.
  3. Store traffic flow is better, less cluttered at the front during busy newspaper times. This benefits all shoppers,
  4. More money is made by better use of the old newspaper space and this gives the business better overall prospects. Retail 101.
  5. The newsagent is thinking like a retailer and that is to be cheered. Cheer!!!

Newspaper publishers have no rights over where papers are in a business. I say this even if some have a contract with requirements. Good luck finding a court to uphold a requirement on a small business retailer that commercially harms the business.

Newspapers fit well at the back of the shop. Sales are not affected. Sure one or two complain – tell them the exercise would be good for them.

Newspapers play an important role in newsagencies. For this to continue we need to leverage ways that reduce operating costs – like publishers themselves have done in recent years in the running of their businesses. The best way for us to do this is to stop these low margin products from us making what we could make from front of store high value retail space.

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Management tip

What to do if a supplier uses the threat of legal action to get you to do what they want

I heard yesterday of a long standing newsagent supplier threatening a newsagent with legal action if they sought to break the relationship with the supplier.

The threat was made face to face, in the back of the shop, without witnesses, by the managing director of the supplier.

The newsagent was left shaking and fearful. They decided to continue in a relationship with the supplier because of the threat of legal action. They felt that was best for the business, to let the contract they have run its course, and have as little contact with the supplier as possible.

If what I have been told is true, the threat is something that could be reported to the police or at least challenged in court. However, I suspect the person making the threat knows the newsagent would not do this, I suspect they would know the newsagent does not have the resources to fight such a fight.

The newsagent knew the meeting was happening., They knew it would not be pleasant. My advice to them on hearing the story after the meeting was that they should have recorded the meeting for their own records and that they should have had someone else there as a witness.

If a supplier threatens you with legal action to force you to stay with them or to do things that you know will not help your business, consider calling their bluff. It could be that the last thing they want is their business put under the scrutiny of a court, where the would have to defend how they deal with you, what they provide you and explain the value of this for your business.

I understand the fear of court action. I suspect that is what this specific supplier preys on. I suspect they make the threats I am told they make because they know no newsagent will call their bluff and say okay, take us to court – get out of my office and take us to court.

I know of another supplier to newsagents who made a similar threat of legal action, but with less intimidation than the first story. In this second situation, the newsagent said, okay, if you think you have a case, take us to court. The supplier did not take them to court. I suspect the directors decided against this because of the possible can of worms such court action would have exposed about their business.

Bullying does not only happen in the school yard. Sadly, it happens in business, particularly in situations on inequity such as the two stories I have shared here.

Shame on any party threatening legal action against a newsagent to get the newsagent to stay in a relationship that is not commercially appropriate or valuable too their business.

If you have a story of such legal threat, consider calling phew bluff and consider sharing the story, discretely, with fellow newsagents. Tell the truth of what happened and what it caused you to do.

If nothing is done, these bullies continue to get away with it.

24 likes
Ethics
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