I was at the Sydney Gift Fair a few weeks ago representing newsXpress, the newsagency marketing group I own. I connected with several suppliers in niches not well represented in the newsagency channel.
The good news is that each has agreed to supply newsXpress stores. While this is good news for newsXpress members, it is good news for the suppliers as it opens their unique products to a new retail channel.
That the suppliers quickly got on board is a change. In the past, prospective suppliers have taken months to agree to sell into the newsagency channel, primarily because of how they remember newsagency shops and not because of what they see plenty of them as today.
The other interesting factor here is the price range. Most of the new products are priced at $100 to $500. While our channel has historically done well at the low end gift and homewares price point, we have not done as well as we could at the higher price point end. Hopefully that is changing.