I’ve organised another Zoom meeting for any and all newsagents. Today @ 1pm.
Here is the link:
https://zoom.us/j/99992587886?pwd=aUczeFc2OStsOFpLdVd6RnM4N3NhUT09
Meeting ID: 999 9258 7886 Password: 285763
This is an opportunity to take with colleagues about business, how it’s going, challenges ahead, what the rest of 2020 might look like and more.
Oh, no, that not a newsagent line. Any supplier rep saying that is clueless about what could sell in a newsagency.
More and more newsagents are playing outside of what has been traditional for the channel. Suppliers need to stop editing what they pitch to retailers in the newsagency channel.
This photo is one of the displays in one of my newsagencies. It represents two artist made higher end ceramic ranges that would look at home in any boutique gift or homewares shop … just as they look at home in my shop.
Now more than ever, with suppliers challenged at hw they reach retailers and especially possible new accounts, they need to be open to what could be possible rather than managing to a low bar they have set for themselves.
With games so popular still, we have refreshed behind the counter to show a small part of what we sell. These have been selected as they are easily purchased on impulse.
Games and jigsaws are product categories doing well in this coming out of lockdown world – both in-store as well as online. Watching the shifts in category engagement is fascinating.
Eric Beecher, Chairman of Crikey’s publisher, Private Media, makes an excellent argument on ACCC engagement re the News Corp closures of 100+ local newspapers:
Why the ACCC needs to step in and stop News Corp’s regional closures
When the journalists at News Corp saw reports that Lachlan Murdoch had acquired a new family home in Los Angeles for $218 million last December, they might have felt a sense of career security that comes from working for a highly profitable company with an overtly prosperous controlling shareholder.No longer. Over the past few weeks, News Corp has announced the closure of 125 regional newspapers, the elimination of a quarter of Australia’s print dailies, the shuttering of most of this country’s suburban newspapers, and the retrenchment of hundreds of staff across its city newspapers.
The decision to decimate a large slice of Australia’s regional and suburban journalism wasn’t made in rural hamlets like Chinchilla or Caboolture, or suburbs like Parramatta or Preston, where local news coverage will either disappear or be scaled right back.
It was announced from corporate head office in Sydney, where the company website proclaims its pride in “our heritage of connecting communities to the stories that matter … we are the voice of everyday people, a champion for the battlers of Australia”.
That spin was also embedded in the company’s announcement of its 125 newspaper closures.
“Let me be clear from the outset: News Corp is not turning its back on Australia’s regions and communities,” wrote executive chairman Michael Miller in the company mouthpiece The Australian. “Nothing could be further from the truth: we remain their greatest advocate — they are what makes our country great.”
The script for Miller’s ritual commitment to altruistic public service journalism was initiated decades ago in Sir Keith Murdoch’s will. Dated January 21 1948, it laid out his expectation that his son Rupert “should continue to express ideals of newspaper and broadcasting activities in the service of others and these ideals should be pursued with deep interest”.
Those grand ideals sit in stark contrast to the announced closure last month of those (mainly free) newspapers which will be replaced by vastly scaled-down, paywalled websites employing hundreds’ fewer journalists across regional and suburban Australia.
If public interest journalism was just another product, especially in regions and suburbs where there is only one publisher of a “product” that is central to a democratic informed society, it could be argued that acting purely commercially — as News Corp has done — is entirely appropriate in a free marketplace.
But not all products are equal. If the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the corporate regulator, really believes what it says about news journalism — that it’s a “public good, important for democracy” — why hasn’t it intervened in the culling of Australian community journalism at the hands of News Corp, a $10.3 billion foreign-owned media company?
Why hasn’t it stepped in, as it did recently when major shareholders News Corp and Nine Entertainment announced the closure of Australian Associated Press, the country’s only wire service? In that case, the ACCC launched an inquiry that effectively put the owners on notice that it wouldn’t countenance AAP being shut down if there was a legitimate buyer. As there was.
With a few weeks to go before their closure, it isn’t too late for the ACCC to repeat that intervention and launch an investigation to determine whether there are genuine buyers for at least some of the newspapers being shuttered by News Corp.
This strangulation of Australian local news is laced with sadness and irony. It sees the arc of a media journey — beginning with Rupert Murdoch’s inheritance of the now-defunct Adelaide News from his father’s estate in 1952 — reach its denouement in the uncertain hands of his son, Lachlan.
Without swift regulatory intervention, that journey will end up a long way from the “ideals of newspaper and broadcasting activities in the service of others” that Keith Murdoch optimistically predetermined for his own son.
I’ve organised another Zoom meeting for any and all newsagents. Wednesday this week @ 1pm.
Here is the link:
https://zoom.us/j/99992587886?pwd=aUczeFc2OStsOFpLdVd6RnM4N3NhUT09
Meeting ID: 999 9258 7886 Password: 285763
This is an opportunity to take with colleagues about business, how it’s going, challenges ahead, what the rest of 2020 might look like and more.
I am grateful that many newsagents are using the web development services of my newsagency software company to create online stores. Here are four that have just launched:
Many more are well on their way.
My reason for sharing these here is to demonstrate the different approaches being taken by entrepreneurial newsagents to define their businesses online.
NLNA, the wannabe start-up association has applied to the ACCC for authorisation to represent newsagents with Tabcorp. NLNA has one member, VANA. VANA is already authorised by the ACCC. I don’t see any need for the requested authorisation. Also, with VANA and NLNA being primarily commercially focussed organisations, hiring commission-only sales people to sell their products and services, in my opinion, granting authorisation would negatively impact the integrity of authorisation.
We have been sharing stories on social media for our newsagency, stories that provide context for greeting cards beyond the transactional, stories like this one Fromm 2 days ago – it had 170 likes / loves in less than a day:
Storytime. The twenty-something guy had been standing looking at cards for ten minutes. He seemed lost. “Hey, mate, you need a hand?” I said, without wanting to intrude. “Yeah”, he said with a sadness uncommon for a young guy looking for a card. “What are you looking for?”, I was careful in my approach. “My best mate’s dad died suddenly”, he paused. “He’s angry and wrecked” he paused again. “I, I want to tell him I’m here for him. I figured a card could be good,” he looked back at the range. “But, they’re too flowery.” He was right, the sympathy cards he was looking at were too flowery. After a while, we found a blank card with a dog on it, because his mate likes dogs. We worked out some words that got across what he wanted to say without being flowery.
Some days in retail we get to help in ways that will stay with us for years.
And then there is this one:
Storytime. Joe is 89 years old. He lives in a nursing home. When he moved there, he was limited as to what he could bring. The old shoebox with the collection of cards he’d received was the first thing he chose.In that box are cards from his time as a local community Aussie rules coach. Parents and players had written cards over the years and Joe had kept them. “Each card is a memory”, he says with a smile, looking through his collection.The oldest card Joe has is from 40 years ago from a player grateful for Joe’s help. Here it is so many years on, making Joe’s day.
Greeting cards hold the most wonderful memories.
Storytime. Ethan’s school assignment asked that he write about his earliest memory. “That’s easy,” he said, “it was the first letter I ever got. It was a birthday card from grandma. I was 4 and she posted me a birthday card with a tiger on it and it came in the mail. That’s the first memory I have. I still have card, and the envelope. Mum got them framed for me.”
The card created in Ethan an interest in mail and letters more specifically. Now, 6 years on, every couple of weeks Ethan will write to a relative in the hope of receiving a response in the mail. And it all started with that birthday card, which remains his first memory.
Cards give us memories and stories long after they are received.
Storytime. “Sorry, it’s just a card, no money for a gift this year.” That’s how Chris signed off the card to Jules, her friend of more than 20 years, since they were in high school together. Swapping birthday gifts with a card and a note were a tradition. Since they lived on opposite sides of the country, they’d usually include a note with the card and gift each year.
Jules wrote back: “your card and note mean the world to me, every year. While I may have, possibly but please don’t judge me, re-gifted the odd gift from you, I have kept every card, every single card from you. I have 23. They the story of us. They are a perfect gift. Thank you.”
The card we send today can provide heart-warming memories for many years to come.
Social media provides us an opportunity to share the narrative of our business. Newsagents are well placed to have wonderful stories they can share.
My advice to newsagents is to take a break from the shop local or look at this new product we have type of post and tell stories, set your narrative, use words to tell people more about your business and more about you.
Oh, and to answer an expected question for comment about using text and not images? Most social media posts use images. Going with text content could be more easily noticed. Certainly that is my experience in using posts like this over recent weeks.
I think it is good use of social media to sometimes not try and sell anything but, rather, to show more of the emotion at the heart of the business.
In my recent experience, these text and other text posts have worked a treat.
News Corp. kicked off in Queensland this week the first steps of its playbook for changing the newspaper distribution model.
Round one reads like consultation. While I am sure News Corp. bods will ask questions and look like they are listening, the company will do what the company wants regardless of what newsagents say.
I expect you will see wholesaler/distributor businesses given big territories in which they then supply the delivery agents, who may be newsagents or may not.
For those with long memories, this is News Corp. announced then delayed T2020 strategy playing out.
I have scheduled a Zoom meeting for newsagents who would like to talk about options for the future of their business.
I’ve called it: If you think closing your newsagency is the only option.However, it will be about more than that.
I have called it a discussion because that is what it is. Let’s talk about business, how it’s going, what the short and medium term futures look like, and more.
No judgement. No demand of just do this or that. Let’s talk and see what flows from that.
Here are the access details. I use the latest Zoom paid platform so it is secure.
Wednesday, June 10 @ 1pm Melbourne time. I went with this time so people could do it when having a lunch break and so people in WA could more easily join if they wished.
https://zoom.us/j/95246563546?pwd=LzlLV2x3WXBmMlNSVFhhcGQ3elBwQT09
Meeting ID: 952 4656 3546 Password: 362002
Plenty of people like to put about their opinions about the channel and its future. My goal with the session is to offer something practical.
Note: I will have the May 2020 vs May 2019 and vs. April 2020 benchmark rules 0- in case trends in the results could be useful in considering various pathways forward.
Anyone is welcome to participate, including suppliers. I don’t want to apply any restrictions.
Years ago, I’d talk about the Newsagency of the Future because back then there was a channel. Today, it is different. Retail newsagency business experiences are different in the city versus the country, shopping malls versus the high street. So many with a newsagency shingle trend way outside what that shingle used to be.
This is why I say to any newsagent I speak with that their future is for them to pursue and make … because there is no channel move, no channel opportunity any more.
Anyone pitching too suppliers that they can get newsagents moving as one are wrong. There is no evidence of it. For sure there is hope, but that hope has been there for many years.
Sure there are parts of the channel where newsagents act in similar ways. However, not the whole or even half of business and not nationally as one.
That’s why talking about the future becomes personal
Getting newsagents together to talk about this can be good in that we can all learn from each other, and that is a hope I have for this session.
There are three key attributes newsagents are looking for is suppliers right now. I say this based on many conversations over the last few weeks with newsagents, including plenty of independent operators, as well as with suppliers who have generously shared newsagent feedback.
Suppliers ticking all three boxes are doing better than those that do not.
Agility is about responding to marketplace needs – consumer and retailer needs – in a timely and appropriate manner. Some suppliers have done this well, making decisions quick time to help local retailers, like newsagents, better serve in rapidly changing situations.
Supply certainty is in part about actually having what is needed when it is needed and in part about clear communication about supply. Suppliers who lean into their situation and communicate openly and respectfully win kudos while suppliers who respond only after others have highlight their challenges suffer.
Australian made, where possible for a product category is important right now and, I suspect well into 2021. While not possible for all product categories, especially where brands are overseas based, Australian made is possible for more than many retailers currently think of.
While many retailers are looking for attributes beyond the three I have listed here, these are the top 3 by far. They matter. I know of examples where suppliers engaging on all three or two of the three are doing well.
I have scheduled a Zoom meeting for newsagents whoo would like to talk about options for the future of their business.
I’ve called it: If you think closing your newsagency is the only option. However, it can be about more than that.
My hope is that this session is a conversation about changes in the channel, with core products and what the options can be to confront these changes.
It’s not a marketing session. No, I do see this as a conversation.
No judgement. No demand of just do this or that. Let’s talk and see what flows from that.
Here are the access details. I use the latest Zoom paid platform so it is secure.
Wednesday, June 10 @ 1pm Melbourne time. I went with this time so people could do it when having a lunch break and so people in WA could more easily join if they wished.
https://zoom.us/j/95246563546?pwd=LzlLV2x3WXBmMlNSVFhhcGQ3elBwQT09
Meeting ID: 952 4656 3546 Password: 362002
Plenty of people like to put about their opinions about the channel and its future. My goal with the session is to offer something practical.
Note: I will have the May 2020 vs May 2019 and vs. April 2020 benchmark rules 0- in case trends in the results could be useful in considering various pathways forward.
Anyone is welcome to participate, including suppliers. I don’t want to apply any restrictions.
Years ago, I’d talk about the Newsagency of the Future because back then there was a channel. Today, it is different. Retail newsagency business experiences are different in the city versus the country, shopping malls versus the high street. So many with a newsagency shingle trend way outside what that shingle used to be.
This is why I say to any newsagent I speak with that their future is for them to pursue and make … because there is no channel move, no channel opportunity any more.
Anyone pitching too suppliers that they can get newsagents moving as one are wrong. There is no evidence of it. For sure there is hope, but that hope has been there for many years.
Sure there are parts of the channel where newsagents act in similar ways. However, not the whole or even half of business and not nationally as one.
That’s why talking about the future becomes personal
Getting newsagents together to talk about this can be good in that we can all learn from each other, and that is a hope I have for this session.
Traffic to news.com.au fell in April based on data released by Neilsen. With a unique monthly audience fall of 17.7% from the month prior, news is lower down in the pack. The ABC, Daily Mail, Nine, 7News and The Guardian are all ahead. This is good news for media diversity given the stranglehold News Corp.
Source: Mumbrella.
The TV news Wednesday had the story of empty shelves in Kmart. I’d heard about this last week, that Kmart faced supply chain challenges.
Yesterday, Kmart wrote to its customers about the situation:
Dear Kmart Community,
You may have noticed (or heard) about some of the stock impacts we’re experiencing here at Kmart; and I wanted to take the opportunity to address this topic head-on; answering some of the frequently asked questions I’m hearing, whilst giving our Kmart communities as much transparency as possible about stock availability, both instore and online.
During the early stages of Covid-19, demand for much of our loved product softened; as a result, we made a decision to pause inventory shipments. This was an action that many retailers across the country, and even across the globe, took as a way to navigate through the global pandemic. With so much uncertainty around public health and safety; and such severe outbreaks of Covid-19 being reported in places like Italy, Spain and New York, we prepared for similar restrictions here in Australia. Some of the countries where we manufacture our physical products were also put into lockdown at this time, putting production of some of our goods on hold for a period of time.
The Kmart email to customers provided specific information:
The good news is that these products have started to arrive back in store and online; and we’ll be receiving weekly deliveries over the next few months. We expect stock levels to normalise by the end of July 2020. Until then, I thought it might be best to give a little snapshot of some of our more popular categories, so you can easily see when stock availability will improve…
Product category Delivery timing Home Office mid July Furniture & Accessories mid to end July Kitchen & Dining mid July Nursery end June Bikes & Exercise Equipment end July We understand how frustrating it can be when you visit us instore and can’t find the items you love; and we are so sorry to disappoint. We are working as fast as we can to correct this. I would like to thank you all for your understanding, patience and ongoing support.
There are opportunities here for engaged retailers who have stock in any of the categories listed. Home office, for example, is an immediate and easy opportunity for newsagents, especially if you have an online store connected to your business.
Zoom, and similar video based, meetings are here to stay. They are an efficient way for small business retailers to connect with colleagues, suppliers and other groups appropriate to their situation.
While Zoom meetings are still new for many, here are my tips for making the best contribution and getting the most from any Zoom meeting.
I urge newsagents to suggest Zoom meetings instead of rep visits. This will save time in-store. It also guides supplier reps to be more focussed on what they want to pitch and discuss.
I expect that with lockdown restrictions being eased there will be a rush of rep visits in-store. Unless well managed these will waste time. Suggesting Zoom, or similar, meetings instead could help businesses with tight rosters save time.
I’m hosting 2 Zoom meetings today that may interest folks here:
Here is a video from inside the Space X rocket when the NASA astronauts explain their choice of travel companion, Tremor, a Ty Flippable.
We have Tremor in store and online and from early Sunday morning sales have been excellent. Hundreds and hundreds of Tremor sold in 48 hours. Companies ordering, 10, 15 and more in a purchase at $24.99 each. Plus, people buying other things in the transaction too, as well as people going online, not buying Tremor, and buying other items instead.
Plenty have gone online and bought Tremor for click and collect – so as to not miss out.
One store alone did more than $1,500.00 in revenue.
What has happened over the last 48 hours with Tremor is an example of the value of being online with more than 85% of purchases being from shoppers not local to the stores fulfilling – it also demonstrates the value of multiple small business retailers working together, pooling inventory for a scale few retailers can match.
Now, watch the video of how this all started Sunday morning.
Here’s one of several promotional videos released:
The AFR had a crack at Facebook today about their tax paid in Australia.
Facebook Australia was paid nearly $674 million by local advertisers using its platform in 2019, but it trimmed its income tax bill to a little under $17 million through a reselling arrangement that minimised its profits to $22.7 million.
Tax is 2.5% of Facebook revenue whereas tax is 1.76% of revenue for News Corp according to ATO data reported by Michael West: News Australia Holdings revenue over 5 years = $13.9B, taxable income = $246M, tax = zero. Source ATO corporate tax data, as reported by @MichaelWestBiz.
Yes, I get the AFR story is because of the Facebook data being just released. For me, the broader context is interesting.
Our tax system is broken. Tax systems around the world are broken. These massive companies that have the ear of politicians fail to be social responsible tax citizens.
By all means the Nine papers can report about tax paid. However, good journalism would see them report more completely and accurately.
While I am no economist, I wonder about a mechanism of capturing a small percentage of money leaving any Australian bank account. That way, businesses paying Facebook, Google, Twitter and others for ads make the tax contribution they fail to make. Likewise, people paying News Corp. for a subscription make a small tax contribution covering what their structure facilitates them minimises.
Our economy needs tax dollars to fund healthcare, education and infrastructure. tax is another area where small business does heavy lifting.
The Great Southern Star and Yarram Standard suspended print production in March as the coronavirus pandemic was ramping up. The publisher has now confirmed that the closure is permanent. The Age has the story.
Closure of independent local papers highlights the struggle for all media – locally-owned and multinational – as the pandemic eats away at the remaining advertising not yet lost to digital giants like Google and Facebook.
The Star, established in Leongatha in 1890, had a weekly print run of about 4300; the Standard at Yarram near the Ninety Mile Beach, about 1600.
Mr Giles said his family had been torn over the decision to close and the impact on communities.
“I understand towns are probably fearful of losing their identity,” he said. “The main people I’m concerned for are the 60-plus seniors who love their paper.”
Mr Giles said among the body blows to local papers was the leakage of revenue to social media. “I’ve been trying to tell local businesses that [Facebook CEO] Mark Zuckerberg is taking all our profits over to America.”
While I get that publishers see value in targeting Google, Facebook and other social media platforms for loss of revenue, the reality is that what has happened is the world has changed. How people engage with news has changed. We have all seen it coming for many years.
I am surprised there have not been more newspaper closures sooner.
I agree there is an issue with the tax paid by these giant offshore social media companies, and, indeed, many large businesses. They scam us raking in billions from Australians paying little in tax, making almost no economic contribution to government funded infrastructure.
There is also an issue of shop local. Advertisers have fled print to these social media platforms. I know I did ten years ago because of the more efficient ad model. Everyone on Facebook and Twitter, everyone searching Gooogle for news and clicking on a paid ad has put a brick in this wall.
News itself has fuelled the change. Whereas in the past, stories would break in print. Now, they break within seconds of happening and become fanned quickly beyond local thanks to the digital platforms.
The medium is dead. Okay, for some, the print newspaper is something they like. However, there are not enough of them to fund the infrastructure to keep print alive. All that is up for debate right now timing of to closure of print newspapers. Okay, maybe not all because analysis and investigative journalism newspapers like The Saturday Paper could exist for ages.
Yes, it is sad local papers are closing. We knew this would happen. Their closure does not need to mean an end to local news, it does not need to mean the end of a local newsagency that is part of a channel created to distribute news.
It is now up to locals who want a local voice for local news and opinion make that happen. A newspaper publisher closing does not mean the need is gone. Those calling for the need for a local newspaper should look at what they are doing and the choices they have made and can make now to support a local voice platform for 2020 and beyond.
Newsagents can play a role in this.
