The GNS trade show in Melbourne this weekend has been successful. I know that yesterday’s numbers were on par with last year. Today’s numbers were good too. Newsagents were feeling good about business and the economy, plenty are investing in their businesses. This is a good sign. Some of the product talk I heard from newsagents was about new business opportunities but not enough.
It was good to see some suppliers expanding their offering and new suppliers participating expanding the traditional newsagency offering. We need to see more of this.
GNS opened the trade show to newsXpress and Nextra as well as Newspower. This sends a strong message to newsagents about the role of marketing groups. It also gives newsagents an easier choice between the three.
I have been going to GNS first since they started in a small room in Sydney many years ago. They have come a long way. For a business owned by newsagents it is a good success story.