Newsagents ought to be watching the moves at Borders, Waterstones and Barnes and Noble. They are busy evolving their models, redefining their businesses. Barnes & Noble just bought Fictionwise, an e-book retailer. Borders is launching a new e-reader. Waterstones has done a deal to be the exclusive retailer for the new Glen David Gold novel, Sunnyside. In fact, they have done much more than this in the last few weeks. They are cutting deals and making strategic decisions in pursuit of their future.
They are disrupting their own businesses. This is what we should be doing, competing with our traditional businesses. While some newsagents are, the vast majority are not. This is a huge risk for the future of our channel. Disruption is going on around us – newspaper readers are getting satisfaction online, so are magazine readers and lottery customers. These are key traffic generators for us.
Each of us needs a plan. It has to come from us and it has to have our businesses at its heart. no one else will do this for us, certainly not most who claim to represent newsagents – most of them just don’t get what leadership is about.
Smart booksellers are worth watching. Their moves can awaken and motivate us.
We have a plan. We are continuously trying to disrupt our own business. If any inner city newsagents want to talk to us about our plans and potentially being a part of them, happy to chat.