Author: Mark Fletcher

Given the private contact from people working for magazine distributors over the last two weeks following my recent blog posts here about the need for a magazine czar, I’d suggest that there is support for such a move.

The magazine distributors appear to want to cut the unprofitable and barely profitable titles but don’t want to give either of the other two players an opportunity to bulk up. Listening to one of the talk it sounded like they were worried about the side effects of dealing with an addiction.

It’s time for action. All this busy work for the sake of stopping a competitor carrying the same dead or dying titles is helping no one. At least the distributors are paid for their efforts. Newsagents are not.

Warning, this is a petty blog post. We found a glob of chewing gum stuck on the back of UK Mini Magazine in our NDD product this morning. Our question is whether this is gum from within Australia or from the UK? Regardless, we’re not stocking the title this month. The glob is seriously stuck on and removing it would damage the product so better for the NDD gum experts to take care of it.

While the Canon 350D may be a good camera, I don’t see the value in a product specific magazine being supplied to newsagents. I received two copies this morning and have returned both. At $19.95 I am not prepared to take the theft risk. In making the decision to early return I have considered sell through rates for other photography titles – something the allocation ‘experts’ at NDD could have done in deciding on the scale out.

This is a title a on which Magazine Czar employed by newsagents could have imposed additional fees for us to carry it. The three month shelf life suggests it will not be an early seller – every month is additional real-estate and labour cost. This is what a Czar could take into account before allowing a title to access our valuable network.

Is a bikini clad girl necessary to make PC Format sell? This pretty lass on the UK magazine does not have any connection to the contents of the PC magazine that I can find.

While I cannot recall how long PC Format has been using girls on the cover, I wonder if it is part of their strategy to counter falling sales in the computer category.

Some people have commented here in the past about the use of girls on computer and motorbike magazines so there is some negative feeling in the broader marketplace.

I was surprised to see this puzzle book / magazine come from ACP magazines. Under the banner of Australian Women’s Weekly, the contents appear to be a consolidation of content from Puzzler crossword and puzzle publications.

While on could argue that the AWW moniker makes it interesting to customers, I’d note that crossword customers are loyal. Getting them to try a new ‘brand’ is a challenge – especially when the brand is not known in that space.

We’re giving the title a crack in the crossword area as well as next to Women’s Weekly.

Ozbiker Nation magazine pushes the boundaries of decency with its front cover this month. While it’s not my place to act as censor, I need to ensure that my shelves carry products which are appropriately labeled and do not offend my customers. This issue, in my view, ought to be restricted or the cover blocked out in some way.

I’ve taken it of the shelf because kids browse motorbike magazines as much as adults. I know from previous customer reaction that many would be offended to find their child looking at this cover. Also, I’m not prepared to have the title stolen by someone looking for free porn.

The newsagent channel must move beyond its self-destructive petty bickering and fear of governmental collusion roadblocks and adopt a program that reduces the display rack overcrowding conditions that are plaguing the newsagencies. Nothing less than the future of the newsagency channel is at stake. Newsagents: get off your collective duffs and start doing something.

These are not my words. They are from the closing paragraph of an article by Baird Davis which I have quoted here previously. I have substituted references to publishers and newsstands with newsagents – so it speaks to the Australian audience.

Davis’ emotive pitch to publishers in these words, as originally written, is as relevant to newsagents.

We MUST be able to collude to fairly represent our asset otherwise our individual ownership will work against us. We compete with national chains which can act as one and this is why they succeed in controlling the magazines they carry.

One alternative which could possibly get around collusion concerns is that newsagents sub-let the magazine space in our stores to a newsagent owned entity which then negotiates with magazine distributors and or publishers as appropriate. It would have commercial control over newsagent magazine real-estate and would be negotiating on its behalf. I’m sure lawyers would have issues with this but it’s worth investigating.

We have to do something if we are to fix the supply model. In Townsville yesterday as in Newcastle last week and Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney the week before that – newsagents are hurting financially as a result of oversupply, undersupply and poor management of the returns process.

Here are my initial views on how a magazine czar / gatekeeper – call the position what you will – could work:

Newsagents to acknowledge that their retail network is their asset and that it does not ‘belong’ to magazine distributors to use as they choose. If newsagents don’t believe this there is no point in proceeding. It is essential that newsagents stop operating as process workers and start making business decisions for their businesses.

Newsagents to select a committee of respected, expert, knowledgeable and industry compliant retail newsagents to set magazine KPIs against which the czar will assess net titles seeking to gain access to the channel.

Newsagents each write to magazine distributors advising that they approve the appointment of a czar and ask that prior to any new title being supplied they gain approval of the czar.

The committee selects a czar who is vested with authority by newsagents to approve or not approve all new titles proposed to be sold through newsagencies.

The position should be employed by newsagents using seed funds from magazine distributors and newsagents – each newsagent asked to contribute $50 and each magazine distributor asked to contribute $50,000 for the first year. This provides the czar’s office $690,000 in first year funding.

The czar to seek ACCC input on the structure and processes of enforcing compliance. This may well require elements of collective bargaining and authorisation.

While this needs work, it’s a start. The sooner newsagents take control for circulation product provided to their businesses the better. The current situation provides newsagents with no control. It’s time we started to manage our most crucial asset.

I initially posted this yesterday here as a comment but have posted them here to facilitate broader comment.