VANA News

Dear Members,

Please see below correspondence from Nine on its position on distribution consolidation.

We now have a clear position on Victorian distribution from the publishers ,no question this is moving towards consolidation.

We want to support all distributors during this process.

Nine’s position
Nine supports a consolidated distribution model in Metropolitan Melbourne that provides:

• sustainable delivery of newspapers for at least 10 years
• consistent delivery standards and customer experience
• transparency of the customer through direct publisher contact
• transparency of data
• an equitable cost model amongst users of the distribution network

Nine believes successful implementation of a consolidated distribution model hinges on retaining existing experience in the network, large distribution zones that follow existing territory boundaries and an implementation time frame that supports success of distributors.

Nine became aware of News Corp’s intent to consolidate and their intent to start an RFP process in late 2020. Considering this news, Nine will start working toward consolidation to ensure delivery of The Age and The Australian Financial Review is sustained.

Consolidation is a move away from the traditional retailer and distributor functions of a newsagent. Nine is interested in hearing from newsagents who want to expand to be pure play logistics companies. Interested parties will need to have the ability to provide proposals that include:

• a sustainable business model
• a warehouse operations plan
• recruiting and training plans
• optimised routes for retail and home delivery
• complaint handling process and the ability to maintain a complaint rate of 0.5% or less
• reporting and data management capabilities
• contingency and disaster planning
• workplace health and safety plans
• appropriate IT systems

Interested parties can contact Wayne Couzins or Chris Vines at the following email address – newsagencycontracts@fairfaxmedia.com.au
www.covidlive.com.au

Our distributors across the board are doing a great job in incredibly challenging circumstances that we have never seen before. 25 deaths yesterday and 282 new cases today. Let’s keep grinding this out and we will win and beat this virus. You are not alone at VANA.

Keep up the great work as an essential service and serving the community on the front line.