I have reports from some newsagents that their local supermarket is selling games from the Hasbro collection ahead of the start date of the promotion in the area. Some others, where the promotion has already commenced, have reported supermarkets not asking for the coupon News Corp. require.
The purpose of this post is to give newsagents somewhere to comment about what they see in their area.
No idea why anyone should be surprised by this, I have never seen a supermarket clip a coupon. And, as for selling ahead of time, I won’t but it is surely tempting when you consider the amount of storage space these require.
then, factor in the ones that I have to hold, along with the associated papers, for customers who are prepared to pay upfront for the set …
I’ll be popping into On The Run today and tomorrow to see how they handle the whole issue.
Woolworths next door began selling them last monday, 6 days early. But they have taken then them off show since i told them about it.
The newsagent caught selling the Anzac coins in advance as sets is not allowed to participate in promotions. Will News Corp do same to supermarket chains … don’t hold your breath
its time that we newsagent get together and start our own promotion like woolworths doing amazon adventure. for NEWSAGENT ONLY.
Anyone who bothered to read the promotion brief would already know that no token is required when the paper and game are purchased in one go.
Redemption Mechanic:
For your shoppers to participate in the promotion they MUST:
1. Purchase either: The Courier-Mail, The Sunday Mail, Gold Coast Bulletin, Townsville Bulletin, Cairns Post in-store
with the mini board games, OR
2. Present a token from one of these papers at participating outlets
The only time a token should be collected is when a customer buys a game without buying a paper in the same transaction…
Neil you have assumed content not in the post. It is a given the token is required where the paper is not purchased. However, for a while, some distribution newsagents demanded tokens for all items like this sold.
There are supermarkets today selling the items to people who did not purchase the paper there and who have not purchased a paper.
Neil, that may be the case in QLD, but in SA a token is required for every game sold – no matter where the paper is purchased.
Yesterday I kept a batch of papers behind counter with token already removed as the geniuses at the Advertiser buried it on page 4.
Mark – Is the assumption that supermarkets have the same requirements from News on promos and tokens valid?
Why bother with tokens and all that when it makes more sense for everyone if they just email News the national sales and scan data instead.
Actually, why can’t Tower do the same thing?
Negotiate with News for all newsagencies with Tower POS to provide a standardised extract of the data related to the promotion instead of stuffing around with tokens.
Neil, no assumption. It’s printed in each paper.
On your comment re using technology. News Corp. of recent years has no interest. It’s a selfish company that has little interest in reducing friction in newsagencies in my experience. Newspaper people are not running the company.
Well technology is a bit of a special case on both sides.
I learnt that piloting a Google form for promo returns (some agents still printed it and returned it after filling it in with a pen, others just rang because it was all too much) and launching online self service for print customers in stages (while explaining almost daily that it can’t be done all at once because parts of News are so old school they’d make you spend 4 years scoping every outdated business rule from the 60s that no one has challenged)
But this is just an easy win and a cost saver. If you can’t sell that to News I’d be concerned.
There is no special case for technology. It is easy and ought to be embraced at every opportunity. The challenge comes when one side has old and inflexible technology (News) and when commercial needs of two businesses (news and newsagents) do not match.
News Corp. was for more aligned with newsagents on technology in the 1990s in some states than it is today. Moving IT strategy to Holt Street has not served the company well. But there are worse suppliers making poor decisions for newsagents when it comes to technology in my view, like Blueshyft.
At 7.5%, or just a miserable 24 cents net per game, why on earth would we stuff around worrying whether or not someone had a coupon or even bought the paper?
It has been shown time and time again that newsagents are neither respected nor considered in these promotions and we are expected to do the work for nothing on the basis we may sell more papers on which we also make nothing.
The only approach newsagents can take to minimise the impost is to sell as many items (be it board games, DVD’s etc) as we can in one transaction. Coupons, what coupons?
Until we are remunerated fairly and reasonably for these I struggle to see why there is any concern about the mechanics of the promotions.
I’m distribution only in SA and we service a shopping centre where both a Woolworths and Newsagent store are located.
I’m OK with the Newsagent “cancelling” the coupon by over stamping, so it cannot be used again.
The Woolies while not 100% do make an effort to collect coupon.
Well you agree to the promotion terms (then ignore them anyway and complain about making no money from the whole thing) so that’s one reason.
Its uncanny how similar this all is to Uber v Taxis
Neil you are mixing comments here. I don;t see your response above as relating at all to my comments or the post.
I am on the record here saying print newspapers are in their end of days. Everything now is and should be about managing the end of days. However, in terms of demands on newsagents, the publishers are not acting that way. More fool them as newsagents offer the best opportunity for a soft landing for publishers than every other initiative they have tried – except for the free tablet computer offer.
Neil, I certainly don’t agree with the promotion terms and never have. Fact is I was never asked whether or not I agreed to the terms – they were thrust upon me whether I like them or not.
Issue here is News claim to be spending millions on promoting the promotion, my customers hear about it on TV, radio etc so they expect us to have it for them. They care little for the terms on which we are required to take it and just want what News is offering, in this instance the board game.
So we are now forced into a corner – do we send the material back and have lots of disappointed customers, or do we yet again capitulate to the non-commercial terms we have no say on.
A compromise is the best solution, which is to get the promotional stock for the customers to satisfy their demands and sell as many of the games to them as we can in one transaction.
I respect the promotion terms as much as News Ltd respects my needs to make it viable, and my commitment to that will never change.
Well the “Day 1 is not Free” and $3.50 price tag and $49 for the collection has sorted the wheat from the chaff.
Distinctly underwhelming response to Day 1.
This just confirms to me that publishers are in run out mode and sucking as much cash from the channel as they can. They do this in the full knowledge that Newsagents will continue to service the publishers needs at below cost no matter what.
Sold all 30 copies of day 2 Battleships. Not requesting more stock though. Moving into Christmas mode instead.
Sold 20 (one third of our allocation) on the first day. Two in the first hour on Monday morning. It is going to be a dud.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the anf nana newspower newsxpress and any other group collectively said “NO MORE”. Only with a united front can things change but unfortunately it’s always the same, everyone complaining about being bent over but no-one willing to be the first too stand up straight! Thats why we are treated differently to woollies that’s why we are oversupplied with mags thats why tatts dictate as they do etc etc No leadership no unity eqauls no change . Better stockpile the lube folks because there is plenty more to come
Ken there is no legal mechanism for the move you propose. Speaking for newsXpress, of which I am a director, there are supplier engagements that benefit newsXpress members, which I do not discuss here.
Mark if News Ltd offered newsXpress members 10% more commission than other newsagencies [for whatever reason] would you accept it ??
Ken I have no contractual capacity through which to accept any such offer.
My view on newspapers is there is only one way for them to go. Everything happening now and from here is to manage that inevitability.
I don’t know what we’ll clean the BBQ with when newspapers cease!!
@Mark I was replying to Glenn’s comment on coupons.
Your position of blaming News and dismissing suggestions for improvement is clear and didn’t require a response.
Neil I have not dismissed suggestions for improvement, the opposite is true. However, News has to want this for it to work.