Back in the day it was the ability of newsagency software to manage magazines, handle customer account books, manage newspaper home delivery, take care of cutaways and link to The Lott. While those things remain useful and important, tech advances have made other facilities more interesting.
I read recently a news article claiming that around 30% of lottery sales were online. That number is wrong when you consider the FY2022/23 Annual Report from The Lott:
The Lottery Corporation’s digital reach
The Lottery Corporation continues to successfully grow its digital presence through the release of regular website and app enhancements, data-led personalisation, and dedicated marketing focus to maximise visibility and traffic. Our business adjusted for the return of pre-COVID purchasing behaviours which, as expected, had a greater impact on our Keno business than our Lotteries business (being more closely associated with in-venue play in pubs and clubs which were closed during COVID). Our digital channel is a growing and significant part of our business, accounting for 38.4% of Lotteries turnover and 13.9% of Keno turnover in FY23.
Their half year results released in February this year saw this grow.
1H24 also saw digital share growth resume (up 120bps to 39.6%) following a period of consolidation of COVID era gains.
It stands to reason that the number will be higher in the soon to be released FY2023/24 Annual Report.
The latest issue of Channel magazIne published by ALNA includes a four-page spread on Transforming Your Newsagency. I am grateful to ALNA for publishing my article. Click here for a copy of the article. I urge newsagents to read it as the article contains advice anyone can act on today without spending any money.
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.
Some newsagents think adding gifts to their business is the solution to turning their business around, to making it more successful. Too many of these business owners are making mistakes in the gift category, mistakes that cost the business dearly.
Here are 5 common mistakes I have seen newsagents make with gifts:
Being successful with gifts takes hard work every day. It’s uncomfortable work initially because you’ll be playing outside what you know. It’s important you do that as it is the only way to find a commercially successful path that works for you.
If your annual gift revenue is less than two times your total annual card revenue you’re not even close to what you can achieve with gifts. That’s a starting point benchmark I use.
If your average gift product price point is below $50.00, it is likely you are far from reaching your potential.
If you are buying from suppliers who focus primarily on newsagents, it is likely you are not reaching your potential.
Your success with gifts is 100% on you. It’s a category in your business over which you have complete control.
Reach out if you’d like help. mark@newsxpress.com.au.
Footnote: I know of some newsagents who hold back on what they do with gifts because of other retailers nearby. Your only obligation is to those who rely on your business to fund shelter and put food on the table. Even if you have a gift shop nearby, I guarantee you will have access to tens of thousands of gifts they do not stock. Don’t be limited by your shingle or a misplaced feeling for another local business. Put yourself first.
Maximising Magazine Sales Through Effective Merchandising
A well-executed magazine relay can significantly boost sales in a short timeframe. It delivers an excellent return on investment in my experience.
A few hours of dedicated effort results in a revenue boost, fresh social media content and more value. There Is no down side. Fundamentally, it drives increased sales.
The Mechanics of a Magazine Relay
A typical relay can be completed in two hours or less.
While it’s possible to delegate this task, taking ownership of the process is highly recommended. A hands-on approach reinforces your leadership and allows for a more streamlined operation without the complexities of team management. It’s essential to remember that a magazine relay is an ongoing process, not a one-off event. Regular adjustments to the magazine layout are crucial for maintaining sales momentum.
Optimising Magazine Placement
Ideally, magazines should be displayed on a dedicated wall space rather than occupying valuable centre fixture real estate typically reserved for higher-margin products.
The visual impact of magazine covers can be diluted by excessive clutter. To maximise their appeal, avoid using product headers.
Full facing, where 100% of the magazine cover is visible, generally delivers optimal results. This is particularly effective for smaller assortments of under 500 titles. For larger assortments, consider tiered fixtures with one title per pocket.However, in some cases, accommodating two or three low-volume, specialised titles within a single pocket can be beneficial.
Leveraging Beacon Branding
Highlighting specific magazine categories through beacon branding can effectively attract customer attention. Dedicate the top two or three pockets to a single title to create a visual focal point.
The Relay Process
When undertaking a magazine relay, focus on creating an engaging and visually appealing display. Work systematically,removing and rebuilding sections of the fixture while maintaining clear spaces to avoid confusion. Continuously assess your progress and consider how each placement contributes to the overall narrative.
The Art of Adjacency
Experimentation is key to discovering the most effective product adjacencies. While there are general guidelines, the ideal arrangement can vary depending on customer behaviour and preferences. For example, consider whether grouping titles by brand or by interest category drives better sales.
Some potential adjacency combinations include: cricket, golf, and swimming; wrestling, boxing, and fitness; and creative arts (painting, writing, craft). However, it’s essential to avoid mixing unrelated titles such as soccer and rugby.
Customer Considerations
When designing the magazine display, prioritise customer ease and comfort. Avoid placing titles aimed at older customers in difficult-to-reach locations.
Post-Relay Actions
Once the relay is complete, share your vision with the team and encourage feedback. Monitor customer behaviour and sales performance closely. The insights gained from these observations can inform future adjustments to the magazine layout.
By following these guidelines and maintaining a focus on customer needs, you can significantly enhance your magazine sales through effective merchandising.
Feedback from suppliers at the Melbourne Gift Fair over the weekend and yesterday, including from the team from my POS software company, is positive. In fact, more positive that many had expected.
Retailers have been spending at the trade show. Plenty are happy with business. I suspect this is a local small business thing. We are less likely to be surveyed by media. We’re not connected to major nosy retail groups.
The optimism has been across the mix of retailers at the fair: gift shops, jewellers, newsagents, garden centres, toy shops and more.
Hot topics on the trade show floor I’ve heard about include EFTPOS surcharges (whether to or not, how to and how mush), suppliers who sell direct to consumers (more seem to be doing it and some preference their direct sales over supporting retailers), imported vs. made in Australia (Australian made preference is strong) and delays from order to fulfilment (some suppliers ask for a deposit before they order manufacture of goods).
While I’ve not been able to make it myself, those I have heard from are happy with the the trade show. The big surprise for them was the optimism among retailers attending.
Footnote: it’s interesting that my POS software company was the only software company exhibiting at Reed.
My newsagency software company Tower Systems last year launched easyEDI, an absolute game-changer for sending invoices electronically.
Made for small suppliers, easyEDI set out to make creating electronic invoices easy and low cost.
Retailers love electronic invoices. They save time and money, and they help reduce data mistakes.
If faced with a choice, retailers will choose the supplier offering electronic invoices over the supplier of similar product who does not offer electronic invoices.
I mention it today since electronic invoices is a hot topic at the Melbourne Gift Fair this weekend.
easyEDI will create either a CSV file or a DD2 file, commonly used by newsagencies and card and gift stores. You can also link it with the popular Unleashed inventory management system we know plenty of suppliers use or supply your own product list so your files are even more useful by containing barcodes and/or RRP prices.
easyEDI costs $55 a month, which includes 500 invoices sent per month for no additional cost. Each invoice beyond 500 costs 12 cents.
There is no lock-in contract, you can cancel at any time.
Setup is easy for the supplier. easyEDI is a Xero approved integrated app.
Suppliers ready to sign up should go to www.easyedi.com.au.
Tower Systems first engaged in EDI (electronic data interchange) invoice creation by developing standards that were adopted for the Australian newsagency channel more than thirty-five years ago. Those standards formed the basis of file formats in use in the channel today.
While XchangeIT serves magazine suppliers and a some other suppliers, easyEDI is a lower cost and easier to implement solution. It’s made for small suppliers.
Suppliers and retailers using easyEDI today have taken the product beyond proof of concept and into the real world. It shows it as a reality, helping every day.
I’ll finish up with a pitch:
Commando is a low volume magazine that is much-loved by those who read it. Once a fan knows you syopck it, they come back again, and again. This is something to love about Commando and the many other special interest titles.
While niche titles may be small in sales volume, the returning customer traffic assists in their efficiency. They are good titles, too, to pitch on social media.
It’s in this special interest space where our channel has growth opportunity. The challenge is the poor tech platform rom distributor Are Direct for growing in-store range of niche titles.
newsXpress is hosting a national conference next month and has set aside spaces for non newsXpress members to participate at no cost.
Here is the announcement I shared with newsXpress members:
newsXpress National Conference. Melbourne, September 8, 9 & 10.
In the newsXpress member community, I see a powerful force: a community of passionate small business owners. We may run different shops, cater to different customers, but we share a common ground – the drive to succeed, to build, and to serve our communities.
The world throws challenges our way, from economic shifts to ever-changing consumer trends. But here’s the secret weapon of small businesses: we are not alone. This conference is about the power of “Together We Can.”
We can share best practices, learn from each other’s triumphs (and maybe even a few stumbles!), and build a network of support that strengthens us all.
So, let’s use this conference to connect, collaborate, and unlock the incredible potential we have together. Together, we can navigate any challenge, seize every opportunity, and create a thriving future for our businesses and our communities.
Monday is a full business day, focussed on sharing insights on newsagency retail transformation and how to execute this on a limited budget.
We will look to 2025 and beyond and consider ways we can make our businesses more resilient and valuable.
We’ll talk through how we can better support each other.
And, we will consider how to navigate challenges faced baby legacy products.
This is a conference for retail newsagents, designed to offer support and encouragement, to help us all find an enjoyable path to the future.
Thants to supplier support and support from newsXpress itself, participation is free.
If you are interested, please email help@newsxpress.com.au.
At the we conference, we anticipate we will launch an exclusive for newsXpress members range of limited-edition products with a significant partner already delivering terrific traffic and sales for newsXpress members.
Here what to expect at the conference:
If you’re an introvert and are concerned that you’ll find it uncomfortable. Hang out with me, we can talk one on one, privately. There will be plenty of us introverts at theconference.
I am grateful to the 121 newsagents trading under a variety of shingles in rural, regional and suburban settings who provided data for this study. The only connection is that they use newsagency software from my POS software company.
The first six months of 2024 have been tough for the many newsagents. It has been especially tough for those who have not transitioned their businesses to rely less on core product categories like papers, magazines and lotteries.
Before I share the averages for the channel, here are results for the top 5 businesses in the benchmark data pool. This small group is made up of regional and suburban businesses. Three of these do not have lotteries, which I think is a factor in the management focus.
Three of these businesses have an online presence with that contributing more than $1,000 a week in revenue.
Here are the averages for business performance measurement points and categories across the whole benchmark data pool:
The group of newsagents most at risk has not changed, it is those with minimal gift, toy and plush products, those not evolving fast enough.
Some traditional suppliers continue to let us down by not actively promoting our channel to attract new shoppers to us. Most newsagents attracting new shopper traffic are doing so on the back of their own local business efforts. Our suppliers need to serve us better.
There is no one size fits all solution, anyone who says there is is wrong.
The first step is to understand where you are at, from the data evidence in your business. next, you need a plan. Then, you execute with clarity and commitment, and draw on the support of others who have done this.
I own newsXpress, a marketing group supporting newsagents. newsXpress helps with this. If it interests you, please email help@newsxpress.com.au or call Michael Elvey on 0400 331 055 – he’s not a sales person, he’s part of the team nurturing success.
Mark Fletcher
M | 0418 321 338
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-fletcher-tower/
mediaweek this morning has this morning reported on our concerns about ABC reporting earlier this week on newsagency closures.
ABC report that newsagency sector in decline fails to investigate closures, claims retailer by mediaweek Editor-In-Chief James Manning accurately reports our concerns. I am especially grateful for this coverage:
How the newsagency business model could look
“A typical country town newsagency today should be making less than 10% of their turnover from print media products, 30% of revenue from lottery commission and 60% from gifts, homewares, books, toys and more. That is, 60% of revenue from items delivering 50% and more gross profit.”
Fletcher has long been a critic of the support newsagencies received from publishers over the years. But he notes it should not be the reason for a failing business.
“You can’t blame the decline in print for newsagencies closing. Newsagents make a paltry margin from print products. It’s disrespectful, and embarrassing how little we make. A business closing because of this is a business rooted in the past.
“Smart newsagents started transforming their businesses 20 years ago.”
Fletcher finished with a final blast for ABC News:
“If the folks at ABC News did even basic research about the future of Australian newsagencies they could have provided more accurate reporting on the state of newsagency businesses in Australia.
“Do better ABC News.”
I am thankful to get this support for the channel out there compared to the reported comments by Brendan Tohill from VANA. Sheesh.
Let’s take a moment to look at the performance of print media products in our shops and for our channel.
Newspapers.
Newsagents make between 10% and 12.5% of the cover price. For the Herald Sun Monday to Friday, that’s .375 cents a copy. @ 50 copies a day, that’s $18.75. Considering the weekend cover price and sales, a medium size newsagency, selling 50 copies of the title each day will make under $7,000 a year in gross profit. Labour cost for managing the title over the year in that size business will be at least $4,500 while retail space will cost at least $2,000 without considering a premium for better positioning in-store.
Newspapers remain inefficient products. Around 75% of newspaper purchases are a single newspaper. I know this because of basket analysis for hundreds of newsagencies over many years. No amount of in-store effort has been successful in changing the basket efficiency of newsagencies.
Magazines.
Newsagents make 25% of the cover price. Thanks to cover price suppression of major titles, in real terms we make less today than five years ago.
In an average size newsagency selling $80,000 worth of magazines a year, gross profit is $20,000.00. Labour cost for the year managing magazines is $12,000.00. That can balloon out if there in an increase in missed deliveries. Theft of magazines costs around $2,000 a year, which lands at net $1,500.00. (My understanding is that supermarkets do not cover the cost of magazine theft.) magazine space in this average newsagency costs around $15,000.00. This average newsagency is losing money on magazines.
Magazines are more efficient than newspapers with single product baskets accounting for only 40% of all baskets.
Traffic generators.
For more than five years, print media products have not been valuable traffic generators for newsagents. While for sure that are people buying the daily paper or their weekly magazines, those shoppers are not the valuable shoppers that make money for newsagents. Indeed, thanks to basket analysis and tracking loyalty offer engagement, magazines especially are the impulse purchase if a shopper has bonus loyalty dollars to spend.
Print media suppliers don’t understand.
Our print media suppliers have management practices that are out of date, rooted in the days when our channel was tightly regulated. These poor practices cost us money. They think their products drive valuable traffic for us. They don’t. They think they make good money for us. They don’t.
Print media does matter tho.
What we don’t know is the value of print media customers who, on other visits, purchase other items from our shops. There is anecdotal evidence, but nothing you could rely on in court. The may to make the category work is to tightly manage space and hope that suppliers lift their game and drag their data management processes into 2024.
Why plenty of newsagents are thriving.
Many newsagents have transitioned their businesses to sell high end gifts, sought after collectibles and other products people will drive and hour or two to source. We have newsagents doing well with books and others doing well with coffee. Many newsagents have websites that reach people way beyond their local area. Some, too, with websites that have nothing to do with their newsagency businesses.
The shingle.
While news outlets and suppliers consider us a channel, we’re 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 your 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.
This is what’s interesting abut plenty of newsagents today. They are retailers, not agents, not shopkeepers. This is what the poor reporting of the ABC neglected.
Here, again, are videos I have done with the owners of three newsagencies that are anything but traditional newsagency businesses. Each business is inspiring:
The Aussie newsagency has as bright a future as each newsagency business owner allows.
It’s a headline from ABC news today to get attention. The story fails to adequately report on the state of Australian newsagencies.
While there have been newsagency closures, the numbers are not huge, not as big as we have seen in some other retail channels.
The ABC News story fails to properly investigate why there have been closures. Instead, they publish the cliche of the decline in print media as the cause, which it is not.
The ABC News story quoted someone from IBISWorld and while he has some data that is interesting, numbers don’t tell the story. For example, he offered no number about newsagency businesses that have transitioned into other retail such that the newsagency part of the business is minor.
The ABC News story quoted Brendan Tohill, CEO of the National Lotteries Newsagents Association and Victorian Authorised Newsagents Association. I don’t consider Brendan to be in a position to offer insights – remember their News bar chocolate product launch last year that was going to bring people into shops?
Anyway, Brendan talked the channel down saying newsagencies are now a:
last-minute gift store underpinned by lotteries.
That’s what we are now. That’s what it is.
Shame on ABC News for running this quote. It plays into the narrative that our channel is not relevant and has not kept up. It’s an ignorant quote enemy opinion, something not supported by evidence from plenty of businesses in our channel.
I feel for the folks at Mansfield Newsagency. It was a nice shop in a beautiful country town with a population close to 5,000. The shop feels like it’s from the 1990s, not today.
As I have written here many times and in emails sent to all newsagents, I’ll help (for free) any newsagent keen to work on transitioning their business from relying on legacy product categories to attracting new shoppers through product categories not common to our channel and in pursuit of growing overall business grows profit and thereby offering insulation to the disruption of change.
I know of country town newsagencies near Mansfield and right around Australia that are thriving, growing. These businesses are not selling last-minute gifts. Some are selling fashion items for $300 apiece and more. Others are selling $500 homewares items. Some are doing $80,000 a year in the best coffee in town. Some are achieving 33% of revenue online selling to people interstate and overseas. Some are selling over $100,000 a year in collectibles.
I know of regional newsagencies doing $250,000 a year in gifts and more, achieving far more in gross profit each year than newspapers and magazines ever delivered combined.
A typical country town newsagency today should be making less than 10% of their turnover from print media products, 30% of revenue from lottery commission and 60% from gifts, homewares, books, toys and more. That is, 60% of revenue from items delivering 50% and more gross profit.
The difference between this type of transformed newsagency business and the traditional newsagency is decisions made by the business owners.
You can’t blame the decline in print for newsagencies closing. Newsagents make a paltry margin from print products. It’s disrespectful, and embarrassing how little we make. A business closing because of this is a business rooted in the past.
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. It’s also a story that Brendan Tohill could have spoken to.
Here are three videos of discussions I have had in recent months with owners of newsagency businesses thriving:
Each of these business owners should feel proud of what they have done and are doing. Their playing outside the tradition of the Aussie newsagency is inspiring.
If the folks at ABC News did even basic research about the future of Australian newsagencies they could have provided more accurate reporting on the state of newsagency businesses in Australia.
Do better ABC News.
…
Footnote: If you see my earlier blog post from today about one of my own shops closing soon, the closure is because of my decision to focus on high street retail rather than shopping mall retail. My newsagency businesses are thriving outside the shopping mall setting and not renewing the lease allows us to lean further into that.
I have lodged a complaint with the ABC.
We let the landlord know that we would not renew our newsagency lease at Westfield Southland a year and half out from the end of the lease. We did this because our focus had shifted from shopping centres and wanted to be clear we had no interest in remaining. Our high street businesses and online businesses are doing so much better and on a lower cost base.
We are now eight weeks from the end of the lease. On Monday last week we launched our first step of inventory sell down with this post on our Facebook page:
So long, farewell, Auf Wiederseh’n, goodbye. Our time at Westfield Southland ends in September. We have kicked off a HALF PRICE SALE. This is for everything in the shop except for papers and magazines.
We are truly grateful to the Cheltenham community for their support over the last 7 years. Thank you.Our lease has come to an end and we have decided to focus on our shops in Malvern, Mount Waverley and online.
We will be here for at least the next 6 weeks with awesome products at half price. Sorry, no special orders, holds or LayBy.
The response online and in-store has been wonderful, heartwarming. Sales have been fantastic. With everything paid for, the sale is all about converting inventory to cash.
Some suppliers are working with us to reduce their inventory, which is helpful for margin. We are also moving stock from our other stores if it’s not moving there as fast as we’d like. It’s not often you have an opportunity for a clearance outlet like this.
We have reset the shop floor to reflect our focus. There are no pretty displays of awesome visual merchandising. The approach is practical and easily shopped. We are also focussed on refreshing shelves when we sell low.
The landlord does not allow end of lease signs or anything similar, which makes for some challenges. This is where social media is vital. We are grateful that the Cheltenham community page allowed us to share our farewell post, which worked a treat.
Given that the shop requires a two-week defit, we have, in real terms, just under six weeks of trade left. This will be a daily dance of moving stock to keep products in the best positions to move and attention paid to any further write downs.
We are not being firm on our actual closure date since if we sell out sooner, we will close.
In the meantime, even day we have customers coming in, spending and saying farewell. It’s bittersweet. We are grateful to be leaving on our own terms though.
Years ago, Saturdays were big in the local newsagency. Shops were full and humming. Back when lottery draws were fewer, Sunday trading was a rarity, and late-night shopping wasn’t a thing – Saturdays were it! Those days might be gone, but that doesn’t mean Saturdays can’t be big again for any local retail newsagency.
The key reinvigorating Saturdays is a thoughtful, planned approach that makes Saturdays special in your store. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Make your shop a Community Hub:
Make it Fun!:
Sweeten the Deal:
Visually Appealing:
Promotional Power:
Reinvigorating Saturdays in your shop
These are just a springboard for ideas. Tailor your strategy to your shop and its products. Focus on what drives sales for you, not necessarily what other local businesses might be doing.
Here is a choice you can make: do nothing and Saturdays will continue to be what they have been. Or, do something considerably different, chase change. If what you do works, celebrate. if it does to work, learn, adjust and go again.
My point is that Saturdays are not what they used to be and we need to change that.
There is a trend in the newsagency channel of retailers adding tobacco products to their newsagency businesses. This is more common when a new owner takes over.
I don’t get it.
I understand newsagents well established in tobacco who are making good money from this stay with the category. My question today is relates to people buying newsagencies that do not have tobacco products and then adding them to the business.
Newsagents started quitting tobacco products in the late 1990s, when supermarkets were ramping up the sale of tobacco products. I bought my first newsagency in February 1996. We quit tobacco in early 1997. we did that because we saw it as a family business and because we want to free the counter space for more meaningful products.
My guess would be that less than 20% of newsagency rooftops have tobacco. I’d also guess that the percentage of newsagents with tobacco has increased over the last year.
There is a newsagency that I drive past each day that changed hands in the last year. The new owner put in tobacco products, removing stationery and gifts. There are 4 tobacco outlets within a couple of minutes of this shop. The move does to make sense, there is no convenience benefit for them.
What retailers do in their businesses is up to them of course. In writing this I am putting the topic on the table for discussion. There may be a good reason that I am missing, or not.
There are other far more positive and enjoyably product categories through which we can pitch a point of difference, and attract new shoppers – categories that fit well with lucrative product categories like greeting cards.
Why are newsagents adding tobacco to their shops? I have no idea.
While Rupert is far more expert than me, I think 15 years is optimistic. You only have to look at what they publish today to see how removed they are from delivering access to news.
The timing of the demise of print newspapers is dependent on the value achieved by the advertisers who fund the medium. The Murdoch outlets are good at selling ad space. There has been a big shift in recent years demonstrating the focus on revenue over news.
Selling a retail business is like selling a house, you need to prepare it so that it looks appealing to prospective purchasers. Selling a newsagency is more challenging because of assumptions about the channel and what a newsagency is can could be, especially today in 2024.
If you have control over the timing, start work on preparing your business for sale six months, preferably a year, out from putting it on the market. This enables you to make changes, benefit from improvement in performance and thereby achieve a better price.
Here are steps I recommend on preparing a business for sale.
Success at selling your newsagency business depends on the work you do to prepare it for sale. Focus months, even a years, out can make for an easier and better sale.
We need more magazine publishers doing this:
Our August 2024 issue is on sale from today! Highlights include our Great Golfing Getaways travel feature, a preview of Australia's chances at golfing gold in Paris, a look ahead to the Women's Open and heaps more. At newsagents NOW! #golf #aussiegolf https://t.co/jDRWkVMBJ1 pic.twitter.com/Lu63QBcwNe
— GolfAustraliaMag (@GolfAustMag) July 11, 2024
With any social media post you have a couple of seconds to grab their attention. I spent a couple of hours last night looking through newsagent Facebook pages and I tagged 75% of posts falling into one of the above 5 areas. That does not allow for the 33% of newsagent pages I saw that infrequently posted, like the one business that last posted in January this year.
The best face to put on your business is you. On social media, be yourself, have fun, bring customers along for the ride with you.
I appreciate some will say they know nothing about social media, that they don’t know what to say. Social media engagement is a basic business task. Anyone can do it. You start by starting. Getting someone else to do it for you is a dreadful mistake, it will likely achieve little for your business.
Remember, have fun. This is key. People go to social media to be entertained. Entertain them. Let them see that you have a sense of humour.
One other point: avoid using an AI tool to write posts for you. AI content is, well, AI content. Oh, and don’t use AI generated images as doing so will say more about your business, which you ay not like.
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.
Sheesh I hate it when a supplier says this. They think saying this range is perfect for a newsagency gives them an in when pitching to a newsagent. Not to me and here’s why:
So many of us have transitioned our businesses into new product categories and services, we have moved far away from the newsagency of the 1980s. We keep the shingle because it’s easy, not because it is accurately descriptive.
For sure there are products in our businesses from back when the shingle reflected a channel full of similar businesses, things like newspapers, magazines, cards, stationery and lotteries. Many in our channel don’t rely on some of these old core categories.
Suppliers need to stop generalising about newsagencies. It lets them down and it is not appealing to us.
If you have a range or a product to pitch do so based on the facts: tell me who will buy it, when and how often; explain how I can reach them; provide evidence; make a financial case in terms of return on investment and floorspace.
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.
