I am in Sydney this morning and was struck by the difference in news and magazine retailing on the streets here compared to what I saw in Hong Kong last week. While there are some excellent newsagencies in Sydney, few are on the streets, street front real-estate is left to convenience stores such as this one I walked past this morning. Newspapers and magazines are represented but they are cramped – you need to climb over a photocopier to get into the tiny browse space.
This is a space newsagents could own – street level news and magazine retailing in our capital cities. All it would take is the development of a plug and play format built around convenience but with news and magazines as a key product offering. This is what Circle K and 7-Eleven do well in Hong Kong.