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newsagency of the future

The old newsagency agreement haunts our channel today

Doing a a clean out this week I found my Newsagency Agreement, signed April 3, 1996, with David Some & Co. Limited. I had a similar agreement with the Herald and Weekly Times.

I think these old agency agreements haunt our channel today as they are at the heart of the agent relationships that define many businesses. Even though most no longer have a distribution agreement, plenty do and others have a retail form of the agreement.

The agreement I found is 9 pages of one-sided obligation, like the Gotch agreement, the ACP magazines agreement, and, for many, the lotteries agreement. In each case, these agreements apply onerous requirements on newsagents to be agents.

Interestingly, I suspect the agreements would not meet the requirements of new regulations around agreements for small businesses.

While many in our channel are working hard at trading away from the old days, for plenty is is difficult to let go of core traffic from lotteries, newspapers and magazines, since they do see it as letting go. I prefer to see it as growing other roads (highways) of traffic so we are less reliant on the country roads of agency revenue.

It was nostalgic reading through this old agreement,I enjoyed it and the memories it recalled. I am glad those days are over for my businesses.

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Newsagency management

Why do newsagents rely on legacy suppliers for future direction?

It surprises me how much newsagents and others associated with newsagency businesses rely on legacy suppliers such as magazine publishers, magazine distribution businesses, lottery businesses, stationery suppliers, newspaper publishers and card companies for the future direction of the channel.

These supplier representatives are clueless about the future possibilities for the newsagency channel. I appreciate that sounds offensive,. That is not my intent.

They have no choice but to serve their needs and the needs of those who pay them, ahead of all others, ahead of the needs of newsagents.

When they are asked for ideas, advice or suggestions about the future for and of newsagents, they can only answer in the context of their needs, the needs of the businesses they work for, and what they know.

While they are nice people in these businesses, they do not usually have skin in the game, their own money, or the skill set to suggest a pathway to a brighter future for retail newsagents.

Most supplier representatives are not business owners, their investment is not the same as the investment of the owner of a newsagency. For them, what is at stake is likely not the same as what is at stake for newsagents.

Most supplier representatives are not retailers.

Most supplier representatives are not consumer facing.

Most supplier representatives are not innovative – you only have to look at their campaigns and their engagement with newsagents to see how old-school it often is.

Their hearts are in the right place. As I noted, they are nice people. However, they are not the people to engage with if you want a conversation about the future direction of your business or your channel.

Look, I own newsXpress, and in that newsagency marketing group there is an on-going discussion about the future. It’s been going on for years, as has change. It is an every day thing. But it is more than discussion. There is regular action for the group and stores in the group. The discussions and actions are evidence based, based on data from retail and based on sound research outside the channel, from other legacy business situations confronting change.

Dinosaurs will not save dinosaurs.

Much of the core traffic generators for our businesses are dinosaur businesses, facing extinction. Again, run by nice people with their hearts in the right place. But … their focus is on a soft landing for their business whereas your focus is on growth for your business.

Newspapers and magazines are in decline. despite the spin, sales data does not lie.

Stationery for most is in decline.

Lotteries will move online. I get Tabcorp publicly disagrees. Their actions, though, say something else.

None of this matters because there is much good news, much growth.

As I noted recently, there are plenty of newsagency businesses experiencing double digit growth in 2020 over 2019. 25% and more growth. better still, in most of those businesses there is a GP% growth, making the revenue growth more valuable.

To anyone wanting to talk about the future options for the newsagency channel, I’d say talk to those having success as they are already well ahead in the jungle, hacking a pathway forward, and having a good and successful time doing this.

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newsagency of the future

The importance of online as a Plan B

One thing, of many, we have learnt this year is the importance of a Plan B revenue stream.

That’s what online revenue is, Plan B revenue, revenue for when your prime source of revenue is challenged.

Even if your shop is closed and cannot fulfil, you can collect orders. In Victoria, stores that were closed were permitted to fulfil online orders.

What is happening in South Australia should encourage newsagents to be active on a Plan B revenue stream.

If you are not online, get online. This means selling online. That’s my recommendation. What you do is up to you. However, if you are not online you are missing out for sure.

While I’d love the web team of my newsagency software company to create your site for you, shop around. Look at locally based Shopify developers with a small business retail track record. Shopify has the widest use. It also offers the marketing and sales tools key to give your business a competitive edge online.

The biggest challenge newsagents seem to have with online is what to sell. yes, it can be a challenge to work this out. However, it is worth the effort to work it out. Even if you fail the first time, lessons learned can be valuable.

Work on a Plan B so that lockdowns and other challenges may be less impactful for your business.

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newsagency of the future

Australian shoppers preference high street retail over shopping malls

Looking at retail newsagency sales data for October and the first 2 weeks of November of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, there is evidence that Australian shoppers are preferencing high street retail over shopping mall retail.

Newsagencies in high street situations, city and country, are doing much better, often reporting strong double-digit growth, compared to shopping mall businesses.

In the dataset I can see plenty of good news flowing from the easing of Covid related restrictions across retail in the newsagency channel. The news for high street situated retail newsagencies is considerably better than for those in shopping mall situations.

Looking at the core category of magazines. While the overall channel average is a year on year decline, even in locations where Covid restrictions have been relaxed for months, it is in high street situations that I am more likely see growth in the sales data.

Digging deeper into the women’s weeklies segment of magazines, decline in shopping mall businesses yet growth in some high street city and regional businesses.

So, what sort of growth am I talking about? There are high street newsagencies reporting 45% year on year growth, off a good base. The majority of this growth is coming from high margin lines such as gifts, homewares, games and toys. This is driving up overall business GP%.

One factor at play here is the diversity in high street businesses. They tend to offer more product categories, thereby appealing to a broader range of shoppers. I do wonder if this is a consequence of narrow permitted use clauses required by shopping mall landlords.

While it is early days in the recovery, there are indications of a stickiness to high street retail. That is, shoppers who found high street newsagencies are tending to stay, liking what they saw when those were the only general retail businesses open during lockdown.

While I don’t want to read too much into the year on year sales results I have seen so far, I like what I am seeing and am encouraged that the growth plenty saw during the Covid lockdown is continuing.

Based on the sales data, newsagency type businesses are, in my opinion, worth more today than they were this time last year and that has to be good news for the newsagency channel and those who supply the newsagency channel.

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Newsagency management

What is a newsagent?

At around am hour and twenty minutes in, this UK podcast includes a discussion about what you call a newsagent in the UK. Only a passing topic. I share it here as it may interest some wondering about how they identify their business.

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newsagency of the future

Friday 13th sale a hit

We ran an online only sale for 24 hours through Friday November 13th. The offer was simple, 13% off for a product category with a GP% of 55%. We did $3,675.00 over the 24 hours. Marketing spend was $0.00. We used fun and targeted free social media posts.

Online is key in our businesses for finding shoppers we would otherwise not reach and driving efficiency from existing infrastructure.

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marketing

$500 a day in revenue before opening the shop each day last week

We have booked more than $500 in revenue every day for the last seven days between when we closed the night before and opening the next morning. These are online sales. On three days, it was more than $1,000 in revenue.

Gross profit percentage for the products is, 50%.

There is no retain penance space cost as online uses existing retail space that is required anyway.

The labour cost is minimal with it being accounted through everyday roster management at the store.

While some purchases are click and collect, the majority ship to people who live hours, sometimes days, away.

I know that my shop is not alone in our channel achieving these numbers and more.

We are not yet where we know we can be. We think that, with little investment, we can easily double the results of this online business.

It is essential that every newsagency business has an online outlet and that this is not represented as an online newsagency. Those having the most success online play outside the confines, assumptions and history related to the channel.

Online revenue is there for the harvesting. Sure, it is hard work, but it can be done on a minimal budget. The most important investments are creativity and strategy.

There is what I’d describe as a dopamine hit when I open emails in the morning and see the online sales from overnight.

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Newsagency management

What if the most important stream of revenue for your business was cut off overnight?

Hundreds of Australian businesses yesterday discovered that China was blocking their exporting of products to that country. According to news reports, Australian wine, copper, barley, coal, sugar, timber and lobster are set to be banned from Friday.

This is dreadful news for the businesses, those who work for them and the communities that rely on them for income and purchases. The ramifications across Australia could be extraordinary.

Hearing the news of the move by China, I wondered – what would happen to your business if a key income stream was cut off overnight?

Would your business survive? Do you have a plan B? Can you move quickly enough to recover? Were you too exposed to and too reliant on the key revenue stream?

These are questions you can discuss with clarity with hindsight. Better still, they are questions you can discuss in advance.

I raise the questions today because considering them before you face the challenges being faced right now by Australian exporters of wine, copper, barley, coal, sugar, timber and lobster gives you the opportunity today to be less reliant on a single revenue stream.

I get that this can read as a ho-hum topic, something not worth worrying about today. However, I bet there are wine makers, sugar farmers and fishermen who several days ago would have thought the topic ho-hum too.

What if the most important revenue stream to your business was cut off overnight, without notice?

Actions I think anyone reading this could consider include:

  1. Assess income to understand the income category streams on which the business most relies and take immediate steps to broaden these.
  2. Assess income sources. In retail especially most income comes from a shop or physical presence. Broaden this, rely on more than the physical presence.
  3. Assess the importance of suppliers by looking at percentage of revenue attached to each and taking steps to broaden these.
  4. Look at your business finances and consider the impact if any supporting finance arrangement was removed overnight.
  5. Workshop with key people as to what it would mean if any supplier was cut off from you or if any product category or brand was overnight stripped from your business. Those participating in this need to challenge each other.

In terms of the situation that has emerged in China this week, we need to look at our reliance on product from China, especially is we rely on people connected with wine, copper, barley, coal, sugar, timber and lobster. For example, if we have customers who work in wine businesses that export to China. How will they feel purchasing product from us that are sourced from China when China has struck so hard at the core of their income source?

What has happened in China is a reason for us to take stock, look more carefully at our businesses, and ensure that we are better structured to trade through unexpected decisions by others.

A personal story: Decades ago, my software company developed software for radiology practices, managing patient accounts and reports on x-rays. I wrote a word processor to make it easier and faster for radiologists to write report. It was a hit, gaining terrific early sales. A year and a half in, an international x-ray film supplier offered radiology practices free software from the US if they contracted to buy their film for 5 years. Our sales stopped overnight. I decided then that my company would never rely on a single customer or a single channel for the majority of business. It’s why we are now in 12 specialty retail channels, why we only sell to sell business retailers and why we will not borrow to fund the business.

Footnote: I wrote this for newsXpress members, as part of on-going strategic planning advice for members of that retail community. I share it here because of the many communities in Australia today confronted by the challenge presented by China.

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Newsagency challenges

7 principles to help local retail businesses through the Covid recession.

I get it, Australia is in a recession, a Covid recession brought on by the pandemic and responses to it here and overseas. Okay, some say we are out of recession already. Who really knows? To ma ny, the recession is real and present.

Relentlessly, media outlets overload us with recession stories, fuelling worry and anxiety and challenging consumer confidence.

It’s tempting to get drawn to the doom and gloom stories, to amplify the woe is me narrative.

Plenty of people in business, especially small business, prefer to look ahead, to focus on the other side of the recession as it is that view of what could be that motivates.

I think a back to basics approach is what is needed to get us through the recession. I think it’s right for our business, the retail shops I own and for the many local businesses I serve.

The back to basics guiding principles I share here are focussed on this, focussed on providing sure footing today and encouraging optimism for tomorrow.

This is not a list from which you choose what you like. My advice is that you do everything on this list, because together they provide the best chance of navigating the recession well.

  1. Nurture what makes the business moneyand fix or stop what does not make the business money. Leverage strengths. Fix or eliminate weaknesses.
  2. Embrace ways tobroaden the reach of the business.
  3. Makesafe decisions, decisions you know will work. For example, buy well. That is, buy what will sell easily, quickly.
  4. Embrace ways you canadd value to what you sell without spending more.
  5. Be frugal. Before every spending decision ask 2 questions: do we need this? Will this add value? Review every business expense. Cut those that do not add value.
  6. Your next step is in front of you. Look ahead, not behind. Talk up, not down.
  7. If you feel overwhelmed, take it one step at a time. Every day, do something that makes you happy.

When should you start? Now. But not alone. This is a whole of business project. Involve the whole team and embrace the 10 points at every opportunity.

How do I know these principles work? I’ve traded through two recessions, one country wide and the other sector wide. I’ve also traded through Covid with excellent results – because businesses I am connected with embraced these principles back in early March 2020.

Let’s take a moment to unpack principle #3, make safe decisions. Safe decisions are those you can bet on because they work every time. They may not be exciting, but they are safe. They may not be the best margin, but they are safe. Safe decisions are all about certainty, providing a small step that is stable. Put a few of those in a row and you feel better. Feeling better is key to helping you navigate the Covid recession.

While I understand the value of news, there may be value in consuming less news, staying away from the negative stories. Your success is the most important news right now.

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Newsagency management

How will UK newsagents fare in the second lockdown?

UK newsagents are classed as essential in the second lockdown announced by the UK Prime Minister.

Newsagents here in Victoria (Australia) where we have just come out of a second, 100+ day, lockdown, fared well. While traditional products like newspapers, magazines and lotteries did okay, it was in the gifts, toys, homewares and personal nourishment categories where the best growth was achieved – all higher margin categories than traditional newsagency product lines.

The newsagencies that had already transitioned and relied less on traditional did the best. They met the criteria for being essential but were able to serve customers in-store and, importantly, online, maximising the profitability of this time.

The average growth I have seen in sales data to the end of lockdown is year on year growth of 20% and more. What’s interesting is that in most cases there was no noticeable increase in shopper traffic. Visit efficiency spiked.

With the second UK lockdown impacting an important time for retailers, UK newsagents that trade outside of the traditional convenience approach will, in my view, do better. The success they experience will be enhanced in they are established online.

Again, in Victoria, I have seen some newsagencies grow online revenue from a 2% contribution of total revenue to 20%. Most online sales have been of higher margin items like jigsaws, games, toys, personal nourishment and gift hampers. I am grateful that many of us were well established in these categories prior to lockdown, enabling is to serve customers who could not get to other closed shops with these items.

If I was advising UK newsagents I would be saying that Covid is the opportunity to pivot, to re-cast the focus of the business. UK high streets are full of businesses competing in the convenience space. The majors will win that battle. There are better opportunities elsewhere. Right now is the best time to consider that.

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Newsagency challenges

The new Covid normal for retail

The Sunday Age yesterday had a story from Dominic Powell and Simon Johanson about retail and the new normal. It speaks about how retail has changed through Covid and that many changes will stick.

From smaller shops to major chains such as JB Hi-Fi and Coles, the exodus from Australia’s inner cities is just one of the many effects of the coronavirus pandemic shopkeepers fear could persist well beyond the six to 12 months until the world has its vaccine.

As the article notes, there is no doubt that the surge in online will continue.

Broader changes, like the rapid acceleration of online shopping, will be widespread and unstoppable. Retailers are already re-assessing their moribund bricks-and-mortar stores and spending millions on online platforms. “Omnichannel” (along with “resilience”) has been the jargon du jour for merchants through the recent corporate reporting season.

There is also no doubt, in my view, that the migration away from malls to the high street and regional, will continue, too.

Now, more than ever, being online with a beautiful, easily found, website is key. Further, selling what sells faster in-store is also key.

These are not things to put off. Newsagents have no choice but to review what they sell and to re-cast stock range based on this new normal and getting online to find shoppers far away from the business.

It’s a race, a race that is more even right now between large and small than in traditional retail. Small business retailers, like newsagents, acting now will still be relatively early at this. But … it takes creativity, commitment and smarts to be successful.

The article in The Age is a terrific read.

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newsagency of the future

Crossword titles remain the hero magazine category

Looking deeper into the newsagency sales benchmark data, in almost every store I have data for, crossword titles are in growth. In plenty of newsagencies, crosswords is the only magazine category In growth.

What’s interesting is that this continues excellent interest in crosswords fits with continued strong sales for jigsaws, diamond dots art, adult colouring, 3D puzzles and other maker kits. Put all these together and you have a wonderful story.

Indeed, I’ve seen regional businesses achieving between $1,500 and $5,00 a month, yes, I did type $5,000, in sales from crosswords / jigsaws / maker kits with the combined sales of these beating other product categories / segments.

This is an excellent example of a good news story for our channel this year. Good growth and, for most products in the segment, good margin. Maker kits, for example, can earn 65% GP.

Crosswords are the indicator category. See strong sales for them and you have a pathway forward for leveraging that traffic and attracting people crossword folks talk to about similar interest product. This is a great way to grow the business with no marketing spend.

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crosswords

Do you really want business to get back to the way it was?

This is a serious question.

Do you really want business to get back to the way it was?

Business back the way it was represents no change, no learning from the last 8 months, no reflection on what Covid normal may look like, no consideration of societal change.

Whether we like it or not, things have changed.

  • More businesses will allow more people to work from home, long after Covid, because of what they learned through Covid.
  • More businesses will continue with less the in-person engagement with their customers learned through Covid long after Covid is dealt with.
  • More businesses will sell to new people they discovered during Covid long after Covid.
  • Plenty of businesses and individuals who cut costs during Covid will continue with a tighter focus on cash.
  • Plenty of people who have worked from home will want to keep working from home.

Businesses that have benefited from these and similar Covid related changes will want that experience to continue rather than getting back to the way business was.

To me, the calls for business to get back to how it was are regressive. The future is always in front of us, never behind.

This is why I think that the businesses that have a good Covid are the ones best positioned for a brighter 2021 and beyond. They are most likely the businesses run by people who have not complained and moaned their way through Covid.

I get the calls to open up, get the economy moving and the like. However, for plenty, their economy has been moving. This is especially true in regional and rural Australia as well as in the high street.

It’s critical that all retailers are focussed on the (cliché alert) new normal of more people working from home, less CBD / business centre foot traffic, more online sales and the associated changes in what sells and when. That is where good business will be found, in those areas of change, not back the way things were.

The year presents us excellent opportunities for embracing change, leveraging what we have learnt since March this year and rapidly leaning into what we see emerge as I expect the pace of change to increase. This will be a consequence of Covid, what people have themselves learned through Covid and also a consequence of the Covid recession.

No, I am not looking for business to go back the way it was, I’m too busy looking to the future, which does look exciting.

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Newsagency management

Understanding the cost of sales reps in small business retail

Small business retailers are quick to complain about a lack of visits by a sales rep from a supplier, often citing this as a reason to not order.

The only reason to not order products is if it is not working. Blaming a method of ordering is nuts in my opinion. It’s petty and ignorant of facts.

But back to sales reps. They are expensive and that expense is covered by product prices.

Considering reasonable wages, possible commission and operating costs, a sales rep costs a supplier at least $110,o00 a year – rarely less and often considerably more, especially in harder to get to locations.

A rep costing $110,000 a year would need to make the supplier at least $1 million in revenue, depending on the product category as margins vary.

Given that in an average year a rep can be on the road visiting stores for 200 days a year and often only around 175 allowing for in-office meetings, training, trade shows and more, the rep will need to write at least $5,000 a day in business.

Allowing for the geography of Australia, in regional Australia a sales rep might see 2, maybe 3, retailers a day. Often, though, it would be 1. In the city, the number could be 4 or 5.

Talking with some suppliers and allowing for data they shared, the $5,000 number for an average calculation like I am presenting here needs to be closer to $7,000 as that allows for closer to the 175 days a year in-store.

Covid has change all of this from a supplier perspective. Many have realised that they can maintain sales revenue without the pre-Covid in-store visits. They have looked at this as a bottom line benefit if they reduce their rep investment and replace it with a back office investment, but not to the sale value as the reps.

Many small business retailers love reps because they do work for them, by doing the orders. This is false economy. As I noted above, order what’s selling and do this yourself – be in control. Letting someone else spend your money may not be ideal.

Smart suppliers that reduce their investment in sales reps will pass on some of the savings to retailers. That’s what I am looking for. I don’t expect all the benefit as they do need to invest in back office people as well as appropriate IT infrastructure to make doing business with them easier.

I think the rep model as it relates to small business retailers is up for grabs, that significant change can be brought and that small business retailers and their customers can benefit significantly from this.

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Newsagency management

Online sales workshop for small business retailers

For my POS software co. I’m hosting another workshop for retailers considering selling online. It’s today @ 12 noon Melbourne time.

This will be a free-flowing workshop, looking at what gets people to websites, what is good design, how to handle freight and the common challenges small business retailers  confront. Here are the connection details:

https://zoom.us/j/99874661583?pwd=RW5NdU9yUlhzaWZSUTdENXBBclJhQT09
Meeting ID: 998 7466 1583 Passcode: 894702

I’ve done 30 or so of these this year. Each one is different because they are driven by questions from people. If you think having a website created fort your business is on the cards, come along.

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Newsagency management

Pop Vinyls continue to deliver terrific new traffic in-store and online

The Funko Pop! Vinyl 2020 Fall Convention Limited Edition range released from embargo Saturday morning has worked a treat, thanks in part of cool social media content, which we made ourselves.

Pop culture is not category that is not for everyone. It requires constant work and has big business competitors. However, it is worth it, especially for the new traffic.

Yes, this is a long-standing newsXpress opportunity – not mandatory though.

What I like about the pop culture category is the diversity of the shoppers, their preparedness to travel to purchase and their happiness to also purchase online. Oh, and their shop efficiency – baskets often contain more than just Pop! Vinyls.

I’ve spoken with newsagents who say they don’t have these shoppers in their area. They cannot know that until they try and find them. It’s impossible to tell who may be a pop culture customer by looking at them.

For this category, it all depends on whether you want new traffic.

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newsagency marketing

This is what online can look like for a newsagent

On Friday last week at 4:45pm we put a gift pack up online. It included 4 low-cost products and a couple of simple things we’d made ourselves to add value and differentiate. It was priced at $34.99 delivered. By 5:30pm we’d sold 19 and a few hours later sold the last of the 20 we’d created.

That’s almost $700 in revenue for $0 advertising investment and minimal labour.

We did it on the back of one social media post, to our own Facebook page, a post we did not boost.

Half those buying used a buy now pay later service.

Having the website for online sales, easy purchase, was key … just as was the sense that the package (call it a hamper if you like) was unique enough to warrant swift action.

I talk here from time to time about the need to make our own success. What we did with this gift pack, to me, is an example of that. We put together a small collection of products, found the right packaging, told a visual story with tissue paper and some other low-cost items, added a couple of our own items for the value-add and put it online.

Not a single customer purchasing was local.

We expected most to be bought by someone for delivery to someone else. We were wrong. All but one were ordered for delivery to the person ordering.

The thing about online is that there are no borders.

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newsagency of the future

Richard Glover on his newsagency experience as a kid

In the pages of Spectrum from the SMH and The Age last week was How porn and a price hike helped this newsagent’s son, a terrific short memoir from Richard Glover about his experience as a son of a newsagent.

It’s a good read. My only wish is that he reflected on newsagencies today as they have come a long way from his memories. Glover wrote:

These days, newsagents rely on gambling, working away at counters in which the air is heavy with scratch-lottery dust. They struggle on – despite falling sales of almost everything on which we used to rely – cigarettes, greeting cards, newspapers, pornography and the long-banned headache powders.

I’d prefer:

These days, many newsagents have evolved from the days of my childhood memories. On the high street they are often the retail innovator, selling gifts, and homewares, supporting local Aussie makers and helping us connect with loved-ones in ways never dreamed of in the 1970s.

The Aussie newsagent is a quintessential business. It’s terrific to see that so many have evolved with the times.

Like many, I have not relied on gambling in my newsagency businesses for more than 10 years.

I wish people writing about our channel did more research to understand the extent of evolution from just a few years ago.

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newsagency of the future

What we did to get an $800.00 online sale yesterday at 1:33pm from a shopper interstate

We received an online order yesterday in one of my newsagencies at 1:33pm worth $800.00. It was one of 12 online orders for that business, yesterday totalling $1,800 in value.

Each one of these orders is a pre-order – fully paid for up front for stock that is another week away from arriving in-store and two months away from being paid for by us.

The specific products are not relevant to this post as what I share below could apply to plenty of products and product categories. What we have done in this two and a half year old business is what anyone could do and what I know several newsagents are doing to win online sales.

  1. Create your online presence as a start-up business. My recommendation is that you not take your existing shop online under your existing shop’s branding.
  2. Choose a product niche or category that is sought after, that is being searched for. This could be a brand, a licence, an end use or some other segmentation that makes sense to the shopper.
  3. Look for brands and categories people could be loyal to for some time.
  4. Source key suppliers. Preference suppliers who might work with you on geographically exclusive items.
  5. Register a domain and business name that speaks to the shopper for the chosen category.
  6. Develop your approach to packaging and shipping, remembering that this process has to be delivered as a brand extension. Add value here and you will bring them back.
  7. Create a site that serves the shopper.
  8. Include on the website unique knowledge / information that lifts you up as an expert in the product category field.
  9. Include a chat facility on the site, so you can answer questions from people who do not want to email or call with their queries.
  10. Create a separate Facebook page to support the website. Regularly feed contact to that page, content specifically for that page.
  11. Ask your suppliers to link to your website and appreciate them for any promotion they offer on their social media pages.
  12. Search out other social media pages that reach your target shopper and engage with those communities.
  13. Email shoppers, appreciating their business. Find ways to remain connected with them as this connection can help bring them back.

The first step revenue goal with online for any business entering that space has to be 5% (or less) of total revenue. Once there, the next goal is 10%, then 15% and so on. Goals are important.

Treat your online business as a start up. Manage it as such. Embrace mistakes and failures as they are the foundation bricks to success – cliché yes, but true.

Do you have to stock in your shop products you sell online? No. I say this as many retailers think the answer is yes. Seriously, think of your online business as a start up as doing this frees you up to be more open to what you sell.

Can I put my shop online though? Of course. It’s 100% up to you.

Isn’t shipping hard? Offer what enough people want and shipping can be resolved by building it into the price or you looking at online as cream sales, sales from which you can give up some margin.

My newsagency software company develops websites for newsagents. While what I have written here does relate to the online success at my high street newsagency, it is the same advice I provide all newsagents who contact Tower Systems querying about website development.

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newsagency of the future

Newsagency marketing group open forum: This is newsXpress

Tomorrow, Tuesday, I’m hosting an open forum @ 10:30am to outline what newsXpress offers and how it works.

While I am primarily doing this to record and share via video, anyone is welcome to join to listen or ask questions.

With interest in newsXpress among newsagents and suppliers strong, it feels like a good time to offer this session.

Here are the details for joining in – anyone is welcome:

https://zoom.us/j/99657147413?pwd=dmhaa2VHK0pyb1M1bHZSeUxOMDNLUT09
Meeting ID: 996 5714 7413 Passcode: 081628

In the meeting I will be joined by a new products expert who will speak to net new traffic generating products, a millennial shopper expert who will speak to attracting that type of shopper and a data expert who will speak to how data can drive profitable business decisions.

newsXpress is grateful to have welcomed new members to the group over recent months, adding to this community of newsagents keen for new ideas and happy to embrace a culture of optimism.

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newsagency marketing

Making your own success

This story in The Age today is a terrific example of what making your own success looks like.

Out-of-work actor turns to art… with 300,000 TikTok followers
They say when one door closes, another opens and Melbourne actor Nathan McCarron is living proof.

When his acting dreams fizzled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and he even lost his day job booking jobs for tradies, McCarron, 28, turned for solace to his other passion: drawing.

It began just as a hobby, but an experiment filming his sketches of celebrities such as Taylor Swift, and uploading them to video-sharing app TikTok, “blew up”.

He was swamped with requests to draw the likes of pop superstars Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande and six months later he has turned the lemon of lockdown into lemonade.

McCarron’s TikTok page, Nathan’s Art, now has 300,000 global followers.

His little videos of between 15 seconds and one minute long, mostly portraying the sketching process, are attracting an average 1.6 million views.

This relates to newsagents in that is reflects someone who could no longer make a living from their core activities so they pivoted. While they are not making a living yet, they are headed in the right direction.

In the situation of our channel, the decline of core foundational categories has been slower than Cortona has been for many this year. However, for many newsagents, the pivot has been slower, too.

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newsagency of the future

Your own personal newsagency: the $14.99 a month all-in newspaper and magazine subscription

With the Apple News App, for A$14.99 a month for up to 6 family members you get access to a ton of Australian and international magazines and newspapers. All current issue content.

This from the Apple website outlines the content:

Apple News+, a subscription service that brings together hundreds of popular magazines and leading newspapers into a beautiful, convenient and curated experience within the Apple News app, is now available to Australian readers. Apple News+ presents full access to the best and most relevant publications to meet any range of interests from major Australian outlets including The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Courier Mail, The Advertiser, Vogue, Australian Women’s Health, Elle, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Harper’s Bazaar Australia, GQ, Australian Men’s Health, Delicious and Australian Geographic, as well as several international newspapers and magazines including The Wall Street Journal (US), Los Angeles Times (US), The Times (UK), The Sunday Times (UK), National Geographic (US), Rolling Stone (US), Grazia (UK) and Hello! (UK).

Apple pitches it as your own personal newsagency:

Given that News Corp. wants compensation from Google and Facebook for taking revenue from them, maybe they offer newsagents compensation for their Apple relationship taking revenue from our channel.

Further on at the Apple website they detail more content:

Apple News+ subscribers can access current and past issues and individual articles from magazines such as Vogue Australia, Harper’s Bazaar Australia, Australian Women’s Health, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Elle, GQ Australia, Australian Men’s Health and Delicious. Australian subscribers can also access international newspapers and magazines including The Wall Street Journal (US), Los Angeles Times (US), The Times (UK), The Sunday Times (UK), Forbes (US), Esquire (US), Rolling Stone (US), National Geographic (US), New York Magazine (US), The Hollywood Reporter (US), Empire (UK) and Grazia (UK).

In reality this is another platform offering access to multiple titles for one subscription fee. These sites demonstrate the scope of the challenge to disruption of the print medium and the extent of fractional business publishers will embrace to extend the reach of their content.

There is nothing new here. It’s been happening for years. I mention it today as someone new to the channel was surprised to discover it is a thing.

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Media disruption

Considerations before taking your business online

Yesterday, I participated in a 45 minute discussion for my POS software company, which also develops websites for retailers, about taking a retail business online, including the consideration of what to sell and more. While the discussion was not retail channel specific, plenty of what was discussed would be of interest to newsagents considering a website:

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Newsagency management

Strong online jigsaw sales for newsagents

Back in March it was a punt to pitch jigsaws online. Online was crowded with discount jigsaw websites selling at 25% and more off retail and, often, offering free shipping.

Six months on, the decision to offer at SRP and to not offer free shipping paid off. As jigsaws became scarce, price was not an issue. Sales have led to return business, with no queries over price.

Over the months, the offer has been expanded to include more puzzles, not just jigsaw puzzles.

Range is key as people often buy 2 or 3 jigsaws in a transaction. From this we can see age diversity in their product picks.

Click and collect has proven to be as important as delivery. Also, as with any website connected to a physical shop, the website drives in-store purchases. We know this as shoppers come in and often say I saw that you have xx online…

Back in March another hesitation was around the shipping of the products. Safe shipping of jigsaws requires an attention to detail to ensure the box arrives intact and safe. Given that the box will not fit in letterboxes, there was also the factor of parcel delivery and ensuing collection.

After several trials, the process was set and it has worked well since.

Looking at the data, less than 10% of sales are to local addresses and more than half of all shipments are out of state. There is something special about selling to someone who is unlikely to ever visit your shop.

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newsagency of the future

Newsagents benefit from the shift to regional Australia

Regional Australia has proven to be a safer place too live and work as COVID-19 has wreaked its havoc here and around the world.

Higher population density has been shown to have its disadvantages. Large offices and busy workplaces, too.

People have learned to work from home. Businesses have adjusted – what was not an option in 2019 is commonplace in 2020.

I suspect that some, maybe plenty, of the changes implemented for the short term earlier this year will stick, that regional Australia will remain appealing for families, and for businesses. Indeed, that appeal could grow.

Business owners I have spoken with are reassessing their need to bring people to an office for 8 hours to work when productivity can be as good, or better with folks working from home. On top of the commute time saving, there is a cost saving – to individuals and business.

In this evolving world we will see new businesses spring up, serving people working regionally who need an office, but maybe only for a few hours a week.

On the issue of offices, small to medium sized business owners I talk with are all considering their on-going city based infrastructure needs – office space, workstations, big photocopiers and more. There could be savings, too, from less of a need for company vehicles. It is easy to cost the benefit of retreating from this as the costs of the central office are well known.

In all of this there are opportunities for retailers and local, regional, service providers. This is where local regional newsagents can play a role – as suppliers of more stationery for people working from home and businesses re-locating regionally, as providers of services in support of these situations and, for some, as providers of shared workspaces where people need an office or more privacy than home offers.

COVID-19 has shown us the extent to which people and businesses can and will change for a healthier situation. Regional Australia is well placed to serve in this situation.

I think it is safe for regionally located businesses to invest time in working on leveraging the opportunities uncovered. If my retail businesses were regional, this is what I would be doing. I would be looking to serve the needs of individuals and businesses through providing short-term office rental, easy access to supplies and easy access to business support services.

COVID-19 has shown us all how to transact business differently. Smart businesses have embraced those changes and done so in a way that offers employees a healthier and more enjoyable work life.

Forward thinking newsagents and others are already embracing the opportunities revealed in 2020.

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Newsagency management
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