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Disappointed Collective magazine advertises subscriptions in our shopping centre

I’ve supported the launch of Australian mag renegade Collective in my newsagency as shown here, here and most recently here and so I was disappointed to see subscriptions being promoted at 45% off on the ad screens in the public areas in my shopping mall.

There was no call to action to get the title at retail,  no mention of my newsagency in this centre where the advertising was running.

I get that the ads are part of a national campaign to run, probably, in multiple locations on the digital ad network. I also get that subscriptions are part of any magazine supply mix. But don’t use traffic generated in part by the many thousands of dollars I pay centre management to bring traffic to my centre to sell products I sell direct to my customers.

I and many newsagents are helping launch this title with display space without cost. Some shoppers could recognise the title in these digital ads because of the free help we have provided.

Yeah, I’m not happy about this campaign.

13 likes
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  1. Claire Belbeck

    Thanks so much for your post and bringing this to our attention. We are running a subs deal via a app for shoppers and unfortunately there has been a mix up with artwork which is currently being rectified.

    The artwork that should appear on shopping centre screens is similar to our newsstand posters to alert customers that the magazine is now on sale. It was never our intention to promote subscriptions on these sites.

    The entire Collective team has been so thankful for the support we have received from newsagents to date and we can guarantee that we are and will continue to drive consumers into newsstand first and foremost.

    Thanks Mark,

    Claire (Collective team)

    2 likes

  2. Mark Fletcher

    Thanks for responding Claire and addressing this.

    1 likes

  3. Michael Caffery

    iF YOU BELEIVE THIS YOU STILL BELIEVE IN FAIRIES…WHEN WILL NEWSGENTS STOP BEING TAKEN FOR FOOLS?

    7 likes

  4. Jenny

    One would think artwork would be checked and signed off. Lucky for their team a newsagent saw it??? Come on guys, are we stupid! I totally agree with you Michael.

    7 likes

  5. Mark Fletcher

    Michael you can call me what you like. If I follow your thoughts in this and your other comments, I quit magazines altogether. There is nothing stopping you doing that.

    0 likes

  6. Amanda

    I’m dissapointed too. Had displayed at front of store in prime space, aswell as double allocation in both business and female because of this month’s cover.

    I have seen this happen all too often. Newsagents launch a title, giving it prime space, and putting it into the market place. Publisher bangs on how newsagents should support the title as it won’t be in supermarkets or servo’s. Heck they will even give you a free cardboard stand or offer an incentive where ONE newsagent will win a prize for best display.

    Publisher utilises the vast newsagency network to launch the product nationwide until it gets to a certain sales level.

    Publisher announces it will now pursue subscription sales, and product into supermarkets, servo’s and dept stores.

    I foolishly fell for this one….again!

    No point whinging unless you do something about it.

    I will now early return all stock.

    5 likes

  7. gary

    isn’t this the case with all partworks?

    flood the channel with cheap issue 1 and 2 then offer amazing incentives to subscribe and disadvantage both retailers and customers who buy from retail.

    2 likes

  8. Paul

    It’s increasingly the model for many general circulation magazines it appears too Gary.

    0 likes

  9. Gregg

    Lucky i didn’t recieve this title from G&G cause it would have been going back tonight. After last weeks complete stuff up from G&G I was not in a mood to cop any more of their rubbish. Last week we recieved no mags on Monday a payment issue i was told, WRONG bill was payed asked for mags by email to be delivered tuesday did not happen , no mags again Wed some one forgot to tell the carrier? I requested G&G DO NOT send me Mon or Wed mags, so what arrives on Friday, 3 days of #@$%^* mags and to top it off a phone call late Fri from G&G cust service wanting to sort out credits we are due.
    So this morning no MAGS AGAIN carrier tells me he got a stop on friday afternoon, ring G&G, sorry this should not have happened and they blame the carrier? SO WHERE ARE MY MAGS HAS ANYBODY PHONED ME BACK, NO. So i have just done what i told G&G i would do if this is not sorted asap, i have taken every single title from G&G boxed them and entered them on the system and returned them for pickup tonight.
    I feel so much better now and G&G can stick it where the sun don’t shine.

    6 likes

  10. Amanda

    Did you pay after the 20th Gregg?

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  11. shauns

    last week was not even the end of the month well not early in the week , who is your credit control person ,glad i don’t have that one

    0 likes

  12. Jenny

    Try calling IPS to pay account – can never get thru, do they actually have an accounts person taking calls? If I post credit card payment or pay online I have problems with payment coming off account.
    Gregg I paid GG last month by the 24th, used to pay 2 days before end of month but they put us on stop. Pisses me off but don’t have much choice. Whatever happened to paying a bill by the end of month.

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  13. Gregg

    Amanda bill payed Fri 24th @ 8.15am by direct deposit. My neighbouring newsagent payed his on Mon 27th yet still got his supply? I was ok if it was a issue of payment but for G&G then to stuff up again then send me supply i requested them not to send is not acceptable as far as i am concerned, i will not be their cash cow paying out money for stock i have not recieved and requested to be stopped. Then for it to happen again today and them to blame the carrier is plan ridiculous.

    2 likes

  14. shauns

    Gregg just curious , do you make payments during the month or leave it till the end . I make payments each week and finalise it by the second last day of the month and have never really had a problem . I get the usual emails and phone calls but what can you do ,money s not there it isn’t there simple as that . . The funniest thing i have ever heard from a credit person from gotch is to manage my stock better so that my bill is not higher than my sales . 6 years on and i am still trying hard to manage it

    1 likes

  15. Gregg

    shauns, payed one lump sum on 24th. Maybe we should do as you suggested but it would not have changed this situation.

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  16. Paul

    Good on you Gregg !

    Unfortunately I suspect it won’t make much of a dent on them. It’s a pity every single newsagent didn’t protest the way the current magazine system works by early returning every single magazine from one distributor before end of month for three months running. Would be interesting to see how it would affect both theirs and the publishers cash flow and whether something would be done about the mag distribution model then.

    I’m smiling just dreaming of it !

    2 likes

  17. Relle

    Like most of you I have had a gutful of Gotch. Paid our bill by 21st may but apparently the payment never made it to our account.

    Was put on stop, then taken off stop but no one seemed to have notified Toll am seriously thinking of reducing mag space by half. Over this one sided business model.

    1 likes

  18. Mark Fletcher

    Gregg it would be wrong to early return this title. Yes a mistake was made. However, unlike many publishers and the distributors, they have engaged with us here and are rectifying the situation. Judos to them.

    Treat Gotch badly for what Gotch does. Don’t treat this publisher badly for one mistake.

    Newsagents moan about distribution but they will not act. Most of you have easy to access legal forums through which to pursue the distributors but I bet you don’t do that.

    1 likes

  19. Chris

    Sorry Mark but your last comment is just ridiculous. We are in BUSINESS – we’re not here to waste time pursuing “easy to access legal forums” to maybe achieve some kind of result with Gotch/Network. Its crazy that we have to put up with these distributors’ behaviour but so be it. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna waste time chasing these clowns through the courts – I’ll just reduce my mag space, early return and focus on better GP products

    2 likes

  20. Mark Fletcher

    Chris, you can think what you like. The reality is that the magazine supply situation is governed by law as documented in the contracts we have all signed.

    Whether we like it or not, this is the situation.

    I have had many discussions with the ACCC, lawyers and others. It comes back to the contract every time. I don’t like it but it’s what is. This is why my last comment is not ‘ridiculous’.

    Yes you can reduce your magazine space. There is a risk with that.

    Newsagents have yet to embrace legal remedies open to them and until this is done I’s suggest getting out of magazines of cutting back below a viable number is not the best next step.

    0 likes

  21. Chris

    Mark, i’m not interested in embracing legal remedies that might be open to me – i didnt sign up for that and i dont have the time or interest to have discussions with ACCC, lawyers and others….listen to yourself, how many other business people that you know in other industries need to pursue this type of action? What the hell kind of industry is this if we have to spend time & $$$ doing this stuff? It’s just bewildering. Speak with other business owners in other business types and i bet they’re gobsmacked at the unbelievable issues we as newsagents have to endure as far as the “supply” side of our industry goes – all businesses have challenges on the income/customer side no doubt but we are really quite unique in our so-called relationships with our suppliers.

    2 likes

  22. Mark Fletcher

    Chris, when you signed your contract you signed up for a contract bound by law.

    yes the magazine distributors treat newsagents unfairly – so much so that they make us far less competitive. however, newsagents have never taken the action necessary to fix this.

    Sadly, as I have noted before, the result in today’s environment is that newsagents will quit the category and this till take the distributors elsewhere leaving newsagents committed to a reasonable mix of magazines – around 700 titles – far worse off.

    I suspect all it would take is 10% to 15% of newsagents to quit and the rest can be written off.

    I know of plenty of other channels where small businesses take big suppliers to court to address contract disputes.

    0 likes

  23. Jarryd Moore

    Addressing the issue through legal means in an ad-hoc, store-by-store manner is costly, difficult and time consuming.

    It should be addressed from a legal perspective, but it needs to be driven by a clear and concerted effort from either associations or buying/marketing groups.

    This would be a good opportunity for the national association to shed any interests in commercial pre-occupations and use a “legal action initiative” against suppliers as both a way to drive up membership and demonstrate that the industry can have confidence in their ability to represent them.

    3 likes

  24. Mark Fletcher

    The associations agreed on a process eighteen months ago. From what I can tell it was not progressed.

    It’s up to the parties to a contract. This is why the best next step is for newsagents with grounds to pursue a contract dispute to do so.

    0 likes

  25. gary

    Mark are you saying your contract with the publishers is different to ours?

    If not then what have your discussions with ACCC, lawyers have achieved?

    3 likes

  26. Gregg

    Mark I appreciate all the comments from all bloggers but just had enough of Gotch. They as from what I can see are a cancer in the industry and do not care about the fair distribution of magazines to Newsagencies that want to carry their titles. They carry on that they know best and have data showing sales/returns and what we should carry in numbers yet you still get under and oversupply, I would say they have no idea what is happening outside their own little bubble.
    Here is a prime example, Crochet we did not receive one copy, we have been doing putaways from the last issue and they would see this in their data and we where looking forward to the reissue backed up by the TV campaign. So we get zero and my neighbouring agent gets six and has told his customers he will not do putaways and has cancelled the series after issue one. He told me he has never done partworks as they are a pain in his view and can not see why he received them. Yet I have had around 15-20 people asking when we will get our supply.

    Anyway everybody chins up things can only get better and I look forward talking to G&G this morning after they said they would ring me back yesterday, which they failed to do, as expected.

    7 likes

  27. Amanda

    In regard to the comment, it’s up to the parties to the contract…..well NO magazine or newspaper supplier will vary their contract with an individual newsagent. They are general contracts across each state. It’s a take it or leave it approach from all newspaper publisher’s and magazine distributors. I have been down this road, and all it does is get you on the wrong side of that publisher or distributor.

    I’d have to agree totally with Jarryd Moore’s post. To challenge these companies on a store-by-store basis is crazy and costly. The newsagent WILL go broke long before a Gordon & Gotch or a Fairfax Media.

    The only avenue of challenging these companies is through state/national associations or marketing groups.

    As the ANF and associations are the one’s who have agreed to these contracts in the first place, they are obviously not the correct people to be doing such negotiations.

    In my opinion, each marketing group has to challenge the contracts, and negotiate new contracts on behalf of their members. This will then improve the numbers in each of those buying groups, and bring strength with numbers.

    4 likes

  28. Mark Fletcher

    Gary my contracts are the same as everyone else’s. The contract defines the relationship.

    My discussions with the ACCC have not achieved anything in part because very few newsagents have complained to the ACCC.

    Amanda, the associations looked at the contracts fourteen years ago. I don’t think they agreed them on behalf of newsagents. I don’t think that obligates them to act today.

    0 likes

  29. Brett

    It might be instructive to see how these contracts stand up after the election given that the LNP promise to include small business under unfair contract legislation

    0 likes

  30. Jarryd Moore

    Brett,

    It will be interesting to see what falls under the definition of “small business” and how any legislation would apply to groups of businesses like newsagents.

    Make no mistake, such legislation will be fought tooth and nail by big business.

    It would be a welcome move, but how much impact unfair contract legislation would have on our supply agreements with magazine distributors remains to be seen. The term “unfair’ can be misleading in that is does not cover all things newsagents may interpret as ‘unfair’. There are a number of specific tests that the current legislation applies and any challenge to our contracts would likely end up in the courts.

    0 likes

  31. June

    I am quite sure that it would be illegal to
    stop the newsagents’ supply of core product to his business on the basis of
    an account not being paid on time BECAUSE WE CANNOT CONTROL THE AMOUNT OF STOCK WE RECEIVE.
    The principle of supply and return seems to me to be the significant part of our contract but what isn’t clear is WHEN THEY GIVE US THE CREDIT FOR THE RETURNS.
    The distributors have access to millions of
    our dollars every month and they probably invest it in short term money and make millions more which is why they
    are so tenacious with their demands for payment on time.
    I would agree with payment on time if I could CHOOSE how much I was willing to pay and not this push model that we have always had to endure.
    A single newsagent cannot change this – it should be the ANF, but don’t hold your
    breath.

    1 likes

  32. Jarryd Moore

    June,

    I doubt it would be illegal in terms of any specific legislation that prohibits the practice – however it may be illegal under something more obscure such as misuse of market power or unconscionable conduct.

    Good luck to anyone who wants to wage a legal battle under that legislation.

    0 likes

  33. June

    Jarryd, I think you’re right – it surely would be unconscionable conduct or abuse of market power.
    I have never understood how they have got away with this for so long.
    We are bleeding nationally in retail and yet
    we cannot do anything about it.
    I still believe it is an ANF issue and they have never been able to address it in a way that would be beneficial for newsagents.
    A single newsagent could NOT do this (even a test case funded by all of us to set the legal precedent would struggle).
    Can you imagine Coles/Woolies accepting
    double the quantity of milk or bread that
    they want? IT JUST WOULDN’T HAPPEN!

    1 likes

  34. Tracy

    I published three national magazines for ten years and used G&G as one avenue of distribution. They were dreadful and we tell everyone who asks not to engage with them.

    0 likes

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