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Newsagency opportunities

How far can we push what we can sell in a newsagency?

We have put up The Perth Mint’s 125th Anniversary Australia Sovereign 2024 Gold Proof Five-Coin Set for sale at $10,999.00 We were lucky to get one of the 125 of the sets made. I decided to take on the product as it helps us see what the boundary is of the highest ticket price item we can sell.

We had good success with coins prices at $3,995.00 and moved on to coins priced just over $5,000.00, and they sold. The move to try this new coin makes sense.

I appreciate that this will feel out of reach to plenty here. If you’d told me about this coin set five years ago I’d have said no way could I contemplate this, yet here we are.

Good retailers don’t stand still. They try new things and if they work they lean further into them, to learn and see how far they can go. That’s what’s happening here. It’s what I have seen newsagents do in the gift space taking their business fro $20,000 a year in gifts to over $200,000 a year in gifts in a short period of time.

What we can sell in our newsagency businesses is not restricted as it was decades ago.

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Newsagency management

What’s the point of a Coke fridge in your newsagency?

The only reason to have a Coke (or similar) fridge in your newsagency is if it is delivering a good return on space, labour and inventory investment. if you have a Coke fridge and don’t know its performance numbers, work them out.

I see too many newsagents hang onto their Coke fridge because customers like the convenience of it. That’s no reason to keep it.

Your Coke fridge must make you more money than you could otherwise make from the space.

Your Coke fridge must make more than not having it and the associated assumptions that come with it.

People seeing a Coke fridge do make assumptions in my view. I think they will see it and register the business as a convenience business. If you sell higher end gifts, the assumptions flowing from seeing the Coke fridge may not fit what you want for the business.  Coke is a banner brand like that. See it in the front of a local independent shop and you do think convenience.

I was in a newsagency a couple of days ago that had a Coke fridge right near their entrance, in prime position. From the front door of their shop I could see four other shops with a Coke fridge. The newsagency having a Coke fridge did not make sense. The owner said they keep it because it works. They could not explain that in terms of financial performance or their profit and loss statement tho.

I bought a newsagency two and a half years ago that had a Coke fridge. The staff said customers would complain if we got rid of it. No one complained. We are surrounded by cafes and take away food outlets with Coke and other drinks. The fridge had no commercial value in our newsagency.

None of this matters. If you’re making a good profit, more than you would otherwise make from the space, stick with it.

If you don’t know your numbers, go work them out, now.

I worked them out for the shop I was in a couple of days ago and the Coke fridge was losing money. It was not paying for the square metre of space it was taking let alone the labour and capital tied up in inventory. This is a beautiful newsagency by the way, one offering excellent gifts. I think by removing the Come fridge they can  remove some shopper assumptions and expect more shopper traffic as a result.

Sometimes we find ourselves doing the same thing over an over because no one has stopped in front of us and asked why we do that.

I have nothing against Coke by the way. Some newsagencies, though, do not need to offer the product, they can make better use of the space.

If you have a Coke fridge, please go work out your numbers and let them guide what you do.

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Newsagency management

NADOC Week 2024 50c Coloured Frosted Uncirculated Coin release drives in-store traffic for newsagents

yesterday was a terrific day with people keen to get their hands on this new coin released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the NAIDOC Committee.

The Royal Australian Mint helps by listing is as a stockist and while this can lead to many phone calls, each contact is an opportunity to pitch other coin related product.

I love the coin releases for their new shopper traffic. New shoppers are gold in retail.

We never get enough coins, but we are always happy to get what we get, and we make the most of it.

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Newsagency opportunities

Right now could be a good time to promote Despicable Me ands Minions

The Are Media / Coles Despicable Me and Minions promotion prompted me to loom at the licence for opportunities for newsagents. In case you’ve missed it, here’s the Coles in-store pitch:

I checked Google search data using the SEMRush platform to which I subscribe and found that in Australia there are more than 180,000 searches with despicable Me in the search text. For Minions, the number is 472,000. That’s a ton of searches.

While plenty of the searches are for the entertainment products, plenty are for toys, games and books, a categories easy for our channel.

If you have Despicable Me and / or Minions product, my advice is to talk about it on social media and pitch it at the front of the shop or at the counter. You have nothing to lose and plenty to gain. It’s worth thin king about the various shoppers for these licences. While we at first think of them as kids products, there are plenty of adults who like the licences and collect products related to them.

I am aware of at least six suppliers with Despicable Me and Minions licences products I’d carry in the collectibles / gifting spaces.

While some newsagents may wish they had this Coles promotion, we can trade off the raised profile for these licences by being tactical.

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Newsagency opportunities

Visual merchandising advice for newsagents who think they know northing about visual merchandising, and for blokes who always try and get out of creating a display

Everyone can do VM!

Visual merchandising is about display products in a way that attracts people to them, top look, touch and feel. Ultimately, it is about displaying products so you sell more.

Anyone can do visual merchandising.

Here is our advice.

  1. Start with a clean space, a flat surface, in a good location.
  2. The best display looks like a pyramid.
  3. Your hero product is at the top of the pyramid.
  4. If the display is for a season or some other sign-post event, the poster should be placed with the display so shoppers can see it without having to look for it.
  5. Flowing from the hero product down to the base of the display are other products. But not so many that you can’t see what you want people to see.
  6. The display is balanced, even.
  7. A display of gifts always includes cards.
  8. If the display is promoting homewares the pyramid approach is not needed. Instead, go for something that looks more natural, like in the home.
  9. Use coloured paper to highlight certain products. But don’t go for a rainbow.
  10. From a colour perspective, a good display has no more than two core colours as the focus.
  11. A display can look untidy and that is okay in some circumstances. For example, a box of Beanie Boos exploding from a box .
  12. Mistakes are okay.
  13. Oh, and don’t treat this as an engineering challenge. Keep it simple and fun! :

Take your time, have fun.

Remember, the alternative is no display at all.

A note to others who may be around when someone is doing their first display – we all did our first display once … be gentle.

Now, here are some more notes about displays:

In my opinion, the best displays have a narrative relevant to the business, a story or purpose. This is code for saying I am not a fan of single product or single supplier displays. suppliers love these, of course, as they are a billboard for them. What suits them will likely not suit you.

A good display is a collection of items from multiple suppliers, categories and segments that make sense together, from which a shopper could choose several for a gift, or for themselves. Choosing the items for the display us you curating the display, making editorial choices to tell the story you want to sell.

Don’t leave the display up for long. My advice is one week, two at the absolute maximum. Having a length of time for which a display will be live helps you allocate appropriate time for the creation of the display. if you are not sure how long to spend on it, set yourself and hour tops. Get it done within that time.

Once you’ve done a display, if you are new to this, ask for opinions. Learn. Each display will be an improvement on the last.

Whole the opinions of others can be nice, what matters from any display is the sales it achieves for you. be sure to track this as that data will inform your next choices.

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Management tip

Best practical advice on allocating space in your shop: analyse gross profit contribution by floorspace

The advice I share is something anyone can do. You don’t need a retail specialist. You don’t need advice from a supplier. You don’t have to rely on a mentor. You don’t need to use one of the overpriced business advisors governments often pitch to small business retailers.

Spend an hour on this and I am sure you will discover things you will wan t to change in your business. It’s advice I have been pitching to newsagents for 15+ years. It works.

ANALYSE GROSS PROFIT CONTRIBUTION BY FLOORSPACE ALLOCATION.

This advice outlines one of the first assessments I ask to be done when asked to review the performance of any retail business, including a retail newsagency as it provides an understanding of the return being achieved from floor space allocation.

With space usually costing between 11% and 15% of (non agency) revenue in a typical Australian newsagency, it is usually the next highest cost outside of the cost of stock itself. How you use space matters to the financial health of the business.

Spend an hour on what I suggest here and the result should be a different view of the performance of your floor space allocation. This is not advice you will get from your accountant or from reviewing your P&L or computer reports. It is designed to be practically helpful in managing your business, practically useful to those in the business.

here are the simple steps I recommend you follow:

  1. Take a blank sheet of paper, ideally A3, and roughly sketch out the layout of your shop, marking in display units, wall shelving, the counter – everywhere you have product. There is no need to be 100% accurate.
  2. The floor plan layout should also include your back room if you have stock there.
  3. Colour-shade the layout by department and major category. For example, shade all areas with magazines in yellow, all floor space for gifts in blue, stationery green but pens in a different colour etc.
  4. List the departments and categories shaded on the side of the floor plan.
  5. Calculate the percentage of total space taken by each department or category. This does not need to be accurate to two decimal places. List this next to each department you have listed.
  6. Use your computer system to report on gross profit earned by each department and category over the twelve months.
  7. Calculate the percentage of total gross profit contribution earned by each department and category and list this next to the floor space allocated to each department.
  8. Circle in green those performing the best and in red those performing the worst. A best performing department will typically be responsible for a significantly higher percentage of gross profit than percentage of space allocated whereas a worst performing department will be contributing a percentage of overall gross profit considerably lower than the percentage of floor space allocated.
  9. Right away note down action items while the data is fresh in your head.
  10. Have the shortest gap possible between writing down your action plan and taking action.

Once you have the marked-up floor plan with the space percentage and percentage of total gross profit, think about your current floor space allocation.

Are the results what you expected?

What would you change?

What do others in the business think?

The steps suggested do not take into account product size and the average gross profit percentage from each dollar of revenue for a department. For example, ink is a lower margin product than stationery, gifts are a higher margin magazines. Typically, the analysis will highlight challenges with lower margin product.

The objective of the analysis is to provide you with fresh insights you could use when considering floor space change.

You can take the analysis a step further by looking only at one department and analysing performance by all categories in that department.

For example, in one business I saw pens taking 7% of stationery space while they contributed more than 40% of gross profit earned from all stationery. This raised the question of what might happen if more space was allocated to pens?

Every business I have worded with that has done this analysis has made changes as a result. Everyone involved has discovered things they had not expected. That’s the goal, to introduce fresh insights.

My advice here is not overly sophisticated. This is deliberate, so that anyone can do it.

Our channel has many suppliers full of opinions as to what we should do in our businesses. Most of those offering the advice don’t own and run retail businesses themselves. The best advice you can rely on for your business is that which you discover for yourself from performance data for your own business. 

If you do the data analysis I have suggested here and have questions, please reach out to me. I’d be happy to look at your results and discuss these with you. You can reach me at mark@towersystems.com.au.

I’d add that the advice here works for any type of retail business, not only newsagencies.

Now for an important footnote: it’s common for local small business retailers to put off work like this. I have seen it happen many times. In some cases I think it is because they think they know best while in other cases there is a fear of what they may discover and then there are some who say they don’t have time. None of these excuses are valid in my book.

Spend an hour and either have your current floorspace allocation validated or come out with a list of changes that pursue better business results. Either is a win.

The advice I have shared here is pare of the newsXpress knowledge base of advice to while all newsXpress members have access.

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Management tip

Here’s a quick walk through one of my shops

I shot this video on my iPhone on Wednesday last week. What was once a newsagency has evolved.

I bought my first newsagency in February 1996, to provide practical experience for myself and others in my newsagency software company, Tower Systems. I’ve owned newsagencies ever since. It’s been wonderfully useful, and enjoyable.

Mount Waverley is a small formal high street store in a regular suburban shopping strip. It competes with Chadstone for shoppers, and does well.

This business used to identify as a newsagency. Not any more. Today, it’s a place where people can find hugs and celebrate those they love. What it offers is covered in the website we built for the shop: www.hugsandlove.com.au.

From Squishmallows to Jellycat to ravensberger jigsaws to awesome blind boxes to Nee Doh, this shop is packed with many categories of adorable and fun items people can buy for themselves and for others.

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Newsagency opportunities

Australian Cars The Collection set to drive traffic to Aussie newsagents

Newsagents are tagged in the TV commercial for Australian Cars The Collection, a new partwork series launching June 10. Newsagents are the exclusive retailers of this title.

I am grateful to have seen part 1 of Australian Cars The Collection. It’s a terrific product. It feels good. We already know how much car lovers like buying magazines. This new series is sure to appeal to to current car lovers, those who appreciate nostalgia, those who love collecting and people collecting for young kids.

Each issue in Australian Cars The Collection comes with an authentic 1:43 scale die-cast metal car model. The series will feature of some of the most iconic Australian cars from the 60’ to the ‘90’s.

My advice to newsagents is to display each issue of Australian Cars The Collection in prime position at the front of the shop, to leverage the considerable spend on the TV commercial, which tags newsagents. If there is room, put it at the counter. I am confident this will be a traffic driver for our channel.

And, yes, I hear the argument about the paltry margin. We have to suck it up while we do everything we can to leverage the traffic boost. If you are tempted to early return the title, my advice is don’t. Get behind it and sell out. The launch of Australian Cars The Collection is an opportunity for us to show what our channel can do. I suspect people will be watching us to see how we handle the opportunity. It’s up to all newsagents receiving the title to not let the channel down.

Use your newsagency software to offer a putaway service, to lock those early shoppers for this title into buying future issues from you. Good newsagency software makes putaways easy with the result being a personalised label for each cutaway customer. It’s the best approach to managing any partwork series as it provide you with control and the customer with a good experience.

This launch has been almost 2 years in the planning with a company in the UK and a company based in Asia that produces diecast cars for the world market. I know that the folks at Are Direct have used their own sales data to develop the allocation model for the title. This has taken considerable planning.

It’s been a long time since we have seen a partwork launch like this. Many newsagents in the channel today would not have experienced it before. That’s one reason I am writing this post – to share that this is a good opportunity. The TV commercial alone tagging newsagents is an opportunity for us to leverage. It should land people in your shop who are not regulars. This is the opportunity.

We should use our socials to talk about the launch, leverage the front of the store as I have already noted and ensured that everyone in the business is aware of the launch and the broader opportunity for the business.

If you are one of the 1,800+ newsagents using the Tower Systems newsagency software, please click here to access to knowledge base articles on managing cutaways.

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magazines

Retail transformation: newsXpress Mount Waverley

newsXpress Mount Waverley is a corporate store, it’s one of our own shops where we experiment with tech and retail. It’s a shop we run on a tight budget.

In this video, Anthony from our newsXpress head office and Mark Fletcher our CEO discuss the transformation of the Mount Waverley business from 2018 to today. We also cover how this business spawned a second business, and online business, that outgrew the shop, and how it’s just launched its second online business – www.hugsandlove.com.au.

While the business identifies as a newsagency, it’s far removed from what Aussies consider to be a newsagency. It’s a gift shop, a haven for collectors and a place to shop for young kids.

This video shows how to go about changing a local high street shop on a small budget and the importance of being flexible to pivot when the world presents opportunities.

I am grateful for the opportunity to take you behind the scenes of one of our corporate stores, to show the value we harvest from being a POS software company that owns and runs retail businesses.

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newsagency of the future

Newsagency transformation (part 3): completely change the first 3 metres

The first 3 metres of your shop from the front windows and door in represent your headline.

If you want to transform your newsagency and have people see your business as changed, change this space, dramatically, completely. Leave nothing as it was.

It’s this first 3 metres people will see and decide the type of shop you have. This is where you get to play against expectations, it is where you have to disrupt. Don’t give them what they expect.

Products, fixtures – they are all up for grabs in terms of the changes you bring.

If your counter is located in this space, it needs the same dramatic attention.

I think the best way to do this is one day when the shops is closed, take everything away from the first 3 metres, remove it so you have a blank slate. Set a rule for yourself that you cannot put back into the space anything that was there. It will be difficult. You’ll have the urge to put oe thing back into the space, then another. Resist this urge.

What you really want from the experience is for customers to tell you there are surprised to see you stock something you always have stocked but that they only notice now because of what you have done in the first 3 metres of the shop.

Here are four principles for making the first 3 metres of your shop work:

  • Declutter and Create a Visual Feast: As you place new products, keep the entrance free from clutter. Make it visually appealing. Try and not use traditional retail fixtures. Use clean lines, captivating displays, and well-maintained fixtures.

  • Sensory Experience: Consider incorporating subtle elements that engage other senses. Play upbeat music at the front of the shop – music people will know, showcase beautifully scented products, let people smell your type of business and enjoy it.

  • Storytelling Through Displays: Don’t just display products, tell a story. Create thematic displays that showcase how your products can be used or benefit the customer. Don’t have too many of an item in a display. Show less quantity but more range of products – to tell that story you want.

  • Interactive Elements: Make it easy for people to engage with what you sell, to touch and smell. Having products on display in a box of so old school. Take products out. Encourage touching and engaging.

The first 3 metres of the shop is the most valuable retail real estate in the shop if you make good use of it. Be in charge. Set the tone. Make a statement. Keep changing it. Show that yours is a transforming business.

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Newsagency management

Newsagency transformation (part 2): if your data sucks and want an easier way to start

If you know you need / want to transform your newsagency and your business data is not in good shape, there are steps you can take on the shop floor to drive change in the business.

In my experience, businesses often in this situation often have a traditional shop floor layout.

The advice I provide below is all about disrupting what you have as I have found this can help retailers see what they could see. It’s radical and rough, designed to seriously change things up in the business.

It is important to know that whatever you do is forever. Make these moves, watch, learn and adjust. Shops needs to be continuously evolving.

First: the old newspaper and magazine unit

If you have a traditional magazine fixture running down the business of the business with newspapers on the front facing shoppers and they enter the business: take all the stock off and rip it out. Don’t overthink it, rip it out.

This is prime retail space you should be using for products with 50% gross profit and more. Giving this space to products from which you make 25% GP and less is a bad business move.

Rip the whole unit out.

Now, using low cost basic everyday shelving, put your magazines on the back wall of the shop. What ever was in that spot needs to go somewhere else.

Basic strip shelving with brackets that hold the shelves will suffice.

Put your newspapers below, on a bottom flat shelf.

If you’ve ben putting out newspaper or magazine posters, stop. They do not increase sales.

Second: fill the freed up space.

Grab a couple of old tables, or some old wooden boxes. Create display places on the shop floor and on each tell a product category story. Bring products to this part of the shop that people might otherwise not have seen.

If you don’t have tables, look at a local op. shop, in your garage or somewhere like Amart. Spend as little as possible.

Resist using spinners here in this recovered space.

Choose products you are proud to offer.

Be sure to include products you are certain would not work for your customers – it’s important you do this to figure out what you don’t know about your customers.

Be prepared to change the displays within a week if they are not working for you.

Three: watch what happens.

The moves may be a bust. It’s okay if they are, make more changes and keep doing so until you see a good result.

You may see some early success. If you do, lean into that, do more.

If your business is that traditional that it has an old magazine and newspaper unit running down the middle of the shop, I suspect you will experience good news for that’s what I have seen in every business I have seen try it.

Have fun.

One newsagent I know who made these moves hosted a Saturday afternoon sausage sizzle so people would watch as they used a chain saw to exorcise the old magazine unit from the shop.

The key point of this first move is to disrupt your view of the business. Sure, the shop floor will be disrupted. You need to be disrupted more and that’s why you need to do something radical that you are likely to want to resist. The suggested changes could do more for you personally than the business itself.

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Newsagency management

Newsagency transformation (part 1): where do you start?

If you want to change your retail newsagency business, no matter whether it is a traditional newsagency or one that has already seen some transformation, it starts with being sure of where you are at, it starts with your data.

Knowing where the business is at is the foundation of steps forward. This involves looking at the business from a range of angles.

  • Up to date profit and loss statement.
  • A current debtors report and a current creditors report.
  • A list of all monies owed by the business, both formal and informal.
  • Stock listing showing total value of stock.
  • Dead stock listing showing all items for which zero sales have been recorded in six months or more – showing the total value of this stock.
  • A floor map showing gross profit percentage contribution by product department / category floorspace allocation.
  • Total rostered hours in a week, including owners regardless of whether they are paid, and a calculation on revenue per hour.
  • a revenue comparison down to the category level comparing the most recent 6 months with the same 6 months a year earlier.

It’s not enough to say you want to transform your business, you need to understand where you are at and the capacity for change. The above information will provide insights as to immediate opportunities as well as the capacity of the business to fund the cost of change. This list is the starting point of what I ask for from any business I work with on transformation.

In looking through the pool of data from this list, my recommendation is to seek our easy wins that can set up for productive focus next. For example, if there is $10,000 or more in dead stock and all of that stock has long since been paid for, quit it. The freed cash and space will give you a boost. Now, to quit the stock, place it in one location, a clearance location. It could be a table, or two or more. Put it together with the same discount for all. My suggestion is 50%.

While you are quitting dead stock, work through the rest of the data to understand the business performance as it stands today and look at the comparison report for any easy green shoot opportunities you can see allied to current business categories. This could provide you with an easy first step.

As you work through your data, make a list of ideas, action items. It could be that on that list there are some easy wins you’d not seen before or had been ignoring.

Some retailers I have spoken with over the years about business transformation or improvement have been tempted to use their accountant to guide them. I think this is a mistake unless the accountant has current hands-on retail experience in your type of shop. Others have been keen to use a business consultant. Unless they have current retail experience in your area, I’d not engage with them.

My point here is that it’s your business. You are at a point of wanting change, transformation. The next steps are up to you and best done by you so that you own the changes.

This first step starts with gathering the data, cleaning house and getting fit.

All of this work is about getting you match fit for more considerable change, that comes next.

Footnote: I’ve owned newsagencies since 1996. I’ve been a Director of newsXpress since 2005. I started Tower Systems in 1981. While I am no guru, I have had a range of experiences that have helped me see the value of changing our businesses, transforming them beyond the traditional and doing so on a minimal budget. If you are embarking on the transformation and what to talk to someone, I’m here: mark@towersystems.com.au or 0418 321 338.

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Newsagency management

How is the Aussie newsagency travelling in 2024: looking at retail sales January through April 2024 vs. 2023

Looking at sales in your newsagency from January through April 2024 versus 2023 is useful. Knowing your results is more important than the noise from news outlets on retail sales.

While it’s not a full-on benchmark, I’ve seen data for enough businesses to share the following as reasonable results with which to compare your business when looking at sales for the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2023 for traditionally core categories:

  • Magazine unit sales: down 8%.
  • Newspaper unit sales: down 5%.
  • Stationery sales: up 3%.
  • Card sales: up 2%.

If your results are outside these, consider what you are doing in the business to change the situation. There could be a good reason your numbers are different. It could also be that the business is challenged in ways you can positively impact.

There are many things we can do in our businesses to drive sales growth. The key is taking action to achieve this. Success won’t seek us out, we have to seek it. Please forgive this cliche … but it is true.

Stationery is having a good moment, growing sales is easy. cards, too, respond to care and attention from you, especially if you are tactical in chasing the impulse purchase.

The big winner is gifts. What we can sell in our shops has changed so much. The price range we can offer has changed too. Gone are the days of newsagents targeting gifts that cost $25.00 or less. I love hearing from newsagents when they have sold their first $300+ item – it opens their mind to expanding their gift offer further.

I own a newsagency on Glenferrie Road Malvern, in Melbourne. For decades it was a traditional newsagency, owned and well run by one family: huge in magazine sales and strong in newspapers, cards and stationery.

Since I bought the business we have engaged in evolving the business while not anting to hard the existing core. It’s working. We are attracting new shoppers and winning new category revenue while maintaining good core sales.

Switching card companies provided a huge boost and continuous evolution of the card mix in the 2+ years. Introducing gifts is working well as is the introduction of sensory products, multi-generational plush as well as homewares.

What we stopped early on that helped too: we got rid of the drinks fridge, the ice-cream fridge, candy at the counter and 20% of the magazine space. Now, in cutting the magazine space, we did not cut any titles – we have maintained excellent magazine sales: $100,000 in January through April 2024. Special interest titles are the biggest segment, accounting for $20,000 in sales in the first four months this year.

All of this has been done on a minimal budget in a step-by-step approach, following opportunities revealed in the data.

Please take a moment and compare your January through April 2024 with 2023. See what’s working and what’s not. If you see in this things that need attention, get to it. If you are not sure what your comparison shows, feel free to reach out. I’d be happy to take a look and comment back to you on a confidential basis. I’m at mark@towersystems.com.au or 0418 321 338.

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Newsagency management

No, it won’t sell here, it’s too expensive, our customers would never buy a $550 plush item, not in a million years.

Of course, it sold in less than a week, six weeks before we had to pay for the stock. And, we sold another one from the same range for full retail at $350.00. And, another after that. Oh, and another $1,000 from the range in less than a week of getting the stock. Now, in week two, more sales, more money made.

The mistake of the nay-sayer in the business was to regard it as a plush item. Okay, it is a plush item, but, people are bot buying it as a plus item, they are buying it as a collectible, a very special collectible – rare, celebratory.

They people buying are 35+, not your traditional plush shoppers. males, too – again, not traditional plush shoppers.

Now before you jump to conclusions, the success I am writing about here is in a small suburban newsagency. It’s not in a shopping centre. The area is middle class, skewing to an older age.

Imagine losing several thousand dollars in sales by saying no, it won’t sell here, it’s too expensive, our customers would never buy a $550 plush item, not in a million years, denying your business the opportunity. We do, though. I’ve done it for sure – said something won’t sell without trying it.

Now, I am not saying try everything. What I am saying is that your immediate instinct is to say no, check in with yourself. Question why you are saying no and allow yourself a moment to think you might be wrong.

Being open to something means thinking through the opportunities, it means researching:

  • The current interest in the brand.
  • Who else stocks the product.
  • Whether there is an online opportunity.
  • Allied products you may have or could stock.
  • The value of the demographic to which it may appeal.
  • The opportunity to attract net new traffic through the product.
  • The risk and wether you have capacity for this.
  • The possible upside.
  • A recall of how often you have been wrong before.

This may seem like hard work. In the contest of the product I am referring to in this post, in two weeks it is a $1,500 GP beneficial range that I am sure will track to be worth $10,000 – $15,000 to this one business through the rest of 2024. This is valuable. It’s a result we can expect because we did not buy in on the instant no thanks when first looking at the possibility.

Our local Aussie newsagency businesses should not be defined by our own ignorance, they can be more successful than our imagination sometimes allows.

What we can sell, how we can sell, when we can sell and to whom we can sell is different today then. a few years ago and to when our channel was created.

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Newsagency opportunities

The challenge with being part of a franchise or a national branded business

I was in a regional town New Zealand over the weekend for a wedding and went to a local Paper Plus store to buy a wedding card. I didn’t like any of the wedding card designs they had, the range felt tired, like the shop.

It was my first time in a Paper Plus for five years and as such it’s what I’ll think of as the standard for Paper Plus until I see something different.

The shop fixtures were old school – traditional gondolas, high with products stacked. There was no flair or enticement to the retail displays, nothing to draw me into the shop. The light was bright fluro, which is now out of date for interesting local retail. There was no sense of being local.

Franchise businesses and businesses that trade under a common shingle are as strong as their weakest store.

This is one of the reason newsXpress years ago ditched requiring businesses to trade under the newsXpress shingle. It is also why the group restructured its contract and its offer to not fall under the franchise code of conduct.

Local retailers need the freedom to flourish is ways appropriate to their local setting. In a franchise this is challenging to do since the franchise approach is about a cookie-cutter approach, based on what some call a ‘system’. I can’t think of any ‘system’ or franchise model that is appropriate in the newsagency channel today. That’s my opinion at least, others will have theirs.

Our channel is going through rapid change, much of which is outside the lines of what has been traditional for newsagency businesses. What drew people to our businesses even five years ago has changed in 2024. Change is good as it opens opportunities.

So much of the growth I am seeing in newsagency businesses that are growing is outside of traditional and this is where a ‘system’ or a franchise model created decades ago will struggle to be relevant. Retail in 2024 is not relevant to what we did in 2000, 1990 or 1980. How, when and where people shop has changed. What people will buy from what was once a traditional newsagency has changed.

Local newsagents need the freed to be what they can be. This is why I moved from a franchise model years ago.

Back in the day, Paper Plus was a terrific business a model for consistency and growth. If what I saw on Saturday is any indication, it has some distance to go to be relevant to 2024 – if not the group then certainly the shop I visited.

I love owning and running my newsagency businesses today, for traditional products but more so for the opportunity to play outside the lines of tradition.

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Newsagency management

Pitching local through what we sell

There are many ways to pitch local in retail: buying from local suppliers, supporting local community groups, speaking to your localness. These are all good ways. certainly, show, don’t tell is a good approach to pitch local. I think people are tired of the lazy social media post from a local retailer asking people to shop local. We need to show reasons.

One way we are doing this in my shops is with locally personalised signs designed to inspire dreams of travel destinations. Here’s the sign i9n the window of our Malvern shop.

No other retailer in Malvern has this. I can say this with certainty since we commissioned the product, choosing the list of cities carefully.

The sign is a talking point, as well as a fun gift for someone who does enjoy travel, or dreaming of travel. It also speaks to our localness without telling people to shop local.

It’s a small move, one already we are seeing working well for the business.

There are so many ways we can be smart about pitching local without overtly pitching local in our shops. The more we do this in smart ways and the less we see retailers calling people to shop local the better in my view. Those social media posts almost begging people to shop local are tiresome. I’m not aware of one ever working in a way that is measurable.

Show, don’t tell really is the best way to pitch local. Locals need to feel it without being told, without it being shoved in their face.

On the sign we had made, it sells for $19.99 and has a GP of 75%, which we are happy with.

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Newsagency opportunities

Beyond the Need For a Pen: Selling Stationery to the Joy Seekers

If you stock stationery to serve a functional need, this post has been written for you.

I like pens and have more than 200 of them. Most are unused. When I am in a good stationery shop, I am likely to buy another pen. I go for colour, weight and how it feels across paper.

I also like notebooks and journals and have more than 100 of them. I go for small format, few pages, nice feeling paper and something that I can easily travel with.

I buy these things because I love them, not because I need them.

We all know people like this. Those who walk into a stationery store and emerge with items they did not need, but items they love.

I have a friend who buys stationery by colour, a specific colour. They gave boxes of it, and want more.

I met someone recently who buys sticky notes. They have a collection of more than 400. They want more.

While you can make good money selling stationery to whose who need it, the everyday stationery we all stock, there is this other, sometimes more lucrative market, some of us miss serving.

Here are a few tips on tapping into this opportunity:

  • Focus on the Experience. It’s not just a pen, it’s an extension of their personality. Highlight the smooth glide of a gel pen, the luxurious feel of heavyweight paper, the whimsical designs that spark inspiration.
  • Embrace the Unique. Cater to the collector’s heart. Offer limited edition lines, locally-made artisan products, or quirky finds you won’t see anywhere else.
  • Curate, Don’t Just Sell. Become a trusted source of inspiration. Feature themed collections, recommend perfect pairings (like a specific pen for that incredible notebook), and showcase how these products can elevate their creative process.
  • Speak Their Language. Use evocative descriptions that go beyond functionality. Talk about the “satisfying snap” of a good binder or the “velvety caress” of a high-quality pen.
  • Don’t Forget the Fun. Host workshops on calligraphy, sketching, note taking, letter writing, bullet journaling, or creative writing. Offer gift-wrapping services that turn a simple pen into a delightful present.

Remember, you’re not just selling stationery, you’re selling a feeling. You’re offering a chance to indulge in a little luxury, to spark creativity, and to express oneself through beautiful, well-crafted tools.

When considering buying inventory for this lover of stationery, approach it with a different mindset. Don’t look at it as functional stationery. Look at it as stock items that bring joy to others. Take care. Take your time. There is plenty of opportunity here.

This is a big opportunity for Aussie newsagents.

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newsagency of the future

Are you missing sales growth for your newsagency?

We’ve all been there. You walk into a trade show looking for ideas about the next hot product. Yet, a nagging doubt lingers: are these trends relevant to my customers?

Too many local small business retailers have a blind spot when it comes to what actually sells in their shops. This can cost the business a chunk of money.

I was talking to a newsagent not long ago who said they can’t  sell gifts prices at more than $30. When I asked why that was the case, they didn’t have an answer.

Another newsagent told me that they can’t sell pet related gifts. They, too, could not explain why.

Another newsagent told me that they could only sell cards priced at under $5.00. When asked, they told me they had never stocked cards worth m ore than $5.00.

These barriers we put upon ourselves created the narrative we listen to when stocking our shops. We make decisions that make the narrative in our head true.

You are not your customer.

Listening only to ourselves and surrounding ourselves with people who think like us limits what we see and hear. Sales reps push what’s hot with other stores, trade shows limit who can display and industry publications focus on broad trends. This can create an echo chamber, making it hard to hear the whispers of what your specific customer base truly wants.

Sticking with what’s “always sold” feels safe. Customer needs and preferences evolve. Clinging to the past can leave you with a dusty inventory and dwindling sales.

Data. Numbers don’t lie, but sometimes we don’t listen. Are you analysing sales data to see what moves quickly and what languishes? Ignoring your own in-store intel is a missed opportunity.

How do you fix this?

  • Watch TikTok. Currently, it provides the best out of left-field ideas from what I see. I have picked up excellent retail related ideas that I have not seen elsewhere from TikTok. Some have shocked me. Every single one of them has taught me something.
  • Embrace Customer Feedback: Talk to your customers! Conduct surveys, run polls on social media, or simply chat with them at the counter. What are they looking for? What problems do they need solved?
  • Listen: Everyone else working in the business, on the front line, hearing customer needs directly. Empower them to share insights and make informed suggestions about product selection.
  • Dig into the Data: Sales figures, abandoned carts, website click-throughs – these numbers tell a story. Use analytics tools to understand customer behaviour and tailor your offerings accordingly.
  • Embrace Experimentation: Don’t be afraid to test the waters with smaller batches of new products or surprise pop-up displays. See what resonates with your customers and what doesn’t.

What we can sell in the local newsagency is not bound by any rules. Play as far and wide as you are able. See how far you can take your business.

Be ready to be surprised. Embrace it.

We tried a category this past week in one of my shops, a category several thought would never work for us. $500 in sales in 5 days. 60% GP. It was an easy and valuable win.

You don’t know what you don’t know!

You are not your customer.

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Newsagency management

Advice for local card makers seeking to place their cards in retail shops

I have noticed an increase over the last six months in approaches by local card makers seeking to get their cards placed in the shop. It’s a challenge with complexities.

  • Some local card makers have not considered the margin retailers need when pricing their cards for sale from their own website or at local markets.
  • Some have not thought though how to display the product.
  • Some have never considered whether they would accept product for return.
  • Some have not researched what sells and what does not sell.
  • Some have made poor choices on card stock.

Cards are premium margin products in our businesses. To deliver the value we need, they need to sell. At minimum, we need to sell at least 12 of each card each year to break even on space, labour and capital investment cost. This is the benchmark: a pocket turn of 2 times a year, or in the case of these indie maker cards, a turn of 12 of a design in a year. And that is at a minimum.

While many of us want to support local card makers, too many of these makers have not through their go-to market strategy in a way that connects with potential retail partners.

When we say no, some take it personally about their designs, while this is not the case. It makes for a complex conversation.

While I am all for supporting local designers and makers, the arrangement needs to be commercially viable for both sides and have a plan behind it that shows the relationship to be sustainable.  There is one card maker I supported years ago who did not have replacement stock when I needed. It took three months.

Here are some things we have done to make it easier for the business to support local card designers:

  • We have a good space in the shop dedicated to displaying their product full face.
  • We have a stand for the counter that pitches 2 or 3 designs, for impulse engagement.
  • We show customers the local connection.
  • We use social media.
  • We share performance data so they can consider this when developing product.

While there are complexities with local card markers, there are some out there that get it and work to ensure the relationship is mutually viable.

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Newsagency management

Gift related suppliers are concerned about a trend

Gift suppliers have mentioned a trend that concerns them. It emerged around just over a year ago. Whereas in the past they would win a customer and receive follow-up orders from almost all of them, over the last fourteen months less than a third reorder.

Most of the suppliers who have mentioned this have good products, sought-after. A few are brand names.

A common reason by the retailer for not reordering is that they want change. This is despite the products performing well. I can’t work out why a retailer would ditch a range after selling through the first order.

In a couple of instances it was because an agent for a supplier placed their products in a nearby retailer soon after the first retailer ordered and before the products had had a chance to show how they would perform. I’d be unlikely to reorder in that situation.

There are legitimate reasons too. For example, a business transitioning to a higher average price point in gifts, or a business reallocating shop space to a whole new category they anticipate will perform even better. these are legitimate decisions for retailers to make.

One supplier is so frustrated by the trend that they have amped up their direct-to-consumer activities. I know a couple of others considering this.

I think this is an interesting topic for exploration between suppliers directly impacted by the trend and retailers, preferable retainers who have stocked those suppliers.

Looking at sellout data for a range of retailers this year, it appears that if product out of stock situations did not exist, retail turnover in those shops would be up between 5% and 10% based on previous sales analysis for that time of the year.

While there is an appeal for change in retail to show the business as evolving, there is the practical aspect of the evidence, data, that indicate certain sales if you have the stock. There is good reporting to demonstrate a trend for a product, so you can know when to cut it.

Suppliers do need to understand where they city in the retail business lifecycle. For example, not so long-ago newsagents focussed on gifts priced at $20 or thereabouts. Today, most engaged newsagents focus on gifts at $100, $200 and even more. While the lower priced gifts have a place, it is not the dominate place they occupied a few years ago.

As I noted, I think these are all things we ought to discuss.

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Newsagency management

Small business retail advice: avoid being a victim in your business

If you find yourself blaming others or external factors for situations over which you have some level of control, it may be that you have a victim mentality.

While it can be easy to blame others and be self-forgiving, it serves no value to you or your business, though.

Some examples of blaming others are worrying about competitors who you think are copying your business, complaining about employees and things they did did that did not work out, being upset about the rent you pay, anger at being short of cash.

You choose what you stock, you hire and train employees, you signed the lease and you decide what money is spent.

Blaming others for any situation over which you have had some control holds you back; it denies you the opportunity to learn and improve.

Wallowing in self-pity can be destructive; it can lead one to want the comfort of failure, the right to blame anyone but themselves for a negative situation. It can see you seek negative situations, which is an utterly destructive place to be.

I have encountered plenty of newsagents with a victim mentality. In such situations, they miss what could be achieved by spending all their time blaming others.

If blaming others for business situations is something you notice yourself doing, consider seeking professional help. While you can break the cycle yourself, a professional can help you understand why and provide ways to identify and deal with it.

If seeking professional help does not appeal, consider meditation as a way to find calm and stillness and to be less controlled by negative victimhood thoughts.

I am no psychologist or therapist. My recommendation is that you start with a professional. That said, here are things I have done that help me focus on my role and the positive.

  1. On a noticeboard, at your desk, or somewhere in the business, have photos and other reminders of your successes. Be sure to look at them regularly.
  2. Celebrate your failures, the product that bombed, the ad that achieved nothing, the business initiative that lost money. Own them and your role in them.
  3. Exert your control. If you see something impacting your business you don’t like or want, be the business owner and say no early.
  4. Trust your gut. If you sense something is wrong somewhere in the business, address it immediately rather than wait for it to become an issue.
  5. Say no. If you don’t want to do something, say no.
  6. Make more informed decisions. Research more. Learn more. Be smarter.
  7. Always look beyond your border. Victims can think of their world as one in which they have minimal control when, in reality, they have control beyond what they allow themselves to see. Find a way to jump that wall.
  8. Nurture a workplace of accountability, where it is okay to make a mistake or take a bad decision.

Blaming someone else or other factors for something over which you have some control does not help you or your business. It may feel good. It achieves nothing.

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Newsagency management
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