Editor & Publisher published an excellent interview with Warren Buffet overnight in which he says that the newspaper industry got too complacent with its success.
“It is so easy when you’ve got a wonderful business,” Buffett told E&P during a recent interview. “Complacency is pretty easy and it is why they weren’t looking over their shoulder at what was happening.”
He goes on to say the newspapers should have tried to get more revenue from circulation over the years. This resonates with distribution newsagents who are blocked from charging a fair price for the service they offer.
Buffets comments also resonate with retail newsagents, most of whom are yet to fully leverage print media traffic into new and more profitable categories which provide a brighter future.
Thee report ends with this quote from Buffet:
We have a business model that is eroding. The whole industry. But we still have a huge base of readers.
This is true for newsagents. New devices will change how people consume news, there will be a tipping point. We have a huge traffic base today. The question every newsagent must ask is am I leveraging that traffic for my future?
We need to switch from thinking we are in a push supply model to operating our businesses from the perspective of a pull supply model.