In reviewing the latest newsagency sales benchmark data in advance of releasing the report in a few days I can see some business owners reengineering their businesses in pursuit of a better gross product result.
While the overall newsagency channel average gross profit remains unchanged at 28% to 32%, more newsagents are achieving more than 32%. In fact, this is vitally important for the health of your business.
With wages, rent and other operating costs increasing and the selling price of a chuck of what we sell remaining not keeping up with the cost increases we need to find other ways to grow gross profit.
Improving gross profit starts with buying better and recasting the range of what you sell – redirecting inventory investment from lower GP lines and slower moving lines to higher GP and faster moving lines.
Making these moves requires us to be retailers and not shop keepers. It requires us to think about our businesses strategically and to rely less on being told what to do.
I’d hate for you to get to a point this year where focusing on gross profit is an urgent requirement. Act now, develop a plan, before you are desperate and making decisions with too little time to consider.
It starts with you knowing the type of newsagency you want to operate.
December sales were down for us Mags slightly, newspapers big time, books and a couple of other departments that we are getting out of of reducing but due to big improvements with calendars and gifts and a small increase in cards we were more profutable AND needed LESS staff hours to attain that profit. This is the future for us.
Off topic but can anyone advise whether or not IPS have a problem with their website (or their business)
They removed their (excellent) manager before Xmas in SA and I now can’t get on to their website to alter supplies.
No it is not my computer because I can get
onto all other sites.
June, Try again if you haven’t already, it’s working fine for us so maybe it was a little bit of maintainace or a glitch they’ve fixed..