The Age today has another Post-It ad placed on the front page, this time for the ANZ. While how The Age presents ads is their business, I’d note that their increasing use of Post-It ads is frustrating consumers. Some list the ad and leave it at the counter, usually grumbling something as they do.
I question the damage to the brand both from those frustrated with the perceived intrusion of the Post-It notes and from the focus it pulls from the masthead itself.
PaidContent reports that a new division of Hearst magazines is charged with moving its magazines online.
From the Network Services website:
www.magshop.com.au is the online retail shop for Australia’s leading magazine publishers. It offers a diverse range of innovative and stylish titles from many publishers throughout Australia in one convenient location.
Magshop is currently attracting 225,000 visitors a month and generating 7,000+ orders, with a conversion of over 3% every month.
The benefits and guaranteed placements are endless with representation on all major Australian search engines and top five portals. Extensive work is currently being carried out to ensure effective listings on all search engines.
With over 200 titles and 2700 items of merchandise, each publisher is able to add as many publications or products as they like. With no upfront costs, the Magshop team will effectively manage all subscription offers, including magazine covers, promotional images and any information changes.
All orders processed through Magshop will safely and securely be stored on our administration server for collection by publishers. All sales are validated by ANZ egate ensuring all revenue from sales are guaranteed.
Affiliate marketing is an essential part of any eBusiness and provides significant competitive advantage. Publishers can now utilise magshop to increase their online subscription sales.
Network Services is part of the PBL group as in ACP Magazines.
While I do not begrudge ACP Magazines selling subscriptions online in this way, I am disappointed in the size of discounts offered in the face of just 25% commission for newsagents who work hard to support their brands in close to 5,000 retail outlets nationally
Some newsagents find it hard to get enough stock of the top selling ACP titles. On the other hand, many newsagents complain that Network Services supplies too much of non ACP stock, especially titles in the bottom 1,000 performing magazine titles. In today’s disruptive circulation market I’d expect newsagents to both situations more frequently.
Newsagents urgently need more equitable magazine supply arrangements. Less stock titles outside the top 200 and, in some cases, more stock for titles inside the top 200. I’d like to see Network and their colleague magazine distributors to work better together to provide newsagents with a fairer deal than the current magazine supply model. This would then enable newsagents to be more competitive against operations like magshop.
I heard of a major landlord yesterday demanding traders open on a Sunday for the full day. In the same centre the government owned Australia Post outlet is permitted to close even though around 90% of the floor space of this government retail business sells stationery, greeting cards, phones, books, office supplies and travel goods. Their competitors are forced to pay upwards of $25 per hour per employee to staff their businesses while Australia Post can close. This is another example of Australia Post exploiting their government ownership for an unfair advantage.
The Advertiser reports:
THE Independent Gambling Authority wants to ban newsagents and other retail outlets from selling Keno tickets.
It has proposed a five-year phase-out, after which South Australians would only be able to play Keno at licensed gaming venues.
The move would affect hundreds of small businesses, who claim they stand to lose more than $65 million a year in turnover.
Newsagents are trusted to sell pornographic material, tobacco products, scratch tickets and regular lottery products under strict age based rules so why not keno. I suspect that newsagents and other small businesses have been outgunned by the richer clubs and small lobby groups.
Business for newsagents is finely balanced. They need keno traffic to support newspaper, magazine, card and stationery sales just as they need newspaper sales to support lottery, magazine and card sales … and so on. This proposed move to strip keno from newsagents who have a significant knock on effect as The Advertiser rightly points out.
My question would be: newsagents in South Australia have had keno for years, what harm has come from that which requires it to be taken from the and if there is harm has it cost hundreds of millions of dollars in a year?
Today’s Australian Financial Review carries the story of the planned launch next month of Red Zero, a new woman’s magazine from Pacific Magazines. What makes Red Zero unique is that it is being published online. You won’t find this magazine on newsagent shelves.
It’s a smart and entirely appropriate move by Pacific Magazines. The target demographic, 16 to 29, spend plenty of time online. If their execution is smart, the magazine will deliver a better return on investment for advertisers than traditional magazine advertising. However, the AFR article talks about an ad cost per page whereas I would have expected to see a cost based on consumer action.
The imminent launch of Australia’s first purely online mass market magazine is further proof of the digital iceberg on the horizon for newsagents. Just as publishers evolve their models in response to consumer trends, newsagents must evolve to ensure they avoid damage from the iceberg.
I am in the middle of a national road show to newsagents presenting our soon to launch Find It online classifieds business. Part of our goal with this new business is to take newsagents from standing behind the counter processing sales for a dollar or two and getting them outside their businesses proactively promoting our online classified model as a stakeholder. This is a significant change in mindset for an average newsagent. for decades they have been treated poorly by suppliers and have returned that treatment with little entrepreneurial spirit. Based on the reaction thus far, Find It will wake many newsagents and get them chasing a new revenue stream.
As part of the Find It model, newsagents earn commission on sales and trail commission on customers they bring to the site who may go on and purchase advertising online directly. We are the first business to offer newsagents trail commission in this way. Find It newsagents are also being treated as stakeholders through a profit share arrangement. Again, this is a first for newsagents.
Several newsagents have asked how we expect publishers to respond. My answer to that is that newspaper publishers have been developing their online models for years and have done so without newsagent involvement. Through these models it could be argued that they are competing with themselves and, indeed, getting much close to their customers to the detriment of the traditional newspaper supply chain (newsagents). Publishers are doing what they should do and so I cannot see them having any concerns with newsagents doing the same by actively supporting Fid It as the new way for consumers to advertise online when it launches later this year.
We are chasing 1,500 newsagents. While I do not expect to have that many signed up for the first round, the network will be considerable and more important, proactive. While other online classified businesses rely on advertising themselves to build consumer connect, Find It will have a highly motivated sales force in its newsagent network.
PaidContent reports that The Pilot, a local newspaper in North Carolina is going to offer free wi-fi access across its market. It’s a smart move for any newspaper wanting to connect with consumers – the broader and more accessible the distribution network the more readers and the greater the advertising opportunity.
One the same day a 20 cent cover price for The Age hit, they includes this Post-It note offering 50% off for weekend home delivery. This shifts margin from newsagents since newsagents make less from home delivery than they do on retail sales.
While The Age has can engage in any marketing they deem appropriate for their title, it is disappointing that newsagents wear the cost through. The promotion yesterday is like that of an indian giver. They proudly tell us about the cover price rise and then sneak this margin reducing promotion in through the back door.