The revenue opportunities of online present the biggest opportunities for newsagents in 2024 I think, regardless of whether you already have a website or not.
The latest benchmark for Aussie retail reports online as 10% of total business revenue.
In the Aussie newsagency channel, the average figure for those with a website is just under 5%. If you don’t have a website, what would a 5% bump in revenue feel like?
There are newsagents doing plenty more online.
The thing about online is that the opportunities are limitless. You are not constrained by your location or what you sell. You can mine success by leveraging your time and pursuing what people are searching for.
Through my Tower Systems software company and the newsXpress newsagency marketing group and through my own shops I have many years experience in online B2C sales.
If you can’t increase local physical shopper traffic, online is a smart move to improve business reach and profitability.
One newsXpress member launched a website with us last year and added $50,000 in good margin revenue in six months.
Another newsXpress member used their website to pitch an entirely new product category and found a profitable second business as a result, using existing labour and facilities in the shop.
Here are the top reasons why I think every retail business needs a website:
- Capture sales when you are closed. Typically, more than 50% of online purchases are then the brick and mortar business is closed.
- Engage when you are closed. Use chat to answer questions from anywhere, or you geek-out and have an AI chatbot do this.
- Reach people not currently shopping with you. Typically, 75% of sales are from people located nowhere near your shop.
- Have a second outlet for quitting stock.
- Have a place where you can experiment.
- Playing with a plan Bin case your shop finds itself in choppy waters.
- To learn. A website, especially your first website, teaches you so much: What people want. What they could pay. Haw awful some people are.
- To get you out of a rut. If you’ve been in your shop for ages and are mailing it in each day, a website could put a spring in your step.
- To make your shop more valuable. Having a website can make your shop more appealing when you decide to sell.
- To find a secondary brand. Could be the first step in a shop rebrand.
- To drive traffic to the shop. People will find products on your website and visit as a result, for sure.
- To give you another source of revenue that is completely unrelated to anything you do in your shop.
- To harvest email addresses. Email marketing from Shopify is a breeze.
Getting online can feel daunting. It can be expensive if you choose a web developer who does not understand your business and your needs. Too many of them push what they want on a business, often resulting in a failure of a website.
It’s important you know what you want and that you understand that a website is a hungry beast, which will soak up time and cash in pursuit of finding new shoppers. Get it right, and the payoff can be wonderful.
If you don’t have a website for your newsagency business, make it your goal for 2024. There are many opportunities out there for the taking, plenty you can pursue on a tight budget.