Tag: North America

Why Big Newspapers Applaud Some Declines in Circulation

Posted by | Oct 1, 2007 | |

Big American newspapers sell about 10 percent fewer copies today than they did in 2000.
The big American newspapers sell about 10 percent fewer copies than they did in 2000, and while the migration of readers to the Web is usually blamed for that decline, much of it has been intentional. Driven by marketing and delivery costs and pressure from advertisers, many papers have decided certain readers are not worth the expense involved in finding, serving and keeping them.

That rational business decision is being driven in part by advertisers, who have changed their own attitudes toward circulation.

In the boom years, “there was more willingness by advertisers to assign some value to the occasional reader, the student, the reader who doesn’t match a certain profile,” said Jason E. Klein, chief executive of the Newspaper National Network, a marketing alliance.

But advertisers have become more cost-conscious and have learned how to reach narrowly tailored audiences on the Internet. Sponsors of preprinted ads that are inserted into a newspaper have been especially aggressive in telling papers that some circulation just is not worthwhile.

As a result, newspapers have sharply curtailed their traditional methods of winning customers — advertising, cold-calling people and offering promotional discounts. That strategy was always expensive, and it has become more so with do-not-call laws and the rising number of people who have only cellphones. According to the Newspaper Association of America, the average cost of getting a new subscription order, including discounts, was USD 68 in 2006, more than twice as much as in 2002.

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U.S. photo-kiosk industry bets future on gifting, creative products

Posted by | Oct 1, 2007 | |

The North American photo-kiosk market is poised to continue its growth streak, thanks largely to the emergence of the diverse gifting and creative product mix, reports Frost & Sullivan.

With an anticipated compound annual growth rate of 57 percent through 2013, the gifting and creative mix could well increase its share of all transactions to 20 percent by 2013.

For these levels of growth to be achieved, industry leaders in both the vendor and retail markets must work toward increasing customer awareness of the photo kiosks and their growing product mixes.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, U.S. Photo Kiosk Markets, reveals that this market earned revenues of USD 2.15 billion in 2006 and estimates this to reach USD 13.0 billion in 2013.

“Retailers no longer battle for the meager profits earned from the traditional 4×6 prints, but focus their efforts on encouraging customers to create lasting souvenirs in the form of photo-books, calendars and other image enhanced keepsakes,” said Frost & Sullivan’s Rufus Connell.

Besides offering consumers an additional means to print and share their images, the gifting and creative product mix provides retailers a significantly better ROI than the 4×6 prints. Vendors, too, have taken note, and innovative software and improved workflow are now helping consumers take advantage of the ever-growing possibilities that exist beyond traditional photo-kiosk use.

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UPS and Teamsters agree on new five-year contract

Posted by | Sep 30, 2007 | |

UPS announced it had reached a tentative agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on a new five-year contract covering approximately 240,000 full- and part-time package employees in the United States.

The tentative contract, which now must be presented to UPS Teamster-represented employees for ratification, was negotiated nearly a year in advance of the current contract’s expiration on July 31, 2008. Upon ratification, most provisions of the new agreement will take effect on August 1st, 2008.

The tentative contract includes wage increases as well as significant contributions to healthcare and pension plans to help strengthen these benefits for employees. The agreement allows UPS to withdraw employees from the Central States multi-employer pension plan and to establish a jointly trusteed single-employer plan for this group. UPS will make a pre-tax USD 6.1 billion payment to the Central States plan in connection with its withdrawal.

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FedEx selects Newport for new central coast center

Posted by | Sep 28, 2007 | |

FedEx will start operations in and out of Newport, serving a region from Pacific City to Yachats, bringing in thousands of pounds of correspondence and packages to customers located here.

“We are really pleased FedEx has selected Newport,” said Airport Manager Dennis Reno. “FedEx has been a great group of folks with which to work, and we’re well underway in getting facilities ready for them. Expanded overnight services have been a priority for this airport and this area for some time, and I know folks are going to be pleased to have expanded FedEx service available here.”

FedEx’s new central coast operations center will be one of 30 new locations nationally.

FedEx is hiring staff to serve its new central coast operations center, primarily in delivery and shipping positions. “The potential for new job creation here is wonderful news,” said Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County board chair David Green, a vice president with West Coast Bank. “Making it easier for area manufacturers and other businesses to send packages and correspondence internationally in rapid fashion is terrific. Several local companies have told us how much they’ve wanted expanded FedEx service here, and this is another part of making the ‘business climate’ of the Central Coast as vibrant as possible, which can be a challenge for rural economies such as ours.”

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Strong Canadian dollar spurs Web sales

Posted by | Sep 27, 2007 | |

The ritual has resumed, as it always does when the Canadian dollar strengthens against the U. S. dollar. Throngs of Canadian shoppers cross the border in search of lower prices and greater selection at American stores.

But when the Canadian dollar reached parity last week, there was a new twist: online sales now let Canadians hunt for bargains in the United States without leaving home. If early indications hold true, some of the biggest winners from the rise of the Canadian dollar may ultimately be online retailers based in the United States. Because Canada’s relatively small population of just 33 million makes online operations less cost-effective, few Canadian retailers – less than a third by some estimates – sell through the Web. That limited local competition, combined with a high Canadian dollar and the incremental cost of expanding into Canada, make the country a tempting target for American retailers.

No one measures Canadian cross-border spending, virtual or otherwise. But, Paulina Sazon, a direct marketing strategist at Canada Post, said that the Canadian postal service had seen the volume of shipments through its special cross-border service for U.S. retailers increase 38 percent over the last year

A spokeswoman at UPS Canada, Christina Falcone, said the shipping company had seen “significant growth,” thanks to the strengthening Canadian dollar.

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