A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Why the increase in supply of Heat magazine Gordon and Gotch?

There is no reason in  our sales data for magazine distributor Gordon and Gotch to increase our supply of the air-freighted Heat magazine.  With our sales data showing that we sell 2 copies, occasionally 3 (twice our of the last 12 issues), Gotch has decided to increase supply to 6.  No phone call asking if they could borrow our cash, just an increase in supply.

It is behaviour like this which makes newsagents hit back at magazine distributors and, inadvertently, some magazine publishers.

Gotch should have a system which advises my of a planned increase and I should have the opportunity to say yes or no.  It is my money, retail space and labour they are taking advantage of after-all!  Why not ask my permission?  Because that does not suit their model which requires the trucks to be as full as possible.

Gotch will say it is a ridiculous idea to let newsagents say yes or no to a change in supply.  They will have reasons why it will not work.  Smart technology which respects newsagents and the investment they make in magazines could help better connect newsagents and the category and lead to an increase in sales.

What happened to my newsagency with Heat magazine this week is just one example of poor magazine distribution management by Gotch.  Publishers of popular titles need to be aware of the damage this behaviour is having on the newsagency channel and on their titles.

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magazine distribution

Newsagents carry a high magazine warehousing cost

Like many newsagents I suspect, we received stock of Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adevntures last week.  It’s the first time we have received this title.  Given our sales of 4X4 titles, the price point and the thickness of the title, I would have preferred to receive three copies to start with.  I’d draw down more if sales warranted.

Magazine pub lispers and distributors need to stop using newsagencies as their warehouses.  We should have no more stock of monthly (or longer) titles than could be reasonably sold in 30 days.  As it is with Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adevntures, we have been supplied to satisfy a sales expectation of three months.  I’m not making enough money to justify warehousing the title for there months.

I have recent experience in the supply chain to homewares stores.  In this retail channel smart suppliers have implemented just in time supply principles and thereby eliminated the need for retailers to warehouse stock.  They have done this out of respect for the tough conditions in which retailers find themselves today.  I’d like to see the same implemented in the newsagency channel.

If a title has an on-sale of more than a month, introduce multiple drops aligned with sales expectations.  Stop using small business newsagents as the warehouse.

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magazine distribution

Mini format crossword titles get lost in fixtures

The mini crossword titles from Puzzler in the UK get lost in newsagency fixtures.  Check out the photo I took of a mini Puzzler title on top of a mini format Lovatts title.

Lovatts provide a holder for their mini titles so they fit into traditional magazine fixtures.  Puzzler need to address this if they want their titles to be easily seen by shoppers. Without physical support, they will not achieve what they could.

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Uncategorized

Promoting Good Food and the goodie bag

We are promoting the latest issue of Good Food magazine and the free goodie bag which comes with it with this aisle end display facing to the front of the newsagency.  Sales are already good – the goodie bag is easily understood and excellent value.

We also have the magazine in an excellent location in with our food titles.

You can see in the photo that we have one goodie bag turned around – to make it easier for shoppers to see that the bag really is packed with goodies.  This is to attract the browsers who are less likely to pick up the bag.

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magazines

Promoting Hot Boys of TV

We have some copies of Hot Boys of TV placed next to our newspapers as well as next to TV Week and in an aisle end display.  Being a one-shot we have to work a bit harder to grab the impulse purchase … hence all the activity.  early interest in the title is encouraging.

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magazines

XchangeIT lets newsagents down

I am frustrated that my newsagency software company, Tower Systems, continues to lose time working on XchangeIT issues for newsagents which have nothing to do with our software.  We have to do this because too often the help desk people at XchangeIT tell newsagents that our software is to blame – when it is not to blame.

It is my experience that the XchangeIT help desk can be quick to blame and slow to accept responsibility.  They act with the arrogance of a protected supplier.

The reality is that my software company has been around more than three times as long as XchangeIT.  They got their customers by demand, Tower Systems got its 1,760+ newsagent customers through hard commercial work.  Newsagents stick with them because they have no choice.  Newsagents stick with Tower Systems because they like the choice.

It is frustrating to have to spend time disproving an XchangeIT claim that the problem a newsagent has been having is to do with our software.  This waste of time ultimately hurts newsagents.

Every month the Tower team racks up hours of valuable help desk time researching these misleading claims and often fix the problem even though it has nothing to do with our software.  Newsagents ultimately suffer because this takes time away from us supporting and helping newsagents.

I have complained about the level of support and assistance XchangeIT provides newsagents with since the company was formed.  Occasionally things change, but not enough.  Each time there is a reason or excuse.  The overriding message is that they know better.  Occasionally there may be an apology.  Yet the behaviour of ill-founded blame continues.

I guess they continue to under resource and poorly manage their XchangeIT customer service because they know that my team at Tower, serving more than 50% of all newsagents with computer systems, will cover for them.  We demonstrate our support by not charging an XchangeIT support fee like some others do.  Maybe we should introduce such a charge to cover for the work we do on behalf of XchangeIT.

The quality of XchangeIT support is on my mind because of an incident which was resolved last week.  The XchangeIT people convinced my customer that it was a Tower problem, we lost hours working on this.  Even when XchangeIT realised that it was directly related to their software and how it was installed, they changed their story and said it was Gotch and Network related.  It was never a problem with Gotch and Network.  I was shocked that their spin to the newsagent.

The most recent incident  is a good example of the costs I am bearing on behalf of newsagents because of unjustified blame shifting by XchangeIT.

If you represent XchangeIT and are frustrated or upset that I have complained here rather than to you, think back to the many meetings, emails and calls about this issue and the level of service you provide newsagents.  It’s time you did something.  The current approach is unfair against newsagents.

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Customer Service

Irony in print is dying story

There is irony in the report in The Australian yesterday reporting an expert claiming that print will be dead in 5 to 10 years.  The report is behind the new paywall if you navigate through the newspaper website – offering commentary about the changing nature of digital access to news.  You can get to the full story, outside the paywall, here.

I think that it is inevitable that daily news will move from print to digital formats.  The nature of today’s news cycle and the growing ease of availability of mobile digital devices make it inevitable.  The challenge is what happens in the meantime and how we leverage the opportunities which flow from disruption to print.

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Media disruption

Refreshing the small crossword title display

We refreshed our small crossword display on the weekend.  I’d left this since the magazine relay six weeks ago and found that a mixture of titles were being placed in this premium front-pocket space.  Most were overseas titles.  I early returned a bunch of under performing overseas crossword titles and allocated this prime space to Australian titles, as you can see in the photo.  This is in addition to two columns of space allocated to the Lovatts smaller format titles.

While I am happy to have overseas titles in the mix, they, like every other magazine, must pay their way per pocket.  Magazine distributors too often do not allocate with this goal for newsagents, especially when it comes to overseas crossword and puzzle titles.

So, our policy when it comes to crossword titles, is Australian titles first.  We will act sooner on poorly performing overseas titles.

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crosswords

Promoting The Monthly without support

We have placed The Monthly magazine at the counter to leverage media coverage for the issue over the last few days.  The cover is terrific and Paul Keating’s photo is bound to draw attention.

I wish the publisher would invest some money in supporting the title in newsagencies.  Cover run ons would help.  Sales volume is too small to enable practical use of a large poster but cover run ons would provide flexibility.

The other promotional opportunity I’d like to see is an A5 flyer with teases about stories in the latest issue.  We could hand these to customers and include them in bags.  If there is room for newsagents to stamp their details I am sure that the flyer would be supported.

Our sales of The Monthly are volatile so anything we can do to make an issue more appealing I am up for.

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magazines

WH Smith to open 3 outlets in Melbourne

UK corporate newsagent business WH Smith is to open three retail outlets in the revamped retail offer at Southern Cross Station in Melbourne.

This move reflects further expansion by the 1,000+ store strong UK based group.  I suspect it is only a matter of time before we see their stores in Australian shopping malls.

The WH Smith model in the UK includes shopping mall and high street operations.  There is a big difference between their model and the traditional independent newsagent model in the UK.

The three new outlets in Melbourne are part of an expansion into transit locations here.

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Newsagency challenges

The Australian Woodworker publisher turns back on newsagents

Check out what the publisher of The Australian Woodworker has published in the latest issue of the magazine.  They infer newsagents have cut their title from the mix of magazines they carry.  I wonder if this is what they have been told or whether they have other evidence of this.

They also claim that there are new newsagents who do not appreciate the interest in woodworking.

If I were them I’d want supply and return data by newsagency for the last three years.  I’d also want to know how many newsagencies have specifically cut the title versus how many are no longer supplied because of sales performance of the title and a cut therefor by the magazine distributor allocations system.

A better approach for the publisher would have been to engage with newsagents, to educate us about the title and to invest in driving traffic to the channel.

Their decision to go the other way, and promote only a direct subscription relationship will only encourage more newsagents to look at not stocking the title.

I’d urge the publisher to retract their statement and engage directly with newsagents:

  1. Provide collateral (real or downloadable) with which to promote the title.
  2. Provide einside information on who is the likely reader and how to sell to them.
  3. Be clear on where the title should be placed in a newsagency.
  4. Make a commercial offer to encourage newsagent support.
  5. List newsagent stockists on your website.
  6. Talk up newsagents in the magazine.
  7. Tell newsagents how you support them.

Newsagencies are businesses.  Every magazine pocket has to pay its way.  To achieve this, we need publishers to actively support our channel as the magazine specialist channel at ever opportunity.  We need collateral with which to promote titles.  We need publishers engaged with us commercially.

Publishers who do nothing to support the channel can expect nothing in return.

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magazine distribution

Responding to the Express Media Group offer

We are responding to the bonus margin opportunity and the no full copy return decision by Express Media Group by placing their titles in good positions in the appropriate categories. As the photo shows, the EMG title features on the left of the country section and Country Collections from Universal Magazines is on the right.

We’re happy to be promoting two Australian magazine titles as the beacon titles in the country section of our newsagency.

Maybe I have noticed it before or maybe it is new – I like the clarity of the value proposition printed on the bcd for the EMG pack.  Making it clear that you get the current issue and $23 value for $8.95 is an important pitch.

We are promoting all EMG titles we receive in this higher-profile way to see what we can achieve from a sales perspective.  Our hope is good news all round.

We have asked EMG to supply stock of all of their titles for the next three months so that we can see what works in our business. This allows us time for the sales to guide our business decisions.  We have found EMG to be most helpful in navigating this.  They control their own allocations so it is easy for them to set this up and monitor performance.

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magazines

Promoting National Geographic

Last week we took the opportunity to promote National Geographic magazine with this tactical placement next to weeklies.  I figured that the cover story on the Teenage Brain would be of interest to the shoppers I see buying the weekly titles.

National Geographic is one of those titles where the cover can have a big impact on sales, this is why we are sure to check every issue and act accordingly.

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magazines

A Sunday marketing / management tip for newsagents

Lock your back office for a week. Don’t let anyone in or out.  Shift all the work you used to do or have done there to in the newsagency shop itself.

If you or others strong oppose the move, analyse why.  Is it because you like to hide?

In an average newsagents with non lottery or other agency revenue of under a million dollars, the business cannot afford a full time manager or back room operator.  hence the suggestion of moving back room tasks to the shop floor.

I bet if you do this, as disruptive as it may be, you will find changes you can make to your processes to reduce some of the work you do in your back room.  At the very least you will be challenged to look at your business and the back room operation in a different way.  that’s a good thing.

We need to disrupt our businesses to discover opportunities for change.

I have been in many newsagency back rooms.  Some are caves offering protection to owners and managers.  Others are warehouses full of stock which will not deliver a financial return for the business.  Others are places where occupational health and safety are challenges.  Others are places for employees to take three or four times longer to do a task than if they did it at the front counter or elsewhere others could see how hard they are working.

Lock up your back room and lock everyone out.  Look for business improvement opportunities as a result.

I’ve done this by creating a newsagency with a back room so small that it can hold one person standing up and not moving.  The business is run from the counter.

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Newsagency management

Newsagency marketing group partners with Corporate Express

The lucky charm newsagent marketing group has announced a partnership with Corporate Express in the stationery space.  Corporate Express is owned by US stationery giant Staples.  While Staples is not currently a retail brand here, the Staples website is up and running and driving good traffic. If Staples does open here then any retailer selling stationery, including newsagents, will be their competitor.  Indeed, this already the save thanks to the Staples local website.

It does not make sense to to me to support a competitor when there is an industry owned alternative available.  Maybe their is something missing in the move.

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Stationery

Weekly magazines sell out last week

New Idea, TV Week and Famous all sold out for us last week.  Who is set to sell out.  These are great results for the weeklies.

Also, Better Homes & Gardens sold out, we got 10 more and they sold out and we’re chasing another 10.

While it’s terrific selling out, it would be great to see it coming sooner so we could get extra stock to reach our full potential.

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magazines

Keeping up with the Kardashians

With Kim leaving the country in a rush and more Aussies now knowing the name than ever, we are taking the opportunity to promote the release of series 1 of the Tv series on DVD.

You can see our tactical placement.

I am not expecting sales given the run the TV show has had on pay TV and the easy availability of episode via download.  But, hey, I didn’t think the Justin Bieber cards would sell and they sold our for us form times over.

I’d be thrilled if the DVD sold … we’re giving it our best shot.

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magazines

How does a brûlée set fit into the Postal Corporation Act 1989

The Christmas 2011 catalogue from Australia Post is packed with items which are far removed from what I would expect a post office to sell, like the Brûlée Set on page 7.  While this is not a newsagency line and therefore not directly harming my business, there are plenty of items being offered by the 850 or so government owned (and protected) post offices which in my view Australia Post should not sell.

I don’t care so much about the privately owned post offices as these are small business owners.  It is the government competition to which I object.

Having the government compete with you, leveraging their protected brand and foot traffic to take sales from independent small businesses is appalling.

The Howard government refused to do anything to help newsagents and other retailers when they complained they the government owned outlets were taking sales from.  The Labor government is not much better.

Both sides of politics continue to let small business down by equal measure.

These products, like the Brûlée Set, a Bird Bath, Beach Bat Sets, Sewing Machine, and Children’s Books being available at the Post Office mocks the Postal Corporation Act 1989.

Section 14 of the Act requires Australia Post to provide a postal service first and foremost:

The principal function of Australia Post is to supply postal services within Australia and between Australia and places outside Australia.

Section 15 talks about permitted subsidiary functions:

A subsidiary function of Australia Post is to carry on, outside Australia, any business or activity relating to postal services.

Section 16 talks about other permitted functions:

Functions incidental businesses and activities

(1) The functions of Australia Post include the carrying on, within or outside Australia, of any business or activity that is incidental to: (a) the supplying of postal services under section 14; or (b) the carrying on of any business or activity under section 15.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the functions of Australia Post include the carrying on, within or outside Australia, of any business or activity that is capable of being conveniently carried on: (a) by the use of resources that are not immediately required in carrying out Australia Post’s principal or subsidiary function; or (b) in the course of: (i) supplying postal services under section 14; or (ii) carrying on any business or activity under section 15.

The last federal government and the current one have permitted Australia Post to take millions of dollars in revenue from small business. The situation is getting worse.

The federal government deregulated newspaper and magazine distribution saying that newsagents needed to get into the competitive world.  It is a pity that they have not applied the same competition rules to the business they own.

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Australia Post

Driving impulse purchase of gardening titles

We have tweaked the placement of our top three gardening titles to try and increase sales beyond the growth we are already seeing.  Each title is getting time at the front, so that the full face can be seen.  Putting this next to english weekly titles and before me move into home and living gets garden titles seen by more shoppers than if we left it in the usual location.

We have Gardening Australia, Burke’s Backyard and Your Garden in these prime three pockets as they are our best performers at this time of the year.

This is the time of the year to promote garden titles, to make the most of the springtime seasonal opportunity.  Sales are excellent.

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magazines

Promoting new kids cookbook

We are promoting the new kids’ cakes cookbook title from ACP at the sales counter.  The cover is terrific and is bound to draw good attention.  We are also giving the title a run in the ACP stand at the front of the newsagency – chasing sales before people focus on Christmas shopping.

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magazines

Long live the magazine!

Check out the editor’s letter from the latest AdNews …

Magazines are dead. Really? It’s all too easy to bemoan the overall circulation decline across the consumer magazine industry as a portent of an industry in perennial decline. The truth is more complex. The reality of the situation also happens to be more positive than some of the doom-sayers would have you believe.

Be sure to read the whole thing.  It’s a positive pitch for print citing Famous and frankie.

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magazines

iPad App for Vogue Australia launched

News magazines has announced the release of an iPad App for Vogue Australia.  The result is content distinct to the print product:

“Far from being a replica of the printed magazine, the Vogue Australia iPad app will engage our audience with exclusive multimedia content and behind-the-scenes glimpses of a world of fashion and beauty that only Vogue can access,” said Kirstie Clements, editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia.

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magazines

Unjustified magazine supply increase by Gordon and Gotch

I know, I should not be shocked by the decision by Gordon and Gotch to increase supply of a title with a sell through of 30% to 45%.  But I am.  I am shocked that in this tough marketplace with flat or declining magazine sales Gordon and Gotch would send me more of something which struggles to sell in my newsagency.

Gotch’s own data would reflect that I usually sell 4 copies of this title.  They have increased me from 10 to 14 copies.

In my view, this is unconscionable conduct.  Given the renewed interest at the ACCC in unconscionable conduct under new Chairman Rod Sims maybe they could take a look at this.  I am sure I have not been singled out by Gotch for being knowingly grossly oversupplied.  Indeed, I know from other newsagents that Gotch is performing particularly poorly at the moment on oversupply.  Newsagents carry the cost.

Magazine publishers who wonder why newsagents early return titles without thought have the reason right here.  Newsagents use early returns to hit back at poor behaviour.

I’ve not gone to Gotch about this particular issue as I should not have to do this.  They say they are the magazine distribution experts.  I guess they are if you look at it from their perspective.  These extra four copies are sent in an effort to get my cash and thereby become the banker, again, to the Gotch model.

For a company committed to building real partnerships with our customers, Gotch is failing based on consistent behaviour like this.

I consider their continued oversupply to be a breach of contract let alone appalling customer service.

Every magazine publisher with a title distributed through Gotch should be concerned by this behaviour which hurst the newsagency channel.

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magazine distribution

Connecting magazines with the news of the day

The team at one of my newsagencies cleverly placed marie claire and OK! Australia between our newspapers earlier this week.  marie claire because of the Sarah Jessica Parker cover – she is in Melbourne for Melbourne Cup week – and OK! because of of Kim Kardashian’s (shock!!!) divorce announcement and her arrival in Sydney.

One of the ways we can drive impulse purchases of magazines is to demonstrate their relevance.  Showing off covers which connect with the news of the day is one way of doing this.

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magazines

Hot Boys of TV opportunity for newsagents

On Monday newsagents have an opportunity with the release of Hot Boys of TV, a one-shot from Pacific Magazines as a brand extension TV Hits.

Only available through newsagents and Big W, our channel ought to make the most of the opportunity.  Pacific is promoting the title through social media and this is bound to drive interest and traffic to our channel.

My plan is to promote this title at the front of the newsagency – in a high traffic location – as well as with teen magazines.

There is considerable social media buzz about the launch on Facebook and Twitter.  This is being driven by Pacific Magazines and encourages people to go to their newsagency to pick up a copy.

 

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magazines
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