Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine has blogged several times over the last two months about his experiences with a new Dell computer. Tracking of blogosphere discussion of Dell following the initial Jarvis posting shows the viral (and powerful) nature of this space. This analysis post by Matt Galloway is particularly interesting.
With many US and European newspapers releasing daily podcasts of news, entertainment, reviews and background pieces to stories, it strikes me as odd that publishers here are not playing in this space.
I see podcasting as extending the reach of the masthead (brand) and that has to be good for the publisher, good for supportive advertisers and good for retail businesses like mine which rely on newspaper brand loyalty to lure customers in.
Given the investment in MX in Sydney last month it’s clear that News is interested in reaching the commuter marketplace. Stand at a station and count the number of commuters getting off the train with earphones in. I did this last week in Melbourne and was surprised. I don’t know what they are listening to – certainly not shows from Australian newspapers.
I only see upside for publishers playing with podcasting.
I’d certainly play in the space in my retail business if there was a economically viable model for providing download facilities and if I had sufficient commuter traffic across the front of my shop.
Ignoring podcasting will not make it go away – especially with the new range of mobile devices about to be launched.
A range of BBC television programs are now available for online viewing – as announced by the BBC.
While speed is an issue, it’s great to have access to this content in such flexible way.
This entry is further unscientific and anecdotal evidence that economically rational supply stops a retailer from reaching its potential.
This week we received 50% more of a weekly women’s magazine unexpectedly.
We decided to do a two day push and display the magazine prominently in our feature area as well as in the usual location.
The result is that by the end of yesterday, two days in, we had sold 20% more copies than we usually sold in a week.
The display took less than 10 minutes to put together and relied on the cover to sell itself. The additional stock allowed us to do the display.
While one could argue that the cover story is the reason for the success, I’d suggest that it may be a factor but not the factor. My theory is that there are many purchases of these magazines which are impulse and having the stock to display in the right place to attract the impulse decision is crucial.
This is why economically rational scale out decisions will push our sales down rather than grow them. We need spare stock so that we can invest the time and floor space in promoting product.
The extra sales from this promotion are doubly beneficial for us as we get to promote our magazine club card loyalty program and develop more long term relationships.
News Corp. is bidding for the portion of realestate.com.au which it does not already own according to this report (any many others).
“Within our lifetimes, the distribution of news and information is going to shift to broadband,” Arthur Sulzberger, Publisher, New York Times. BusinessWeek January 17, 2005.
I’ve gone back over sales data for my own newsagency to try and cost the financial impact on my business of lack of stock.
I’ve looked at sales achieved over the last three months when we have been over supplied a major weekly title. I have looked at the sales achieved in the last two or three days of shelf life of this product. I then looked at when we usually sell out when we receive our regular quantity.
Based on this I estimate that I am losing between ten and fifteen sales a week.
While this is less than $5,000 in business a year, it is actually considerably more than that. There is the cost of the add on sale which could have been achieved had the anchor product in their purchase plan been available. There is also the cost of losing a customer permanently.
If I had absolute control over my supply figures for weekly magazines, I would order at ten percent above the sales achieved in the previous six weeks. The scale out model used by publishers and distributors does not work for my business and I suspect many other newsagents. While it reduces wastage caused by over supply, it helps pushing customers to non newsagent outlets where stock is managed such that they have stock for the full seven days.
In an ideal world I would like to see a commitment to the newsagent channel that it is the channel of choice – meaning that the majority of newsagents will not be left without stock for major weekly publications for the entire on sale period.
By controlling stock in the newsagent channel as tightly as is done today, publishers are directing consumers to alternative outlets later in the week. This puts the newsagent channel at risk and it makes the alternative channels (including supermarkets) stronger.
Part of the publisher argument is that sales in newsagencies for weeklies peak in day one and day two. I have seen data from enough newsagencies to suggest that this is not the case in a significant number of newsagent outlets. I am seeing a spike day one and ay two and then good consistent sales through the week while they have stock.
In the newspaper side of my business it’s easier to get top up stock during the day. Since we started tracking lost trading hours (hours without a newspaper title on the shelf) we have increased sales. We cost the time without stock and with this are able to value the impact on the business.
The solution to this challenge of magazine supply lies in the data held in newsagencies. We have to unlock this in a timely way which allows publishers to limit their exposure to inefficient print runs and which helps newsagents maximise sales.
Interesting announcement from Fox Broadcasting Network that they are embracing podcasting (except they are calling ot Foxcasting) and extending their program brands to the mobile world. Their strategy is clever and a good use of the medium.
We received additional stock of a national weekly magazine last week and the result is an 80% increase in sales. With this title we usually sell out by day 5 or day 6 and last week, thanks to having stock, we were selling product on day 7.
While basing print runs on maximum is what the accountants in a publishing company will want, as a retailer there is nothing worse than turning customers away because you have sold your allocation.
You only have to turn someone away a couple of times for them to stop visiting your shop.
The US I-Play company has announced a deal with Twentieth Century Fox’s new unit Fox Mobile Entertainment to develop, publish and distribute one of the market’s most desirable licenses – “24†– as a mobile game to a global audience.
The plan, apparently, is to create a game which captures the tension of the TV series and provide a level of view interaction which will create for a more personal “24†experience.
Okay so in the past we got to watch the TV show and maybe buy the magazine inspired by the TV show or, occasionally, watch the movie inspired by the TV show. Now we can watch the TV show and interact as if we are part of the show. We get to be part of the “24†reality.
Given the demographic of the show (25 – 54 year olds) it will be interesting to see their take up of the game. It will also be interesting to see if the interactive mobile game tie in attracts the younger demographic.
I see a vague connection between this “24†deal and citizen journalism. It’s about interaction, personal connection. While the “24†deal is a game, it’s interaction nevertheless. Now if only there was a way to get the game players interacting on real matters.
The Economist this week publishes a good report about convergence. It starts with:
“WE’RE not a telephone company anymore; I sort of resent that,†says Lea Ann Champion, an executive at SBC, America’s second-largest “Baby Bellâ€. “We’re a communications and entertainment company.â€
Phone companies are under attack for traditional call based revenue and they are chasing content plays as a means of replacing this. Just look at the content deals done here in Australia in recent months. Then consider the Telstra acquisition of Trading Post.
While The Economist report focuses more on the threats to the phone companies, it provides a good perspective of the IPTV opportunity in their business plan.