A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

The Media Shift and newsagents

I’m pleased to have contributed to this discussion at PBS about the old ways of doing things in media compared with the new ways being discussed/explored. The discussion came as a result of Mark Glaser’s Oldthink vs. Newthink post at his PBS Media Shift blog.

Many Australian mainstream media companies are embracing the shift in one way or another. Radio stations (led by the ABC) are aggressively playing with podcasting; newspapers are bringing more blogger content into their printed and online editions and most have reinvented their online presence; some magazines are leveraging exceptional value from their websites. TV is the slowest of the four media channels to undertake anything which could be called ‘newthink’ – announcing a link to more material at the end of a show is not ‘new’.

Newsagents are not embracing the Media Shift. While some are reinventing their businesses, the vast majority are not. They act more as servants of publishers than the entrepreneurs and business people they ought to be. The Media Shift is impacting newsagents. Newspapers are being sold in more locations, magazines are being sold in more locations, magazine subscription sales are increasing, more stationery is being purchased online.

In the spirit of Oldthink Vs. Newthink and in the context of newsagents I’d suggest, for starters:

Oldthink: Newsagents expect others to create their future.
Newthink: Newsagents take charge of their businesses.

Oldthink: Newsagents being rewarded for following publisher rules.
Newthink: Newsagents being rewarded for sales growth.

Oldthink: Newspapers at the front of the shop.
Newthink: Newspapers located where they sell the best.

Oldthink: Magazine supply being determined by magazine distributors.
Newthink: Newsagents only paying for magazines as they sell.

Oldthink: Newsagents carrying upwards of 5,000 stationery lines.
Newthink: Newsagents carry the top 750 sellers with a rapid fulfillment strategy for the long tail.

Oldthink: Newsagents let suppliers determine store layout rules.
Newthink: Newsagents take control of their own store layout.

Oldthink: Newsagents are paid for home delivery of newspapers according to publisher determined fees.
Newthink: Newsagents allowed to charge fees according to cost of service.

Oldthink: Newsagents manually process supplier accounts – costing on average 20 man-hours a month.
Newthink: Newsagents determine to only trade with suppliers who transact electronically.

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