I was talking to a large magazine distributor and it was brought up that many newsagents still do not have systems. You can see the problem the newsagency industry faces if you look at this chart at the large number in red.
It is a shocker to see how many people still do not have any system in their shops. The lack of consistency in the industry is holding us all back.
Let me give you a personal example. We had a meeting at Telstra about introducing a new product into newsagencies. One of the senior executives in Telstra in the meeting said "Can you guarantee us that all newsagents can handle this product?"
I said, “no because of the nature of the industry.”
So he relied "How can we advertise it as available at newsagents if some cannot handle the product?"
I replied you could advertise that it is available at selected newsagents.
So he replied, "Yes we can get around it but it causes problems."
Then it came up that if Telstra goes with newsagents only, there will be areas where the product is not available.
Now consider what Australia Post representative, could have said at the meeting if asked these questions?
