Stationery

N-Stock, the VANA / ANF stationery business, is promoting 2GB USB Wrist Bracelets for $10.25 on a buy three and get your fourth for free deal.  As one savvy newsagent emailed me – you can find 4GB USB Wrist Bracelets for $5.90 retail.  Associations have no role in running a stationery business.  VANA should not have gone into this business using member funds without member approval.  This latest offer is proof of why buying should be left to professionals.

The credibility of VANA and the ANF in representing newsagents to suppliers on matters of price are compromised by this evidence of their lack of commercial skill.

I know this blog post will frustrate Directors of VANA and the ANF.  If they had stuck with running their respective associations as associations then the problem I have described would not exist.  Their decision to go into this N-Stock stationery business is what has caused the problem here, not me.

Staples has announced overnight that it is changing the name of recently acquired Corporate Express operations around the world to Staples.  Staples is well known in the US as a consumer brand as well as a business supply brand.  I would expect the re-branding here in Australia to be followed by a consumer positioning offer.  This may be through a retail network or online.  Either way, the Staples brand is consumer friendly and its arrival here represents a further challenge to stationery retailers including newsagents.

OFIS, the new stationery model from Harvey Norman, opened in the Melbourne suburb of Mentone yesterday. It is easy to say that OFIS offers nothing new, that it is a clone of Officeworks and therefore dismiss it. What is new is that stationery has been flogged hard on Melbourne radio this past week. The arrival OFIS puts stationery on the radar and lets people know there are other outlets and that price is an issue.

Newsagents heavily into stationery and located near to the OFIS business will be affected. Newsagents who focus on stationery as a convenience service are less likely to be affected.  This distinction will become more important to us over time.
The Melbourne incarnation of OFIS is an advancement on the first stores of this new group.  The layout has been refined as has the core product pitch.  They have some categories which I did not see in the Sydney store, categories which newsagents could play with.

A Harvey Norman OFIS superstore will open in Mentone on Nepean Highway this weekend.  I checked out the store yesterday, it is a close of the Auburn store from what I could see.  It will be interesting to see how it performs since it is near to the best performing Officeworks store in the country.

UPDATE: N-Stock has been reviewed by VANA and efforts are being made to work with traditional newsagent suppliers to develop online opportunities further.  It is good to see it move from the offer of three years ago.

I have a few issues with N-Stock, the VANA initiative now endorsed by the ANF through which stationery and other items are offered.  It is on my mind today because of another three pages fax from them – this time offering Global Star Diaries.

• VANA and the ANF failed to serve newsagents on the Bill Express matter.  It is wrong for them to charge off into other areas when they continue to fail on basic association service.
• My VANA association member funds helped create N-Stock. That should be enough for me to gain full benefit.
• There is double commission for accredited newsagents. I am not about to give up two days to do training telling me to do things which I already do.  While the accreditation training may teach me one or two things, using rebates as a carrot for me to pay for training is wrong.  Their approach to accreditation is like the supplier approach to compliance – there is little basis in business performance.
• Associations have no business acting like a marketing group or a stationery wholesaler.  If they do, maybe marketing groups should act like associations and offer HR and other services.
• The deals rarely have overall retail context – seasonal or whole of line.

I label N-Stock a con because it is not the straightforward off it makes out to be.  We have no visibility of the commission being made by the ANF and VANA on the deals.  Newsagents are required to spend money on accreditation training to access the best deal.  They often promote products which compete with brand name suppliers we see at trade shows, in the national magazine and supported on TV (teaching us to be poor retailers) and there is no comparative pricing to justify the claims of incredible deals.

I am a director of newsXpress, a marketing group for newsagents.  We offer deals like those offered through N-Stock.  It is important readers know this and therefore my conflict in discussing my concerns.  However, the association playing in this space conflicts them on many fronts and I am sure their Directors have not thought this through.

Given the relentless promotion of N-Stock, placing VANA and the ANF in the marketing group / supplier space, it would be appropriate for groups like Nextra, newsXpress and Newspower to consider offering association services which, if acted upon could bring the Associations to an end.