newsagency of the future

It’s nice talking about the local Aussie newsagency as a hub in the local community. It warms the heart. Aww.

I can’t think of a community hub that is commercially successful, and commercial success matters since owning a newsagency is a commercial pursuit above a community activity.

Profit matters, every day. Profit is what pays people, pays off your loan(s), pays suppliers, puts food on your table, educates your kids and gives you a nest egg for future happiness and comfort.

A community hub is likely not as focussed on profit as those who rely on your business might like.

The newsagency as a community hub spin is put about in the media and at some newsagency channel functions because it is an easily understood feel good. It’s not practical tho. In fact, I think pitching the local Aussie newsagency as a community hub is ignorant and lazy. In recent months I have heard a few people who are not newsagents themselves make the pitch, because they want the feel good story some in the media unquestioningly publish.

I heard a supplier representative make the community hub pitch – a supplier that sets newsagent margin way too low and themselves not respecting what we bring to the table.

I heard a representative of an association talk up newsagents as a hub of the community when asked about the future of the Australian newsagency. They had nothing else to offer other than the cliche.

Our channel deserves better than this.

The best local Aussie newsagency is one focussed on profitability, a business with a plan for growth in new shoppers, deeper baskets and above average gross profit percentage. It’s a commercial business that puts the needs of the business and those who rely on it ahead of any local community needs.

Now, none of this suggests you should not be engaged with your local community. Of course you should be engaged. But, community engagement is not your reason for being in business. You’re in business for the financial reward, as everyone who relies on your business for income will / should want.

The type of community engagement that could work is hosting a community noticeboard, supporting local community organisations and being seen out in the community.

One type of community engagement that I think is a waste of time and money is being the retailer of last resort by stocking items that no one else in town carries. The only stock you should carry is that which is profitable for you to carry. Another type of community service that I think is a waste is opening for more hours than is commercially sensible.

Every decision you make in and for your retail business should be in pursuit of maximising the profitability of the business as that profitability is the foundation of the value derive from the business each day and when you decide to sell. Seeing your business as a community hub first and foremost most likely denies you the opportunity if maximising profit.

An hour from Adelaide, in the hills. Population 2,000. What Gaby has created is an inspiration to all newsagents, especially those in small towns.

I am hosting a free workshop on Zoom for anyone considering a website for their business. We’ll explore keyword data and what it means for website traffic generation. We’ll also look at different websites newsagents have for their business. Anyone is welcome. It’s not a sales pitch, nor is it newsagency software specific. Information shared will be useful for you to action right away. I will also cover some of my 0wn website failures and what they taught me.

Here’s the link to join in: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84836347652?pwd=ZYjW3LdaBg1MjLC9bL5YcWUfPGEabX.1 Meeting ID: 848 3634 7652 Passcode: 633738

Join me in a chat with Ravi as he shares us his journey from engineer in India to flourishing retailer in Launceston Tasmania.

Ravi’s newsagency at Prospect Marketplace near Launceston Tasmania looks nothing like a newsagency. This is a wonderful and inspiring business transformation that has locals loving shopping there.

It is a true treasure hunt retail experience, offering shoppers of all ages fun and inspiring engagement opportunities.

What Ravi has achieved in what was a traditional retail newsagency is an inspiration to other newsagents. He’s done it on a tight budget, using items bought at markets and elsewhere to bring character and warmth to his shop.

I love seeing retail transformations like this and are grateful for the opportunity to share.

I was in Ravi’s shop yesterday, September 30. It’s close to four months since I was last there. As Ravi and I discuss in the video he has made the changes on a tight budget.

The customers are loving what he has created, as I got to see for myself when in the shop.

This is an inspiring business.

This very rough sketch from me depicts a typical local small business newsagency layout, a design often encouraged by The Lottery Corporation, newspaper publishers, and magazine, card, and stationery companies. The focus always was on providing ample space for each supplier, with little consideration for the needs of the business paying for the shopfit.

The result was a zoned business that was inflexible and primarily served the suppliers’ interests. Too many newsagents today continue to operate with similar layouts, despite their inherent inefficiencies.

The bold colours represent high-traffic product categories, such as lottery, magazines, and newspapers. However, analysis shows that customers in these categories rarely purchase other products. For example, around 80% of newspaper purchases do not include any other product based on the mst recent newsagency sales basket analysis.

The current traditional local small business newsagency shop layout actually discourages efficiency, particularly for lottery products, which often demand a prominent front-of-store location. This can hinder the sale of other products.

The red, blue, and yellow lines represent the typical customer journey through a traditional newsagency. These lines illustrate the inefficiencies and lost opportunities in such a layout.

The failure to adapt to changing times is a significant reason for the closure of many local small business newsagencies in Australia. It’s time for the industry to embrace change and move away from outdated business models.

In 2009, I proposed a flexible newsagency design that could be easily adapted to evolving needs. Unfortunately, many businesses have continued to cling to traditional layouts, leading to financial losses.

It’s crucial for newsagents to push back against suppliers who demand excessive space or prime locations. These demands should be based on sound commercial reasons, not simply the supplier’s desires.

By analysing foot traffic patterns and customer behaviour, newsagents can identify opportunities to improve their layouts and increase sales. It’s time to modernise and adapt to the changing needs of customers.

Here are five steps I recommend for creating a more commercially viable use of your space:

1. Remove newspaper and magazine specific fixtures from the floor of the shop.
2. Use everyday (low cost) and non product specific fixtures for newspapers and magazines on the back wall of the shop.
3. In the freed up floor space introduce tables, desks or similar everyday found objects onto which you place gifts in a storytelling mode. Displays should have few of each item and they should be arranged to represent a story around a theme. Open up the space in such a way that people are drawn further into the shop.
4. Remove all convenience lines from your counter and replace them with products people will purchase on impulse, products people don’t think of you as carrying and products for which you’d like to me known.
5. Look at your stock. Urgently get rid of any product you gave not sold at all in the last six months. Dead stock kills businesses. It really does. If you have had a products on the shelves for not sold any of it for six months that is dead cash, dead space and a measurable opportunity cost for the business.

These 5 recommended steps are to get you started. The list for transforming your newsagency from traditional to relevant is long, much longer than 5 steps. Most of the steps will be unique to your business: the place from which you start, your desired destination, your location and your resources. Changes are needed daily.

Transforming a traditional newsagency can be done. There are plenty in the channel who will help. My details are: mark@newsxpress.com.au and 0418 321 338.

It doesn’t matter how traditional your local small business newsagency is, how big or small your shop is, whether you’re in the city or country or how little you have in resources. There are always steps to a brighter future you can take.

This blog post has enough advice anyone can act on without having to pay for anything. That’s a reason I started the blog and continue to write here – to provide a free resource for local small business newsagents in Australia they can consider and act on if they consider it appropriate for their business.

The advice I have provided is advice I have followed myself in businesses I have purchased that were traditional at the time of purchase. The 5 steps are basic, and they work.

Here’s a short video from me exploring this quote from Helen Dowling, CEO of Newspower, in an article published at www.realcommercial.com.au.

Newsagents are the hub of a community. And that’s a great word to keep in mind – community. For a lot of small towns, the newsagency is a one stop shop, so it’s all about what they can offer their community that’s not there already.

I disagree with Helen, as I explain here:

The purpose of every newsagency business is different. The notion of us all being the same and having the same focus is old-school. Years ago, when newsagents were primarily agents, being a hub in the community made sense. Following deregulation and the dilution of the value of being an agent, the commercial value of being a community hub, too, diluted.

What is the future of the local Aussie newsagency? It’s bright for those who look beyond tradition and embrace change.

Thinking of yourself as a community hub feels to me too limiting, out of date and not commercially focussed.

I am glad this quote from me made it into the article:

There are newsagents in regional Australia making up to $500,000 a year selling gifts and homewares. They still do the legacy stuff, but their real interest as retailers is in non-newsagency items. That’s where the future lies.

As I cover in the video I shot this morning, our channel is different to the past. People need to realise that, including plenty who serve within the newsagency channel. Look ahead people.

…

I own and run newsXpress, a marketing group that competes with Newspower. Like everything I post here, this post reflects my opinion.

Over the last three days in Melbourne newsXpress members met in Melbourne to discuss the future, explore opportunities and connect face to face.

There were insightful and inspiring supplier presentations, taking us behind the scenes with invaluable data insights, and there were plenty of attendee driven discussions about business, and especially new customer traffic opportunities.

With hotel accommodation, meals and drinks covered by newsXpress thanks to wonderful supplier support, the cost of participation was minimal for newsagents from Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria.

We discussed the economy, our channel, current retail sales data nationally and for the channel, what’s working, what’s not, opportunities for the rest of 2024 and into 2025 as well as entirely new product category opportunities.

Tuesday rounded out the conference with round table discussion on: getting online (how to, cost, tips, opportunities); your exit strategy – how to plan for a good exit for you, your family and your business; and, chasing margin dollars – how to avoid too many newsagents make in chasing the wrong thing when negotiating.

Over the course of the two days, plenty of meals, drinks events, morning and afternoon team breaks and the conference sessions themselves, everyone was engaged and involved, working on their businesses, taking the opportunity of being outside of the business to do this and plan for what’s next.

It was a relaxed conference, not too formal, with plenty of laughs along the way.

Alongside the conference was a terrific trade show with products from twenty different suppliers. Suppliers were thrilled with the results, which new accounts and business written. This business happened naturally, without pressure.

But let’s get back to exit strategy. Each speaker spoke to this topic, with their own stories and newsXpress added context for lcoal retailers in terms of the day to day decisions that can provide useful opportunities when one does decide it is time to exit the business.

There aren’t many national conferences for newsagents any more. For 30 or 40 at this newsXpress conference it was their first with the group. The feedback was terrific, people found attending invaluable personally and they look forward yto implementing initiatives to make it valuable for the business.

If your business is in a group, go to their national conference, engage, ask questions, network. Those few days out of the business thinking about the business and working on it can be invaluable as this week has proven for plenty at the newsXpress conference.

The future looks good.

This photograph captures the second location of my first newsagency in Forest Hill, Victoria. I acquired the business in February 1996 after the previous owner went broke. We moved because the landlord required us to relocate a few months after buying the business. This new location reflects the focus at the time on the newsagency shingle and using newspapers to attract shoppers.

The shop’s retail floor space was traditionally divided into thirds: one for papers and magazines, one for stationery, and one for cards.

We operated from this location for three years before being relocated to a new site in 1999, where we added Tatts lottery to the business.

In 2006, we sold the home delivery run—for the same price I had originally paid for the entire business—and six years later, we sold the entire business.

In the twenty-eight years since I bought my first newsagency things have changed considerably. I think, right now, the pace of change is faster that ever. I also think any are not noticing the changes.

I don’t recognise the business in the photo. It is so out of date in terms of what I consider a newsagency to be today.

None of my shops today have lotteries. Cards are allocated 20% of the floor space, magazines under 10% with the rest being taken by gifts, homewares, collectibles, books and other good margin products.

It’s valuable to look back and reflect on the journey from this perspective.

I asked an AI  platform what the future of newsagents is? While the decline of print media has posed significant challenges, many newsagents have adapted and diversified their offerings to remain competitive.

Here’s a 22 minute video shot this morning in which I discuss this:

Tuesday, August 20, at 11am Melbourne time I will be recording a Newsagency of the Future session and you’re welcome to join. Here’s the link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82144330062?pwd=bbPWUavaMzXs0zRdlxkzy1OPQpENM8.1 Meeting ID: 821 4433 0062 Passcode: 149433

Pre Covid I used to host Newsagency of the Future workshops around the country, meeting hundreds of newsagents, looking at trends impacting our channel and speculating on what our future could look like.

This session next Tuesday will look at where newsagencies are at today, consider trends in the world that impact retail broadly and our channel specifically and contemplate what a Newsagency of the Future could look like. I’ll offer actionable practical steps for today.

This is a free session. Anyone is welcome to join live. I will share the video.

My goal for hosting this session as it has been for similar sessions I have hosted for many years is to offer newsagents ways they can enhance the relevance of their businesses, the enjoyment they derive from their businesses and the value their businesses bring them and those who rely on the business for economic sustenance. 

ABC News recently ran a story suggesting the future of the local Australian newsagency was in trouble because it had not kept up with the times. I know of many local Aussie newsagencies that have kept up and are more relevant today than any time in their past.

This video I made showcases a few of these awesome local businesses, shops that look nothing like the old Aussie Newsagency. I made it, and others to follow, to show that the local Aussie newsagency may not be what you think it is.

These newsagencies offer products outside of what the old Aussie newsagency carried. Gifts feature along with clothing, handbags, gourmet cooking items and more. These are businesses serving a diverse mix of shoppers – far away from lottery, newspaper and magazine customers.

Smart newsagents started transforming their businesses 20 years ago. Moving into gifts, homewares, toys and more – attracting new shoppers and selling products at margins four and five times more than newspapers.

The easiest local newsagency to transform today is one in a small country town. This setting presents opportunity, and I am glad to say that many newsagents have embraced it.

This is the story ABC News should be covering, a story of a channel navigating extraordinary change with plenty of local retailers, local newsagents, evolving their businesses to be relevant, vibrate and valuable.

We made the video because we know a picture is worth more than a thousand words. This video is worth thousands of words showing off transformed local Aussie newsagencies that aren’t newsagencies in the historic sense of that label.

While news outlets and suppliers consider newsagents a channel, newsagents are not a channel and have not been for many years. You can’t go into a newsagency expecting they will have what you want if your expectation is rooted in decades ago.

I don’t think the shingle matters. What matters is what shoppers feel when they enter a retail businesses. If they step into a shop that nurtures a feeling of comfort and happiness and offers them a treasure hunt retail experience they will tell others, and they will come back. The shingle above the door is irrelevant.

My Tower Systems business is a small business focussed POS software company developing, and supporting POS software for niche specialty retailers, like newsagents.

I am are grateful that Tower serves close to 1,800 newsagencies with our industry-standard newsagency software. This helps Mme do this advocacy work for our channel.