Wholesalers, Publishers, Distributors and Industry Associations
Home News Delivery (HND) newsagents have been in decline for a number of years. Whilst the bigger picture today, from a publishers` perspective, tends to focus on digital media and the daily predictions of when and how many consumers will convert to whatever pay walls, both newsagents and news wholesalers rely on the `old` printed media for their news revenues.
Ironically, there is no statistical evidence that the internet has actually damaged circulation. Those that do best on the internet also do best in print. For every 30 minutes consumers spend reading a printed newspaper, they spend two to three minutes in a newspaper website. Forty five percent read a print newspaper, reading on average 40 pages. Twelve percent read a newspaper online but visit between four and six pages. So it’s all to play for – the screen versus the letterbox. And the industry needs to fight back as the biggest threat newspapers face comes from the closure of HND newsagents.
In order for HND newsagents to survive and prosper, newspaper publishers need to provide the best content, print adequate quantities at a price and margin that can sustain retailers and produce and deliver them at an agreed time into wholesalers. Wholesalers in turn need to pack accurately and deliver them into newsagents at the time they require for their customers. They must also minimise their charges for this service. And HND newsagents need to also analyse all aspects of their operation to ensure profitability and customer service is maximised.
The accumulating burden of home news delivery debt, the prevailing economic climate, the discontinuation of cheque clearing and the circulation challenge in the mid term all point towards a difficult financial period ahead. The sustainability of independent home news delivery will rely heavily on the conversion to faster, more efficient forms of financial transactions, the same financial systems that publishers, distributors and wholesalers have operated for years. These systems can now, for the very first time, be offered to those newsagents. It will in turn lower the debt risk for wholesalers ensuring that publishers invoices are paid on time.
Promote Direct Debit for newsagents because one thing is for certain - Direct Debit will be the norm for home news delivery newsagents.
