Newsagency supplier Steve Parish Publishing is in liquidation following the failure to overcome challenges brought on by the Queensland floods last year. Outside of the losses to the company and suppliers, retailers like newsagents will miss the unique products. Â SmartCompany has more.
A big loss for our industry and the public. Much of their product does not have a close equivalent in the market place.
we used to be a big customers , but last few years no more reps
Reps are a massive cost to suppliers serving our channel and other small businesses. One way we can improve margin is to help suppliers get rid of reps.
A good rep is not only interested in his company needs but also interested in his clients needs and requirements and make both parties prosper. Some would call this “Goodwill”. It is a sign of the times that some companies employ Reps who dont know their product or care about our needs. This is called “Slakeness”
I agree Mark. Reps are an unnecessary and costly to suppliers.
If a supplier has new products, a sale or some other information i’d prefer it be sent via email. We have a “we don’t place on the spot orders” policy when it comes to reps – with only a few exceptions to this rule.
Also, sad to see Steve Parish go. Their regional “Newcastle/Hunter” calendar was always one of our biggest sellers.
Steve Parish in liquidation, does it really have anything to do with not having representatives serving newsagencies? Not really their product has been outdated and prostituted. Postcards once a staple of the newsagency is outmoded by technology, instant photography of you and your loved ones on holiday anywhere in the world sent directly to those to matter in your lives. Calendars..prostituted to the public for the last ten years..the consumer is not stupid..if you continually mark down calendars starting in November the consumer is educated not to purchase at full price. Writing was on the wall.
Haley the reps comment floors from a comment from eric – that’s how it connects to this thread.
BTW our calendar sales are up year on year and we don’t discount until after the star6 of the new year.
We dropped Steve Parish about 18 months ago because their rep at the time “forgot” about us and did not visit us for about 6 months. This after we doubled the size of our store!!!
We have recently contacted the new rep to resume trading because we missed much of their quality product and their demise is sad for all concerned.
As for discounting of calendars, it is not a supplier problem. This is a problem caused by retailers who have little else to offer their customers bar reduced pricing.
Feel sorry for their staff, not the management as it was poorly mismanaged and staff ill informed. They had dedicated staff who loved their job and were not kept informed .
Such a shame, they had lovely post cards that sold brilliantly. If anyone knows of another supplier with quality comparable to Steve Parish , Id be interested to know. Was going to ditch Bartel (very poor quality low end cards) and just keep Steve Parish cards.
SBG, I have just switched to Murray Views as their cards are beautiful and feature many wildlife ones as well with a series of Did You Know cards giving factual info on Australian wildlife…my stock just arrived and is selling well!
As per SBG, please can anyone advise where i might find activity books and wildlife books similar what what SP was carrying? These filled a spinner rack and allowed us to have this point of difference in our little village of Bundeena. The colouring book, activity books, and info books on spiders and snakes were all popular!
In regards to comments above on reps I cant agree with what has been said. There are good reps and bad reps as there are good newsagents and bad newsagents. The good reps product will always have more support in our store and I would much rather deal with a person giving me good service than a screen. It may sound old fashioned but we are in a customer service industry and I like to receive good service.
Geoff I agree re good and bad reps. My comment about reps was more about the cost. Retail is fundamentally changing and suppliers and retailers need costs to be taken out of the business and reps will be a relatively easy cost saving. The last to be considered in any rationalisation would be reps adding genuine value to their customers and their employer.
Geoff,
Good service comes in many forms. I don’t want to have my time taken up with reps all day. For the most part I want as much information about a product in the shortest amount of time possible. Electronic communication delivers that. The vast majority of reps in the newsagency industry are not there as merchandisers or business development types – they’re there to get you to buy their product.
I don’t care how good a rep is. If their product doesn’t make us profit then it doesn’t get our support.
Jarryd,
Your last line goes without saying. The initial statement was broad sweeping about all reps and I do believe there are reps out there who do add value to our businesses as no doubt you would agree.
Geoff,
Certainy, there are reps out there that add value to our business. Unfortunately in our store almost all of those come from the supermarket side. I could count on a few fingers the number of reps from newsagency suppliers that add genuine value to our business. Inf fact the only one I can think of off hand is card merchandisers/reps (Hallmark in our case). Oh, and tobacco reps (although we consider this a supermarket department, some newsagencies do sell it).
VISIT Merchandise has a range that covers some of the same spectrum that SPP had. Not everything but they also have lots of other good selling product that SPP did not have. They also do custom work to make special product for your area. Freecall: 1800807053
Thankyou Leon and John, Ill certainly look at those two. 🙂
If you need an Australian made product that sells like nothing you have ever had I would highly recommend getting in the mini butterfly light catchers from Sunlight Butterflies they are cheap to buy and sell for under $5.00 with a 100% mark up.
I have been selling them for over 2 years now and have never had anything but great support from this company. They SWAP STOCK! their phone number is 0435 369 382. or Email: sunlightbutterflies@bigpond.com
The butterflies fit inside a greeting card and have increased my sales average per customer when they have just poppped in to buy a card.
Hope this helps, will miss Steve Parish’s products this country needs all the Australian made products it can get!
Rep for Steve Parish is back operating with a new company purchasing the brand, but they refuse to recognise credits owed from last year, not sure that I can stock this year. Mark I agree that there is no need to discount until at least 1/1/2013.
If you want great postcards and FULL distribution with REGULAR service visits by the photographer/salesman contact Banksia Images 07 3161 2578. We cover the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Island, Hervey Bay, Rainbow Beach, Brisbane, North Stradbroke Island, Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula
Does anyone know what happened to all the well made display racks that stocked his products. Did news agents keep them ?
People need to remain aware of Australia’s wonderful range of animals and Steve Parish’s calendars provided a vehicle for education and appreciation. We have wombats, koalas, numbats, quolls, billies, males, and if we forget about them they might as well become extinct! Steve Parish put in dedicated years to take superb images of wildlife. It would be easy enough to order them on-line. Even if they are pre-ordered then printed on de and they would be about to serve a vitally important need. So many people adored the Steve Parish calendars, an all year round reminder of our endangered species.