Click here to see a copy of the letter sent to Victorian Newsagents on Monday announcing The Futures Project, the new business management and marketing group established by VANA. As I blogged last week, this group is not the work an association should engage in, especially not VANA when their record on member representation has not been good.

The Futures Project cuts across what some marketing groups already do. It also cuts across some of what newsagent GNS does for newsagents. Curiously, VANA has developed this new commercial activity without involving either group.

The then VANA Chairman, CEO and another Director presented this project to the ANF six months ago. My understanding is that the ANF passed on supporting the project.

I approached the VANA CEO when I heard about this project two months ago. I expressed concerns that VANA was ignoring association work in pursuit of commercial activity. He assured me it was not what I thought. The announcement this week suggests otherwise. For the record, I note that I have had no other discussion with VANA about the project nor have I been I invited to any such discussion by VANA.

Newsagent Associations have an appalling track record on commercial activity. They would we well advised to focus on association services.

While we are not fans of spinners, two of our team at Forest Hill could not pass up this stand which they found at a dumpster. The stand is in excellent condition. It helps us resolve a Christmas space issue and provides welcome flexibility.  The deep shelves allow us to efficiently display a range of items we want to promote away from our traditional gift display. 

Dumpster diving can be rewarding – it’s certainly good for the environment.

I have decided to benchmark November 2008 against November 2007 to check the health of the newsagency channel. Tower Newsagents can participate by sending a Monthly Sales Comparison report: tick the box to exclude home deliveries, and tick the box to get a category breakdown. Set your first date range (on the left) to November 1, 2008 to November 30, 2008 and the date range of the right to one year earlier. Once the report is on the screen, click the PDF button to save this as a PDF, go into your email software and send a copy of the PDF to me at mark@towersystems.com.au.

I’d like to complete the benchmark by the end of the week so the sooner I receive data the better.

Newsagents not using Tower software wishing to participate should email me if they would like a spreadsheet template to complete.

I’ll publish the benchmark results here and elsewhere so all newsagents can benefit.

2009 is shaping up as a defining year for newsagents. Besides the disruption caused mobile devices and the Internet and the challenges brought about by the so-called Global Economic Crisis, our channel faces considerable structural change as several key suppliers introduce changes to drive efficiencies for their businesses.

I am fortunate to have be a participant in briefings by several suppliers across different product categories in newsagencies. While I cannot share details of specific briefings, I can say that in 2009 more than ever before newsagent compliance around key business practices across multiple departments will be crucial.

While we can be frustrated that compliance is used by some as a stick, there are smart suppliers who will use it as a carrot. From what I have seen, most of the new compliance regimes in 2009 will be good for individual businesses.

Achieving compliance requires support from all stakeholders – the suppliers, your employees and the providers of any tools such as newsagency software. It is the area of software which has given me a seat at the table in various briefings over the last six weeks.

At these meetings I have robustly represented that newsagents need to gain as much as suppliers stand to gain from mutual compliance. Whether suppliers have listened remains to be seen.

2009 will be a tough year for our channel. The bar will be raised. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Natural Selection will be evident.

Newsagents can best prepare by reviewing the efficiency of their business inside out. There is less room for wastage, mistakes and ignorance than ever before.