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The 10,000th blog post

While I’m not a big milestone person I couldn’t let this 10,000th blog post pass without comment.

What started on January 27, 2005 with a tentative first post has evolved considerably over seven years, 10,000 blog posts and 27,180 comments.

I didn’t really have a plan when I started the blog other than to write occasionally about life in my newsagency.  Within the first few months that changed as I realised I could use the blog to write about issues beyond my own business,  issues affecting the newsagency channel more widely.

I have learnt plenty along the way – from the practical of writing for public consumption to learning to be more accepting of alternative views to mine.

I think that my voice has changed as a result of blogging. I think that my other writing, away from this place, has improved.

I am proud of the blog being a record of some of the challenges (and opportunities embedded in these challenges) faced by newsagents, those who work in our businesses and those who work with our businesses.

I am pleased to have been able to use the blog to document appalling treatment by some of newsagents.

For what it’s worth, I think the most important issues I have written about are:

  1. Australia Post and the economic harm the government owned post offices continue to wreak against newsagents. Both sides of politics are to blame for this.
  2. The failure of successive governments, the ACCC and suppliers to be fair in their treatment of newsagents through deregulation. Today’s print media distribution model disadvantages newsagents while giving commercial advantages to our competitors.
  3. The failure of magazine distributors to provide a model which is fair. They hold us accountable for the financial liability yet do not provide reasonable business levers with which to manage that liability.
  4. The disruption of print media and the impact this will have on the traditional newsagency business model … and the opportunity for financially rewarding change.
  5. The failure of many newsagents to manage their businesses for day to day profit. Too many newsagents expect their pay day when they sell and do not realise that their pay day is today, tomorrow and next week … and that this determines what they will receive when they sell.
  6. The failure of the leadership of the newsagency channel: in 1999 to lead through deregulation; and,  in the mid 2000s to put the needs of newsagents ahead of their own ego and interests.
  7. The day to day … sometimes mundane stuff about hiring and firing people, customer theft, employee theft, how we did things, why we did things.  These narrow focus topics often led to some wonderful comments which added tremendous value to what I wrote.

I smile when a supplier contacts me saying that they rarely read the blog but have been told about a post relating to them … yeah. I know that posts and comments are being noticed when people complain about the blog or me in an ill-informed or derogatory manner.

This is a place of conversation. Everyone is welcome to join in. If I am wrong, tell me.  If you want to apologise, do so.

In terms of actual achievements, that is for others to judge.

We go into 2012 with some good progress having been made in 2011.   Morrison Media, Universal Magazines, Express Media Group (EMG) and Pacific Magazines are closer to newsagents in part as a result of engagement here, showing that publishers follow posts and comments and respond in pursuit of a more valuable relationship.

I don’t have a plan for the future of the blog, never have. I’ll write about that which I want to write about … to reflect the newsagency narrative and to help and represent newsagents.

I care passionately about the channel and its place in Australian society. What we have is unique, important and valuable. It is also vulnerable. We all in this channel need to work hard to combat our vulnerabilities and to play to our strengths.

To the visitors, 1,100+ every day, and to the commenters, responsible for 27,000+ published comments, thank you for being part of this thing.

Let the blogging continue…

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Blog outage today

Access to this blog has been challenging today following sustained external technical problems which started at around 6:30 this morning and continued for some hours.  I apologise about this.  I am expecting to know more when our server provider in Sydney comes back with a thorough technical report.

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May be some disruption to blog posts

We have upgrading the technology which underpins this blog and this may disrupt posts and the look and feel of the blog over the next few days.  The software upgrade will provide enhanced blogging facilities which will make finding posts through Google and the like easier.  Thanks for your patience if things go awry for a day or two.

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Farewell Forest Hill

farewell-foresthill.jpgA few months ago we signed an agreement for the sale of our newsXpress Forest Hill business.  This came at the same time we had been temporarily relocated by the landlord due to construction impacting our level 2 location.  The construction dragged on as did the negotiations for a new lease.  The timing is such that we have to be out of our temporary location on Saturday February 12.  The couple purchasing the business will not be ready to trade from the new location until early April as they can only get access at the end of this month and have a full shop-fit to undertake.

Given that we have been at Forest Hill for fifteen years, we wanted to give our customers fair notice of the changes.  Yesterday, we started handing out a letter explaining the moves.  I publish it here to show our approach to sharing the news with our customers, to demonstrate our transparency and to publish the facts to our gossip loving channel.

We have a busy two weeks at this store while also keeping the finger on the pulse of our three other newsagencies.

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Preparing to move the newsagency

Our newsXpress Forest Hill store is set for some changes early in the new year.  With major construction being undertaken on level 3 of the centre, directly above us, the landlord has asked us to move to a kiosk temporarily during the construction phase.  This coincides with the end of our current lease.  The landlord has offered us a new lease for a permanent location to kick in once the construction is over.

The original plan of the landlord, three weeks ago, was that the construction would start immediately and impact our tenancy next week.  That all changed last week when their construction plans were delayed. Plans may change again – we have told the landlord that we will try and work in with any changes which occur.

We have been at Forest Hill for more than fourteen years and have been moved by the landlord three times.

Why have I mentioned this now?  Because nextra is trying to undermine us by putting a different spin on the story in the members area of their website.

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Malicious attack against Tower Systems

The questionable ethics of key people in the newsagency channel has been on show over the last couple of days as they have spread far and wide reports of winding up action which has been commenced against my software company, Tower Systems.

Rather than ask me if the report is true, they have been quick to send emails or make calls to spread their spin on the story.

Thankfully, some in the channel have called me.  These are the ethical people, people who are want to know the facts of an issue before spreading gossip.

Yes, we have had a tax dispute with the State Revenue Office.  We are not the first business to have this nor will we be the last.  The issue is resolved.  We’re busy installing systems and helping newsagents.

I am happy to take a call from anyone with concerns on 0418 321 338.

I am also happy to receive evidence of those spreading this story along with their spin.

UPDATE: (3:50pm) Someone calling themselves “concerned retailer” has mass emailed newsagents today trying to fan this story.  It says something about their character that they would do this anonymously.  I know who is behind the emails today as I have the email trail from Saturday night to selected newsagents.

Tower Systems is in a competitive marketplace and has caused some pain for others.  It is to not a new experience that a misstep by the company is leveraged by others no matter whether their spin is inaccurate, slanderous or defamatory.

UPDATE: (9PM)  POS Solutions has put a post on their blog asking for people to send them this email.  From the evidence provided to me, they had the email on Saturday and forwarded it on.  So, I am not sure why they are making a public show about asking to see a copy of the email they had two days ago.

UPDATE (Tuesday 7PM) POS Solutions is continuing spin on their website which is contrary to the evidence.  As one industry association discovered today, the facts I have published here are true, the issue is over.

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Excuse us while we play

You’ll notice an ad to the right.  We are playing with Google Adsense to see what happens.  With between 1,200 and 1,500 visitors a day, Google feels that there is a revenue opportunity.  We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks after which I will decide whether the ads stay.  In the meantime, we are likely to play with style changes to see what works best.

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Newsagency off the market

Regulars here would know that I put my newsagency at Forest Hill on the market many months ago. After being looked at by many prospects, a heads of agreement was signed four weeks ago. The purchaser pulled out for personal reasons before signing a contract. I have decided to take the business off the market and, instead, focus on the next phase of development of the newsagency.

The sale process has given us an insight into the performance of the business and opened opportunities for change which have renewed energy and focus.

I have owned Forest Hill since February 1996. I like the customers and the area. There is a comfort from dealing with the same people over a long period of time.

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How this blog works

Blog posts here are conversations. I’ll publish a post and people, sometimes many people, comment on this and, from time to time extend the post into new areas.
The first comment posted by someone is moderated and from then on their comments are published immediately. People are responsible for their own comments.
The openness of this place means we need to be respectful the opinions of others and their right to their opinion.

Some people get grumpy when I publish something with which they disagree.  The grumpiest responses are sent by email or a call.  Some think that because this place is public I should write what they think and not what I think.  It all makes for colourful conversations about ownership of opinions.

When I started blogging in January 2005 I didn’t know if there would be much interest in matters affecting newsagents. Today, 6,226 posts and 12,364 comments on and 1,500+ visitors a day, I have the answer.

Our channel is important to Australians, suppliers and the families of newsagents and employees. Hopefully, this place plays role in helping define the relevance of the Australian newsagency.

Let the conversations continue.

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The value of a warehouse

warehouse.JPGWe have had our own small warehouse a few doors down from our head office since late last year. With three newsagencies and four card and gift shops to serve, the warehouse is making it easier for us to buy as a group and better manage stock. Instead of holding stock at the stores, most of it is held at the warehouse. This means we are spending less on our overall stock holding. It also means we are spending less time in each retail location managing stock.

While we have some kinks to iron out of our model, it is developing well.

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Christmas greetings…

Vienna Chen, graphic extraordinaire at Tower Systems, has created the artwork for a Chirstmas greeting for me…

newsagency-blog-blue2.jpg 

I asked for the Christmas tree to be heading out to sea.  Not sure why.

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TV commercial to launch Sophie Randall

We are launching a TV commercial on channels Seven and Ten in Melbourne next week to launch our expanded Sophie Randall card and gift shops. The commercial has been created to reflect a warm and personal style associated with Sophie. Click on the image below to see a copy of the ad as loaded at YouTube.

We are supporting the ad with the delivery of high quality flyers to homes around three of our locations in the last week of this month.

This is the first advertising we have undertaken for Sophie since we opened at Forest Hill in February last year. With our Toorak store opening two months ago we felt the time was right to step out with our unique and personal offer.

We hope to release details of the Sophie franchise model in then first quarter of next year.

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Good October numbers

We had a good October at Forest Hill.  Overall, sales were up 6% on last year.  This is despite magazines and lotteries recording a dip.  Greeting cards delivered excellent growth.

What is most interesting is the continued shift away from what have been traditional lines for our newsagency.  Gifts, books, calendars, art supplies and ink all delivered excellent growth.  While calendars are a traditional line, we are taking a completely different approach to the past.

I mention these results as a balance for the doom and gloom being reported at present.  There are excellent growth opportunities available.  It is essential we energetically pursue change in our newsagencies.  I am not the only newsagent playing with new product categories.  Yes, some fail.  More, however, succeed – as our October results are showing.  The key is the pursuit of change – it’s better to chase it than have it surprise you form behind.

I expect that lotteries and magazines will bounce back.  They are more affected by short term and other factors.  Our year to date numbers are good.

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Hatred and blog comments

It is disappointing that a few commenters at this blog spew hatred instead of rational comment.  The comments posted on Thursday evening by one person using seven different names served to make himself or herself look stupid and for readers to therefore disregard their view.

The purpose of my original post was to open a discussion about the future representation of newsagents on the national stage given the failure of the ANF.  That it deteriorated into the childish drivel it did does not hold much hope for the channel.

With around 1,500 visitors to this place each day including prospective newsagents and suppliers, I’d urge newsagents to take care with comments – unless you want our channel to look like a bunch schoolyard thugs who hate each other.

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A wordle cloud for this blog

I was playing with Wordle yesterday – a website which creates a word cloud based on the content of a website. Here is what it came up with based on the content at this blog:

word_cloud.JPG

Wordle gives greater prominence to words that appear more frequently.

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Strong third quarter

We have recorded a strong third quarter at Forest Hill – up 8% in non agency revenue compared to the same quarter in 2007. Excellent growth has been achieved in the good margin departments of cards, books, gifts, art and ink. Magazines are line ball – this is a good result given that weeklies are down 8% in unit sales. The 0% change for the department reflects a shift in sales in our newsagency, we rely less on the weeklies and more on special interest and other titles we obsess over.

I have poured over the figures for the quarter in detail because self funded retirees make up a sizeable portion of our customers. Given the economic challenges of this year we were expecting to see sales taper off. We were fighting against this with considerable in-store activity but we still expected to see a slowdown. While it may yet come to our door it has not happened yet, thankfully.

A key part of the growth is attributable to an investment in the business, expanding several departments and introducing new ones. We are planning more of this as we pursue the new newsagency model which we feel is right for our situation. Sure there is doom and gloom in the news – we deal with that by remaining focused on the other side.

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Free online training for newsagents

My software company, Tower Systems, has been delivering free online training and user meetings this year in addition to the seventy or or face to face user meetings around the country. The online series is proving to be a great success with close to full attendance at most sessions. We have a cap of fifteen attendees. We have purchased access to the Web Ex platform – this is a widely used conferencing platform and provides good management of video and audio to create a professional and comfortable online meeting experience.

Next week we are repeating one of our most popular online training events – a Meet The Experts session where we make available one of the mist skilled Tower team members:

  • Michael Elvey, Customer Service Manager. Michael has hands on newsagency experience as well as exceptional Retailer software knowledge. His session will start with advice on how to ensure you get the magazine supply you want and the credits you deserve. This will focus on key compliance challenges. Michael will also take questions on any issue. Session details: September 17 at 2pm.

We are offering these sessions to help our users more directly connect with our most senior people and thereby get more from your software. Participation is free. All you need is a phone for a toll-free call and a computer with broadband connected. Please book by emailing bookings@towersystems.com.au.

What is really good about these sessions is that we get to connect newsagents who would not usually meet.

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POS Solutions troubles

POS Solutions Director Bernard Zimmermann published the following false and misleading information at his company’s blog today:

The managing director of tower systems Mark Fletcher complained that his company, might be tainted though Kellie-Ann’s actions. I agree. Our complaint was against her actions and nothing else.

Note I have done what checks I can on her. I have rang up the newsagency where she claims to work and discovered that no-one knows there of a Kellie-Ann. I have also emailed her with no response.

So I have removed the article and the comments. If anyone wishes to discuss it with me, they can contact me on Ph: (03) 9597-7222

I have not complained to Bernard that my company, Tower Systems, might be tainted. Here is what all I have said to yesterday at 2:08PM in response to another (now removed) post:

Bernard,

Your post about Newport shows how desperate you have become.

mark

In response to an email from Zimmermann today, I said:

You are pathetic and have demonstrated you will go to any length to try and discredit us to stop your hemorrhage of customers.

The back story to this exchange is that some time between Friday evening and Saturday morning Zimmermann published a post on his company blog alleging that someone claiming to be from Newport newsagency and a user of Tower Systems’ software “bombed” his blog with 80 comments negative about us. While Bernard says that he called Newport newsagency and that the person named the alleged comments does not exist there, he still published his post.

There are a couple of Newport Newsagencies. One is a happy Tower user and one is a happy POS user. Given this and the fact that the person Bernard named does not work at the Newport which uses Tower, I cannot see why he would publish what he did other than to try and discredit us.

I suspect that someone within POS agrees that the post could only serve a negative purpose because it was removed yesterday morning. However, people reading the POS blog through reader software would have a copy – as we do. Removing it from the blog does not recall the copies already distributed and published ion this way.

Bernard Zimmermann has a track record of publishing false and misleading information at his blog. For example, he recently claimed that they had integrated with e-pay. That post was subsequently edited and then removed. He also has a track record for plagiarising from this blog and from Tower Systems corporate blog. Most times I leave it be because our market share and growth speak for us. The post by Bernard and the actions since is an indication of the trouble POS Solutions is in.

I don’t believe that 80 comments negative to Tower were posted at the POS Solutions blog. I think this has been made up. It reflects issues internal at POS. I have gained some insight into these issues over the last six months from former users, former employees, newsagents suppliers and from Bernard himself.

We have offered to help the company out of its difficulties through a friendly acquisition and while Bernard willingly entered into negotiations, visiting our office for talks, his partner declined. I agreed with Bernard, in response to his query, to continue to support their DOS software, employee all of their staff and provide a role for Bernard until his planned retirement. We would be happy to re-open these discussions in the interests of supporting the 600 newsagents with the POS software.

Bernard’s post today publishes a lie. I did not complain to him. I said nothing about how Tower may be tainted – I knew the whole scenario was made up. The lie demonstrates why newsagents should think twice before they use POS Solutions.

UPDATE (8/9) Bernard Zimmermann claims in a new post at his blog that he is banned from making comments here.  That is not true.  No one is banned.  None of his comments or those from his employees or partner have ever been banned or removed.

Bernard demonstrates how he twists the facts.  I talked to former POS users to help them switch to Tower.  I talked to POS employees who sought to work for Tower.  I talked to Bernard when he wanted to discuss selling his share in POS Solutions to me.  he explained that we wanted to move on from the business within two to three years.  I offered him employment through that time.   We also discussed price.

Bernard once in an email said he could bu Tower Systems.  He has never made an offer.  I made my first written formal offer for POS Solutions in June 2007.  Naturally, the details of the offer are confidential.  The offer did not go anywhere.  Then, svereal months ago, Bernard contacted me and said he wanted to talk.  he gave no indication what he wanted to talk about.  When he got to my office, he wanted to talk about selling POS Solutions to me.

None of this has anything to do with the defamation action I commenced more than four years ago.  This action has dawdled in the counts because the first four defences from POS Solutions were found to be defective.  Now they have a defence which the court will consider we can move to the next step which is court ordered mediation.  I look forward to that.

The court case was never discussed in my meeting at the Tower office with Bernard.

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GNS Market Fair, Melbourne

gns.JPGThe first day of the GNS Market Fair in Melbourne was good. While I don’t know official numbers, our feeling is that it was busier than for the Saturday last year. It is a great opportunity to catch up with newsagent clients more so than to sell – especially since most newsagents buying a system now are switching from something else and they prefer to have these discussions in private. Our free stress balls were a hit as was our new Retailer Mobile software which we were demonstrating on the iPhone and another portable device.

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Investing in the Aussie Phonecard

For transparency, I post below a copy of an announcement today about our new shareholding in Access International, the company behind the Aussie Phonecard.  I have been impressed with Aussie for some time – the 30% commission it pays newsagents, the quality of call on the cards and the real value to consumers.  It’s not often newsagents can make 30% GP from a product which does not require any stock investment.

Access International Group, the company behind the popular Aussie Phonecard, has completed a share placement to parties associated with retail software company Tower Systems.

As a result of the share placement, reflecting 25% of paid up capital, Tower Systems owner Mark Fletcher has joined the Board of Access International Group Pty Ltd.

The funds and other resources brought in through the share placement will be used by Access to bring additional phonecard products to market and to expand the retail network selling the company’s products.

“The technical and organisational synergy between Access and Tower is excellent on many fronts” commented Access Managing Director Steve Mclean.  “We will quickly leverage this to bring new offers to our retail partners and to expand our retail network.”

“I was drawn to Access by the honesty of their consumer offer and the genuine value they deliver their retail partners” said Mark Fletcher, Managing Director of Tower Systems.  “I am looking forward to working with the company to help more Australians benefit from their products.”

Access plans for first additional phonecard product launch for July this year.

The company is currently recruiting business development staff in Melbourne and Sydney to drive increased penetration of its products.

The Australian phonecard market is estimated to be worth in excess of $220 million a year with annual growth of 12%

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  Mark Fletcher (Tower Systems) 0418 321 338; Steve Mclean (Access International) 07 5526 9737.

Tower Systems has been serving Australian retailers since 1981.  Its software is currently running in 1,532 newsagencies around Australia and 1,000 other retailers.

Access International has been supplying phonecard product to Australians since 2002.  Steve McLean has been in the phonecard channel since 1999. The company has a reputation for a true what you see is what you get offer – no hidden charges!

I am excited by the synergy this relationship offers as we work together to develop other products which can deliver excellent GP to newsagents.

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