VANA announced to its members last week the launch of private label copy paper. They say this is part of their move to provide newsagents with what they call home branded products.
Smart private label strategy needs to be well thought out. The book, Private Label Strategy, makes some excellent points about this, points which appear to have been missed by the people in VANA behind this move.
In their email to newsagents announcing their new paper, VANA said, in part:
VANA believes that this will provide better margins for Newsagents while promoting our own industry product and not other labels.
This will provide control quality and most importantly build our own brand, based around a popular symbol that identifies Newsagents.
Consumers are less likely to care about newsagent branded paper than they are about brands they know and trust, brands which are promoted regularly on television and in other media. Brand is key after all. Newsagents cannot compete with the money behind Reflex for example.
How does VANA’s private label strategy “control quality” What is wrong with the paper we sell today? If we buy cheap paper we deserve the consequences.
Then there is the comment from VANA about “a popular symbol which indentifies newsagents”. Are these people living in fantasy land? The symbol they are using on their paper was announced by the ANF at their last conference in May 2008 and little has happened since. The ANF can’t get their business partners to use the new logo let alone newsagents. The majority of newsagents using an N logo use the old art work.
The N, the old version and the new version, is dead as a brand symbol. It counts for nothing. It is nonsense for VANA to say that it has any value around which they can build their paper offer. I am not aware of any professional market research which supports consumer perception about the N. Maybe VANA could publish the evidence on which it has based its comments.
Stationery manufacturers spend a lot of money building their brands. We will do our businesses a disservice if we ignore their brands and try and get up a private label strategy. Next time VANA asks a stationery brand to support a conference or other initiative they should say no because VANA is just as likely to compete with them. VANA’s announcement is certainly a warning to suppliers that their national brands are not as important as this brand into which VANA appears intent on pouring newsagent funds.
You cannot unify a channel of 4,500 independent retailers around a copy paper brand. Indeed, such a move should be toward the end of a project to univy such a retail network and not at the beginning.
Associations should get their association offer right before they head into areas they don’t understand.
The only way I can see this working is if we can sell it for less than $5, as this seems to be what the average non commercial customer thinks copy paper is worth as this is what it is sold at Big W and coles for. To do this and make money it would have to land for under $3 and I can’t see that happening.
Off topic (but hey, associations are clearly doing it!).
Just had a power browser as she was leaving ask me : “What’s wrong with outside”? (Obviously a dust storm) I said “It’s the end of the world sweetheart”
The look was priceless! LOL. There is still some fun in this industry.
I would be very cautious about going into Private Label products.
It took Tesco UK 11 years to establish a footing and consumer trust for their private label name.
Focus on working with suppliers to drive their brands in store. That is where your success will come from.
Thanks for the belly-laugh Michael !!!!!
Niall, you are spot on! Plus, newsagents rely on supliers to support trade shows, confercens and their individual businesses. Why piss in their pond?
Sorry for my youthful ignorance, what does “Piss in their pond mean?”
Is that a newsagency term?
anon, I hope I have not misused the phrase. I meant – suppliers of branded product rely on us and we rely on them. Why muck this up by competing with them?
i never bought anything from Vana nor will support them .
Umpteen years downstream and I still do not trust or buy the supermarkets home brand products. Why in God’s green earth would I even contemplate competing with those who have spent a lifetime building their brands? I would rather leverage their brand to pull customers to my store.
The new N had some market research behind it. The problem is, the remainder of the project was not finished by the ANF. There was supposed to be a whole lot of other ground work to be done after the launch before it was put out to market. The new N was never intended to be used for, or was it designed for the use VANA is using it for. Agreements were meant to have been formulated governing its use. Because things have not been done properly, it is a symbol that will eventually lose value and become irrelevant.
Daniel, the N was in hot disucssion at the ANF when I was on the board in 2004. My veiw then was that it was a dead brand given the wide variety of ways it was being used and abused.
This new incarnation is even more dead because of the poor management of the roll out. Hang on, there has been no real roll out.
Brands get known and trusted because of obsessive professional management. No one is managing the N.
The “N” inall fairness was never intended to be a “Brand” as such rather than an indetification symbol such as “I” for Information or “P” for parking it was “N” for newsagent. It was the brainchild of Colin Grinham NANA President circ 1990.
It was meant for circulation and as I said indentification. I was the CEO of NANA at the time and Col the President.
To use the “N” symbol or any generic industry sybol in today’s times is being out of touch. Branded products give us buying power and customer respect.
The rest is ego misplaced in a commercial world.
I have the old N in a few places on my newsagency and business cards. I am not about to repaint my shop so that it fits in with this paper deal from VANA. Are these people living in a cave? This stuff costs money. What do they expect us to do?
I do best with paper through the newspower catalogues. Will the VANA paper be in this? I doubt it.
What now concerns me is that The old “N” and the new “N” stand side by side in the market place.
Have a look at the Northenr States web sites and you will see that they still use the old “N”
Letterhead paper is also supported by the old “N”
As Mark said ,one would think that if the ANF move with the new “N” that a recognition advertising platform and standards across Australia would be in place.
VANA member, VANA and Newspower/GNS are in competition. A smart VANA Board would stop this and focus on association matters only.
Proactive, you’re right. The two N logos are confusing and conflicting.
The N paper issue is something about which all newsagents should be concerned.
I am surprised that more newsagents are not jumping up and down about this. VANA can’t even get basic things right and not they want to get into the paper business. I am a Reflex newsagency for the good stuff and Victory for customers who buy on price. I buy through GNS. I have shares in GNS.
David you make a good point about GNS. VANA is competing with this newsagent owned business does not make sense.
Victoian newsagents should ask their VANA Directors about this: when was it discussed at the Board, who supported it? Was GNS consulted? Why VANA is out to try and compete with GNS. There is more to this than Mark has written and VANA members should start asking questions.