James Blog

Paid Digital Subscriptions Grow

The latest figures I have seen shows there has been good growth in digital subscriptions in Australia, most of this coming from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and The Age.

I know that I get a lot of my news in the form of a digital subscription, but this is tied to a physical weekend delivery where the 7 day digital subscription is offered free. I wonder if this is how they manage to report increases in readership and uptake of digital subscriptions? As much as an 86% from last years figures apparently ! 

What does this all mean? It tells me that consumers are getting their fix in many different ways, absorbing news and entertainment through a multitude of media. So, in order to stay relevant to our consumers we need to adapt our offerings to them to include all different means of delivering their daily or weekly fix.

How do you do this? A good question isn't it? The problem is being able to offer a variety of solutions efficiently and economically. if you are expecting me to have this solution today, I will sadly disappoint, however I strongly believe there is "more than one way to skin a cat" (as they say) and opening conversations and news ways of thinking could bring many of these solutions together.

I also note from the same article I read that the two major weekly magazines, Woman's Day and New Idea have experienced substantial increases in circulation, which is a great news story showing that print media is not dead yet. In fact, niche magazines continue to buck the trend and have steady readership increases. Interestingly this does not surprise me. Although I am happy to get my news digitally (SMH App) I much prefer a magazine for special interest and dare I say it... gossip.

Reality TV helps with magazine readership too, Better Homes & Gardens being the best example I can think of where a TV show promotes the magazine and the magazine the TV Show. Brilliant marketing !

Although I have not focused much on solutions here, I would like to close with a couple of observations. 

Support the Weekly magazine titles in your store with good placement and displays.It makes a lot of sense to support a brand/product that is doing well in the market.

Seek new innovations and products to ensure your retail store appeals to the changing consumer. This can be as simple as selling iTunes cards, gift cards and the like through your electronic terminals, right through to stocking E-Readers and tablets, or smart phones.

The next step is to encourage the publishers to provide Digital Subscription packs to sell at a retail level. What better place than the same store consumers use to buy their newspapers and magazines today? 

 

 

Windows 8 makes a Splash

There is a lot of talk at the moment about which is the best "Smart Phone" and which is the best operating system for your smart phone.

The answer is of course not definitive, but what I can tell you is that Nokia, once the worlds largest and best selling phone manufacturer is not simply lying down and letting the likes of Apple and Samsung take all of the market in the smart phone market.

Evidence of this is what I consider to be the best value smart phone on the market... the brand new Nokia Lumia 620.

This handset offers some of the best features you could want, and at a VERY competitive price. 

These features include: the latest Windows 8 operating system, which is proving to be an exceptional user interface and perfect for business user and social use a like. Add to that a fast 1GHz Dual Core Processor, 3G Quad Band, for all Aussie Networks, a bright 3.8 inch screen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 5MP Camera.

All of this, and more for only $299 rrp makes this great value.

Check it out here

 

Take a break.... on Lovatts.

    Thanks to our very good friends at Lovatts, the premier Australian and New Zealand crossword and puzzle publishers, Jenlist Distributors is proud to bring you our daily "Wordsearch" absolutely free!

    Lovatts Crossword & Puzzles was established by husband and wife team, James and Christine in 1978 and has become well known for the best puzzle books in the industry, loved by consumers and retailers a like.

    Newsagents around the country have been supporting the large range of Lovatts Crosswords & Puzzles for many years, and speaking from experience, I can tell you the Lovatts range are great sellers... a welcome product for any newsagent or retailer. Their fabulous puzzles can be found not only in the range of books published by Lovatts but also regularly found in Woman's Day, Women's Weekly, the TV Week and many other well known publications. When flying on Qantas Lovatts Puzzles feature in the Qantas magazine.

Well done Lovatts, another great Australian family business ! Thank you for adding to our web site and giving our valued retailers a break.

Check out our daily Lovatts Wordsearch here and check the Lovatts Web site. www.lovatts.com.au

 

 

Stand By Power

Does it really account for 10% of usage?

Where do we get this this rule of thumb from. Is this accurate?

I am talking about electricity consumption, not all energy consumption.

So, where did the 10% come from? VERY good question. The 10% figure came from a detailed study of standby power consumption back  in 2005. 

The principles and appliance usage still stands. A total of 8000 individual appliances from 120 homes were recorded during the survey. Appliances were recorded in all relevant standby modes, such as active standby, passive standby or off mode. The results showed that the average standby consumption for 2005 was found to be 92.2 Watts per household, or some 807 kWh per year. This equates to around 10.7% of residential electricity consumption in 2005.

The above graph shows the Stanby power used by different appliances.

If you feel you want to do something about the amount of wasted electricity (not to mention the cost) then have a look at theEco Switch, a simple an easy way to reduce or eliminate the wastage of standy power.

 

Help your customers see the light !


Have a look at the latest range of Torches from Tomcat available through Jenlist Distributors.


These make a wonderful impulse buy on or near the counter, and even a great gift for the person that has everything.

Check them out here to place your order.

 

Fatigue can Kill !

    Every now and again a product comes along and you wonder why some one didn't think of it before, or if they did, why it hasn't been readily available.

    We have all seen the adverts on TV warning us about Driver Fatigue!

    Well, for only $24.95 retail, you can have peace of mind for yourself, your sons and daughters, the grandchildren, just about everyone.

    If you are behind the wheel for any length of time this is a must have life saver.

Check out more details and to purchase here !