Here’s advice shared with Tower Systems newsagency software customers Friday last week following the Optus outage.
Lessons from the recent Optus outage.

While the actual cause of the Optus outage on has not yet been detailed, the outage itself encourages us to work on our businesses, to ensure we are better protected.

1. Check your network. Make sure routers are current. Talk to your ISP about a more current replacement.
2. Check your computers. Dust is a killer. Power off, remove the cover, take it outside and use a can of air to clean.
3. Document your computers and network. List everything you have and who is responsible for each. We often receive support calls for items not supplied by us and not known about by us.
4. Check your backups. Get the most recent one restored to ensure it is backing up everything you need.
5. Use a cloud backup service for in-store and offsite storage.
6. Have a plan. If your network, computer system or EFTPOS is down, what’s your plan? Document it. Train staff. Ensure everyone knows the plan and where it is.
7. Consider redundancies, like a mobile phone on a different network in case your main network is down, a secondary EFTPOS for payments should it be down.

First responders are good at what they do because they plan and drill, such that responding is muscle-memory. What happened with Optus is a reminder to be prepared in local retail so you are less impacted.

Too often, small business owners do not have a plan in place for outages and disasters. A small investment of time in planning and prepping could made overcoming obstacles related to outages easier, less stressful.

XchangeIT surveyed newsagents recently on behind of the ALNA Think Tank. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be part of a recent Think Tank supplier meeting. The results are interesting.

The variety of suppliers in a store is concerning. In successful and transformed newsagencies I see, the typical supplier mix is 65+.

A massive pain point that is easily resolved is the elimination of paperwork from all suppliers – moving 100% digital for order forms, contracts and the like, using an e-sign platform. Saves time. Saves paper. Increases sales.

The 36.3 hours a week spent on processes suggests something is wrong. I have businesses under management spending far less.

I’d love the survey to drilled down into questions about magazine management as the out of date tech and expenses imposed on newsagents by this is a drain to local newsagency businesses. Fix that and you improve productivity in newsagencies and increase magazine sales.

That said, the survey is helpful, as is the follow-up survey. Suppliers should take note.

Appeal to more shoppers. This starts with offering products beyond what have been traditional, products people will seek out, and return for again and again. It is important when choosing products to not be bound by the shingle of the business.

Offering cards that sell. Assess card performance pocket by pocket, design by design. You need at least 2 pocket turns a year. In a typical newsagency, 75% of card pockets are not achieving 2 turns a year. Cards are your most profitable department. Work on it. Nurture it. Make your business more valuable as a result.

Quit what’s not working. be ruthless. Act on your data. If products are not paying their way, quit them. It’s black and white.

Getting online. This dramatically broadens the geographic reach of your business, even more so if you do wit with products you’d never sell in your shop.

Manage your costs, including your own time. Business overheads and labour costs need to be tightly managed. I mention your own time here because in plenty of failed retail businesses I have looked at have high owner labour costs for minimal measurable return.

Of course, there are plenty more areas you can and should work on than these five. They are a good start though, low hanging fruit I see them as, easy wins based on my experience helping newsagents.

I recommend these 5 as a good starting point.

If you are struggling in your newsagency, finding it tough, not getting the return you want or need, start here.

If I can help in any way, reach out.

mark@towersystems.com.au
0418 321 338

Toy Fair in New York this past week was excellent. So many new products from large and small brands and so many insights from individual retailers to key partner brands.

This really is an important show for any retailer relying on toys for a key portion of revenue. I say this for a few reasons: you’ll see products well ahead of Australian release, you’ll get context that does not often travel, you can see broader trends beyond single brands.

While seeing new products is a delight, it’s the insights I appreciate the most, and sometimes it is not the most obvious insights that land the best. These can be small insights through to bigger.

Booth to booth and talking in the aisles, this trade show was terrific. US retailers are open to talking to folks from out of the country. They share terrific insights.

I have been for a few years and found this years Toy fair particularly useful.

It was good seeing more Australians there than I’ve seen in the past.

One frustration is arrogant brands that don’t let you in if you are not an existing customer and have not made an appointment. While there aren’t many of these, there were enough to annoy me.

There were a few small makers at the trade show, which was interesting. A family making child products because of personal experience, a couple of game makers trying to pitch their games, and some slime . dough type products made in small batches with interesting stories.

While my key insights will be for newsXpress members, I’d note that there is a trend for indie retailers for small batch more locally made products, to differentiate from the mega brands that love big retailers so much.