This issue of Modern Wedding Cakes has been supplied to us by NDD four times. 12/7/06: supplied 7 (we returned 6); 3/11/06: 5 (4); 7/2/07: 4 (2); 9/5/07: 2 (probably – 2).

Given that NDD has our sales data and given the commitments on their website, I cannot understand how this issue of this title has slipped through the cracks and continues to be supplied.

After the July 2006 experience the next delivery of Modern Wedding cakes I ought to have received is the next issue, not this same issue another three times.

This ‘pusher’ type behaviour suck cash out of my newsagency and, I am sure, hundreds, if not thousands, of others.

New Woman magazine this month is fat. Well, wide. So wide in fact that it takes two pockets to display. The free umbrella stuck on the side is too big to fit into a single pocket.

I like the giveaway but hate the way they have gone about this. It makes retail display challenging and leads to mess. However, I know that putting the umbrella behind the counter would dilute the benefit of the giveaway.

Emporium magazine, the new quarterly published by News Ltd for Myer has been out for a week today and is struggling. Beyond a supply model from distributor, NDD, which does not appear make sense – some newsagents who could sell the title were not allocated any and others who would sell 4 or 5 were allocated ten times this – the title is struggling.

First up there is the issue of collateral material. Very little has been supplied. This makes launching the title with any visual noise challenging. It makes the cynic inside me wonder about the newsagent role in the Myer / News Ltd / NDD partnership. Maybe our role is to give the title presence on the shelf more so than to achieve sales.? Hmm…

Emporium is a good product and certainly presents well in its category. The problem is that the category is well served so finding shelf space is difficult. I need new titles in the fashion area to work immediately to justify the premium space. In my store, after a week, Emporium is not working. We have located it in the fashion area as well as in a special display in a high traffic area near the counter.

I plan to give Emporium another two weeks. If I have not sold at least 10 of the 25 supplied I’ll return everything receive early. Carrying 25 copies until September if they are not selling does not make sense.

The Kroger supermarket group is replacing magazines at the checkout of its 2,500 stores with financial products according to this report.

While I understand the important role supermarkets play in the magazine retail mix, it frustrates me knowing how much publishers pay, directly and in-kind, to have their product in premium position. 4,600 newsagents provide premium positions for no additional charge. One day, the major publishers will realise the value of that support.

Samir Husni, Mr Magazine, is the subject of an interview with Mark Glaser at PBS’ Mediashift. It’s interesting reading.

This will be music to newsagent’s ears since we crave to be the magazine specialists.

Supplementary magazine returns are those returns sent by newsagents to magazine distributors ahead of their recall date. This is usually done because of gross over supply, an uneconomic shelf life or lack of shelf space.

At a meeting of 35 newsagents in Newcastle this morning all but two reported that they have trouble getting the PBL owned Network services to credit newsagents for supplementary returns on time. These newsagents cite month after month of having to call and email chasing credits – often resending the returns from two and three times.

There is no such delay by Network on the other side. They expect newsagents to pay on time and cut off supply if this is not achieved.

The anger in the room of newsagents toward what seems to be a sloppy and labour intensive supplementary return credit practice was palpable.

All newsagents are looking for is for the Network accounts department to treat newsagents as they, Network, demand newsagents treat them. Waiting two and three months for credits for supplementary returns is an awful impost on these small businesses.

It was odd today in Newcastle to hear of so many newsagents reporting that their supplementary returns go missing. Network management must be aware of the problem.

Regional magazines are more popular than ever, or so it seems. Coast, Cravings and Dish are good examples of the genre, covering a specific region from the perspective of the title’s subject matter. While SA Life is the pin-up child of regional magazines – it’s taken the SA market by storm – a swag of more niche titles have entered the market.

Regional magazines, such as the three above, are usually of high content and production quality. They have to be to break through the clutter on newsagency shelves.

In my own newsagency, as best we can tell, we have more than 15 Australian regional magazines. Not SA Life however. .

A challenge for regional magazines is where to place them. While their subject matter dictates current location, there are so many that I’d like to create another area featuring regional magazines and thereby underscore an important point of difference we offer. Such a display may be short term given that few of these titles pay their way. Of the titles we carry, data shows that only three have sales which come close to justifying their existence.

Over the four weeks from May 23, five new partworks will be launched. Most are for children except for Charmed which focuses on a broader demographic. I know from personal experience that Gordon and Gotch has a list of newsagents who aggressively promote partworks – make sure you’re on it if appropriate.

Naturist magazines are dying if the data from my newsagency and others I have seen reflects a national trend.

While never in the top selling titles, Tan, H&E and a couple of others usually paid their way at least. No more – I suspect that these titles are not cash-flow positive in any newsagency.

Without a stocking subsidy to cover labour and real-estate costs, there is no choice but to request that the titles are no longer supplied. While the publishers will not be happy with the position, they need to understand the cost to newsagents of under performing titles. Each magazine pocket had a real-estate cost. Each issue has a labour cost to process arrival, return and upkeep. Then there is the cost of lost opportunity, of having underperforming stock on the shelf.

This is what newsagents must do – decide on the threshold, where depth of range can be cost justified and then kill the titles which fall below. Cash-flow is the ideal measure since it goes to the heart of a healthy business and it is very easy to measure month by month title by title.

It makes no financial sense for me to subsidise Tan and H&E just so I can feel better about my magazine range. The saved pockets will enable me to better display nearby titles which are selling well.

I’ve heard that NDD is this week considering moving to the First Fleet organisation for the packaging and distribution of the magazines they represent. Such a move would most likely lead to a cut in the number of distribution days. Currently, NDD product can be delivered five or six days a week. Under a First Fleet arrangement I would expect this cut to one or two days a week. This would impact newsagent customer service and workflow.

Publishers who moved to NDD because they did not want the First Fleet restrictions would be unhappy.

First Fleet does not deliver everywhere. Often newsagents in previously serviced remote locations have to travel some distance to collect product which previously was delivered to their doorstep.

Newsagents, publishers and even major retailers such as Coles and Woolworths will recall the impact on their businesses when Gotch and Network made the move a couple of years ago. In some states it was six months of disaster. Newsagents, collectively, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I know of one major retailer who threatened a major compensation claim at the time – not sure that that proceeded though.

Gotch and Network moved to First fleet to cut costs out of their operation. Project Hero it was called. The hero was their P&L – the move was most successful so it’s logical that NDD looks to achieve the same gains.

Given that its current distribution arrangements are a point of difference I am surprised NDD is seriously considering this move.

From a newsagent perspective it could be another reason to rethink carrying NDD product at all.