A supplier of circulation products to newsagency businesses was heard recently to say that newsagents were wrong to chase sales of cheap gifts. This supplier is ignorant of what many newsagents are actually doing in the gift space. Sure, some newsagents offer cheap gifts. Many, however, are playing a different gift space altogether. Indeed, I know of newsagents enjoying excellent success selling gift and homewares products priced at $50, $75, $100, $200 and more.
Take the Disney characters (from Jasnor) in the photo. They’ll retail for close to $300. Are newsagents selling these? Yes!
Just as I say newsagents need to break free from the history of their shingle, so too do newsagency suppliers need to break free from what they think newsagents should do. Our businesses are not their business – unless we negotiate commercial terms.
The days of newsagents focussing only on cheap gifts are over.