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

magazine distribution

Supply of Stationery News today

Gotch as provided this notice for newsagents re supply of Stationery News today. Gotch responded quickly on my notifying them of the problem on behalf of my stores and newsxpress stores early this morning. What they have sent to newsagents is a good quick response from the company:

Dear Retailer,

This is to inform you that you will have received the annual April 2016 subscription issue of Stationary News today.

There has been an allocations error with your account where you have been supplied 2 copies instead of 1.

If you wish to take up the subscription please return 1 copy via the usual method for credit.

If you do not wish to take up the subscription offer please return both copies via the usual method for credit.

GGA Title Code: 25232
GGA Issue Number : 1760
Title Name: Stationary News
Issue Description: April 2016

We apologies for any inconvenience.

Thank you.

3 likes
magazine distribution

The role of newsagents in promoting Chemist Warehouse

IMG_8934Chemist Warehouse has a sale catalogue out now called The House of Wellness – see the photo – the same title of the ‘magazine’ News Corp. requested newsagents to hand out three weeks ago as a ‘gift’ as I wrote about here. The title is also shared with a radio program now running on the Fairfax owned 3AW and sister stations elsewhere on the radio network.

Put all this together and we can see The House of Wellness for what it is, an integrated marketing campaign for Chemist Warehouse. It is even more clear that the magazine we were asked to hand out as a free gift was a key element this integrated comprehensive marketing campaign.

To me, it is is even more evidence of News Corp. undervaluing newsagents for the role it requested of us in what for them is an ad revenue activity.

News Corp. needs to call The House of Wellness what it is.

11 likes
Ethics

Gordon and Gotch update on transition

Here is an update for newsagents from Gordon and Gotch on the transition from Network Services:

Thank you for your assistance and support in executing a successful transition and integration of the NSC business.

Calls to GGA

  • As you can imagine, there has been an increase in the volume and length of calls to our National Contact Centre. We appreciate your patience as GGA staff work through the calls.
  • As an alternative to calling, please email us at contactus@gordongotch.com.au
  • Nexus and Connections Agents are reminded that there is a special queue for them in our Contact Centre, so be sure to select Option 3 from the menu at the outset.

Transition titles and returns

  • The list of 92 transition titles are available at www.gordongotch.com.au/ggweb/XITChangeover.aspx
  • The data to allow returns for these transition issues to GGA was generated over the last two weekends .
  • If you have attempted to return one of these transition issues before Friday 4thMarch, you may have received a message on your returns acknowledgement stating “Title/Issue Code Is Not Valid For Any Product Invoiced To You”. If this is the case, please try again this week as your request would not have been processed.
  • If you attempted to return one of these transition issues on or after Friday 4 March 2016 and received a message stating “Title/Issue Code Is Not Valid For Any Product Invoiced To You”, YOU WILL NOT NEED TO RE SUBMIT THAT RETURN ENTRYas your request would have been processed automatically on Monday after the second batch of data was loaded.

Physical returns

0 likes
magazine distribution

The time is right for partworks publishers and Gotch to treat newsagents differently

Screen Shot 2016-02-15 at 1.48.20 pmWith only one significant magazine distributor now, the time is right for Gotch to do things differently – and I think the company will. One such area of difference ought to be with partworks. Those of us who commercially appreciate and leverage partworks to their full potential for our businesses ought to be treated differently than those who treat them as another magazine.

I am sure we can provide greater sales certainty for the UK publishers, Gotch and our collector fans.

In one of my newsagencies we had to gift to get the new DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection. We received 5 copies. I was in a remote newsagency in Queensland a week ago and they received ten. Whereas we treated it as an event, connected with related product we sell, this other newsagents had it placed in with magazines with no special support.

I understand the frustration with partworks and the supply model and that this gets newsagents being frustrated with partworks. Allow partworks experts / specialists better attention and allocation support and the UK publishers and Gotch will soon see the network grow and sales beyond the first few issues stabilise as more of us will confidently promote putaways and that is where we make good money off of partworks as their loyalty facilitates loyalty to our businesses in other departments.

We have the technology in our shops to provide the distributor and publisher certainty for the supply model.

Now is the time for us to act on this.

Yes, I am advocating some newsagents are treated different, better, than others – based on their commitment. They treat partworks differently than others so let’s see this encoded in distribution practices.

IMG_7392With TV commercials on for partworks promoting us, we are reminded of the launch investment of the publisher and the opportunity for publisher / distributor / newsagent to agree a more equitable approach.

There is so much more that could be achieved for partworks. From where I sit, the biggest barrier is the will of the publisher to engage.

If you hate partworks, I get it – they are not for everyone. Please don;t attack those of us who love partworks and the traffic surge that flows from a TV campaign. This post is aimed at those who hate them getting less and those who love them having more control over what they get.

10 likes
magazine distribution

mUmBRELLA on how to drive magazine viability

Miranda Ward writing at mUmBRELLA has represented newsagents well in our fight with supermarkets on magazines.

I am pleased to see this quote from me as it is a message publishers need to get.

“Supermarkets treat magazines as a commodity. Newsagents continue to range the category as specialists. That has a higher cost for us yet we are not respected for this.

“The MPA needs to reconsider its focus on newsagents as the specialists as the current situation is a band aid approach that does not serve them or us well.”

While the current MPA newsagent only competition is good, it is not a strategy to revitalise magazines in our channel and for all Aussie publishers. No, to do that, we need to be respected for the specialists we are – as I have written before. If publishers do that, newsagents will reinvest in the category and, I expect, the dangerous sales decline of recent years will slow.

The current promotion is a tactic. What is needed is strategy. The MPA is not currently demonstrating an appetite for developing a strategy with and more newsagents.

15 likes
magazine distribution

Newsagents dealing well with the Network Services shut down

Help desk call traffic more than trebled for my newsagency software company today as newsagents updated data managed by their software reflecting the transfer of many magazine titles from Network to Gotch. All in all it was an orderly process. With 1,750+ newsagents using the software it could have gone any one of a number of ways.

While I expect help desk calls to remain high all week and into next week, today was the day of proving the process and testing the value of all of the preparation communication including that from Network.

Small business newsagents can be proud that they are handling significant change with calm professionalism.

Newsagent suppliers ought to take note. What is happening this week is newsagents demonstrating they can deal with challenges of a technical complexity. How newsagents have gone about this is another reason to support our channel ahead of supermarkets and other mass retailers.

Newsagent associations ought to take note. This is all being done without you.

15 likes
magazine distribution

Update from Network Services re transition to Gotch

Click here for the latest update from Network Services on the transition from titles to Gordon and Gotch. network advises the list of Transition issues has been reduced from 150 to 92.  The updated list is hosted on both NetOnline and Gotch Connect.  Links to the portals are included in the communication.

The communication through the process is consistent and thorough.

1 likes
magazine distribution

This is not the month to indiscriminately early return magazines

My approach to early returning of magazines is not changing because Network Services is closing down. I am not engaging in a mass cull of Network titles prior to the end of the month. I am not acting out of ear or malice. No, it is business as usual.

The approach being taken by Network to handling returns as the business winds down is as it has said from then outset. The people running this side of the business have long term newsagent relationships at heart.  I am sure of that.

If you really return magazines you could authorised have sold based on your historic sales data then you are only hurting yourself.

I urge all newsagents to serve their businesses well as to serve the magazine publishers they hope to represent into the future.

11 likes
magazine distribution

Update on Network Services closure

Network Services has issued a third communication to newsagents, which I share here with permission.

They have also provided a list of ‘Transition’ issues – title issues that will be dispatched by Network Services but will be returned to Gordon and Gotch. There are 150 issues on this list.

Newsagents will need to ensure their software is appropriately setup to handle the transition.

3 likes
magazine distribution

Why is a magazine distributor sending newsagents Zomlings?

Gotch yesterday sent newsagents Zomlings, a small collectible toy. While the product is interesting, for it to be successful it needs to come to us through a toy wholesaler who understands what is necessary to create a successful collector base. Using the magazine distribution model does not do this. Take a look at Amazon UK to get an understanding of the broader Zomlings range.

The GP we are receiving is inadequate. Average toy GP is 50%. Using Gotch disadvantages us as it denies us best practice GP.

The only reason I can see Gotch being used to scale out this product is because it cost the supplier less than the usual route to market or because they could not engage an existing toy distributor.

7 likes
magazine distribution

Magazine circulation numbers demand change

The extraordinary fall in magazine circulation reported for the period to December 31, 2015 fits with what I reported earlier in the newsagency sales benchmark study – among the worst declines we have seen for many titles.

This cannot continue.

As I have written previously, the best opportunity for specialty magazine publishers, those publishing special interest titles, titles outside the top 20 sellers, is to focus solely on the newsagency channel. We are their best hope to stop the decline and, hopefully, grow sales.

Newsagents are specialty retailers. We understand catering to niche interests. To many of us, magazines are not a commodity.

  • Give us control over the titles we carry.
  • Give us control over the volume we receive.
  • Eliminate the requirement to return unsold stock.
  • Compensate us so we can make money from magazines.
  • Respect us.
  • Quit supermarkets and other mass retail channels.

Together we can arrest the decline of many magazine titles.

If you are publisher looking at this and saying sales are declining in newsagencies why would I do this – because what you pay today does not cover newsagent operating costs, why should newsagents support titles for less than a living wage?

31 likes
magazine distribution

Timing on the closure of Network Services

Click here to download communication from Network services for newsagents on the timing of the closure of the business. I share it here with permission.

The processes outlined by the company are clear cut. Achieving a refund of any money owed requires newsagents to provide bank details. The way things go with this channel there will be newsagents who ignore this request and then complain they have not received a refund.

Please follow the advice in the Network document.

8 likes
magazine distribution

Gordon and Gotch to take on distribution of Bauer Media magazine titles as Bauer prepared to close Network Services

PMP, the owner of Gordon and Gotch, this morning announced to the ASX agreement with Bauer Media to distribute Bauer titles – subject to obligations Bauer has to consult with employees.

The PMP announcement is part of a planned move by Bauer Media to close their magazine distribution business Network Services in the coming months. Gordon and Gotch is taking on the distribution of Bauer Media titles and is expected to take on on many other titles currently distributed by Network Services.

The sky is not falling.

This is not a step closer to the end of print magazines.

Given the slim margins of magazine distribution and that Bauer is primarily a publisher in other marketplaces, the move makes sense.

The move should not alter the commitment of newsagents to magazines.

The closure of the Network business will most likely take some months. I expect it will be done in a structured way, taking into consideration all operational matters including returns processing and the handling of the bonds paid by newsagents and allowing the the complete handling of returns when due for Network titles in the system.

While newsagents may feel unsettled by the move, I do not. We will continue to have access to an excellent range of magazines as I expect many Network publishers to move to Gotch.

Take a moment to think about the publishers using Network, especially the small Australian publishers. Everyone working in these small publishing companies will feel disrupted by the move.

I urge newsagents to not change their behaviour because of the announcement. I urge you to NOT early return  as doing this will only hurt the publishers of the products you early return.

Bauer Media is a massive business. There is no risk for newsagents. I am certain the structured closure of the business will be orderly and that newsagents will be respected. Bauer needs this for its future relationship with newsagents.

I anticipate a benefit for newsagents with one major distributor as one company will know the magazines newsagents are to receive whereas with two major distributors in would not know what the other was doing thereby making oversupply easier.

The pressure will be on Gotch to distribute in a sustainable way for newsagents, publishers and themselves. newsagents were not so much part of the equation previously because of there being the two major and competitive distributors. I hope it sees a stronger commitment from Goth to Australian titles and that these are distributed exclusively through our channel as we are the magazine specialists in Australia.

I also anticipate there to be a reconsideration of the magazine code of conduct that is currently under trial by the MPA with a small group of newsagents. I do think this move plays into some factors under consideration in the trial.

19 likes
magazine distribution

Poor marketing execution by News Corp.

20151230_072234Newsagents in Queensland received The House of Wellness launch issue with their papers today. News Corp sent out the notice to explain the free magazine hours after the papers arrived. This is appalling communication.

‘What is even worse is that the launch issue is from last year. This freebie to be given away with The Sunday Mail on January 17 is of questionable value as it is old content.

News Corp. is paying newsagents 20 cents a copy to hand the freebie out, store it in the meantime, put up posters and other collateral and manage this promotion. Given what is expected of newsagents, News Corp. should be paying at least a living wage – five times the 20 cents paltry fee.

This looks like lazy marketing to me. Someone found spare stock in the warehouse and thought lest send this to newsagents for a promotion. They have the stock because they could not move the stock the first time around. Newsagents provide them a low cost distribution channel, unfortunately.

14 likes
Ethics

Double load of magazines gets newsagents thinking more about magazine distribution

The double load of magazines newsagents received yesterday raised discussion, again, about unfairness in the magazine destitution model.

Rather than two days of delivery this week, the magazine distributors cut back to one day, a public holiday, and in doing so presented newsagents with more resourcing challenges for managing the load on a day with more than double the labour cost.

The move looks inconsiderate, ignorant and selfish.

Four newsagents I heard from told me their December 2015 magazine bill is equal to or more than December 2014 while their sales year on year are down between 9% and 13%. It does not take much to work out why they are angry.

24 likes
Ethics

More junk from Fairfax and Consolidates Products Holdings

IMG_2869We received this junk product from Consolidated Products Holdings via Fairfax with magazines today. As it is not circulation products, we have treated it as junk mail and binned it. I can source these iPhone products elsewhere at a better price.

Sending this out the week before Christmas is nuts, doomed to fail. Sending it out to newsagents at all is an abuse of the magazine distribution model.

14 likes
magazine distribution

How can Coles offer half price Bauer Media magazine titles?

Screen Shot 2015-12-08 at 10.07.57 amColes Express is promoting half price Bauer Media magazines: Woman’s Day, OK!, NW and The Australian Women’s Weekly.

This extraordinary deal is available with any fuel purchase, yes, any fuel purchase. The AIP says retailers make around 5% on fuel sales so they can’t be funding this deal.

While I understand there is a difference between the magazine shopper in a newsagency and someone buying a magazine, this type of promotion encourages shoppers to expect to purchase magazines at half price. I say this because the campaign is running for two months. People purchase fuel, say, weekly. This campaign has the right triggers and is running long enough to educate the weekly magazine shopper to switch from their current retailer to the Coles Express outlet.

I think the only way to see this campaign is to drive people to choose Coles express for their weekly magazine purchase. Sure, there will be some incremental business – but I doubt this will amount to much.

Weekly magazine shoppers are not as loyal as they were – because of price games like these,

I’d love someone from magazine publishing or distribution to tell me that I am wrong, that this two month long half price campaign for the Bauer titles is not designed to change shopper behaviour like I suspect it is.

This supermarket chain campaign is the type of campaign I hate to see. It makes us look expensive. Hell, we are expensive when we charge double for these participating Bauer titles. Where is the sense in that?

Based on a network size of 650 stores and considering the titles involved, allowing for conservative sales numbers, I’d expect this campaign to have a cost of at least $15,000 a week in terms of what is being given away. Whoever is funding this must be expecting a return on this investment for the titles being promoted.

With newsagents selling close to 50% of all magazines sold in Australia, why run a campaign that makes them look expensive compared to Coles?

Would Bauer fund a campaign like this in newsagencies? If they want us to grow magazine sales they would as they would want us to be seen as competitive.

My supermarket contacts say they expect Coles Express will make full margin on all titles if this campaign is run in the same way other magazine campaigns are run. That would make it an expensive for whoever is funding the campaign. I would love to see that level of investment made in selling these magazines in newsagencies.

What do others think?

25 likes
Competition

Why do newsagents early return magazines and why is cutting space the only option to manage magazine costs?

Australian magazine publishers need to understand that they are all judged by the actions of each other. All it takes is for one publisher to oversupply and there are consequences for others.

I lay the blame with the publisher as they set the print run. This is where what we receive begins. The print run determines what is sent to the distributor to distribute. The distributor may have a contract requiring all copies sent to be distributed.

As newsagents have embraced better IT infrastructure they are better informed. The screen shot below shows the supply and return history for Australian House and Garden. There is no reason the newsagent should have received more stock on the new use. But they did.

I know of newsagents who respond to blatant oversupply by striking back at other titles from the same distributor. I don’t blame them sometimes as they feel helpless to manage cash-flow in any other way.

Take a look at this evidence for Australian House and Garden below from one newsagent for yourself. I am left wondering about the IT infrastructure at Network that allowed this to occur.

Screen Shot 2015-12-07 at 6.27.54 pm

What newsagents want is fair supply, to a level that helps them actually make money from magazines. The supply model in the MPA code of conduct does not have settings to enable this. Unless that is resolved, newsagents will have no alternative to early return and cut magazine space allocation.

If we cannot make money from any product it is not worth stocking and any model that forces us to do so would be unfair.

Publishers need to engage on this issue with thoughtful newsagents. Not the ANF as they have shown themselves to be out of touch, to not know what is appropriate for newsagents.

13 likes
Ethics

AFR reports Bauer to cease magazine distribution

The Australian Financial Review is today reporting that Bauer Media’s Network Services will cease operations:

German media giant Bauer Media is planning to wind up its Australian distribution business Network Services Company in early 2016 with rival distributor Gordon & Gotch to pick up the job.

I doubt that Gotch will pick up the job. I suspect titles they take on will be as a result of negotiation between Gotch and the publishers involved and not Gotch and the Network Services division.

As this is not an acquisition, I don’t see a role for the ACCC.

I have been aware of talk of this move for the last ten days but have not written about it as it was speculation. Even now, details are thin. We need to let the parties involved work through things before jumping to conclusions.

16 likes
magazine distribution
Trending Articles

Fairfax changes approach to TV Guide, disrespects newsagents

Published on April 20, 2011

What do you think of the Powerball changes?

Published on February 16, 2018

IPS releases new magazine contracts

Published on June 21, 2011