I have spoken with several newsagents about reported requests from tatts representatives to retailers that they print more and more marketing material in-house.
One I spoke with told me there had been a considerable reduction in the marketing collateral provided by Tatts.
Another told me their area rep regularly showed photos of suggested displays, displays completely made up of collateral printed in-store by the newsagents.
All of this adds to the operating cost of Tatts outlets. Increasing costs for what is a slim margin business is a problem.
If Tatts is providing less printed collateral and requesting more printed in-store this is an extra cost on top of the expensive new corporate image fit out and the expensive digital marketing technology requires,.
The other issue I am hearing about is the claim that images some tatts reps show newsagents when suggesting they do the same show displays that themselves breach the Tatts guidelines as they obscure Tatts poster units. Newsagents have been breached for this yet, if my source is right, tatts representatives are encouraging such breaches.
From what I am hearing there are double-standards being played by Tatts area managers – within states and between states. As retailers talk with each other this makes for a challenging situation … with the sword of an expensive breach to deal with.
Tatts needs to sort this out as it adds to stress and cost for the small business retailers.
Footnote: I was not going to write about Tatts today but newsagents contacted me about these issues. The best thing Tatts could do to stop posts like this would be for the company to get its act into gear.