Author: Mark Fletcher

I continue to be surprised at the conversations I get into with customers in my newsagency. I was asked yesterday if we had Time magazine. Certain we would have a copy – we rarely sell out – I walked to where Time is usually displayed and, sure enough, we’d sold out. The customer was concerned because ours was the fifth newsagency he had visited yesterday looking for a copy of Time. He said he never reads the magazine but had to get this issue.

Curiosity got the better of me and I asked why. It has a story about how people die, was his answer. Then, after a pause, while he appeared to play back in his head what he had said he added, how to nearly die, near-death experience. I checked our computer to see if we had copies elsewhere. My friend told me, Time has a story. Important story. That’s why I want it. He was reinforcing the purpose of his mission. English was not his first language – he wanted to make sure I understood. He touched my arm as he said, more slowly than before, about how you nearly die and come back. Then his face lit up with a huge smile.

I told him I could try and order the magazine but he said no he had to find it today. He thanked me, turned and left to continue his search, smiling.

The brief encounter replayed in my head through the afternoon and evening – I was thinking about word of mouth and how we seek out products and services based on what we hear from others – who seeks online versus who seeks offline, and why.

I am interested in reading about near death experiences too and my shopper’s comments piqued my interest in the Time magazine article. Instead of embarking on my own journey of newsagencies to find Time, I broke the chain, betrayed print and went where I was certain I could find the article. Within a couple of clicks I was reading The Science of Near-Death Experiences by Daniel Williams at the the Time website. Guilt aside, I was satisfied in finding the article.

There are several issues on my mind here:

Print. My newsagency and thousands like mine exist to satisfy the desire for printed copies of articles such as this one in Time on near death experiences. We rely on people like my customer who want the occasional copy of magazine through to the weekly fix of two or three titles. His experience, driven by word of mouth is completely different to my own. With quality content such as the Time article available online and free I have no doubt that my experience will become the norm. This is why I write here about the need for newsagents individually and collectively to navigate to the newsagency of the future.

The experience with the Time article perfectly illustrates the supply chain challenge – the article online can be reached by people for a lower cost and with less environmental damage than the print version. Both have good revenue models around them so it is only a matter of time before we see some titles depart print altogether.

Supply. Time is a magazine where supply based on sales history does not work. A great cover or good word of mouth can make i a sell out. It would be good if there was a better way to manage supply so retailers can service the demand. It turns out that we have had several customers ask about this specific issue of Time this week – we don’t sell many and could have easily tripled our sales.

Backorder certainty. If I could place an order in my point of sale system and guarantee, immediately, that I can supply, I’d pick up more sales like this one. If I could guarantee supply by, say, Monday or Tuesday I am certain I could convince my customer to buy form us.

The community connection. The encounter yesterday reinforced to me the personal connection newsagents have with their community. My customer would not have had the same experience in a supermarket, petrol outlet or a convenience store. Okay, they don’t sell Time – but they do sell other titles about which there would be questions. All they do is sell. Newsagents service. Publishers need to remember that.

I know that business is business but some days, encounters with customers are wonderful – you can’t put a value on the experience.