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Environment

Educating on the damage done by plastic bags

We are promoting the latest issue of National Geographic magazine to leverage the cover story on the damage being done by plastic. This is timely with moves by state governments on plastic bags as well as moves by our two major supermarket chains. The topic is timely. Also, it fits with our own moves on plastic and the elimination of bags for newspapers, the most wasteful use of bags in the business.

We are featuring the title with a horizontal run close to its usual location in-store. Here is that placement. It is the only area in our magazine department where we currently run a single magazine issue in this way.

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Environment

ACCC submission in relation to newsagency magazine supply trial

The ACCC has proposed to authorise Magazine Publishers Australia to conduct a trial of an alternative magazine supply model.

As I wrote here in November, I think the proposed code of conduct changes are ill conceived and will not address the unfairness for newsagents compared to others with whom we compete. Earlier this month I encouraged newsagents to respond. Here is the first response I have submitted:

I make this submission on behalf of newsXpress Knox City in Wantirna South Victoria.

The ACCC proposes to authorise a trial which does nothing to address the anti competitive behaviour enshrined in the rules, processes and systems for distributing magazines to newsagents. The trial does nothing to get newsagents to closer to fair supply, to the controls over supply that supermarkets, petrol outlets and convenience outlets have in relation to magazine supply.

In proposing to authorise the trial, the ACCC is tacitly approving a continuation of behaviour which blocks newsagents from stocking magazines on terms which are fair.

The ACCC ought to hold piublic hearings into the proposed trial.

These are not new complaints for the ACCC. Newsagents have complained for years, providing examples of gross over spply in terms of volume and titles.

Unless newsagents are given control over the magazine titles they stock they will remain at a commercial disadvantage. This, in turhn would place our customers at a disadvantage.

In 1999 the ACCC oversaw the deregulation of the distribution of newspapers and magazines in Australia. At no time since has there been a review of the impact of deregulation. I call on the ACCC to consider such a review. While the ACCC could argue that such a review is outside its remit, I say it is within its remit given its direct involvement in deregulation which left newsagents competitively worse off.

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Environment

Is it unethical to send more stock of a title a newsagent without justification?

Imagine the surprise of a newsagent this week when they received additional stock of Modern Wedding Styling magazine when they still had stock on the shelves from the August allocation. There is no sales history to indicate they will get through the initial allocation. So, the newsagent topped the supply this week and early returned it.

The newsagent has lost time and money on unwarranted allocation. The publisher has copped the cost of shipping out the stock that was topped this week. They will probably cop a return fee and maybe a topping fee.

The distributor could have saved the publisher and newsagent costs had they used the data they have from this newsagent and not sent the extra stock in the first case.

What happened in this situation could be considered to be a poor allocations, poor management or deliberately actions to generate fees for the magazine distributor.

It’s say it’s not a poor system as that’s an excuse Network has used for decades.

It’s say it’s not poor management because network has had plenty of time to address that.

I think the supply reflects a commercial decision to apply and this is what I’d label unethical. Whoever participated in or facilitated this situation ought to be ashamed of themselves.

This is another example that makes a mockery of the pressure newsagents are put under by XchangeIT for data accuracy. There is no evidence of magazine distributors being put under similar pressure.

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Environment

Charging for a plastic bag with the newspaper?

I am contemplating introducing a 10c charge for a plastic bag for newspapers. While this would put me in the same league as Officeworks and Bunnings, I think it’s an important move. Shoppers who want to prove the purchased the item can instead get a receipt or a stamp on the paper.

I’d donate 100% of the money collected to a local environmental charity.

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Environment

Magazine oversupply an environmental issue

magjunkThis photo showing unsold magazines from a regional newsagency yesterday is evidence of what I suspect will (or should) ultimately drive change in the magazine supply model.

What is on show in the photo is waste – magazines that have been topped. This newsagency is not required to return full copies so they remove the cover, leaving  this pile of what is now waste to get rid of for themselves and at their own cost.

This is an environmental and economic problem yet the environmental issue is the one that could get action. No matter how newsagents dispose of topped magazines, even recycling them reflects a wastage that could be avoided through a better management of magazine production and distribution.

Multiply this photo by thousands of newsagencies and you can feel the scale of the problem, the trees and ink wasted – and the time wasted in small business newsagencies.

That the magazine distributors have allowed this to continue for decades is shameful.

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Environment

We might have a fast rail network by when?

I was surprised at the news this week that we may not have a fast rail network established in Australia for thirty or more years.

For decades, federal and state politicians have let us down on major infrastructure projects, very fast rail being just one of them.

We ought to be ashamed that it takes longer to travel by train from Sydney to Newcastle than the time it takes to travel by train between Beijing and Nanjing in China, a 900km trip I did last year.

While I accept the extraordinary difference in population size and government of Australia and China, the need for and value to be gained from major infrastructure projects like fast rail is the same.

I am certain that if we have a fast rail connection between, say Sydney and Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra or Melbourne and Canberra years ago then today we would have a broader fast rail network.

The announcement of the latest report into fast rail in Australia released this week piqued my interest as I have just got back from two days in China. Yesterday, in the China Daily newspaper, they had a feature on their fast rail. 98,000 km of tracks, 85% of wood and crude oil shipped by rail, 4 billion tons of cargo transported annually … the numbers roll on.

If we had in Australia what China has we could get from Melbourne to Sydney in three hours and Sydney to Brisbane in four hours. Indeed, we could get from Melbourne to Perth in just six or seven hours. And we could do this in more comfort and with less stress than air travel.

Major infrastructure projects like fast rail can economically focus and define a generation. While I am no expert, it seems to me that this is the case in China.

Having such a network in Australia could reduce the cost of doing business and make Australia a more appealing destination for tourism and economic migrants.

Sure, we need to undertake projects like this within the scope of our population and economy. However, we will only grow and prosper as much as we challenge ourselves to.

It’s on infrastructure opportunities that we have lacked leadership in Australia for decades. I don’t want to wait thirty years.

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Environment

Maped has a terrific range of green stationery

Further to my lament about the challenges of creating a stationery department filled with green product, the Maped product range available in Australia is an excellent starting point. They have plenty of green products and their packaging is explicit as to the extent of greenness of a product. Maped is a range I wrote about earlier this year as their products were part of our Back to School offer.

Checking out their website yesterday, I was particularly impressed with their presentation on sustainable development.

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Environment

Promoting the green stationery

I saw this while overseas yesterday, a Treehugger I Was A Newspaper Pencil. The packaging and the display unit this and associated product was in had a clear pitch around recycling newspapers.

The packaging has more details about what makes up the product. It also claims that some of the proceeds from the sale of the pencils goes to replanting of indigenous trees in China.

As I have noted before, playing in the recycled product / environmental product space is something we can do well – better than major retailers. It’s certainly something I would like to see newsagent suppliers more engaged with.

In an ideal newsagency all the stationery items I sell would be green: carbon neutral and, where possible, made from recycled materials. What a marketing message that would be.

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Environment

Does Officeworks profit from recyclable bags?

Further to my post earlier this week about Officeworks not offering the LOWEST PRICES EVERYDAY, I was surprised at their twenty cent charge for a shopping bag when I purchased too many items to carry loose.

When I queried the person behind the counter I was told it was okay because the money from the bags went to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.  It turns out that only five cents of the twenty cents goes to this organisation, Officeworks gets fifteen cents.

On querying the fifteen cents Officeworks keeps for the bags the employee had no response.

The bags themselves are designed to promote the green credentials of the organisation.  They could better serve the environment by providing a 100% biodegradable bag … like I do in my newsXpress newsagencies without charging the customers a cent.  Customers love our biodegradable bags.

It feels to me like Officeworks hides behind the fund-raising pitch to make their bags a profit centre for the company.  Their stationery prices are not that cheap, they certainly have margin capacity for funding bags for shoppers.

Newsagents who provide bags for free, especially biodegradable bags, have something else they can pitch as a point of difference to Officeworks.

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Environment

The businesses wanting compensation from a price on carbon should talk to newsagents

The calls in recent days from various business sectors wanting compensation for the decision by the federal government to place a price on carbon are interesting.  Big business polluters want compensation for the impact of this policy decision by government.  They look set to receive this compensation.

Newsagents were impacted by a government policy change in 1999 when the distribution of newspapers and magazines was deregulated.  We were not offered and did not receive compensation.  We were left to fund the cost ourselves.

It says something about the small business commitment (or lack thereof) of politicians (of all colours) that small business family run newsagents receive nothing for seismic policy change while pollution generating big businesses are set to receive hundreds of dollars of compensation for introduction of a price on carbon.

I am disappointed that politicians appear set to get away with once again showing that small business does not matter. Shame on them and shame on us for letting this happen.

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Environment

Recycling merchandise units

val-choc.JPGWith the Darrell Lea Valentine’s Day merchandise unit late in arriving, our team has improvised by recycling a desk calendar stand and plaving it next to Valentine’s Day cards.  It’s working a treat – especially having it next to our Valentine’s Day card display.  While most of the Valentine’s Day business is done in the last week, sales in these early weeks are well worth getting. Also, a good display today lets people know where to come when they do want to purchase.

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confectionary

Why is the Greens vote not reflected in magazine sales?

gmagazine.JPGSales of G and other Green issue magazines do not appear to reflect the strong voter support for Green issues as seen in the recent federal election.  Data I have seen indicates little or no sales growth.  I expected to see something given the extraordinary vote surge between federal polls.  It makes me wonder if the voter surge is people wanting others to do the work for them or  whether it is a pity vote – pity the environment.  While it could be argued that magazine sales are not a fair indication of community engagement with an issue, I would have expected that sales G and other green related magazines would provide a fair indication.  I am left wondering, why sales of green titles are not surging.

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Environment

Promoting carbon neutral diaries for 2011

kyoto-2011.JPGWe are continuing our environmental push with the active promotion of the Kyoto carbon neutral range fof 2011 diaries from Collins Debden.  Our push last year has paid off with customers coming in specifically to purchase a Kyoto diary from us.  It is good to see shoppers making such a conscious choice.  This year, we have the Kyoto diaries on our dance floor in a high traffic location.

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Diaries

Ecopolitan cards very popular

ecopolitan.JPGThe new ecopolitan range of cards from Hallmark is proving to be very popular with customers.

Printed with a soy / vegetable based ink on 100% recycled paper, customers get the environmental message and love the cool designs of these cards.  The designs are from a US card company called Sunrise Greetings which Hallmark acquired in 1998.

The recent federal election shows the growth in interest in Green matters among voters so it stands to reason that newsagents make a conscious decision to carry a broader range of green products – like these cards from Hallmark. This is why we are promoting the range in-store.

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Environment

Greener newsagents saving paper

runlist.JPGMore an more newsagents are eliminating paper from their businesses by using devices such as the iPhone, Android based phones and even Apple’s iPad for tasks which would previously have been done using paper.  The Samsung phone in the photo is being used as an electronic newspaper home delivery run list.  This list is generated by newsagency software and dropped onto the phone in a matter of seconds.

I know of some newsagencies which have eliminated up to fifty pages of printing a day by providing access to delivery runlists to drivers electronically.

This is a good green story for the newsagency channel. Add to it the move away from paper printed monthly accounts to electronic accounts sent by email and the viewing of newsagency management reports electronically rather than in print and you can see smart businesses cutting printing costs, cutting carbon emissions and reducing paper usage.

Now if only we could reduce paper wastage from magazine returns.

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Environment

Great eco-friendly journal range

recycled_journals.jpgThe Last Diary Company has a good range of eco-friendly journals which our customers like.  The photo shows three of the journals, there are other items in the broader range.  They are part of our green stationery offer which also includes the O’Bon pencils, journals and folders about which I have written previously.  Sales of the Collins Debden carbon neutral and Kyoto diaries can indicate the interest among your customers for expanding into the green stationery area.  We certainly see the green niche expanding this year.  If you are unsure, check out Officeworks and other competitors.

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Environment

Encouraging product sampling

sampling_pencils.JPGWe are encouraging shoppers to sample the O’BON pencils we have which are made from recycled newspaper.  By having test pencils and a sharpener, they can see the newsprint tightly rolled to make up the pencils.  This small piece of retail theatre makes the pencils a good performer.  It demonstrates the authenticity of the product as well as our trust in the product.  Putting a product on the shelf may sell, showing off the unique selling proposition is what can drive excellent sales.

Newsagents can own this green stationery space.  It fits with our businesses being local and community connected.

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Environment

Eco friendly calendars welcome

calendars_eco_friendly.JPGIt is good to see more calendars promoting their green credentials.  We have a range printed with soy-based inks on recycled paper.  Customers like that we have this option available for them.  I am impressed with the designs in the eco friendly range – they cover popular calendar categories.

Newsagents have an opportunity to own consumer minds on green products: pencils, journals, folders, office products, calendars, greeting cards and magazines as I have blogged about previously.  There are many options which position us well in this space.

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Calendars

Green magazine sales flat?

green_magazines_oct3009.JPGMaybe it is just us but sales of green related magazines are down following a year of good results.  We created the green section in the photo in among our home and living titles, opposite our women’s weeklies section.  It has performed well until the last couple of months.  The performance of green titles is outside the trend of other magazines in our newsagency.  Green Living appears to have suffered the most in the slump.  G Magazine is performing the best.  Maybe the range is too extensive for such a small interest area.

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Environment

Green magazines doing well

greenmags.JPGThe ‘green’ magazine section we created in our home and living category around two months ago is driving good sales.  Last week, we had one customer buy four of the titles we have on display.  Discussing her purchase, she made it clear that having the titles together and in this location were key factors in her buying all four.  What she discovered in our newsagency and our interest in her purchase has provided good word of mouth material to reinforce the value of a newsagency for special interest magazines.

These are small yet important decisions we can make in our newsagencies – grouping titles together to connect with interests we know exist which are not represented in the traditional magazine department layouts publishers have pitched to us in the past.

The key to what we have done with the ‘green’ magazines is to bookend the column with related and popular magazines.

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Environment

O’BON journals drive sales

obon2.JPGThe O’BON journals, pencils and folders we have are selling well.  Our customers like the environmental story. The journals are made using sugar cane pulp and the pencils are made from recycled newspapers – yes, an excellent like to one our core products there! The good environmental story with O’BON is enhanced by excellent product design and finishing – our customers comment on this.  While the O’BON range is sourced and recommended by newsXpress, I am sure that other newsagents wanting to carry an environmentally friendly and visually appealing range of journals, pencils and folders could arrange supply.

I have written here for some time that newsagents need a stronger presence of products which are more ‘green’ the O’BON range meets this requirement and goes beyond because of product design and quality.

For the record, no one has asked me to blog about this.  I have had the product in store for more than a month and was reviewing sales numbers yesterday.

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Environment
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