I rumour was put to me for clarification yesterday that I was paid by some newsagency suppliers to talk up certain products. I have never been paid to write anything here and have not sought and will not seek payment for anything I write here. I write what I write because I want to.
Anyone hearing the rumour should question the motivation of those behind it.
I was surprised to hear from a newsagent in Queensland yesterday that the Herald and Weekly Times is moving away from a sale and return model for the supply of the Herald Sun newspaper to interstate newsagents. This is a significant move which will, I think, reduce sales.
Actually I am not surprised. This is another change where a publisher pushes a cost and or risk down to the retailer. We’ll see more of it … because they can.
Maybe it was the only option available to H&WT. Maybe the returns percentage was either too high or fluctuated too much.
At the same time of telling newsagents that the sale or return approach was out the window, they increased the freight charge. This is interesting in that newspaper companies have a track record of not allowing newsagents to pass on all freight and other operational cost increases on in their newspaper home delivery businesses. Here is the text of their notice to newsagents:
The Herald & Weekly Times has reviewed the distribution of the Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun into the Queensland market.
The review considered the economics of distributing our newspapers to your state particularly in light of the increased airfreight charges out of Melbourne over recent years.
The review revealed that unless we are able to find a way to recoup the increased costs we will be forced to withdraw the Herald Sun from your market. To avoid the latter option we have made two decisions;
- As a first step the freight component of the cover price was increased effective from January 2nd, 2012.
- As a second step your newsagency will be supplied with the Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun on a “no returns” basis i.e. no credit can be claimed for unsold copies. This will be effective from May 1, 2012.
Under this new arrangement you will still be selling the Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun under your existing agency agreement with Queensland Newspapers, however whether you wish to stock these newspapers in your newsagency post April 2nd under the terms outlined in this letter is entirely your decision. You can of course adjust your supply quantities through Queensland Newspapers via Connect, phone or fax.
I would like to thank your newsagency for your support over the past years and hope that you continue to sell our newspapers in your newsagency. If you have any questions about any of the above please do not hesitate to contact the circulation department at Queensland Newspapers.
I was surprised to read that Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten called the President of Toyota Australia after he complained about sick days following the Australia Day public holiday?
Plenty of Australian business owners, including small business owners, have complained about the sickies epidemic previously.
Bill Shorten calling the boss of Toyota is typical of a politician out of touch with his constituency. Both sides of politics pander to foreign companies and the big end of town. It sucks.
Small business is more important economically to Australia yet we don’t get called. Politicians of both sides d’n;t ask for our opinion. It’s seems all too hard to them, they’d rather make on call and get a bit of publicity for that.
A smart Bill Shorten would call Australian small business owners and find out what they think about the industrial relations system. My number is 0418 321 338.
I did not like Workchoices and I am not a fan of what replaced it. If we want a competitive and fit economy we, all of us, need changes.
Check out the latest online publisher deal – a offer at Spreets for New Scientist. They are seeing a subscription at 60% off the retail price. Indeed, price is the key to their pitch. If they loved their product enough and trusted their product enough they would not have to make this about price.
Publishers send us their titles not only to sell but to also promote so they have a recognised brand to sell elsewhere. The more they make us out to be expensive the more people will access their products online. This will lead to a reduction in magazine retail space.
I think that deals like this Spreets offer for New Scientist are false economy.
I’d prefer the publisher of New Scientist to engage with newsagents to try and drive over the counter sales. We’ll ask for margin. They will say they can’t afford it. They will then offer 60% off for a subscription which I reckon would cost more to fulfil.
This is most frustrating. yes I understand that subscriptions play a role. But 60% off? And indirectly whacking retailers to boot? Publishers print the retail price on their covers. Am I alone in seeing the irony here?
I like the look of the latest issue of Donna Hay magazine and would like to support it with a high-profile display. Unfortunately the publisher has not sent us any collateral. This is frustrating. The easy answer is call and get some more. With some publishers that is more challenging than others. So, we’re making our own to provide at least some in-store support for the title.
What I like about the cover is the visual cut through, the clear colours make it stand out. As someone with no design skills I’d not that using fewer colours on a cover helps it get seen more easily in the magazine department.
I’m in Perth at the Virgin Australia lounge and they have a couple of stacks of the latest issue of The Monthly here for the taking. Okay I get it that they want to attract new readers and therefore don’t begrudge them offering it for free here. What irks me is that here in Perth they are giving away the latest issue while newsagencies back east are yet to receive this issue.
Publishers should give retailers like newsagents priority. We sell their product after all. No excuses!
Shoppers yesterday at Bunnings in NSW were offered a free Daily Telegraph newspaper. While I cannot be sure, based on the nature of the promotion and the photo I was sent I’d expect it was run widely in the state.
Every time someone sees the Daily Telegraph available for free it dilutes the value of the product and educates them to expect to not have to pay for the newspaper in the future.
While giving away newspapers usually paid for may make sense to the short and long term business goals of News Limited, free newspapers are nothing but trouble for newsagents. They harm a product which still is core to our identity.
Why News Limited? What’s the plan? While I think I know, it would be good for the company to share with newsagents their plan so that newsagents can plan themselves.
While even the paid for Daily Telegraph is only a dollar and has been for 14 years or more, is is still something people pay to access. Every time it is available free is a step closer to a purely free model.
News will have the excuse that this is a campaign paid for by Bunnings. While that may be so, there appear to be more free campaigns paid for by one party or another: gyms, sporting events, the races, music events and retailer situations.
If it were me I’d respect my product more.
The latest issue of Dolly magazine is not looking its best on the shelves. The stock and weight of the free quiz magazine glued to the back of Dolly is not holding well and so drags back, making the stock look a bit ratty. This is a pity because the offer is good – the magazine, the quiz magazine and the free pen for doing the quiz.
The problem is that the quiz magazine is glued up so that it stands above the magazine. The paper stock is not thick enough to hold the weight of the quiz magazine in stock. After a day on the shelves, unless the pockets are jam-packed, you end up with the ratty look in the photo.
I doubt it will affect sales. At least I hope it doesn’t.
Newsagents last week received stock of these Hana deka Club roller stamp pens from magazine distributor Gordon and Gotch. Why a magazine distributor would send us these roller stamp pens is beyond me. I can get this product from a range of suppliers and on commercially votable terms.
On the same day Gotch sent newsagents a counter unit of My Little Pony Self Inking Stampers.
This is an abuse of the newsagency channel. It relies on newsagents not having the guts to act. It also relies of us having to fund returning such product – not each given the packaging.
The only place most newsagents could viably put these products is at the counter. Would you do this – with such a generic product which does nothing for your image – for 25% margin? 50% maybe.
I have told my teams to be on the lookout for junk like this and to return it immediately. If it gets damaged through the returns process so be it. It’s not my problem. No magazine distributor should be sending us this junk.
This product impact how newsagents feel about all products distributed by Gordon and Gotch.
And Australian publishers wonder why newsagents early return stock.
We had to order stock of The Phantom issue #1619, for put away and regular sales requirements. Gotch sent us issues #1620. You may recall my blog post last year about issue #1620. Our team contacted Gotch. All they told us was that issue #1619 is out of stock. Thanks Gotch.
I hat upsetting put away customers. They are vitally important to our businesses. A situation like this where Gordon and Gotch has not met basic supply requirements frustrates us and angers our customers.
I am confident that Gotch could have fixed this problem if they had wanted to.
An email has been circulated in NSW this week with a document attached which I wrote to help newsagents to trade through tough times. The email was encouraging newsagents to attend a meeting organised by NANA to look at some issues they are concerned about.
I am not involved in this or any related meeting. I don’t endorse the meeting or any of the topics being discussed.
I was not consulted before my document was sent out. The version of my document appears to have been reformatted from the original.
My document should not have been sent without explanation from me as to its intent. It is part of a package of information I have prepared to assist newsagents to improve their businesses. I didn’t write it with any political agenda in mind or for any political purpose in our channel.
I’ll help any newsagent doing it tough. But they have to want to help themselves. This starts with being accountable for your position and continues with focussing on driving business efficiency and decision quality and evolving the business to serve today’s needs and not yesterday’s history.
It would be a mistake to think that others need to fix out situation. If we are doing it tough we have to fix it ourselves. We have to be selfish about our businesses. We have to run our businesses for profit today and not in the hope of what someone might be encouraged to pay tomorrow.
Why am I writing about this here? I have received calls from NSW newsagents asking about my involvement in the meetings. ass I noted, I am not involved, I was not consulted.
It frustrates me when a magazine uses a card insert to grab space from another magazine title – as is happening with the imported Weight Watchers Just Say Yum title. They are using my space to sell membership to their weight loss program. When I noticed this on the shelves I took out the blue card (after taking the photo).
I don’t mind the stick-out cards for a higher profile title which is waterfall displays – like Good Health – as they are only blocking their own cover.
Magazine publishers need to respect that they share space with other magazines and that this is space we newsagents own. Stealing space from another title is disrespectful, especially if you are using it to sell something from which we do not benefit.
Italian newspaper Il Globo has cut from five editions a week to two. While disappointing for some readers, it is more disappointing that they did not advise newsagents until today of the change to take effect today. Here is their notice:
ATTENTION NEWSAGENCIES
URGENT NOTICE
Starting Monday 9th January 2012
‘IL GLOBO’ WILL PUBLISH
ONLY 2 EDITIONS PER WEEK
MONDAY + THURSDAYThe Management of IL GLOBO has decided to reduce the number of editions printed each week from five to two, that is Mondays and Thursdays.
We are in the process of calculating the new expiry dates for subscribers and will advise as soon as possible.
In the meantime, if a client has a subscription for MONDAY only, you need do nothing at all.
If a client has only a TUESDAY subscription, please move it to THURSDAY as this has the RAI and TV Guides.
For clients who have subscriptions for 3, 4 or 5 days per week, please change to Mondays and Thursdays and we will advise of the new extended expiry date.
Thank you for your collaboration and should you need further particulars please call Anna or Walter on (03) 9481 0666.
Hmm, what collaboration? A collaborative approach would have been to discuss the change with newsagents in advance.
There is a broader question about foreign language newspapers. For many, these have been important to newsagents in recent years with sales increasing while local English dailies struggle.
I am early returning the MAD SUPA DUPA MEGA PACK because the copies I have left are, in my view, unmerchantable. While there is a nice cover sheet, the titles in each pack has old price stickers from other newsagencies. This is not good enough. Publishers who want to send products for a second go around by repackaging them ought to at least tidy the product so as to make it more presentable. Having a price label from another newsagency visible on product in my store is not something I am happy with.
Each time we promote Zoo or Maxim in a high traffic location we get several complaints from shoppers saying they are offended by the raunchiness of the covers. Yet when we promoted these coasters and associated tea towels, oven mitts and fridge magnets in a high traffic location recently we did not receive a single complaint.
Humour can overcome prejudices and boundaries about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable … as our experience with the coasters shows. We had these on a column facing shoppers as they entered as well as on one of our gift tables through Christmas. No complaints. In fact, plenty of laughs – especially from older customers.
The coasters are part of a range of retro themed items which sold very well for us through Christmas.
Just a few minutes ago, out the front of my newsXpress Watergardens newsagency, an ACP Magazines magshop representative was calling out at the top of their lungs:
Last minute Christmas gift ideas, Magshop, we are here to help
This was easily heard by shoppers in my newsagency and those in the mall in front of my newsagency. The ACP Magshop representative is promoting the ACP Magshop outpost in the centre, like the ACP Magshop outpost Knox City.
Thanks ACP. Merry Christmas.
As out store manager said who called to let me know – after all the support we provide for magazines, all the work we do, they come to us to steal our customers.
The team at the newsagency has every right to be upset and despondent about this.
I cherish supplier relationships which are mutually respectful. Actions speak louder than words.
Newsagents in shopping centres need to fully embrace the centre hours and opportunities. I mention this because I’ve heard from a couple of people this week who have visited shopping centres for late night Christmas trading and have found the newsagency in each centre closed. This was early in the evening.
A dark newsagency in a busy centre with all other retailers around open sends a bad message not just about the business but the channel more widely.
I can understanding closing an hour early if the shop and centre are completely dead, but three or four hours early is not good.
I appreciate that there is a cost with being open such long hours. But we know this when we go into chopping centres.
One of the most common requests for help I get from newsagents at the moment relates to sourcing additional magazine stock. By the time I get the query they have already tried ordering through the distributor website and or calling their call centre. Newsagents are losing sales by not being able to get extra stock. This means that some in our channel are not being properly resourced with access to backup inventory with which to achieve their full potential for some titles.
Some go and purchase stock from supermarkets. While this hurst sales data it protects them from losing customers. I can understand newsagents taking this action.
Further to my post this morning about ACP opening a magazine subscriptions outpost near one of my newsagencies, I have just found out that they have also set up an outport at Watergardens Town Centre in Victoria where I have another newsagency. In this situation, however, the ACP outpost is located a few feet from the front of the nextra newsagency in the centre. Talk about in your face.
UPDATE: We had two representatives of the ACP Magazines Magshop outpost in front of our newsagency today offering subscriptions to customers walking past and customers leaving our newsagency.
The response from ACP was that they didn’t know about this and agreed it could not happen.
The ACP Magazines owned Magshop operation has setup an outpost in the shopping mall in which I have one of my newsagencies.
The very professional looking outpost has been in place for several days now leveraging Christmas shopper traffic to drive subscription customers for ACP titles. If you sign up you get a free Women’s Weekly cookbook valued at $29.95 and an entry in a competition to win one of ten Hawaiian holidays valued at $12,000 each.
While I understand and support the role subscriptions play in the overall circulation model for magazine publishers, I do not understand why a publisher would so directly and aggressively pursue customers in my backyard.
This outpost is leveraging shoppers which I help to bring to this centre through considerable external marketing as well as through thousands of dollars paid to the landlord for centre marketing. These shoppers which I and my fellow tenants attract to the centre are being offered a service which is fulfilled outside of the retail channel, outside of our centre. This type of outpost which does not add value to the businesses in and facilitate the overall health of the shopping centre should not be permitted in my view.
One could argue that if successful, this outpost could reduce traffic to our newsagency and thereby financially harm our business in this centre. Unfortunately, I will not have access to the data which would be needed to thoroughly research this.
ACP could argue that subscriptions are often purchased as gifts and that their outpost will therefore have little impact on my newsagency. I don’t have that data and so cannot comment. All I can go off is the fact that this outpost is a short stroll from my front door, it’s competing with me and turning some of my magazine readers away from getting their fix at my newsagency.
As for the decision by ACP to so directly and aggressively compete with me in this way, all I can say is that I am disappointed. We work hard on magazines as anyone reading this blog would know. Our hard work is paying off with good sales growth … considerably above industry average sales growth. Comparing December 2011 with December 2012 our magazine sales are up more than 30%. Some of that growth is being achieved for ACP titles.
Irrational as it may sound, it feels as if ACP is rewarding our success in growing magazine sales by trying to convert some of our shoppers, or their interest in magazines at least, into subscription sales.
Other aspects of this outpost frustrate me – like the amazing subscription deals, the free gift and the Hawaiian holidays. I’d love to see a similar amount invested in the newsagency channel in a practical consumer promotion. To me, the ideal investment would be a margin bonus for growth.
ACP representatives regularly tell newsagents how important they (we) are to ACP and how much they support the newsagency channel. Today I am not feeling that.
I am disappointed that the XchangeIT help desk will be closed next week. This speaks to their care for newsagents and their seriousness about providing good customer service. For newsagents, next week is a regular week with magazine deliveries, challenges over getting invoice files and questions on sending sales and returns data back. With the XchangeIT help desk closed the newsagency software companies will, again, provide cover.
Here is the poster for the Courier Mail newspaper today. No wonder newsagents are not keen to put this out – where’s the news. Publishers used to demand posters out as they sell the news of the day. Not any more apparently.
I’d refuse to put this poster out. It’s not news and none is paying me to be part of a Coles driven advertising campaign.
The EDI file for Phantom Christmas 1620 had a price of $3.00. The $A price printed next to the barcode on the cover shows a $A price of $5.50. A call to Gotch has revealed that they have realised the mistake, credited us for the wrong low price and invoiced us for the higher right price. Gotch did this without telling us. In the meantime we have sold copies at the low price. Now we have to chase being compensated for this mistake by gotch.
The lack of communication to newsagents on this is frustrating.
Newsagents should check their Phantom stock and contact Gotch to ensure they are not out of pocket.
UPDATE (12:56PM) : Gotch has advised that they will look into compensating us for the sales we have made at the lower price.
I hope the Mark Arbib, the new minister for Small Business in Australia, is good for small business. he follows a procession of Small Business ministers who have failed to serve small business. Arbib’s small amount of small business experience apparently includes a job at Sizzler where he organised employees to fight for penalty rates.
I hope that Arbib does good things for small business. With Coles and Woolworths getting bigger, landlords pushing more costs onto small retailers and employee costs rising, something has to give is Australia is to have a growing small business sector.
You only have to look at who sits on government advisory boards and who is invited to important occasions, celebrations and conferences to see that this government is like the last and cow-tows to big business.
Mark Arbib has an opportunity to do genuinely good things for small business, to make a real difference. We will know soon enough if he has the will and permission to do this.
There have been enough studies and reports in recent years on matters relating to and affecting small business for him to have a reasonable list from which he can pull together an agenda … if he chooses.
Here’s what I’d like to see Arbib prosecute on behalf of small business:
I am sure there is more. Not that it matters as past Small Business ministers have shown. Hopefully this guy is different.
Finally, we get the Melbourne Observer in stock last week. It has taken two years. The distribution newsagent refused to supply, saying it would affect sales in their shop. Finally, they have relented.
I can understand the distribution newsagent wanting to protect their shop. However, as a distributor they should want the widest availability possible. This is where distribution and retail do not sit well together in some situations.
We should not have had to wait two years. All this and other refusal to supply decisions have done is make us more competitive. Co-operation might have been a smarter commercial move.