I am told that a reason for the increase in supply of Bauer magazine titles to newsagents beyond what is justifiable in the sales data has its roots in a change in how allocations are managed for these titles.
ACP Magazines used to do their own allocations for ACP titles and had done so for many years – closely aligning supply to net sales. Undersupply was a common complaint by newsagents for ACP titles.
Since the Bauer takeover of ACP, I am told there has been a structural change affecting supply allocation. They have split circulation management into two areas, separating the circulation manager from those analysing sales data. Circulation reports to finance. This change sees less focus on sales data and it is this that is resulting in newsagents receiving a significant increase in supply of Bauer magazine titles.
If my information is right and these changes have occurred at Bauer and they are feeding the consequences we are experiencing in our newsagencies then we as a channel need to consider a plan of action. Oversupply at the current level is commercially unfair to newsagents.
Newsagents who are not in the elite Connections Emerald group have to return full copies of unsold stock most of the time. This acts as a penalty on oversupply, taking cash from businesses as a result of an action over which they have no control.
With the staffing changes at Bauer it is no wonder people from inside and recently departed from the company are talking.
even as a emerald club member, there are extra staff costs in handling and labeling on arrival, and time spent topping and early returning.
That’s true Gary. You are being oversupplied as well?
It amazes me that we bitch and moan about a new product from Touch Networks we can sell for no capital cost yet ignore this post.
If the above blog from Mark is correct then why are we paying for xchangeit.
We were told we had to pay for a platform which would ensure that we were not under/over supplied because the companies would have total access to all our sales and returns.
Obviously this is not working because for the past couple of months I have watched Network increasing supplies of product which already has a returns ratio on the current supply so therefore there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for an increase other than to increase my a/c payment to them.
With newsagents already under cashflow constraints with the push model this is an
added problem.
WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO ACCEPT ANY PRODUCT THAT IS OBVIOUSLY OVERSUPPLIED OR GENUINELY NOT WARRANTED.
The ANF knows about this problem and doesn’t have the ability to go in and bat for us because they are so underfunded that they become ‘bedfellows’ with the very people who are undermining our pecuniary interests.
It’s a bit like the doctors who become bedfellows with the drug companies.
The drug companies become more important than the patients (read newsagents).
yes mark, i have noticed this happening to us despite constant adjustments to our allocations which only last between 3-9 issues.
Rather than improving, it has been noticeably worse with a flood of new titles being introduced which I didn’t order and increases in existing allocation which are not justified.
Happening with Gotch too, started getting many new American titles with a price of $20-$26 despite a US printed price between $6-8.
I’m pretty cynical that anything can be solved from a individual basis. The distributors are too powerful within the industry to change anything that threatens their revenue model.