Everyone in the industry has been talking today about the latest figures released by CONNECT.

You only need to study this transaction percentage graph over time to determine why the large public interest.

There are no other products in newsagencies that have recorded such a high growth rate? 950% growth in six months. Clearly, the public are starting to become interested in their products.

Here is a breakdown of the Bpay service which seems to be a range of products with of course Telstra being the biggest.

By now you should have received this.

Based on our experience with John Sands many people will want to jump on to it for the time saving. It is unclear whether Hallmark will do returns immediately, but the invoicing will be a good start.

By now you should have received this.

Based on our experience with John Sands many people will want to jump on to it for the time saving. It is unclear whether Hallmark will do returns immediately, but the invoicing will be a good start.

For now, we have concentrated on getting the back end of our website working, it proved to be a big job. There is over five-year history of knowledge base, training and information system.

Now finally we have been able to work on the new front end with an improved visual and better interaction.

We hope to have it out on Monday.

For now, we have concentrated on getting the back end of our website working, it proved to be a big job. There is over five-year history of knowledge base, training and information system.

Now finally we have been able to work on the new front end with an improved visual and better interaction.

We hope to have it out on Monday.

Question:

How do we get the Accounts Receivable Balance for Customers to ensure that you produce the report after the deliveries for Monday have been charged?

Answer:

Since round cards tend to run automatically at 10:30pm by the scheduler so not to waste newsagent's time, you need to run this report, the Customer balance report until after your rounds have run for the day. The easiest way to do that is after the 30th June, in the criteria of the report in the From date select the 30th.

Question:

How do we get the Accounts Receivable Balance for Customers to ensure that you produce the report after the deliveries for Monday have been charged?

Answer:

Since round cards tend to run automatically at 10:30pm by the scheduler so not to waste newsagent's time, you need to run this report, the Customer balance report until after your rounds have run for the day. The easiest way to do that is after the 30th June, in the criteria of the report in the From date select the 30th.

More evidence is coming forward that plain packaging of cigarettes has failed, as new sales figures for tobacco after the first year show sales are up.

As I stated here before, it came in and would cause a switch to cheaper brands, which has happened.

Since the legal price has gone up, I am confident that the illicit trade of tobacco in Australia is up a lot. This is particularly true because tobacco's packaging is much nicer than the lawful plain packaging, which is a shocker. As a result, today, Australians are smoking slightly more.

I think that the people who advised and those who pushed this policy have some explaining to do. Large sums of money were spent on the conversion, and thousands of people were and still are forced to do a lot of extra work for what is now a zero or worse. They cannot argue that they did not get proper advice, as many submissions were made before it went live, outlining these problems. The problem is that they did not listen.

More evidence is coming forward that plain packaging of cigarettes has failed here, as new sales figures for tobacco after the first year show sales are up.

As I stated here before it came in, it would cause a switch to cheaper brands, and this is what has happened.

Since the legal price has gone up, I am confident that the illicit trade of tobacco in Australia has increased significantly. This is particularly true because tobacco's packaging is much nicer than the lawful plain packaging, which is a shocker. As a result, Australians are smoking slightly more today.

I think that the people who advised and those who pushed this policy have some explaining to do. Large sums of money were spent on the conversion, and 10,000s of people were and still are forced to do a lot of extra work for what is now a zero or worse. They cannot argue that they did not get proper advice, as many submissions were made before it went live, outlining these problems; the problem is that they did not listen.

http://info.bondbrandloyalty.com/the-2014-loyalty-report-us

I think it had some interesting points.

Firstly, it stated that if a solid points program for purchases exist, they felt the consumer tend to stick with that company. I agree with that as both the Nextra and Lucky Charm programme show that in our marketplace it does work.

Now the study was done by interviewing 6,000 people in the US to determine what loyalty programs worked. I would expect Australian figures to be fairly similar.

According to the report, 63 percent of all consumers say they liked the brand/shop more than the loyalty program.

29 percent overall said they would not be loyal to the brand if not for the rewards program. Interestingly here report stated that for such people the programme would likely not be sustainable. Principally, as the report stated later these people mainly wanted discounts. I am sure as soon as someone is cheaper they are gone.

Most people depending on the popularity of the loyalty programme 18% to 61% LOVED communication from the loyalty programs they use. If you do not have the peoples' email or home addresses how are you going to communicate with this group?

Now this is the part that was really interesting.

22 percent said they made purchases of something they did not need in order to maintain eligibility for points or benefits, and 35 percent said they modify the brands they buy in order to maximize their benefits in the program.

The report is well worth reading, particularly if you are thinking of making a loyalty programme, you can find it on the above link.

http://info.bondbrandloyalty.com/the-2014-loyalty-report-us

I think it had some interesting points.

Firstly, it stated that if a solid points program for purchases exist, they felt the consumer tend to stick with that company. I agree with that as both the Nextra and Lucky Charm programme show that in our marketplace it does work.

Now the study was done by interviewing 6,000 people in the US to determine what loyalty programs worked. I would expect Australian figures to be fairly similar.

According to the report, 63 percent of all consumers say they liked the brand/shop more than the loyalty program.

29 percent overall said they would not be loyal to the brand if not for the rewards program. Interestingly here report stated that for such people the programme would likely not be sustainable. Principally, as the report stated later these people mainly wanted discounts. I am sure as soon as someone is cheaper they are gone.

Most people depending on the popularity of the loyalty programme 18% to 61% LOVED communication from the loyalty programs they use. If you do not have the peoples' email or home addresses how are you going to communicate with this group?

Now this is the part that was really interesting.

22 percent said they made purchases of something they did not need in order to maintain eligibility for points or benefits, and 35 percent said they modify the brands they buy in order to maximize their benefits in the program.

The report is well worth reading, particularly if you are thinking of making a loyalty programme, you can find it on the above link.

Today after a few days of trying whoever is attacking us, succeeded in blocking our contact page probably in an attempt to stop us getting new leads. This is what the page looked like filled in.

This is what happens after a person pressed submit.

Today after a few days of trying whoever is attacking us, succeeded in blocking our contact page probably in an attempt to stop us getting new leads. This is what the page looked like filled in.

This is what happens after a person pressed submit.

Now what is being stated is that newsagents to fix the problem of Network EDI files is to select the "late option" and print the items alphabetically as this is very easy to do.

You can try it.

Simply go into the print manager of our software.

Now select A-Z, see the green arrow here, press it.

And off it comes out alphabetically as here.

In practice though it does not save time, as its quicker and easier to handle in bundle order.

Even in bundle order there are problems as there are duplicate invoice numbers and printed labels are often not in the same order as magazines in the bundle. There are other issues too such as the "late option" means the invoices comes late; some complain that they get the invoices after the magazines arrive.

Yes, you can do it, but I do not see it as a solution.

I do recommend that people get behind the ANF push now as it the best hope at present to get something done.

Now what is being stated is that newsagents to fix the problem of Network EDI files is to select the "late option" and print the items alphabetically as this is very easy to do.

You can try it.

Simply go into the print manager of our software.

Now select A-Z, see the green arrow here, press it.

And off it comes out alphabetically as here.

In practice though it does not save time, as its quicker and easier to handle in bundle order.

Even in bundle order there are problems as there are duplicate invoice numbers and printed labels are often not in the same order as magazines in the bundle. There are other issues too such as the "late option" means the invoices comes late; some complain that they get the invoices after the magazines arrive.

Yes, you can do it, but I do not see it as a solution.

I do recommend that people get behind the ANF push now as it the best hope at present to get something done.
 

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4026465.htm

A couple of people referred me to this video on Media Watch on plain paper packaging. I think unfortunately the ABC is more about political correctness then news. So we were treated with conspiracy theories with organisations and people with agendas.

In so far as it related to the current problem of increasing sales of tobacco to their credit, they did accept that it was happening and then offered a political correct theory that tobacco sales were up because wholesalers are stocking up for months due to coming increase in price. They offered *NO* evidence to support this theory.

Those reporters clearly did not bother to check up on the facts as anyone who has anything to do with tobacco knows that its wholesale prices have been going up for years. That is why it is almost all taxes now. Why somehow this year everyone stocking up on tobacco because of a price rise?

Tell me many of you are reasonable sellers of tobacco, are you stocking more than usual?

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4026465.htm

A couple of people referred me to this video on Media Watch on plain paper packaging. I think unfortunately the ABC is more about political correctness then news. So we were treated with conspiracy theories with organisations and people with agendas.

In so far as it related to the current problem of increasing sales of tobacco to their credit, they did accept that it was happening and then offered a political correct theory that tobacco sales were up because wholesalers are stocking up for months due to coming increase in price. They offered *NO* evidence to support this theory.

Those reporters clearly did not bother to check up on the facts as anyone who has anything to do with tobacco knows that its wholesale prices have been going up for years. That is why it is almost all taxes now. Why somehow this year everyone stocking up on tobacco because of a price rise?

Tell me many of you are reasonable sellers of tobacco, are you stocking more than usual?

We at POS Solutions would like to congratulate two of our clients, Rick Richards from Clayton Newsagency and Robert Asquith from Benalla Newsagency on received an OAM for Services to the Community in this year honours list.

[link removed]

We at POS Solutions would like to congratulate two of our clients, Rick Richards from Clayton Newsagency and Robert Asquith from Benalla Newsagency, on receiving an OAM for Services to the Community in this year honours list.

Currently, we have been rather busy on our new computer vision system. What it does is take your footage from security cameras and our point-of-sale system and does automatic analysing in shops both in the shop itself and at the point of sale. This gives you among other things, the percentage of pedestrian traffic entering your store, which is probably a necessity if you wish to test a discount voucher system. It also gives you demographics information such as sex, age and even behaviour.

We are currently working on adding A/B testing for retail displays, path tracking through premises and customer/product interaction monitoring.

We are starting on theft analysis module, but the full version of this will not be available in the immediate future as it is proving to be the most challenging functionality we are facing. It will be a separate module. One of the problems here, for example, is imagine how difficult it is to detect stolen items. We need first to set up a video history as we are not looking for the presence of an object but looking for its absence.

In view of the direct integration into the point-of-sale system, I see this product as deeply applicable to the pharmacy and newsagency shops.

If you are interested please let me know.