How many times do you wonder why shoppers haven’t seen a sign right in front of them? We often get frustrated when customers can’t find products we think are easy to find, or when they ask for items we have never stocked.

“Shopper blindness” is a common complaint among local small business retailers in Australia. However, I don’t believe the shoppers are the problem. The issue is usually that we overwhelm them with too much information, too many colours, and cluttered displays.

When we give them too much to look at, they end up seeing nothing at all. To improve your sales and the customer experience, you need to edit your shop. Reducing visual noise will focus your customers—and your staff—on what matters most.

The Power of Editing Your Space

I recommend that every newsagent regularly performs a visual audit. Stand at the front of your shop and review every sign, notice, and placard. If it isn’t essential to a sale or a legal requirement, remove it.

Here are my key strategies for cleaning up the visual “noise” in your business:

1. Consolidate Your Housekeeping

We all have necessary notices regarding store policies, trading hours, or payment methods. Instead of scattering these across the front window and counter, place all customer notices in one unobtrusive place. This keeps the entrance clean and welcoming.

2. Simplify Call-to-Action Signs

If you have items on sale or heavily discounted, don’t spread them throughout the aisles. Place all clearance items in one dedicated location with clear signage. This creates a “treasure hunt” feel for the bargain hunter without cluttering your full-price displays.

3. Professional Product Signage

Inconsistent signs make a shop look messy. Use a neat, lean, and consistent format for all product signs. Ensure they are placed in the same relative position next to the products. This creates a visual rhythm that is easier for the brain to process.

4. Utilise Colour Blocking

Group your products by colour where possible. Colour-blocked shelves are significantly more appealing to the eye. They look organised and professional rather than noisy. A shopper is much more likely to stop and browse a shelf that looks intentional.

5. Clear the Counter

The counter is your most valuable real estate, yet it is often the most cluttered. Edit your counter space to focus only on the messages and products that matter right now. If a customer is overwhelmed at the point of purchase, they are less likely to engage with your high-margin impulse items.

Keep It Simple

The goal is to make the shopping experience effortless. When you reduce the “noise” in your shop, you highlight your best products and your most important messages.

A cleaner shop is a more profitable shop. It creates a better environment for your team to work in and a more relaxed atmosphere for your customers to spend money in.

Keep. It. Simple.

Keep. It. Simple.

Newsagency Visual Audit Checklist

Use this checklist to walk through your shop from a customer’s perspective. Aim to complete this audit once a month to ensure your store remains easy to navigate and free of “shopper blindness.”

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Pro Tip: The 10-Second Rule
Walk into your shop and look around for exactly ten seconds. Close your eyes. What is the one thing you remember seeing?

If you can’t remember a specific product or offer because there was too much “noise,” your customers can’t either. Go back to the Keep It Simple rule and start removing items until your key message stands out.

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Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents who continuously evolve their businesses to be enjoyable, relevant and successful. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

Negotiating rent is one of the most stressful tasks a newsagent, or any local and independent retailer, faces. Many of us look at the number of empty shops in our local high streets or centres and assume rent should be falling. However, the reality of the Australian commercial property market is rarely that simple.

If you want to reduce the rent you pay for your shop, you must make a compelling, fact-based business case. Simply wanting a reduction because “times are tough” is not enough. You are dealing with a landlord who often has their own financial pressures tied to the valuation of the building.

Understanding the Landlord’s Perspective

Rent is not always set based on a traditional supply and demand model. Many landlords have funding arrangements based on the value of the property. Because property value is directly tied to the rent roll, reducing your rent can actually decrease the building’s valuation. This can negatively impact the landlord’s bank covenants or funding.

When you understand this, you realise that a rent reduction is a significant request. You aren’t just asking for a discount; you are asking them to potentially devalue their asset.

Why You Should Do It Yourself

I have negotiated for myself many times. I have also used professional lease negotiators on three occasions. In my experience, I was always more satisfied when I did it myself.

While professional negotiators can be friendly and professional, I was never truly certain they put my needs ahead of their relationship with the landlord. In one instance, with hindsight, I think I paid a fee to someone who “softened me up” to agree to terms I later regretted.

Be wary of leasing brokers who charge a flat negotiation fee regardless of the outcome. My advice is to take the lead. You are the person with the most on the line.

How to Build Your Case

Your pitch must be professional, non-emotive and clear. Here is what I suggest retailers prepare:

• Financial Evidence: Provide your Profit and Loss statement. Compare the most recent year or quarter to the same period a year earlier.

• The “Unique” Factor: Highlight the constraints of our industry. We have little to no control over the prices of many core products we sell. This is a vital point to make.

• Market Data: Gather evidence of comparative rents for similar nearby shops.

• Be an Ideal Tenant: Show that you are low-maintenance, pay on time and attract foot traffic that benefits other retailers.

The Importance of Plan B

The old adage of “location, location, location” is less relevant today. A good newsagency now generates significant revenue from online channels. This gives you power.

You also need  a viable Plan B, beyond online, another location where you could operate if you had to. I have personally pivoted to retail locations outside of major shopping centres. This move resulted in less stress, lower occupancy costs and higher profit.

Keep your Plan B to yourself during negotiations, but let it inform your confidence. If you aren’t 100% happy with the deal on the table, you must be prepared to walk away.

Avoid These Common Mistakes

The most dangerous mistake a retailer can make is believing they should pay less rent simply because they feel they deserve it. Another common error is using a declining business as an excuse. A declining business is usually the responsibility of the retailer to fix, not the landlord.

The retail landscape in Australia is fragmented. While national CBD vacancy rates dropped to 11.1% in the first half of 2025, cities like Perth and Brisbane have seen rates increase. There is no single national trend you can rely on. You must know your local data.

Final Thoughts

Major shopping centres aren’t configured for newsagency related businesses. Once you add in marketing fees and other mandatory overheads, the cost of shopper acquisition in a shopping centre is high.

Start your planning early.

Take responsibility for the negotiation yourself.

By having appealing options outside of your current lease, you allow yourself to be more circumspect and achieve a better result for your business value.
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Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents who continuously evolve their businesses to be enjoyable, relevant and successful. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

“Green shoots” are good news opportunities that are breaking through and otherwise crust of not so good news, a feeling of uncertainty. They are opportunities you might leverage to improve business, or your outlook on business.

To move from a feeling of uncertainty to a clear strategy, you need to look past the bottom-line figure and find the specific areas where growth is still possible in your retail business. That’s what my advice is about today.

Here is a practical checklist to help you review your Profit & Loss (P&L) statement and your sales data to identify those “green shoots” of opportunity.

1. Identify high-margin winners

Review your Gross Profit (GP) by department rather than looking at the total shop average. Which specific categories currently deliver a GP higher than 45%? Can you give these products more prominent floor space or “prime real estate” near the entrance or counter? Are there products related to these that you could place with them. In a newsagency, greeting cards fall into this space yet too many newsagents leave managing cards to the card suppliers, abrogating their responsibility as the business owner.

2. Spot the “quiet” growth

Compare your current year’s sales to the previous year, specifically by category. Is there a niche category (e.g., specific gifts, high-end stationery, or hobby items) that has grown by 10% or more, even if the total volume is currently small? These are your “green shoots.” Consider redirecting a portion of your low-margin stock budget into these growing areas. Lean into growth opportunities.

3. Review labour efficiency

Labour is usually your highest cost. Look at your sales-to-labour ratio across different times of the week. Are there specific hours where the cost of keeping the doors open exceeds the GP generated? History should not dictate when you open, profitability should. Adjust your roster or opening hours slightly. Reinvest those saved hours into “retail” activities, like refreshing displays or managing social media, rather than just standing behind the counter.

4. Isolate “Agent” vs. “Retail” income

Distinguish between the income you receive as an agent (e.g., lotteries, transport cards) and your retail sales (e.g., gifts, cards, magazines). Track what else agency customers purchase when in-store.

What is the actual net profit of your agency services after you subtract the specific labour costs required to run them? If an agency service is barely breaking even, it is “noise.” Focus your energy on the retail side where you have control over the margin and the brand.

5. Audit occupancy costs

Look at your rent and outgoings as a percentage of your total GP. Is your occupancy cost exceeding 20% of your Gross Profit? If it is higher, you must either increase your GP through higher-margin products or prepare to negotiate your lease based on the reality of your data. In a newsagency today, the suggested target occupancy cost is 11%.

6. Search for dead capital

Review your inventory turnover. How much stock has not moved in the last 6 months? This is cash tied up on your shelves. Clear it out, even at or below cost, to provide the funds needed to invest in a new, traffic-generating product category.

Manage by evidence. Be dispassionate about it.

When you look at the data this way, the “fog” often lifts. You stop seeing a failing business and start seeing a collection of assets—some of which are working, and some of which are not.
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Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents who continuously evolve their businesses to be enjoyable, relevant and successful. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

I was talking with a newsagent yesterday who was asking what I had against parcel pick-up in newsagency businesses. My opinion is my opinion for my own business. Everyone should make their own decision based on their circumstances and capacity.

For me, though, parcel pickup does not make sense and here’s why:

• It doesn’t pay its way. Accounting for the space and time, and considering the average volume, it’s unlikely you’ll read even let alone make any profit.
• Parcel collectors are not your shoppers. I’ve not seen any evidence of parcel collectors buying other items during the visit.
• Parcel collectors bring their baggage. I’m talking here about emotional baggage: frustration with parking, frustration about the supplier they bought from.
• Parcel collectors tend to not be patient. They are there for one thing only, which they think should take a couple of seconds and, often, think they should be served ahead of real paying customers.

Someone spending $150.00 on a gift in the shop delivers $50.00 in gross profit. They will, more often than not, buy other items during the visit and, more often than not, come back and buy more. The gift customer is stickier with your business, more valuable.

You’d have to serve between 75 and 100 parcel collections to achieve the equivalent of the $75.00 in gross profit from the gift sale.

Parcel collection in the Aussie newsagency channel is rooted in the days of newsagents being agents, making cents in the dollar for providing a local service over which we have little control and that relies on minimal business skill. Now I know some newsagents like the simplicity of it, that it does not require business skill.

Successfully selling gifts requires skill. Get it right and you can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to you business gross profit performance. yes, there are newsagents doing this. I doubt there are people achieving the same from parcel collection.

The other factor to consider about parcel collection is where the money is made. There are some spruiking parcel collection in the newsagency channel who are making money from it, a commission if you like. They are incentivised to talk it up to newsagents.

What’s more valuable, making a few cents from a parcel pick-up or $75 in gross profit from selling a gift? The gift sale, of course.

I have no skin in whatever decision you make. What I have written here is designed to give you more information to think about, so you have more to consider.

Ultimately, my focus is on long-term viability over short-term foot traffic. While the simplicity of parcel collection appeals to some, I prefer to invest my floor space and energy into high-margin categories that reward actual retail skill. Every square meter of your shop should be working to build your bank balance, not just a delivery driver’s efficiency.

You have to decide if you want to be an agent or a retailer, because in a competitive market, you can’t afford to let “busy-ness” get in the way of real business.

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My name is Mark Fletcher. I founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and I am the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents who continuously evolve their businesses to be enjoyable, relevant and successful. You can reach me on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

Yes, here we are again. I’ve written about this before and will likely write about it again. It’s important, and urgent.

The newsagencies most likely to close are those who ignore this advice or advice similar to it. Now, let’s get into it.

The Australian and New Zealand retail landscape is shifting beneath your feet. For the local newsagent, the message from the 2025 data is blunt: the traditional model is failing. We will see more newsagency closures in 2026. Your business does not have to be one of them, but survival now requires a radical departure from “business as usual”.

Data Doesn’t Lie

My recent benchmark study of newsagencies across rural, regional, and suburban locations reveals a widening gap between two types of businesses. The traditional newsagency is in a state of managed decline. Revenue is down 3%, and transaction counts have fallen by 5%. Core categories like magazines and newspapers continue to drop by double digits.

In contrast, transformed newsagencies are thriving. These businesses have seen revenue grow by 9% and average basket value surge by 11%. They are not waiting for foot traffic to return to dying categories. They are actively hunting for growth in areas where customers are actually spending.

Look at your data. Don’t hide it from yourself. Ignorance is not bliss. Let me know if you’d like help: mark@newsxpress.com.au.

Growth is Hiding

While traditional stationery revenue is down, “want” stationery—high-end, collectable items for enthusiasts—is driving transactions of $250 or more. Transformed stores have seen gift revenue jump by 119% and greeting card revenue rise by 8%.

The most successful retailers are no longer bound by their shingle. They are generating substantial annual revenue from non-traditional segments:

• Trading Cards: Revenue exceeding $100,000 with 30% growth.
• Books and Homewares: Contributing over $75,000 each to the bottom line.
• Clothing: Generating $80,000+ in annual sales.
• Toys and Games: Seeing year-on-year increases of up to 18%.

First Steps: Start With Your Numbers

Transformation is not a matter of guesswork. It begins with financial accountability. You must have a clear picture of your business health right now. Use this checklist to assess your standing:

• Up-to-date profit and loss statement.
• Current debtors and creditors reports.
• A dead stock listing for items with zero sales in six months.
• Floor map showing gross profit contribution by category versus space allocation.
• Revenue per rostered hour calculation.

If you have $10,000 in dead stock sitting on your shelves, it is poisoning your cash flow. Clear it immediately. Set up a clearance table, apply a 50% discount, and turn that stagnant inventory into working capital.

Disrupt Your Layout

If your data is not up to scratch but you feel the urgency to move, start on the shop floor. Disrupt your current setup to force a fresh perspective. Take the traditional magazine fixture out of the centre of the shop. Move newspapers to the back.

Remove cold, clinical retail fixtures and replace them with tables or unique items from secondhand marketplaces. Add a rug. Make the space warm and inviting. Stock one or two categories you would never usually consider. This radical approach breaks the cycle of tradition and signals to your customers that something has changed.

Be a Retailer Not an Agent

For too long, newsagents have acted as “agents” for suppliers. It is time to become a retailer again. This means taking control of your store, curating your own product selection, and creating an experience.

The true hurdle is not the cost of investment. It is the decision to leave tradition behind. There is no limit to what you can sell. The future belongs to those who stop living in the past and start engaging with the passionate communities of consumers eager to spend.

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Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents who continuously evolve their businesses to be enjoyable, relevant and successful. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

I am grateful for the opportunity to visit the Christmasworld trade show in Frankfurt this week and see first-hand an approach to Christmas that is different and beyond what we traditionally see in Australia. Plenty of new products. Plenty of inspiration.

With too many websites loaded with AI slop and this slop being ranked down by AI platforms themselves, now more than ever your voice being represented in your content matters. Here’s a video is a tip I shared a couple of weeks ago with newsXpress members and last week with Tower Systems customers.

This is easy to follow advice that results in content that reads as human written. Since it comes direct from you and with the boundary setting prompt, you can rely on it.

Don’t publish AI slop – it’s soon enough seen for what it is.