Month: September 2006

Fairfax has announced it will reward the newsagents that have been selected as finalists for Newsagent of the Year 2006 with 2% bonus commission under the terms and conditions of Fairfax’s contract. The problem with this is the award process. There are no published criteria. Success is not based on any published KPI. Nomination is up to suppliers. To my mind, without detracting from the many worthy winners over the years, the Newsagent of the Year awards are more about patronage than business success. I know of many successful newsagents who are not politically connected and who have a low profile who have not even attracted a nomination.

In 2001 my company, Tower Systems, came 14th in the BRW FAST 10, 21st in the Deloitte Tech fast 50 and I was a finalist in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. I know something about award processes. In each of these three cases the process was rigorous and independent of the awarding body and sponsor. Getting to the finals required meeting considerable KPI measurements. The entire process was transparent and this gave participants trust in the outcome. Also, the process itself was beneficial.

If newsagents want to grow up and be taken as serious business contenders they need to ensure that their annual awards process is more transparent from the nomination process up. While many past winners would win again, a broader pool would be included in and benefit from the journey.

Fairfax and News could start the ball rolling by establishing criteria for nomination. That their Account Managers can nominate is a flaw because the nomination list comes down to personal relationships and they depend, to a certain extent, on brown nosing.

We were offered the range of AFL licenced calendars a few months ago. 40% off RRP. Payment 30 days on invoice. You had to take all clubs or nothing. Given the cost of real-estate we said no as the numbers didn’t’ stack up. Today, I noticed Australia Post opposite my newsagency with the AFL calendar display almost blocking its entrance along with a bunch of other AFL merchandise. I want to know what deal Australia Post negotiated which a network of 4,600 newsagents could not. Are they on more than 40%? Have they been provided longer to pay? This is another example of the calendar marketplace becoming less interesting. Australian Post strays further and further from being a postal outlet and the government doesn’t care.

I own a retail newsagency in a major shopping centre as well as Inkfast, an online ink and toner business which I advertise primarily through a Google AdWords campaign. Earlier this week I suspended my Google campaign when daily costs jumped 500% without any increase in sales. I know from recent experience that communicating with Google to discuss the situation is useless since they do not provide personal service. Responses are impersonal and not directly answering any query put. It’s the same with a landlord. Ours decided to do maintenance to the door out the front of our shop during the day, blocking the entrance and killing traffic and sales. This is despite their refusal to allow us to do any maintenance work on our shop during the day. A complaint resulted in an impersonal and irrelevant response.

Major companies like Google and shopping centre landlords need to answer questions from tenants and customers personally. They need to be transparent. They need to stop hiding behind off the shelf double speak as a means of deflecting a serious issue – in my case this week serious concern about possible click fraud.

What is interesting is that Tuesday was our first Google free day in several months. Sales were double our average for a Tuesday.

Many newsagents carry a range of Steve Irwin cards, including Father’s Day cards featuring him. Do we display these for people to purchase as a keepsake or do we leave them in their usual place? The Father’s Day stock has been taken down and is due to be returned. I know it would sell but …

Since I published this item about shoplifting here last week, Crikey.com.au has run two stories about my report the theft of a TV Guide newspaper insert in our shop and ABC 702 has run an interview with me on the subject. That’s the public stuff. Privately I’ve received emails slamming me decision to publish the footage. Not one of these correspondents has identified themselves. They say I am a “vigilante”, a “bully” and “disreputable”. They are entitled to their views.

The fact is that the woman in question stole the TV Guide, not only on the day filmed but others. The best way to stop being featured in the video footage is for her not to steal.

By publishing the image I am drawing attention to the high cost of theft in independently owned businesses like by newsagency. Hopefully this will make would be crooks think again before they steal the newspaper, magazine or greeting card. My preference is that I don’t have to resort to publicly shaming people but I’ll do it again if I get video footage of theft.

It is nonsense to label me a bully. I am reasonably protecting my business, my employees and my customers from the risks of this type of theft.

The message for all shoplifters is that more and more stores have camera systems and more business owners like me will publish faces of people caught red-handed.

Father’s Day is usually one of the softest of the major seasons in newsagencies: Christmas, Back to School, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. This year our card sales are up 61% on last year. I’d say this is due to our moving of cards from the traditional card aisle approach you see in most newsagencies to the front of the store. Our sales data shows a flow on across other departments – all thanks to the card display.

What surprises me about Father’s Day is the lack of significant promotional activity through magazine titles. At Mother’s Day there are all manner of features. This helps sell gift packs and annual subscriptions. At Father’s Day – very little activity.

We received a ton of these calendars from a magazine distributor yesterday. RRP – $9.95. Wholesale – 40% off. The trouble is that we already have stock direct from the calendar company. Wholesale – 60% off. Magazine distributors have enough trouble getting magazine supply right – they ought to not rip cash-flow out of the newsagent channel through flawed calendar scale out. The calendar company gives me longer to pay than the magazine disgtributor. The magazine distributor gives me 30 days.

[Footnote] 04/04/06 My earlier posting noted an incorrect commission and payment timing to the magazine distributor.