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Ugh!

How we handled running out of The Age

We ran out of The Age (again!) before lunch on Saturday. Our supplying newsagent, also a retailer in the shopping centre, refused us extra stock so we purchased most of what they had left, at retail. They were itching for a fight but our team member making the purchase stood their ground.

Given either their inability to ensure they can meet demand or a failure of Fairfax to ensure reasonable supply to the area, we will continue to do this – buy stock from our supplying newsagent leaving them with nothing if necessary. Eventually the message will get through.

We refuse to be without newspapers at lunchtime on a busy Saturday.

Our preparedness to take this action shows that we see newspapers as playing an important role, still, in today’s retail newsagency publisher disinterest notwithstanding.

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Newsagent suppliers

IT failure at Newsagent owned Ancol stationery business lets newsagents down

The computer system running the Ancol business in South Australia has been inoperative this week. The newsagent who shares the information explained the impact:

Orders are being manually picked and are taking and extra couple of days to come thru, and then there are no electronic invoices.

My understanding is that communication from Ancol has been poor, leaving newsagents to chase information, spending more time away from running their own businesses.

The issue is, apparently to do with a server.  Professional IT infrastructure managements that a systems such as this has built-in redundancy, better serving customers in times of failure of almost any size.

For Ancol’s customers to be without their usually good computer services this week is dreadful for them and a blight on the leadership of Ancol.

I hope that newsagents in South Australia make their voices heard to those leading the co-operative.

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Newsagency management

Newsagents abused by Gordon and Gotch

Magazine publishers who wonder why newsagents early return their titles should read this.  Some newsagents received these toys from Gordon and Gotch on Monday.

Yeah, a magazine distributor has sent newsagents these Shoulder Buddies for sale at 25% GP. Newsagents get 50% and more GP on toys so why would they offer these for less?  There is no obvious or promoted magazine link.

So close to Christmas with shops already brimming with stock – who at Gotch approved this? Who has treated newsagents this way?  The Gotch leadership owes newsagents an explanation.

This is an appalling abuse of the newsagency channel by Gordon and Gotch. Gotch should not distribute toys. Newsagents have many toy suppliers at their disposal and the ability to achieve 50% (and more) GP.

No wonder 50% of newsagents are reducing magazine space in-store. Most feel that this is the only way they can control supply.

I would not be surprised if some newsagents struck out at Gotch and early returned magazines in punishment against Gotch. Yes, I understand such  move could be crazy … but think about how abused some newsagents will feel.

Footnote: I did  not receive this product in any of my stores.

12 likes
Ethics

Gerry Harvey should shut up, he does not speak for retailers

Gerry Harvey was in the news again yesterday talking down retail in that shrill style that is so him.

Gerry Harvey believes his Harvey Norman chain will be “the last man standing” as other retailers go bust due to tough trading conditions.

The chairman of the electrical, bedding and furniture retailer has predicted a wave of retailers will close in the early months of 2013 as businesses go under.

Retailers offering a consumers a value proposition are doing well and will do well. I am tired of gerry getting media covering for his doom and gloom. He does not speak for me.

Our sales are up wonderfully year on year. We also are attracting new shoppers with new lines. We are not having to use price as a selling feature – unlike Harvey Norman stores. Indeed, our average margin is up inn2012 over 2011.

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retail

Newsagents shift 800 magazine sales to supermarkets

I was talking with a magazine publisher recently about early returns and they shared this story.

1,000 copies of a mid-tier magazine were returned by newsagents the day they arrived in-store. Most were returned by newsagents who would usually sell out or at least come very close to selling out. In almost every case the newsagents left themselves with less stock than their most recent average sales.

On seeing the 1,000 early returns, the publisher decided to reallocate the stock to supermarkets. 800 copies of the 1,000 copies sold.

The newsagents who early returned their stock helped 800 shoppers buy the title in supermarkets. This could have these shoppers looking for the title in that channel in the future. The newsagent action also encouraged the publisher to pay more attention to supermarkets.

There are consequences for early returns beyond getting your magazine bill down, consequences for all of the channel.

I don’t want newsagents to lose magazine sales we should not lose. Our future depends on the extraordinary traffic magazines generate for us. We need to ‘protect’ this traffic by not losing a single certain magazine sale.

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magazines

Rupert Murdoch labels Australian newspaper delivery “not a good system”

Check out the Twitter conversation between Rupert Murdoch and others today including a comment about News changes to newspaper delivery.

Rupert Murdoch appears to agree that delivering The Australian on the front garden is not acceptable and that changing this is in their plans.

I am not aware of anything in T2020 which addresses exactly where the newspaper is delivered.

I wish Rupert Murdoch had embraced the opportunity to support newsagents and show that words from News Limited about partnership with newsagents are more than just words.

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Newspapers

Oversupply of Grazia

We usually sell two or three copies of Grazia from ACP Magazines. We actively support each issue of Grazia with co-location in high traffic locations without success. Somehow, ACP or their allocations system has decided we need to go to eleven copies. I can’t see anything in this issue of Grazia or in our sales history to justify the supply increase.

While it may be put down as an error by the publisher, the reality is it’s an error the newsagent has to endure and it happens all too often.

This is the type of oversupply newsagents complain about. It is the type of oversupply that causes newsagents to strike out when early returning titles out of anger.

Magazine distributors demand and bully newsagents to pay their accounts on time. They hold us responsible. Yet they do not give us reasonable levers with which to control our level of indebtedness. This is unfair. It has been unfair for decades.

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magazine distribution

QLD Newsagents miss out on a Melbourne Cup newspaper deal from News

News Queensland has written to QLD newsagents encouraging them to promote a Melbourne Cup deal to local pubs, clubs, restaurants, hotels, RSL’s, Surf Clubs, Golf Clubs or Bowls Clubs in their area. While distribution newsagents will benefit from the promoted deal, retail newsagents miss out. Many retail newsagents will run Melbourne Cup related promotions yet they are not offered an incentive to make a Sunday Mail or Courier Mail offer as par of this.

News Limited continues to ignore and disrespect retail only newsagents. these businesses can play an important role for newspapers if only publishers worked harder at developing relationships with us.

here is what News sent to newsagents along with a flyer:

Are you interested in picking up some extra sales for Melbourne Cup?

I have attached a form that you can use to approach any local pubs, clubs, restaurants, hotels, RSL’s, Surf Clubs, Golf Clubs or Bowls Clubs in your area who may be interested in receiving either the Sunday Mail or Courier-Mail  from Sunday 4th to Tuesday 6th at 50% off.

How does it work?

a)      Approach business and sell in offer (minimum 30 papers per day)
b)      Fill in paperwork then fax to QN on 3666 8643
c)       QN add these supplies to your stock for you to deliver on the required day
d)      You invoice the venue at 50% off RRP
e)      QN will credit your account.  You will earn sub agent commission on each paper sold.  There will be no returns.

I understand why they are promoting through this season to these businesses. It’s their loss that they don’t have a plan for retail newsagents too.

5 likes
Newspapers

Blackhawk gift cards application freeze

Due to Christmas workload, Blackhawk, the people behind giftcards sold in newsagencies for many Australian retailers, has advised that they will not process any new sale applications between: 28th October 2012 and the week commencing 14th January 2013.

While I think this is nuts and very old school, Blackhawk is the biggest branded giftcard supplier in the world – what they say goes.

0 likes
Ugh!

Food Network Magazine subscription cost offends newsagents

We sell the Food Network Magazine in our newsagencies of $12.50 an issue. This is the price set by the importer and or distributor. Australians can subscribe direct from the publisher for three years for $100 – or $2.77 an issue.

Here’s my question: if publishers can land copies in Australian letterboxes at $2.77 and make it work financially then why is the newsagent wholesale price $9.37? The subscription figure I have quoted has not even been converted to Australian dollars.

It seems to me that I’d make more money subscribing for the two copies I get and take the risk in terms of being able to sell.

This is a screwed up situation.

13 likes
Magazine subscriptions

Publisher of The Boat Mag attacks newsagents … again

Check out the whack against newsagents and magazine distributors from the publisher of The Boat magazine. The same publisher whacked newsagents back in 2007. In this latest editorial, online now, the publisher complains about an increase in costs and charges from their magazine distributors and then says: Unshackled by the ailing newsagency system, the online TBM is much bigger…

Their complaint is with magazine distributors and not newsagents.

The magazine distribution system is not the newsagency system.

This publisher should thank newsagents for their support over the years rather than making a cheap shot as they leave us.

Click on the image to see what has been published. You can click on their website here.

6 likes
magazine distribution

A newsagent has never heard of Quarterly Essay?

Ever since the David Marr report about Tony Abbott in the latest issue of Quarterly Essay made the news this week we have had the title in prominent display with newspapers. We will sell out of the initial allocation and have ordered more stock.

We made a sale today to a customer who had come to us after another newsagent had told her they had not heard of the title. While I am thrilled we won the business, I am disappointed to be connected to someone who did not even take the time to provide even basic customer service.

This story represents the weakness of our shingle, that our business is tied to another providing such poor customer service. Businesses with the shingle are only as good as the worst operator. We let ourselves down yet we ignore this and complain about our suppliers as the cause.

8 likes
Newsagency management

UK publisher Eaglemoss abuses newsagents with Chess partwork

The DC Chess Collection partwork from UK publisher Eaglemoss is being sold incomplete through our channel.  It turns out that customers who want to complete the collection with the chess board can only do this by subscribing direct.

This is appalling, an abuse of our channel.

The requirement that you can only get the chess board by subscribing through Eaglemoss is disrespectful of newsagents who so strongly support partworks.

That we have a magazine distributor that could allow newsagents to be abused in this way is disappointing.

Unless Eaglemoss recants, this is one partwork I will no longer support.

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magazine distribution

Target selling the Dora partwork

Check out the photo sent to me over the weekend by a newsagent showing the new Dora partwork on display in their local target store.

Shame on whoever allowed this to happen. Newsagents have been the go-to retailers for partworks in Australia. We have served the category well with prime placement, strong VM support and after sales service unlike any other retailer could deliver.

Those involved owe newsagents an explanation.  If they care.

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Newsagency challenges

Ignorant commentary on newsagents at Inside Retail

Stuart Bennie has penned an ignorantly incomplete article at Inside Retail about newsagency businesses.

Rather than write about newsagents who have reinvented their businesses and others who are reinventing their businesses, Bennie paints a picture of an old-style newsagency business, the kind that time forgot.  Yes, these businesses will die.  The thing is, many newsagents have moved on from this death wish model.

Bennie is not the first, nor will he be the last, to tell us that the sky is falling. It’s old news, news that many newsagents have responded to. I suspect articles like this are written reflecting research of some newsagents who have not seen or embraced change.

Bennie’s article misses other points:

  • Many of us are growing magazine sales by focussing on special interest titles.  And, we are exerting control over supply in a way bennie says we cannot.
  • Our margin on phone cards is usually 40% or more and not cents like he suggests.
  • Gift sales are skyrocketing, some newsagents are doing $300K a year and more – okay not everyone BUT those working on gifts are growing.
  • Card sales, excellent margin, are growing to almost double-digit levels in many newsagencies.
  • Toy sales are coming back to us. Some are at $60K and more
  • Lottery products are financially rewarding if managed well.

There are many steps newsagents can take to build stronger and more valuable businesses. Many of these have been documented at this blog over the years. They all come down to us, each newsagent, being accountable for our situation and running our businesses with authority and in pursuit of profit.

It does not help when commentators go off half-cocked and tell us the sky is falling. Yes, it’s tough but there is good news there for those who look.

24 likes
Newsagency management

Surprise discount for magazine launch

ACP has send out subscription offers for Women’s Fitness magazine in advance of the launch of the title early next month.

I can’t recall a subscription discount of this quantum in advance of the launch of a title. I’d prefer to win regular shoppers in retail before chasing the subscription deals for a new magazine title but that’s me.

The flyer (click on the image for more detail) was sent by ACP to subscribers of at least one other title recently.

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magazines

Sunday rant: K-Mart fails at retail and falls back on price

K-Mart sucks as a retailer in my view. They are not alone, Big-W, Target and a couple of others are as bad. They can’t, don’t and won’t compete on service (despite sometimes advertising they do), the most important differentiator in retail, so they fall back and play on price. They use loss-leaders to pull in shoppers, hoping they purchase other items.

People buying on price are not loyal. If you are cheap today they will shop with you today.  If someone else is cheaper tomorrow they will shop with them tomorrow. Discount shoppers are of little genuine value to retailers. They are expensive to attract and easy to lose.

Value is what brings people back.  Value from information and customer service … an experience of personal value to the shopper.

Customers who shop with you because of the experience or because you have prodeucts others don’t have are more likely to shop with you again. They are more valuable if you price your goods well.

K-Mark is in my sights today because they are using price to disrupt a great Father’s Day opportunity. They have the 400g Toblerone King Dad Father’s Day gift at $5.  Even allowing for a bulk purchase this is still a loss leader for them, a traffic generator.  The people behind the product would have to be frustrated as the $5 price point devalues the wonderful product.  Brand managers should realise this.  Toblerone is a premium product people pay a premium price for because it’s worth it. K-Mart has turned it into any other chocolate bar.

We are sticking with our price plan as attract different shoppers to those you get in a K-Mart store.  Also, our merchandising makes the product the hero. In K-Mart it’s a half-assed display, almost disrespectful. Shoppers in our store receive service unlike at K-Mart.

What I would love is suppliers to stand up to the disrespectful price tactics of the Coles and Woolworths groups. They damage respected brands and educate shoppers to not pay a fair price for good products.

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Newsagency management

Frustrated with All Day Distribution

I can’t get the foreign language newspapers I want in one of my newsagencies. The distribution newsagent refuses to supply me saying it will hurt his retail shop. Who cares? I don’t care that’s for sure. If the newsagent wants to be a distributor he should distribute and not hoard. Some shoppers don’t like going to the shop run by the distributor.  Every day we are asked for Chinese newspapers and every day we have to say sorry.

All Day Distribution is a problem here as they continue to reject our request for a direct account.

I don’t like turning away customers.

It’s got to a point where I think we will have to take the matter further about a newspaper distribution system that hinders consumer access to products.

19 likes
Newspapers

Melbourne airport rips travellers off

Please excuse an off topic rant.

I am sick of being ripped off by Melbourne Airport. If you park there for less than a day you pay for the hours you’re there.  If you are there more than a day you pay by the day.  So if you park for 25 hours you pay for two days. Crazy.

The only way they can get away with this is their monopoly position. I can’t think of other businesses with a rip-off pricing model like theirs.

The airport was built by and run by the government for decades. Since privatisation, the fees have steadily increased yet the amenity has not changed.  Indeed, it is now harder than ever to drive into the airport. So we are receiving poorer service and paying much more for it.

What is happening at Melbourne Airport is not only about travellers being ripped off with excessive fees. It’s also about the impact on productivity. Thanks to poor traffic management and poor management overall we travellers have to allow more time before a flight to get to the gate.  This costs us time and time costs money.

Governments are happy to sell public assets for the cash. The suffering public all too often pay long after the transaction is completed.  I preferred Tullamarine under government ownership.

There, I feel better now.

14 likes
Social responsibility

Disrespectful shopping centre tenants

Access to the magazine storage units we have in one of our shopping centre locations is regularly blocked by pallets and other ietms stored in front of them by the fruit and vegetable outlet in the centre – as shown in the photo.

despite complaints to the fruit people and landlord, the problem continues.

Their blocking of access to our space causes grief with getting merchantable magazines as the delivery driver is not left with many options.

Tenants in shopping centres need to respect each other. We’re certainly not feeling the love from the fruit shop in this shopping centre.

7 likes
Ugh!

Disappointing response on Herald Sun price rise

It’s disappointing to see people complaining on social media about the increase in the cover price of the Herald Sun from $1.10 to $1.20. The cover price has gone up by 20% over something like 13 years. The minimum wage has gone up by way more than that in the same period.  One guy with his own business complained about the ten cent rise this week and said it was different when he put his hourly rate up by more.

9 likes
Ugh!

Feeling for newsagents in London during the Olympics

Check out the report of a London newsagent who has been told to remove Olympic themed bunting. The Olympics is not about sport. It’s a massive business taking care of rich corporate mates and rewarding athletes who can suck up to the right people to get the money they need to compete on the very expensive (and irrelevant) world stage.

Yeah, I am not a fan … for the reasons outlined in the story of the attack on the local London newsagent who wants to help his community get into the Olympic spirit.

10 likes
Ugh!

Is Network Services considering launching a new partwork series in Coles and newsagents?

I’m told that the ACP Magazines subsidiary Network Services is considering launching Cake Decorating, a new partwork title, through Coles and newsagents.

This would break the exclusivity newsagents have had over partworks titles. It would mean the TVC promotes one national brand – Coles – and newsagents.

If my information is right and Network Services does launch Cake Decorating from UK Publisher DiAGOSTINI through newsagents and Coles it would damage the newsagency channel. It would reinforce Coles as a go to retailer for magazines even though Coles would probably not offer the full service put away service offered by newsagents.

Magazine publishers using Network Services and magazine publishers more widely should be concerned by the possible impact of this move.

The only reason I could see Coles wanting to do this would be for the traffic boost from the TVC promotion issue 1. The publisher and their Australian representatives would want the back end subscription business.

Network may say that they have been forced into the move because fewer newsagents are engaging with artworks. I’d want to see evidence of this. Too often suppliers make claims about newsagents and then baulk at proving their claims.

If I am wrong and Cake Decorating will be exclusive to newsagents then I will be thrilled and apologise for shouting off here. If I am write and it will also launch in Coles – shame on you Network and ACP  – your support for the channel you say is important to you is noted.

14 likes
magazine distribution
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