Even though the Kim Kardashian visit was to a US store, we shared the image locally, and sales followed.

We’re hiring for a Retail Manager role at our Glenferrie Road, Malvern, VIC, store.

Retail Manager: newsXpress, Glenferrie Road Malvern.

We are looking for an experienced retail manager, keen to manage their own shop. Someone with good current Aussie retail skills, ideally in innovative small business.

Product categories of interest are gifts, homewares, greeting cards and pop culture.

We provide considerable freedom, which is backed with encouragement and support from our head office team.

The use of current POS software is key to success as are online sales fulfilled through this business.

This role reports to our head office retail businesses manager. There are opportunities in the future outside the shop, too.

We own several suburban Melbourne retail businesses. They are run under management. Our retail managers spend most of the day in the shop, serving, working with customers, suppliers and team members.

While our retail businesses look a bit like a newsagency, they are not a newsagency. Our focus is on gifts, homewares and greeting cards. There is no confectionery product, no lotteries and no tobacco.

This is a full time role.

Want to know more, email us at newsXpress head office: help@newsxpress.com.au. Also, check us out online at www.cutenessoverload.com.au  and www.beanieboosaustralia.com and www.jigsawsaustralia.com and www.mintcoinshop.com.au.

No agents.

$60,000 – $65,000 + super + vehicle allowance.

We were lucky to have stock of the 75th Anniversary of the Australian Signals Directorate – 50c Uncirculated coin 2022 released by the Royal Australian Mint.

It sold out quickly and while we’d like to have had more stock, having it helped us attract new shoppers. This is good because coin shoppers are habit based shoppers and they return, and they tend to purchase other items when in the shop. They are valuable customers.

Habit based shoppers are tremendously valuable in any retail setting as their habits offer an opportunity for predictability and it is this that helps us in our business planning.

In a typical newsagency, the key habit based shopper opportunities relate to the magazines (special interest and crossword are the two best for us), greeting cards (birthday is key here), stationery (home use tends to outperform office use) and, of course, lotteries.

So when we unlock a new habit based product opportunity we analyse the results and work on ways we can leverage it for broader success in the business.

This is where the mint coin products do work a treat. But it takes time and management. I have seen some newsagents get into this space and give up after a few months. Others have worked at it, tuned it, and after 6 or so months found a level of wonderful and valuable consistency.

Too often I see retailers take a step with a new product and toss it out if that one step does not fail.

As retailers we need to work our shops and the products in them. If something does hot work, we need to look at location and the support we have, or have not provided, to the product. We need to do our best to find shoppers, to cultivate them.

Now with this new coin from the Mint we were lucky because of excellent publicity around its release. It made it a dream-run product. But it does not always happen this way.

In London, like elsewhere, every second retail business has a sign up looking for staff. The Sainsbury’s approach is eye-catching, especially if you like a delicious looking slice of sponge. Interestingly, in the shop I saw the sign, they did not have a sponge like this for sale.

I have seen so many businesses pitching for employees. Most the signs were boring, nothing special. A few, though, were creative and enticing, like Sainsbury’s. Oh, and Leon, a chain coffee outlet. While their coffee is mediocre, like 80% or so of coffee outlets in the UK IMHO, their approach for recruiting is excellent.

Then, there was this one in the window of a pizza restaurant. In a bold and clear move, they advertise the wage rates:

If you are having trouble finding new staff, consider a different pitch on a sign in your window.

Looking at various rate offers for newsagents out there, here are the current best rates. If you know of any better, please comment.

• Visa / Mastercard: .70%
• eftpos: .35%
• Tap & save: .35%

Other factors that can play into the value equation are terminal rental, easy access to fast support, assistance in resolving chargebacks and regular rate reviews.

I am grateful to have been able to attend two wonderful and inspiring gift fairs in New York this week. I say grateful because of the innovative products on show, and that much of what I saw is available for supply to Australia.

While the git fairs in Australia are okay, if we want to innovate in our shops we need to see newer products, and products of=ther retailers are unlikely to stock.

NY Now was excellent and Shoppe Object was more maker / creator fresh. Both appealed to similar retailers, although some might do one show and not the other. They were a 15 minute car ride from one to the other.

Here’s a view of the floor of Shoppe Object.

I am especially interested in finding products not represented by larger wholesalers as it is this space that we find uniqueness in our marketplace, and that is valuable in retail and online today.

I have been helping a retailer recently try and get control of their business profile on Google. It was setup for them by another party that has been reluctant to give the local retailer access.

Google has been no help in resolving the situation.

Setting up a Google profile is easy. My advice is do it yourself, control how you want your business represented to the world. The profile is about you, after all, and not how a bland marketer thinks your business looks.

A Google profile is a living thing. If someone else sets it up for you, are they going to maintain it? Probably not, do it yourself, be responsible for our your business is seen by the world outside.

While I appreciate to a non-tech savvy person it may seem an easy decision to let someone else do this for you, it is not because they are not you, they are not your business. It would be like you letting someone else control a key part of your business, a key resource on which you rely.

Doing it yourself is easy. No tech skills are required. Google offers advice. This link from Google takes you to where you can get started: https://www.google.com/intl/en_au/business/

Hootsuite also offers advice on setting up your business profile that I think is worth reading: https://blog.hootsuite.com/google-my-business/

Please, don’t be duped by people who say they are the experts to do it for you. This is absolutely best done by you.

The mood on the floor of the Melbourne Gift Fairs over the weekend was upbeat, positive. Plenty of retailers had stories of trading success and an optimistic view of the rest of 2022 and into 2023.

There was no talk of recession, none of the mood reflecting new coverage re falling consumer confidence, no discussion about concerns over interest rates. There has also been plenty of good news about product availability.

And, this is from a mix of retailers, from folks owning and running gift shops, jewellers, newsagents, garden centres and more. These gift fairs attract a broad range of retailers.

The other comments from people who also attended the Sydney fair earlier this year is that this Melbourne event is far superior. Some of the suppliers with booths made the same comments.

While the event has three days to go – which it at least a day too long – it’s already a success according to some I have heard from based on their buying (retailers) and based on sales (suppliers).

Side events have been going well too. These are events on at the same time, designed to leverage the influx of retailers in Melbourne for the fair.

The organisers of the various fairs, AHGA, Reed and Life InStyle should be happy with the results. They have created trade events that retailers are enjoying.

The only downside, or risk, is the lack of mask-wearing.

This event could be more successful if it closed at 5pm each day, instead of 6 and if it was a day shorter. Those two changes could make it a more enjoyable event for suppliers in my view, and I say that as an owner of a company that has exhibited at the event for years.

My newsagency POS software company, Tower Systems, also makes websites for local retailers. We have Magento, Woo and Shopify experience. Shopify is the platform we use most often as it is super easy for retailers to maintain themselves. A few days ago, a couple experts from the company got together and shot this video, which is a masterclass on making the most of the Shopify / Tower Systems connection.

I share it here for anyone considering a website as it offers insights, advice and training for free – there is no login required, no email address collected – you can watch anytime, anonymously.

having a website is critical today for being found, for being able to reach new shoppers.

There is plenty of news coverage about the challenging economic situation. We are seeing an impact on house prices in some areas. News outlets are full of stories about the rising cost of raw materials and retailers being squeezed unable or unwilling to increase their prices.

There are reports from the IMF and others that a global recession appears unavoidable.

All of this plays into consumer confidence and discretionary spending is typically hit first in such situations, except for lotteries – those sales tend to increase.

I expect to see more news coverage about it, and I expect to see more retailers impacted.

Our advice is to run your business as if things are already tight, as if the recession is here. Do what you know works:

• Buy what sells easily, and quickly.
• Keep your roster as tight as possible.
• Increase your margin every opportunity you have.
• Run a loyalty program and consistently pitch this to every shopper.
• Be positive in-store and on social media.
• Be active on social media and elsewhere is trying to attract new shoppers.

The three key opportunities in local retail are: people through the door, the depth of their purchase basket and the margin you make on what they purchase.

The healthiest retail businesses are those that work on all three at once, every day, consistently.

This means chasing new traffic and attracting regulars back more often, getting people to purchase more each visit and achieving a better margin every time you are able.

Basic stuff really. But, now is the time to be energised about this.

…

I first shared this unremarkable advice with newsXpress members earlier this week and with retailers in the Tower Systems community this morning. I share it here as I think it is relevant to all newsagents.

There will be some over the next year or two of choppy waters who complain about the tough conditions as if they have no opportunity to mitigate the impact in their businesses. While, for sure, there will be aspects of the economic conditions that we cannot mitigate, there is plenty we can. hence, the advice I provided, along with the urging to engage now and consistently.

Shopify overnight announced a 10% cut in its workforce. They did it with transparency and professionalism. I mention it here as there are some in and around the newsagency channel who talk Shopify down for their own personal reasons. This announcement might be used by them. But, the announcement from Shopify explains the reasoning, which I think newsagents will find useful. Yes, I like Shopify. I use it in my shops, and I use a couple of other web platforms too as appropriate. Many newsagents use Shopify.

Here’s the CEO’s statement. It’s worth reading IMHO.

Team,

I’m sitting down to write this email not far from where I once sat down to write the first few lines of code for Shopify itself. Those lines of code started a company and sent it on a fascinating journey full of wonder, toil, success, failure, ambition, and above all else comradery. Being on a journey, surrounded by great teammates, doing difficult things is what it’s all about.

All this makes this email so much harder to write: the next part of the journey will involve fewer teammates than we have picked up along the way. Shopify has to go through a reduction in workforce that will see about 10% leave by the end of the day. Most of the impacted roles are in recruiting, support, and sales, and across the company we’re also eliminating over-specialized and duplicate roles, as well as some groups that were convenient to have but too far removed from building products. Emails will go out in the next  few minutes that will clarify if your role was affected; those impacted will then have a meeting with a lead in their team.

For a company like ours this news will be difficult to digest. It will be even harder for those leaving today. I’ll share as many details as I can about how we got here and, for those that are leaving, what will happen next.

How we got here

When the Covid pandemic set in, almost all retail shifted online because of shelter-in-place orders. Demand for Shopify skyrocketed. To help merchants, we threw away our roadmaps and shipped everything that could possibly be helpful. It was hard, but we know for a fact that more merchants’ businesses survived the pandemic because of the work we did in this time and that’s exactly what our mission is about.

Shopify has always been a company that makes the big strategic bets our merchants demand of us – this is how we succeed. Before the pandemic, ecommerce growth had been steady and predictable. Was this surge to be a temporary effect or a new normal? And so, given what we saw, we placed another bet: We bet that the channel mix – the share of dollars that travel through ecommerce rather than physical retail – would permanently leap ahead by 5 or even 10 years. We couldn’t know for sure at the time, but we knew that if there was a chance that this was true, we would have to expand the company to match.

It’s now clear that bet didn’t pay off. What we see now is the mix reverting to roughly where pre-Covid data would have suggested it should be at this point. Still growing steadily, but it wasn’t a meaningful 5-year leap ahead. Our market share in ecommerce is a lot higher than it is in retail, so this matters. Ultimately, placing this bet was my call to make and I got this wrong. Now, we have to adjust. As a consequence, we have to say goodbye to some of you today and I’m deeply sorry for that.

To those leaving Shopify

Everyone will feel this news in their own way, but what’s universally true is that it will be hard for everyone. We want to support each of you through the coming weeks and months as much as possible, so we’re offering a generous severance package. Those affected today will get 16 weeks of severance pay, plus an additional week for every year of tenure at Shopify. We’ll remove any equity cliff, and extend any medical benefits.

Knowing that Shopify is just one stop on a career journey, we’d also like to help set everyone up for success as they take their next steps. We’ll offer outplacement services with access to career coaching, interviewing support, resume crafting, etc. And because every path taken requires some basics, we’ll continue to pay internet costs for the period, the home office furniture we provided is yours now, and while we’ll need to recover our hardware, we’re offering a kickstart allowance that can be used to buy new laptops. If you want, you can add your email addresses to a list that we will share with other companies looking for talent. And for those who find themselves drawn to the path of entrepreneurship, Shopify also covers a free account for everyone.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to each of you for everything you’ve given to support merchants and our mission of making commerce better for everyone.

What’s next

Our opportunity is massive and it’s still early days for Shopify. Every team here is now either focused on building products or directly supporting those who do. Our customers are merchants, entrepreneurs, and small businesses owners – the bedrock of our economy and precisely those that are typically hit hardest during recessions. Most are already feeling it. We again have a clear objective in these challenging macro economic times, and we will use everything we’ve got to help them succeed and come out stronger. That’s our core mission.

The entrepreneurs we serve are remarkable individuals. They inspire us individually and as a company to be the best versions of ourselves. We’ve adapted many times, in many ways, during Shopify’s intense growth journey. Most of the adaptations we’ve had to make have been to grow into something bigger. This time we grow into something more focused, more driven, and more singular in mission. The times demand it of us, and we will rise to the occasion once again.

– tobi

CEO Shopify

What I like about the announcement is the acknowledgement that they got is wrong in terms of what they expected from the pandemic and transparency about the parts of the business impacted and the explanations as to why. If I was a Shopify investor I’d appreciate this, as I do as a customer. While the employees being let go may have a different view, they are entering a jobs market where their wills are in high demand.

Starbucks in Sydney is pulling out all stops in the quest to find employees. I thought the rapid interviews pitch was interesting since it is a race right now to find people. Good people in the hunt for a retail role are being snapped up quickly.

Here’s the pitch outside the front of their Town Hall location.

On that level of the mall a couple of days ago I counted more than 20 signs in shop windows offering jobs. The Starbucks approach was more enticing and more professionally pitched.

Newsagents looking for staff may want to look at what Starbucks and others are doing since they have set a high bar in a competitive jobs marketplace.

I published this blog post here in July 2005. I think it’s relevant today as habit based shoppers remain important to our businesses.

While I talk about newspapers, card customers are, in the main, habit based shoppers, as are plenty of our other shoppers.

CONSUMER HABIT IS THE RISK NEWSAGENTS NEED TO ADDRESS TO BUILD NEWSPAPER AND OTHER SALES