Newsagents need to get tough with publishers over what they stock, says NewsLifeMedia CEO

I can’t believe what I’m reading. Putting aside all the secular trends in print circulation, the key issue for these products is a very restricted distribution network. Go back to news agencies? Forget it. Provide paid product access at transit points, CBD corners, coffee shops etc., and support the broader distribution network with real-time headlines in key day-parts (between 6 and 9am) on digital OOH.

The very reason I stopped going to newsagents was because of the lotto. It was a pain in the proverbial to have to squeeze past the lotto queues on the way in and then wait for ages to make a purchase. Everything I bought from them is available elsewhere, usually cheaper, and definitely easier. My teens probably will never step foot in one, they don’t need to. Shame.

Hi,

I own a Newsagency and you need to look at Newsagencies now like you look at coffee shops. There will be good ones and there will be bad ones but we can’t be all classified under the same umbrella anymore. The reputation of my business suffers because of poorly run Newsagencies yet a well run coffee shop has no connection to the poorly run coffee shop in the next town which is using the same resources…
I think Nicole is lucky I do not run my Newsagency like a Supermakret or half of her companies titles would be cut from my range due to declining sales (even with full facings and waterfalls) yet other niche titles are seeing large increases. The magazine system is broken at both ends and the blame has to be shared as has the solution.
I personally hope the amount of Newsagents declines and the only ones left are the high performing retailers who are not legacy Newagents.
Lou – one of the biggest demographics that comes into my store are school children from ages 6-16 and the reason they come in is because my shop is relevant to what they need.
Cheers

Agree that they need to make it a destination again.The newsagent ‘Experience” is generally quite uninspiring. Very little has been done with the model to address change.

Low flat stacks, cumbersome racks and hard-to-navigate rows are layouts stuck in the 80s. Many are located in shopping centres with little regard for trolleys. Some have become ‘Lotto kiosks’ because the rest of the store offer very little enticement to move in further. The supermarket model does not compare as it already has the consumer inside the store and only needs to use strategic sales points and display.

It’s disheartening to see all that print locked in a time-warp retail frame

Whilst most newsagencies are super icky and make me want to find what I want then leave, Magnation tried to do the ‘lovely customer experience’…
They shut down because people would come in and treat it like a library. No one ever bought anything! Maybe being in Newtown, a place where people think it’s ok to pay $2 for a meal, wasn’t very smart.

Put the magazines in on consignment

It’s not the newsagents that is the problem. It is the distributors who are ripping off both the publishers and the newsagents. Name another industry where the distributors demand that the newsagents pay them for magazines on delivery but then don’t pay the publishers for at least a month. In some cases the publishers have to wait three months to be paid. The only winners are the distributors,