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

Month: August 2006

Great viral campaign for Snakes On A Plane

jackson.JPGThere is a great viral campaign doing the rounds of email inboxes for Snakes On A Plane, a soon to be released movie with Samuel L Jackson. How it works is that you go to the website, enter some details about a friend and they are sent a personal invitation from Jackson to see the movie. It’s campaigns like this which are disrupting more traditional media, especially for films, TV shows and music.

While it may seem like a stretch, newsagents could play a role in over the counter viral campaigns given their contact with millions of consumers every week.

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Media disruption

The real cost of newspaper home delivery

NSW newsagents were finally granted a small increase in home delivery fees they can charge for the delivery of Fairfax newspapers last month. I’m told that recent research shows that this increase still falls short of the actual cost of providing the service by up to 50% in some areas and as little as 10% in other areas.

Newspaper executives in Australia and elsewhere have commented on the efficiency of the newspaper home delivery model in Australia. Our penetration is deeper than most other countries.

This success with newspaper home delivery is, in the main, due to newsagents subsidising the home delivery service.

The inadequacy of the latest delivery fee increase in NSW is another reason more newsagents will sell or abandon their round.

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Newspapers

Canadian magazine fund

What a great initiative. From their website:

To ensure the continued vibrancy of the Canadian magazine industry, the Government of Canada created the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF). Launched in 2000 as a key element of the Government’s comprehensive policy in support of the Canadian magazine industry, the CMF will contribute toward the production of high-quality magazines showcasing the work of a wide cross-section of Canadian creators. The CMF will also help build industry capacity through support for business development of small magazine publishers, industry development projects and support for arts and literary magazines.

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magazines

Tertiary guides sucking cash from newsagents

Newsagents are getting loaded up with tertiary education guides – not just from their state but others. Guides sell well in their local states. Interstate sales are weak. With cover prices up to $20.00 and newsagents having to pay well in advance of them selling or being returns, they are usually cash-flow negative. It’s an unreasonable grab for cash by the tertiary entrance committees and magazine distributors involved. A fairer approach would be for newsagents to control the quantity of stock they receive and have billing delayed until December with a January settlement. The current situation is unfair to newsagents.

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Newsagency challenges

Implications for OK! moving to weekly

It’s good to see OK! moving weekly. I’d not seen any comment on the planned on sale day and for me that’s a big question. If it is a Monday there will be a real-estate problem given newsagents, who sell half all magazines Australia, have Woman’s Day, New Idea, TV Week, NW and Famous out on a Monday. On a Friday we have Who and given the pitch of the OK! monthly magazine I’d say Who is the likely competitor. Friday would be easier from a real-estate perspective and it could boost Fridays and that would be welcome. The other on sale day possibility is Wednesdays. The problem with that is it’s the Take 5 and That’s Life on sale day and the demographic match is not good.

If I were launching OK! I’d buck the trend and launch on a Wednesday. It would be the only title of its type on sale on a Wednesday except when Women’s Weekly comes out once a month. I’d provide newsagents with preassembled counter display units which provide for a full face display. In the month leading to the launch I’d provide newsagents with a one page double sided give away with a story and a couple of photos and a tease piece about the new magazine about to arrive. This helps set newsagents and consumers up for the habit. I’d create a second display unit to facilitate promoting the title next to newspapers as this is where the most traffic is in a newsagency.

Publishers launching new titles need to spend time in newsagencies. Too many launch strategies are developed by marketing departments with little understanding of how people shop for magazines.

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Uncategorized

Chemists get a free broadband kick

Chemists get money from the government to fund broadband access in their stores. I was shocked to discover this yesterday. It’s one of a bunch of perks the government provides chemists. While I don’t begrudge their negotiating prowess with the government, I am shocked that the government looks after chemists like this while at the same time kicking newsagents in the guts again and again. Newsagents pay for their own broadband.

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Newsagency challenges

Why can’t newsagents provide accurate sales data to suppliers?

For years now magazine publishers and distributors have been working on a project to access sales data on a daily basis from newsagents. While suppliers have complained that lack of sales data is the cause for resolving core issues, few have actually taken the necessary steps to resolve the issues. With accurate sales data suppliers can more accurately supply product so the benefits are considerable. This cuts costs for newsagents and suppliers by reducing over supply and resolving undersupply. Suppliers can get accurate sales data if they choose. All they need to do is:

Compensate newsagents for accurate sales data. The sooner the newsagents providing accurate sales data make money from this the sooner many other newsagents will do what they need to do to provide similar data on time.

Rate the newsagent software suppliers. Recognise the providers of compliant software with a rating and a recommendation which directs newsagents to them compared to those companies which flout the standards.

Be public about IT companies letting the project down. For example, one competitor does not provide sales data through its software. It has a record of claiming its software is compliant when it is not. Suppliers, by their silence, let this competitor get away with this and this extends the resolution of the sales data mess.

Be clear on the industry benefits of sales data. Show newsagents what this looks and feels like.

While newsagents are not helping themselves in resolving the sales data mess, suppliers can take steps quickly to sort this out and have newsagents more fairly competing with the major retailers thanks to, finally, providing accurate sales data on time.

For newsagents to compete with supermarkets, petrol, convenience and coffee outlets they need to get smarter in managing data. This means they need to ensure that their IT suppliers adhere to industry standards. One company failing to meet standards lets the industry down. It is time for people to be silent about the cost of this to all newsagents.

If the newsagency channel continues to ignore this issue they will continue to miss out on the financial rewards of providing sales data and competing with the big guys on an even footing.

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Newsagency challenges

Magazine distributors responding to newsagents

It is good to see magazine distributors responding favorably to newsagent requests to cut grossly underperforming titles. While the distributors have had sell through rate data, they leave it up to newsagents to “make a case” for the cutting of a title. 1,300 newsagents using software from my company can now make the case with ease. Those who have put title cut requests in tell me that the distributors are agreeing. They have no choice – especially if the evidence shows that less than 30% of copies of a title actually sell and that continued supply of a title causes the newsagent to lose hundreds of dollars.

The problem is that the stock has to go somewhere since distributors are paid to place it with a retailer. This means the divide between smarter newsagents and the others will become greater.

In my case, cutting 50 titles means more space for promoting successful titles.

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magazines

Find It online classifieds update

filogo.JPGWe have more than 600 newsagents signed up as retail partners for our soon to launch online calssified business, Find It. This is our last week and we’ll complete final presentations to newsagents on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane, Syndey, Adelaide, Perth, Geelong and Melbourne over four days. We expect to end up with more than 800 newsagents representing us. Our partner newsagents get to play ith a pre beta copy of the site from next week so they can develoip their own understanding of online classifieds and what makes Find It a unique value proposition to other sites out there.

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Online classifieds
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