I’m thrilled with the June quarter results, especially for greeting cards – unit sales up by 20% and revenue up by 27%. Everyday counter, the core of the department say unit sales growth of 37% and revenue growth of 39%.
This is in a store with many competitors in the centre – major retailers with good card departments, specialty card and gift shops, supermarkets with cards as well as Typo, kikki.k and discount variety stores at the cheap end of the card space.
Cards account for 25.47% of our revenue – get them right and you know the rest of the business will benefit.
I think any newsagent can grow card sales in any situation. As I have written here several times recently, key to growth is promoting the category outside the business, to people who may not have considered purchasing cards from you.
I am starting to look at June benchmark study submissions and there are plenty of newsagents growing their businesses, plenty of results that challenge the stories of doom and gloom from some.
Gary commenting via this blog a few days ago saying: We have an industry in crisis. I am seeing data indicating for many there is no crisis.
When a Crisis occurs people will always say ‘We never saw it coming’ I believe that if you sold 2 greeting cards last week and sold 4 this week you will be reporting a 100% increase. Newsagency owners can’t sell up because there are no real buyers and are stuck for the remaining term of their lease. Newsagencies do not have the lobbing power as pharmacys do, because there is no real need for newsagencies. If you are so inclined as to run a retail business there other opportunities .. absolute stubbornness seems to be the only recurring element when it comes to newsagency owners.
Phil there are newsagents creating good need for their businesses. The gap between those having success and those not is widening.
Mark I agree, the question is how many successful newsagencies will there be left in 5 years and is a business netting $1,500/week considered successful?
Phil ,Those Newsagents who are prepared to push the boundaries will prosper.
We joined newsXpress August last year and it’s been a real positive for our business and also our own outlook on the industry.
Looking at our financial year results we couldn’t be happier with our decision to go to newsXpress our sales are up and our GP is up .
The most important thing newXpress does is that it engages constantly with it’s members the support we get is unbelievable .
So to the Phil’s and the Gary’s out there am I promoting newsXpress ,absolutely !!! I have experienced it and seen the results.
Thanks for the plug Mark F, much appreciated. I agree with you, there are “newsagencies” out there who are doing well on the back of moving away from the core business. We one of these.
As for the industry as a whole, I can’t agree. We have eight newsagency closures in the past five years in this regional city. I think these people, who have lost their businesses, might want to argue with you about an industry in crisis.
Mark R, we were once nxparians. I left nxp because there was no engagement, except for a barrage of on again, off again “preferred supplier” emails that appeared every day. Might have changed since those days, but I’ve moved on. And, yes, a “newsagency” can succeed without nxp.
Love how nxp plugs seem to work its way into comments.
Bugger, its tar and feathers time again.
Gary, only in very rare circumstances is a business closure due to anything other than the failure of the business owner to lead the business. Trends are not new and not presenting surprises.
Gary, you left newsXpress a couple of weeks after I visited your business and pointed out mistakes I thought you were making, comments I made based on results reflected in your own business performance data at the time. For example, discounting Christmas cards almost two months before Christmas made no sense.
While I’ve not commented about your specific business or my feedback to you at the time, since you leaving the group you’ve be a consistent grump on here – which is okay as anyone can say anything. But your anger gets in the way of reasonable dialogue on many topics.
There are many newsagencies outside of newsXpress that are growing. The group has no monopoly on growth. Achieving growth relies on the business owners being engaged retailers who know how to attract net new traffic for the business.
Gary
Not sure how long ago you were in newsXpress but your experience with newsXpress bears no resemblance to what we have experienced .
There is no barrage of emails referring preferred suppliers as you describe.
We are not forced to do anything but we are given the tools which we have used to grow our business, the proof is in the sales data.
Thanks Mark. You have a good memory. Yes I remember those cards well. They were RSPCA cards that nxp sent to us as a package. We couldn’t move them even with the discount. Funny thing about being in business, you tend to get a feel of your local market and know what will move and what you will be stuck with. We decided that these were “dogs” and discounted them early. Incidentally the “pointing out” you refer to consisted of telling us that what we were doing was “dumb”. Interresting appraisal.
Make no mistake. I do not have an issue with nxp. After being a part of it for twelve months we decided that this was not the direction in which we were taking our business. Many find nxp is the answer. That’s fine and I am sure they will do well.
If you are in Cairns on business and have spare time, call in and I’ll show you what we have done. Otherwise I might catch up with you in Melbourne in a few weeks.
Gary, I never used the word dumb. I used your data to show opportunities and what appeared to be missteps.
Can’t wait to show your reply to Bev. She’ll be hysterical.