newsagency of the future

I urge small business retailers to take care when selecting an individual or business to undertake Shopify web development. Inside the Shopify web developer ecosystem there are people who take the money, do the bare minimum and run – failing the retail businesses that paid them.

How do you spot a Shopify web developer who is not likely to serve the needs of your retail business? Here is my advice …

Look at their quote. Is it professionally laid out? Is it well written? Is it understandable? Is it complete? If it is none or only some of these things they may not be the developer for you for if they take this approach representing themselves what approach will they take representing you?! we say … be particularly concerned about text based quotes.

Look for understanding. In their words there should be indicators that they understand your needs and that they want to understand your needs. The website is all about you and your business after all.

Speak to them. We have seen shonky web developers void this at all costs. Speak to them. Talk with them. Engage in conversation. You are looking for someone you can trust your business with. Speak to them.

Look at them. Ask for a Zoom meeting, so you can meet face to face. Ask them to show you sample Shopify sites in this meeting and to explain why each is a good sample site for you to consider./ Sometimes we see web developers avoid Zoom meetings so they can hide behind typed words. face to face c an be revealing.

Say you don’t understand. Tell them you don’t understand some or all of their pitch. Test their patience. See if they meet you at a tech jargon level that you are comfortable with. Challenge them. test them. It is vital they use words and terms you understand. They haver to meet you, not you them.

Be in control. You are the customer. You choose the web developer you go with. decide whether you accept their quote and their terms. You do these things when it suits you. Do not succumb to pressure as anyone pressuring you on timing may be serving their needs and not yours.

Website development right now is like the 1800s gold rush – fast, unregulated with a lot of people being negatively impacted along the way and only a few finding gold.

Take your time. Be sure of what matters to you. Choose the business you want to work with, they business you think can hell you achieve what you want.

Know that you get what you pay for. by that we mean … some web developers under quote as a business model either because they will cut corners or because they know they can charge extra for what they did not know at the start. Again, take your time, be sure of your needs, and remember the carpenter adage: measure twice, cut once. Time spent before you make a decision on your Shopify web developer could ensure that the outcome is better for you and your business.

My newsagency software company has been developing websites for retailers for years. here are some of the more recently completed sites:

www.backobourkecollective.com.au
www.inspiretasmania.com.au
www.brindabellastockfeed.com.au
www.heavensabove.com.au
www.loavesrobe.com.au
www.masterjewellersonline.com.au
www.chitchatgifts.com.au
www.eidsvoldrural.com.au
www.forevergiftsandmore.com.au
www.funporium.com.au
www.goulburnstationery.com.au
www.rehfisch.com.au
www.merimbulaextra.com.au
www.morganpark.com.au
www.nextragiftsorange.com.au
www.northsideproduceagency.com.au
www.pamperedpetz.com.au
www.www.paperplayonline.com.au
www.parkesnewsandgifts.com.au
www.rivercitypets.com.au
www.smithstreettraders.com.au
www.sprengersruraltraders.com.au
www.hefeedshop.com.au
www.shop.newcastle.edu.au
www.toyworldcanberra.com.au
www.toyworldwauchope.com.au
www.reasureboxgifts.com.au
www.uncletomspps.com.au
www.warragulpetemporium.com.au
www.welbygardencentre.com.au
www.wollongongbikehub.com.au

Regulars here will know that I am over calls for things to get back to normal. They never will. The future is not the past. More people are working from home that ever. Businesses, especially knowledge based businesses, have migrated and even more are migrating to remove work.

Click here to see a video of a discussion with the CEO of Dropbox in which he discusses this is the contact of his business, how his business now operates and how he now operates. It’s about the future of work. I found it fascinating.

I Highly recommend this video from US retail geek / specialist / advisor Jason Goldberg. Yes, he references the US and big businesses and big brands. What he says applies here in Australia because, online has no borders. It also applies to small business retail because, online has no borders.

The local Aussie newsagency focussed in newspapers, magazines, lollies, lottery products and cigarettes is fading, which is a good thing. petrol outlets, convenience stores, supermarkets and tobacco shops are taking over these low-margin convenience lines.

Aussie newsagents have been shedding tobacco products for years. They have been reducing space allocation for magazines and newspapers, too. The margin from print media is small and cover price decisions mean newsagents make less in real terms from each magazine sold today than ten years ago.

More newsagents, too, are not in the lottery space, having chosen to not engage with that highly regulated low-margin product category.

The local Aussie newsagency is evolving … and not in a network wide way, often not in a way that is easily identifiable.

While the local Aussie newsagency may still offer newspapers and magazines, it will most likely have an awesome range of products, which could include: gifts, homewares, books, self-care, nesting, toys, games, garden products, clothing, coffee, food and art … in addition to what you may expect in terms of cards, stationery and craft supplies.

There are plenty of local Aussie newsagency businesses that do not look and feel like a newsagency. Some shoppers don’t like this, they prefer the older style newsagency. The thing is, that old style business is not profitable in 2021. Newsagents can’t bank on the nostalgia pangs of some people. They need foot traffic, turnover and profit. This is why the local Aussie newsagency is changing.

Many newsagents have been chasing change for years and years, trying new products, experimenting to bold layout changes and shape-shifting their businesses to see what might work. What works in one location may not work in another location. This is why the unified and similar looking local Aussie newsagency of decades ago is lost today in 2021. The book and game focussed ‘newsagency’ in Inverloch, Victoria looks very different to the toy and game focussed ‘newsagency’ in Cooma, New South Wales, and both of these look very different to the gift focussed ‘newsagency’ in Sarina in Queensland.

While your local newsagency may still be there, expect it to be different because different is what helps them be there for the local haul, offering you access to magazines and newspapers along with a bunch of interesting and thoughtfully sourced products that work in your local community.

Indeed, in the newsagency retail channel in Australia right now you can see some of the most innovative retail in-store as well as online. It is an exciting time to be a newsagent.

If you haven’t been in your local newsagency for a while, check it out, be ready for a surprise.

Oh, and if you do pine for the nostalgia of the old-style newsagency, think about whether you’d preference one of those brick mobile phones fro the late 1980s or the smart phone you have today. Yes, the world changes. Retail changes, too. This is a good thing. So … check out your local, new, newsagency.

This Thursday @ 10:30am Melbourne time I am hosting a free Taking your retail business online workshop. Here is the link for accessing this interactive session:

https://zoom.us/j/93218516369?pwd=QW4wR0lFT1F1ZWtzQmFHK2ZxamY3dz09 Meeting ID: 932 1851 6369 Passcode: 636934 Booking is not required.

I’ll cover every question and topic people attending want including: where the shoppers are, what they are looking for, how to get online, how to attract traffic, handing shipping, back office efficiency, niche retailing and how to treat your online business as a start up.

Too often I see people think having a website created for your business is all you need to do to tap into online riches. In this session we will explore the real work, the on-going work that is critical to success online. We will break it down from a local small business retailer perspective.

This is not a sales workshop. It is designed to provide you with information that you can use regardless of who develops your website and regardless of where you are at in your online story.

Everyone is welcome to participate.

Discussions about empty office space and empty CBDs are growing, which is good. In the US, the conversation is more advanced than here in Australia, with Twitter, parts of Microsoft, Pinterest and plenty of other companies permanently adopting the work from home model or, at least, a far more decentralised model, it’s no wonder property developers are listening and engaging.

Here in Australia we are seeing insurance companies, banks and other usually centralised businesses adopting work from home more.

Scott Galloway has written about this recently. His piece, We (might) Work is well worth reading if the topic of the future location of office work interests you. It includes this…

The wholesale abandonment of office space has been among the most striking fallouts of the pandemic, and it will have profound effects on the way we live and work, long after the virus has been tamed. In New York, new office space is coming on the market 59 percent leased, down from 74 percent pre-Covid. San Francisco went from its lowest-ever office vacancy rate to its highest in the same year, and office rents are set to decline by 15 percent. The worst may be yet to come. Analysts predict that commercial vacancy rates will rise from 17.1 percent in 2020 to 19.4 percent in 2021, besting the previous high of 17.6 percent in 2010. And, as $430 billion in commercial and multifamily real estate debt matures in 2021, lenders will be forced to reconcile the effect of the pandemic on their investments.

Why does this matter to newsagents? How, where and when people work plays a role in the performance of high street retail and with the bulk of our channel on the high street, a decentralised workforce matters to us. It can play into what we stock and the services we offer.

There are plenty in our channel who see the work from home moves in 2020 as an aberration, they expect things to get back to normal. I am in the camp of what is normal anyway … every day, / week / months is a progression from the last, there will be no getting back to normal. Online, more people working regionally, less office centric CBDs … these are all connected issues, issues that the pandemic has sped up, issues that impact retail, issues from which we can benefit.

I keep reading up on this topic of office space use overseas as I think it helps to inform decisions we can make today, for our future.

Over the last few days, Queensland retailers with an established and good online presence and back end fulfilment process have been able to offer a timely pitch to existing and prospective customers. Whether for safe click and collect or delivery, having an easily shopped online presence is the key first step to trading which your shop is shut or while people are less likely to leave home or work and shop with you if you are open.

I know of newsagents who last year started on the path too getting online and as the Covid situation eased they pulled back on their plans. The thing is, online is growing, retreating because Covid became more under control was a poor decision.

Queensland retailers who are established online are seeing the benefits of that investment.

If you do not have an online presence through which people can trade with you business, make this a priority. But beware, there are plenty of shonky web development businesses and people out there. Choose wisely.

Here is a video of the online workshop I hosted earlier this week on Taking your newsagency online.

Today at 2pm, I am hosting a free workshop for any newsagent interested in taking their newsagency business online.

This, itself, will be an online session, which you can access from anywhere with this link:

https://zoom.us/j/91031390280?pwd=LzFKYXFqdVJueS9iNWhNbWRJUndBUT09

Meeting ID: 910 3139 0280 Passcode: 323615

I won’t be trying to sell you anything in the session. Rather, I will share experience insights, lay out the steps involved, discuss online platform options and answer all questions.

Tuesday next week, at 2pm, I am hosting a free workshop for any newsagent interested in taking their newsagency business online.

This, itself, will be an online session, which you can access from anywhere with this link:

https://zoom.us/j/91031390280?pwd=LzFKYXFqdVJueS9iNWhNbWRJUndBUT09

Meeting ID: 910 3139 0280 Passcode: 323615

I won’t be trying to sell you anything in the session. Rather, I will share experience insights, lay out the steps involved, discuss online platform options and answer all questions.

Being online is critical to every retail business. We saw that last year and already see value from that this year. Business experts, accountants, mentors … everyone agree that being online is critical.

The hope I have for this session is that it offers a useful learning opportunity for newsagents, to encourage them to get online and to lay out several pathways through which they can achieve this.

And, if the 2pm timing does not work, let me know and I will do my best to schedule another session at a time that suits.