Some newsagents are making excellent moves

It’s been a thrill this week to meet plenty of newsagents attending the first of the Newsagency of the Future workshops for 2013. I say thrill because I have noticed a change of mood. Whereas in past years there would be more attendees with a mindset of doom and gloom, this year I am meeting more newsagents who are either embracing change or who are preparing to embrace change.

I love to hear newsagents talking about playing outside the traditional newsagency square and exploring how far they can take their business.

One couple I spoke with are innovating in terms of products while another is building a café into their newsagency. This is all great stuff, exciting.

I’ll share more on the innovation I see and hear about when people are happy for more to be shared. In the meantime, this first week is drawing to a close with more good news than I expected to hear.

The image is the first slide in my presentation. It’s a photo I took at the Hong Kong Gift fair a couple of weeks ago. I use it to talk about complacency in the newsagency channel. Some of the newsagents I have spoken with this week are the opposite of complacent. As I said, it’s exciting.