Via the New York Times comes this story about the closure of a newsstand in Seattle in submission “to the anonymous forces of the Internet and soul-less chain stores”.

Inkfast, our online ink and toner business, is now fifteen months old and consistently generates more sales than we achieve through the entire stationery department of our retail business. For the last two months we have operated profitably without Google or Yahoo paid advertising campaigns – demonstrating that we have, in the fifteen months, created a sustainable ink and toner business. The benefits for our retail business are: better buying – thanks to Inkfast volume; better time management – it is easier to schedule order fulfillment from an online business than retail sales; spreading the risk – by moving from a pure retail play in stationery to an online/retail mix we are growing the overall category thanks to our new online customers.

While not all newsagents can move online as easy as us – since I also own a software company – they can play through the likes of online auction and classified sites. Given the growth of online sales – reports says it has doubled in the last six months – retailers not online are missing out.

Missing parcels of newspapers and magazines is expensive. Here’s how they fix it in Vienna – lockable boxes which drivers and store owners have access to by way of a key. Some are title specific and others for general use. The Kronen Zeitung (large daily newspaper) box was supplied by the publisher. These two are not the biggest I saw it the city. I’m told it addressed the theft of parcels delivered overnight.

I was talking with the owner of another newspaper / magazine shop here in Vienna today and I uncovered more of their story. First up, they’re on a lower commission. He wouldn’t say but did say he would be very very happy with 25%. I am guessing they are on 15%, maybe a little more. He saw lower commission as a price to pay for better control over the stock he gets. His biggest problem is not getting enough stock of top selling titles. Yeah, I understand that!

In more of the stores today I say the same horizontal layering of magazines with full-face display for only the very top sellers.

Talking with the owner of one store today about our lack of control over what we carry, he ordered Australian newsagents to “get organised, form a union, take control”. For us to do that we have to believe in ourselves, all of us. Getting 4,500 CEOs on the same page is the biggest challenge newsagents have faced and will always face. I can, however, see it happening with a smaller group.

I am surprised at the difference in London newspapers today compared to yesterday. Today they are normal compared to yesterday’s bloated and gimmick based products. The only exception is The Times – every copy comes with a book. At Starbucks it was a children’s book. At WH Smith it was a book about houses and working out their history.

It seems that the independent newsagents have all but given up. James News, shown in the photo, is the best I have seen out of 30 or 40 in the last two days in terms of branding. Most allow newspaper publishers to control the branding putting mastheads ahead of the store’s brand and or value proposition. At least James News shows their name. I am surprised that all these independents have not at least got together to trade under a common brand of some sort. Without the profile of a common brand they will continue to face.

On the outside independent newsagents look nondescript. Inside they many feel like a mausoleum. Shelves are barely stocked, ranges are poor. If they sell cards they are cheap. Most have 50 or 100 magazine titles. Snack foods and drinks dominate. I appreciate it’s different out of the City, but it’s still not a patch on what we have back in Australia.

We’re lucky to have newsagencies in Australia. They are unique. Consumers have access to a range or magazines and event stationery it’s hard to find elsewhere. Publishers and other suppliers have access to a traffic-rich and low cost to access retail network with reasonable compliance. We’re clearly doing something right in Australia to have the network we have. Let’s not kill it.

I’m helping a newsagent chase down a cash-flow problem and have identified porn magazines as part of the cause. Titles such as Club International, Exotic Asian Pack, Playboy, Men Only, Weird Sex Letters and Best of Readers Wives are cash-flow negative for as far back as I can see.

Blind freddy knows that the printed porn market is in rapid decline, everyone it would seem except the publishers and distributors who use the low/no cost newsagent network to promote their brands.

I’m not a prude, far from it – these titles have to go. The data shows that newsagents are oversupplied with porn titles. This same data is available to the magazine distributors. There is no justification for the quantity or range currently supplied to all but a few newsagencies.

The flip side of the cash-flow work for the newsagent I am working with the extraordinary contribution of the major titles: Woman’s Day, New Idea, Better Homes and Gardens, NW, Australian Women’s Weekly, Who, TV Week. This is where is makes his money on magazines yet it is the non top sellers which drain labour, real-estate and cash.