It is disappointing to see newspaper publishers actively engaging with alternative retail channels as we have seen in Victoria over the last few weeks with the Coles promotion and now the McDonald’s breakfast promotion – both with the Herald Sun.
Newsagencies remain the best retail outlet for newspapers. We are full service, efficient, friendly, local and support brand building promotions.
A smart publisher would engage with newsagents to drive retail sales. I have pitched many ideas over the years and while none have been taken up, I am sure that not every idea was worthless.
Coles and McDonalds promote newspapers as an add-on to their core offer. Newsagents will promote newspapers as a core offer, unless we have reason to look elsewhere for a key traffic generator.
At some point in the future, magazine and newspaper publishers will wonder whether chasing sales outside the newsagency channel was good for their business.
It is not too late to engage with retail newsagents and develop mutually beneficial business building ideas.
maccas and coles always seem to be running a promo with free papers and mix that up with the schools getting free papers as well .some weeks i will deliver up to 150 free papers to schools depending on what is happening at a particular part of the year like election time so the way i figure thta is 100 odd people with no need to come into a newsagency
When they ran it here if Mc Donalds ran out of papers then they were given a voucher to take to a newsagent so they could get the free paper!!
They ran the same promotion in QLD a while back… BIG headache for us!!
Heard from a mate last night that they are giving away the GC Bulletin free at the Coolangatta Airport.
Don’t know whether the Airport are supplying these for tourists, but whatever the case I don’t know how this will help the paper???
Yes, that is correct Michael.
We were told of this a few weeks (a drinks rep) ago & don’t know for how long it is/was continuing.
And ditto “how will this help the paper?”.
Michael,
I supply around 1200 papers per day in one of the ski resorts in NSW where I have another newsagency. It’s not about the dollar value being given away but the boost to circulation figures to promote to advertisers. I still make full commission on the papers as if I was selling them so it is good for me and good for the customer.
Notwithstanding the above I fully agree with Mark about issue of using other channels to sell/distribute the paper. I hate woolies with a passion and the disservice they do to the papers (and mags) on a daily basis. The papers will alwasy say it increases the papers proliferation which is in stark contrastto what I see and hear from my customers.
This is just like going to Starbucks and getting The Age/SMH for 50cents or whatever they charge now.
Better still, get maccas brekky, grab a free paper, put it back on shelf to resell!
Nothing stops us from doing a promo ourselves. For example: Seeing summer is coming up soon, Buy a Mt Franklin 600ml bottle of water RSP $2.50 and get a daily newspaper included with the sale (Mon – Fri). Instead of making 25c profit on the paper (or 10c if you’re a Subagent)- You can make 95c profit.Just a thought!
The current Maccas promotion by HWt is a bloody joke; we are expected to supply 120 newspapers a day; maccas return 100 newspapers a day. My staff are expected to top every copy returned.
The pitiful income eearned from the promotion is not even close to paying for wages!
While I understand the value of cross promoting, to devalue your already cheap product further and divert traffic from your most important retail channel is absolutely nuts.
+1
And to have them say that it will promote more sales for the newsagent is even nuttier!