The Australian this morning has an update on the NDD situation – reporting that Network Services will be taking around 80% of the NDD business. They are also taking on 15 of the NDD staff.
Sally Jackson’s article also reports that Fairfax Media Publication Solutions is picking up between 40 and 80 magazines from NDD. Fairfax will need to review their distribution as retail only outlets like mine are likely to not want these titles unless at least 25% margin can be achieved for the retailer.
Plenty of newsagents I have spoken with are aggressively early-returning NDD product out of fear of not getting credits. This is unnecessary. NDD is going through a structured winding down of its business. I am confident that it has the capacity to process and pay for all returns sent according to the timing of the distribution of titles.
I see no reason to early-return out of fear for the cash at risk. Why cut yourself out of a sale just because of fear?
how do we manage fairfax magazine supplies?wer cannot early return them which means we have no control on what stock we get
Shaun, we too have from time to time requested to not receive certain titles from fairfax. Our request has been refused every time. So they have to sit out the back for 6 months until they are recalled. There must be a better way.
i am really suprised there has not been any uproar over this ,i suppose it will be just another thing we accept .
You do not have to accept any new titles, simply do not receive them. Tell the delivery driver to leave the bundle on the truck and return to supplier. Once you have accepted delivery thats when the problems start.
Luke, the problem with yr solution is that Fairfax will still charge you for the titles as they have been allocated and sent. Then you have the added time-wasting issue of chasing up credits thru Connect and waiting for credits to come. I agree with shaun s – just another thing we accept. The distribution model is a joke
Luke.
A bit hard when your deliveries are anywhere from 1.00am to 4.00am :-/
It’s about time they started listening to the complaints.
Your right Max, but if we miss the driver the next time we see him we do the same.
The other problem with Fairfax picking up these titles is that they do not currently have an early return facility in their magazine range.
Their Crossword range sits on sale for six months with no right of early return.
the thing is they do not even have recall dates on the paper work
Is it possible that the ANF/VANA/QNF consortium might take some initiative and seek talks with Fairfax to deal with these magazine management issues on behalf of Newsagents?? Maybe Fairfax could become an XCHANGEIT partner by assuming control of NDD’s system (which is better than GG or NDC).
I assume I’m like many other newsagents. The Fairfax mags stay unopened in their parcels out the back of the shop. When I see them on the returns form I claim the full amount and add the parcel to the returns.
They’re already wasting my money. I can’t let them waste my time as well.
There’s no efficient way to label, return or distribute these mags to subs. The one-shot returns procedure is a headache. Distributing Fairfax mags usually results in the newsagent getting burned.
Unless I can get 25% margin I will not carry magazines from fairfax. I am a sub agent for newspapers (i.e. Fairfax).
Also Fairfax 7 day terms are not acceptable for magazines
does anyone know what magazines we are getting from fairfax yet
KELIE so far i have only received the Waterski magazine ,that i have never sold a copy of when it was with ndd
Just off the top of my head:
Nude Food
Insight
Coast/Country
Business News Brisbane
Business News Gold Coast
World Cup
There are others, but I can’t think of them at this moment.
Only one of these I have requested.
Bruce
I think you will find that the ANF is talking to Fairfax and I hear that they will be joining Xchange-IT
If Fairfax can’t run there paper distb & subs right what hope do we have with mags??? Where is the ANF on this… To scared to get involved??
i think the ANF is too busy with their next venture…. copy paper, bill express, etc
There is still a direct account issue. There are plenty of retail newsagencies without direct newspaper publisher accounts.
No fairfax distributed magazines here….
Those 40 to 80 magazines won’t be here after the changeover.
Early Returns can be done on the Fairfax Connect website (I discovered this today).
Login, go to CLAIMS tab (next to RETURN Tab) and early returns can be entered there.
Not ideal and far from the standard it shoule be (ie EDI, which again I hear today that Fairfax have committed to) however it may help some people in the interim
Maybe their claims facility could be used by every man and his dog, effectively clogging up their system.
I do know that they don’t like dealing with these if a rep can handle it instead, and they may just get a bit swamped.
Oh, and thanks, G&G – another early return title… Alpha!
regarding alpha i have not sold it ever since it all got changed ages ago .now GG are sending it to me but to my supprise i decided to start putting it on the shelf and sold out. where in the past i have never sold a copy . might be because of the tourist season
‘CLAIMS TAB’????
What ‘Claims Tab’? I have never seen one on Connect. What determines whether you have access to ‘Claims’? State? Size of NA? Years as NA? Or some other reason?
We are a small Vic. country NA.
It’s on the same tab bar as ‘Returns’.
Y&G,
Thank you, but our Tab Bar reads ‘Home’, ‘Admin’, ‘Supply’, ‘Returns’, ‘Subscriptions’ and ‘Statements’. Then ‘Feedback’ and ‘Help’. No ‘Claims’ tab. So it seems that Connect is customised by Fairfax for each NA.
We have used the Fairfax claims tab on Connect for early returns for sometime now, however, there seems to be some issues with quite a number of the returns. In fact, we have only received approval, and therefore credits for 3 claims for early returns to date. If you have the function available to you, be very careful of how you use it. That is, until Fairfax starts using EDI files.
How do I get connect?- as a retail only agent.
what if you do a claim that the stock did not arrive. then when it is approved, put the mag in the bin?
As an independent publisher of Tarmac magazine (mainstream motoring), new issue on-sale today, we recently made the switch from NDD to Fairfax because of their improved attitude and enthusiasm. G&G seemed no better than NDD, nor was Network given its/ACPs motoring market dominance. We charge a few $ more for our own subs to encourage newsagent sales (would rather see ANF profit than Aust Post), but as a small business with over $100k and two years without salary invested, it is frustrating to see outlets claiming they will not carry titles from Fairfax. I have spoken with them and they are open to ideas, suggestions and change, so hopefully this is a changeover point where we all benefit from constructive criticism. So please consider that we are a small business just like newsagents, so when the mags are being used as leverage by ‘sitting out the back’, put in the bin or being instantly returned, nobody seems to win. Smaller publishers want to make it work and are proactive on change, so hopefully this change will eventually be for the better of everyone following some tweaks to the system.
Dean, Like many now, I am retail only. This means I only get 12.5% of magazines through Fairfax. This is why I will not stock them – they can;t pay their way.
Fairfax can fix this by opening new accounts with retail only newsagents.
I too am retail only, have always been and I have been getting 25% since day 1 on a direct account. I would be very surprised if Fairfax did not accomodate newsagents in this regard
Glenn I hope they change their policy on this. I have written to them but have not received a response yet.
My problem is more the accounting side. A mag through Fairfax comes without a price, an electronic POS entry, a return timetable or a support system capable of looking after magazine issues. Faifax needs to get on to XchangeIT asap. We need to be able to control supply numbers and have an orderly return procedure. When you have 500 titles you cannot have three different systems to control them else the numbers we need to generate to make the mags profitable become excessive.
Dean,
Fairfax are the barrier for your publication making its way into newsagencies. Fairfax, unlike Network and Goth, don’t/won’t supply retail-only newsagents directly. At present retail-only newsagents must get Fairfax-distributed publications through their closest distribution newsagents (ie a newsagent that also does home deliveries and supplies other retailers). When a retail only newsagent is supplied publications by a distribution newsagent they are forced to spilt the 25% margin, each getting 12.5%. 12.5% margin is not enough to cover the cost of stocking the title, let alone make a profit.
Newsagents have little or no say as to the quantity of titles they receive from Fairfax. When we were supplied directly by Fairfax we were refused the ability to cancel supply of magazines (even those which we had never sold a single copy).
Newsagents are responsive to small publishers that work with them. But at present your distributor is putting up huge barriers for your publication. Because they refuse to directly supply retail-only newsagents, your publication is not making it into many hundreds of newsagents.
dean,
i commend you on finding this blog and for your input. i hope that for your sake that fairfax does change their policys on early returns, sales based supply quantities, and xchangeit.
or
perhap[s that you change suppliers. not that im about to sing the praises of g+g or network, but they are set up to supply mags, and fairfax set up to supply daily newspapers.
we used to keep one issue of tarmac on the shelves and sell about one per year. so wednesday, i recieve 3 coppies. cannot early return 2 of them, so i have to pay for them and wait 3 months till the recall (i assume, there is no actual recall date known at this stage)
but i do wish you luck dean, and i hope for all our sakes, that this issue is resolved.
After being three months in credit with NDD, I ask for some payment. Guess what, today I got a cheque from NDD, will bank it real quick.
a horse title arrived via fairfax today…… still no news on the returns proceedure, or allocation proceedure
After a call to Fairfax I’m still in the dark has to there proceedures I hope the mags info improves soon
Hey Jeff C, I know how NDD could afford to pay you. Today, despite being under wind down, they sent out yet MORE copies of the Dog and Lemon Guide to everyone else!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!
yeo i am up on just about all my supplies today from ndd ,so looks like they are chasing a few extra dollars towards close down time