A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Australian Cars The Collection set to drive traffic to Aussie newsagents

Newsagents are tagged in the TV commercial for Australian Cars The Collection, a new partwork series launching June 10. Newsagents are the exclusive retailers of this title.

I am grateful to have seen part 1 of Australian Cars The Collection. It’s a terrific product. It feels good. We already know how much car lovers like buying magazines. This new series is sure to appeal to to current car lovers, those who appreciate nostalgia, those who love collecting and people collecting for young kids.

Each issue in Australian Cars The Collection comes with an authentic 1:43 scale die-cast metal car model. The series will feature of some of the most iconic Australian cars from the 60’ to the ‘90’s.

My advice to newsagents is to display each issue of Australian Cars The Collection in prime position at the front of the shop, to leverage the considerable spend on the TV commercial, which tags newsagents. If there is room, put it at the counter. I am confident this will be a traffic driver for our channel.

And, yes, I hear the argument about the paltry margin. We have to suck it up while we do everything we can to leverage the traffic boost. If you are tempted to early return the title, my advice is don’t. Get behind it and sell out. The launch of Australian Cars The Collection is an opportunity for us to show what our channel can do. I suspect people will be watching us to see how we handle the opportunity. It’s up to all newsagents receiving the title to not let the channel down.

Use your newsagency software to offer a putaway service, to lock those early shoppers for this title into buying future issues from you. Good newsagency software makes putaways easy with the result being a personalised label for each cutaway customer. It’s the best approach to managing any partwork series as it provide you with control and the customer with a good experience.

This launch has been almost 2 years in the planning with a company in the UK and a company based in Asia that produces diecast cars for the world market. I know that the folks at Are Direct have used their own sales data to develop the allocation model for the title. This has taken considerable planning.

It’s been a long time since we have seen a partwork launch like this. Many newsagents in the channel today would not have experienced it before. That’s one reason I am writing this post – to share that this is a good opportunity. The TV commercial alone tagging newsagents is an opportunity for us to leverage. It should land people in your shop who are not regulars. This is the opportunity.

We should use our socials to talk about the launch, leverage the front of the store as I have already noted and ensured that everyone in the business is aware of the launch and the broader opportunity for the business.

If you are one of the 1,800+ newsagents using the Tower Systems newsagency software, please click here to access to knowledge base articles on managing cutaways.

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magazines

Retail transformation: newsXpress Mount Waverley

newsXpress Mount Waverley is a corporate store, it’s one of our own shops where we experiment with tech and retail. It’s a shop we run on a tight budget.

In this video, Anthony from our newsXpress head office and Mark Fletcher our CEO discuss the transformation of the Mount Waverley business from 2018 to today. We also cover how this business spawned a second business, and online business, that outgrew the shop, and how it’s just launched its second online business – www.hugsandlove.com.au.

While the business identifies as a newsagency, it’s far removed from what Aussies consider to be a newsagency. It’s a gift shop, a haven for collectors and a place to shop for young kids.

This video shows how to go about changing a local high street shop on a small budget and the importance of being flexible to pivot when the world presents opportunities.

I am grateful for the opportunity to take you behind the scenes of one of our corporate stores, to show the value we harvest from being a POS software company that owns and runs retail businesses.

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newsagency of the future

Newsagency transformation (part 3): completely change the first 3 metres

The first 3 metres of your shop from the front windows and door in represent your headline.

If you want to transform your newsagency and have people see your business as changed, change this space, dramatically, completely. Leave nothing as it was.

It’s this first 3 metres people will see and decide the type of shop you have. This is where you get to play against expectations, it is where you have to disrupt. Don’t give them what they expect.

Products, fixtures – they are all up for grabs in terms of the changes you bring.

If your counter is located in this space, it needs the same dramatic attention.

I think the best way to do this is one day when the shops is closed, take everything away from the first 3 metres, remove it so you have a blank slate. Set a rule for yourself that you cannot put back into the space anything that was there. It will be difficult. You’ll have the urge to put oe thing back into the space, then another. Resist this urge.

What you really want from the experience is for customers to tell you there are surprised to see you stock something you always have stocked but that they only notice now because of what you have done in the first 3 metres of the shop.

Here are four principles for making the first 3 metres of your shop work:

  • Declutter and Create a Visual Feast: As you place new products, keep the entrance free from clutter. Make it visually appealing. Try and not use traditional retail fixtures. Use clean lines, captivating displays, and well-maintained fixtures.

  • Sensory Experience: Consider incorporating subtle elements that engage other senses. Play upbeat music at the front of the shop – music people will know, showcase beautifully scented products, let people smell your type of business and enjoy it.

  • Storytelling Through Displays: Don’t just display products, tell a story. Create thematic displays that showcase how your products can be used or benefit the customer. Don’t have too many of an item in a display. Show less quantity but more range of products – to tell that story you want.

  • Interactive Elements: Make it easy for people to engage with what you sell, to touch and smell. Having products on display in a box of so old school. Take products out. Encourage touching and engaging.

The first 3 metres of the shop is the most valuable retail real estate in the shop if you make good use of it. Be in charge. Set the tone. Make a statement. Keep changing it. Show that yours is a transforming business.

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Newsagency management

Newsagency transformation (part 2): if your data sucks and want an easier way to start

If you know you need / want to transform your newsagency and your business data is not in good shape, there are steps you can take on the shop floor to drive change in the business.

In my experience, businesses often in this situation often have a traditional shop floor layout.

The advice I provide below is all about disrupting what you have as I have found this can help retailers see what they could see. It’s radical and rough, designed to seriously change things up in the business.

It is important to know that whatever you do is forever. Make these moves, watch, learn and adjust. Shops needs to be continuously evolving.

First: the old newspaper and magazine unit

If you have a traditional magazine fixture running down the business of the business with newspapers on the front facing shoppers and they enter the business: take all the stock off and rip it out. Don’t overthink it, rip it out.

This is prime retail space you should be using for products with 50% gross profit and more. Giving this space to products from which you make 25% GP and less is a bad business move.

Rip the whole unit out.

Now, using low cost basic everyday shelving, put your magazines on the back wall of the shop. What ever was in that spot needs to go somewhere else.

Basic strip shelving with brackets that hold the shelves will suffice.

Put your newspapers below, on a bottom flat shelf.

If you’ve ben putting out newspaper or magazine posters, stop. They do not increase sales.

Second: fill the freed up space.

Grab a couple of old tables, or some old wooden boxes. Create display places on the shop floor and on each tell a product category story. Bring products to this part of the shop that people might otherwise not have seen.

If you don’t have tables, look at a local op. shop, in your garage or somewhere like Amart. Spend as little as possible.

Resist using spinners here in this recovered space.

Choose products you are proud to offer.

Be sure to include products you are certain would not work for your customers – it’s important you do this to figure out what you don’t know about your customers.

Be prepared to change the displays within a week if they are not working for you.

Three: watch what happens.

The moves may be a bust. It’s okay if they are, make more changes and keep doing so until you see a good result.

You may see some early success. If you do, lean into that, do more.

If your business is that traditional that it has an old magazine and newspaper unit running down the middle of the shop, I suspect you will experience good news for that’s what I have seen in every business I have seen try it.

Have fun.

One newsagent I know who made these moves hosted a Saturday afternoon sausage sizzle so people would watch as they used a chain saw to exorcise the old magazine unit from the shop.

The key point of this first move is to disrupt your view of the business. Sure, the shop floor will be disrupted. You need to be disrupted more and that’s why you need to do something radical that you are likely to want to resist. The suggested changes could do more for you personally than the business itself.

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Newsagency management

Newsagency transformation (part 1): where do you start?

If you want to change your retail newsagency business, no matter whether it is a traditional newsagency or one that has already seen some transformation, it starts with being sure of where you are at, it starts with your data.

Knowing where the business is at is the foundation of steps forward. This involves looking at the business from a range of angles.

  • Up to date profit and loss statement.
  • A current debtors report and a current creditors report.
  • A list of all monies owed by the business, both formal and informal.
  • Stock listing showing total value of stock.
  • Dead stock listing showing all items for which zero sales have been recorded in six months or more – showing the total value of this stock.
  • A floor map showing gross profit percentage contribution by product department / category floorspace allocation.
  • Total rostered hours in a week, including owners regardless of whether they are paid, and a calculation on revenue per hour.
  • a revenue comparison down to the category level comparing the most recent 6 months with the same 6 months a year earlier.

It’s not enough to say you want to transform your business, you need to understand where you are at and the capacity for change. The above information will provide insights as to immediate opportunities as well as the capacity of the business to fund the cost of change. This list is the starting point of what I ask for from any business I work with on transformation.

In looking through the pool of data from this list, my recommendation is to seek our easy wins that can set up for productive focus next. For example, if there is $10,000 or more in dead stock and all of that stock has long since been paid for, quit it. The freed cash and space will give you a boost. Now, to quit the stock, place it in one location, a clearance location. It could be a table, or two or more. Put it together with the same discount for all. My suggestion is 50%.

While you are quitting dead stock, work through the rest of the data to understand the business performance as it stands today and look at the comparison report for any easy green shoot opportunities you can see allied to current business categories. This could provide you with an easy first step.

As you work through your data, make a list of ideas, action items. It could be that on that list there are some easy wins you’d not seen before or had been ignoring.

Some retailers I have spoken with over the years about business transformation or improvement have been tempted to use their accountant to guide them. I think this is a mistake unless the accountant has current hands-on retail experience in your type of shop. Others have been keen to use a business consultant. Unless they have current retail experience in your area, I’d not engage with them.

My point here is that it’s your business. You are at a point of wanting change, transformation. The next steps are up to you and best done by you so that you own the changes.

This first step starts with gathering the data, cleaning house and getting fit.

All of this work is about getting you match fit for more considerable change, that comes next.

Footnote: I’ve owned newsagencies since 1996. I’ve been a Director of newsXpress since 2005. I started Tower Systems in 1981. While I am no guru, I have had a range of experiences that have helped me see the value of changing our businesses, transforming them beyond the traditional and doing so on a minimal budget. If you are embarking on the transformation and what to talk to someone, I’m here: mark@towersystems.com.au or 0418 321 338.

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Newsagency management

The future of the Australian newsagency

The future of the Australian newsagency channel is in the hands of those who own and run the 2,800 or so retail businesses that make up the channel. The decisions they each make in each of their businesses determine the success, or otherwise, of those businesses, and of the channel.

The decisions that will matter most are those relating to the products carried in the business, the narrative of the business and how you sell.

Before I get to that, I can say the future of the Australian newsagency will not be found in newspapers, magazines, lotteries, convenience retail, tobacco, cheap gifts, cheap toys or a canyon of spinners of products with names on them. The future of the Australian newsagency will not be found in any type of business competing with discount variety.

Suppliers, too, will not play in the future of the Australian newsagency. Despite them creating our channel, print media businesses especially have no interest in our future.

We can already see from retailers, newsagents, in the space that across Australia there is value to harvest from playing in premium and unique spaces, worrying less about price point and being smart when it comes to deciding your margin. Equally, there is value in the adage find a need and fill it in evolving our local businesses.

By products, I am particularly interested in products not common to the newsagency channel. Products such as clothing, gifts at $300.00 and more in price, books but not remainder books, cookware, collectibles people will drive for. Most likely products suppliers would not have in our channel today.

Sure, everyday products such as stationery, greeting cards and other categories our channel is known for will play a role in the future. Their success will depend on how smart we are in what we carry and how we price the burden of carrying. For example, selling stationery to those who need it is easy, selling to those who love is a whole different opportunity – one that is worth more I think.

There are no borders, rules or boundaries. What you can sell is up to you and your imagination as to how it is pitch.

By narrative I mean the story of the business the why for someone considering the business. If you’re a shopkeeper, you put products on the shelves. If you are a retailer with a commitment to a narrative, customers will understand the business, love being in the business and want what you offer because the narrative will nurture trust.

You nurture your narrative through what products you carry, how you place them in store, how you pitch them on social media, on your website and how personal you yourself are in and with them.

The challenge with narrative is that it must evolve, with you, time and the community.

By how, I mean when you sell and where you sell … having an ability to sell online is the key here. If you’re not online, you will have no idea what you don’t know.

Now if this all feels a bit new age like, I don’t mean it to. Today, in May 2024, we are in the midst of a period of immersive retail, retail people feel and experience. This is where your narrative plays a difference. A writing pad in a basic newsagency is a writing pad. The same writing pad in a store with a strong narrative could sell more easily and for more.

The more your shop and your website help people to feel things, the greater the success you will have.

What I am getting at here is that the future of the Australian newsagency lies in us being smart, engaged and creative, each of us making our own shop the best it can be. It won’t look like a cohesive channel, and that does not matters. What matters is that you create a business that is mighty successful locally, and with online shoppers who find you.

To those who don’t act, who don’t embrace change, I say farewell. The days of the old school newsagency are over. Time will catch you. This will result in fewer rooftops in our channel. I’m not sure how many, but on the current trend it will be 150 – 200 in the next 12 months.

To those keen to act, there are plenty of us in the channel who will help where we can. Reach out. Together we can ensure the relevance and success of our vital local retail businesses no matter how diverse our product and service mix and no matter what we call ourselves.

Footnote: There will be some who say the shingle should change, that news is not relevant. While it’s not relevant, what you call the shop does not matter all that much. It’s kind of like a picture versus a thousand words. What a shop shows itself as being matters more than what a shop calls itself. That said, Aussie newsagencies, being quintessentially local businesses are, in my opinions best off being called a name that is locally relevant – rather than some national name that is not locally relevant.

Second footnote: Reading back what I have written I know I have not made a clear and solid prediction. That’s because I can’t. There is no channel, no way to determine what all businesses in the channel will do.

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Newsagency challenges

The history of the Australian newsagency part 3: early 2020 – 2023, the Covid years

Aussie newsagency businesses were designated essential early in the Covid pandemic lockdowns implemented in the states and territories of Australia. This meant newsagencies could open while many retailers around then had to remain closed. This reacquainted many Aussies with their local newsagency.

Plenty of newsagents leant into the lockdown opportunity, expanding what they sold beyond what until then had been traditional for newsagencies. While gifts and similar products were common among those who expanded the range of products in their newsagencies, other new categories appearing in some businesses own the channel included flowers, coffee, electrical goods, clothing and camping goods.

While retail had the physical challenges of social distancing in this time, there were also considerable supply chain challenges as well as new operational models to learn such as selling online, click and collect and making as much of the in -store experience as contactless as possible.

Plenty of suppliers who had previously not engaged with the newsagency channel as they did not consider it appropriate to them engaged during the lockdown years. The expanded the range of products forward-leaning newsagents could easily access for their businesses.

As a result of the lockdowns, newsagents and suppliers found other ways of connecting and doing business. Trade shows that had been a key part of the product sourcing cycle for newsagents proved to not be as important post-lockdown. Retailer attendance at trade shows did not bounce back to pre Covid numbers.

Another situation that emerged post-lockdown is that newsagents relied less on traditional product categories. The commercial interests of newsagents and expanded, there were more opportunities than traditional suppliers offered.

Many newsagency businesses experienced double-digit growth in calendar 2020 over 2019 and 2021 over 2020. While the growth slowed, it did continue in 2022 and into 2023. The newsagency businesses in which growth was not as strong tended to be those that did not embrace the opportunity of being designated essential during the Covid lockdowns.

The good Covid years made newsagency businesses more appealing than they had been. This resulted in more business sales post Covid lockdowns than we were seeing previously.

As 2023 developed even though Australia had fewer newsagency businesses, the businesses themselves were stronger and had better relevance. The Australian newsagency channel was refreshed, well, most of it at least.

There was a surge in newsagency business closures in late 2022 and into 2023. These businesses tended to be those that had not change, that had not embraced changed. With newspaper and magazine sales continuing to decline, foot traffic was lower, unless steps were taken with new product categories to make the business more appealing. While media outlets considered the closure of newsagency businesses newsworthy, newsagents did not as most of those remaining continued to trade well.

Covid change the local Aussie newsagency and local communities benefited.

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Newsagency management

The history of the Australian newsagency part 2: 2015 to early 2020

2015 to 2020, up to the start of the Covid pandemic, were tumultuous for Australian newsagents as suppliers newsagents had served for years in the agency side of the business looked elsewhere for revenue.

What we now know as The Lottery Corporation ramped up selling lottery products online and on mobile devices, achieving excellent growth, taking plenty of in0-store purchases from retailers who continued to invest, under duress, in shook-fit and other requirements.

Newspaper publishers withdrew from newspaper distribution arrangements with newsagents, often delivering a poor substitute and leaving customers of long standing receiving poor service, failing on their promise of a better service for their subscribers.

Newspaper publishers also reduced in real terms the margin retail newsagents make from selling newspapers. What newsagents made did not keep pace with price increases. Also in these years, plenty of local newspapers closed with local news apparently valued less by major publishers.

Plenty of magazines stumbled with Bauer Media doing a poor job running the ACP media business they had purchased in 2012 and with pacific magazines not receiving much love from its owners at Seven West.

Banks no longer valued a newsagency business as an asset against which a purchaser could borrow.

Also during this period of 2015 to early 2020 there was disruption from the migration of accessing news and other traditionally print content to online.

Newsagents themselves remained disorganised with four different associations claiming to represent them.

In the midst of the changes plenty of newsagents realised that they had to make their own success, that suppliers who had led the channel for decades had all but abandoned it.

There was no whole of channel move this way or that. Rather, some moved into book retail, others into outdoors, others into coffee with most significantly expanding their gift and homewares offering.

Initially, the evolution was through a range of everyday gift suppliers who saw the opportunities in the newsagency channel. The focus was on gifts priced at under one hundred dollars and that served the traditional seasons of Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mothers’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas. Newsagents continued to dominate in card sales for these seasons so tapping into gift related opportunities seemed easy.

The extent and speed of change in newsagency businesses varied business to business. There were many who did not change in these years, and this was a key factor in business closures, which were tracked at around 10% of newsagency rooftops each year in this period.

These years of 2015 through to early 2020 we say the biggest move from the agency model on which the channel was built to pure retail. Success was dependent on newsagents becoming retailers.

By the time 2020 reached us, the Australian newsagency channel was a channel in name only. In reality it was just over 3,000 retail businesses all operating locally, independently, and differently – some thriving, some treading water and some slowly going under. While there were several marketing group trading banners in the marketplace, the consistency between the businesses in these groups was not evident.

If it were not for the arrival of the pandemic early in 2020, the next years for the newsagency channel would have been quite different.

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Newsagency management

The history of the Australian newsagency part 1: 1980 to 2014

 In 2014 I was asked to contribute a chapter for A Companion to the Australian Media, the first comprehensive, authoritative study of Australia’s press, broadcasting and new media sectors. Edited by Bridget Griffen-Foley, this book is loaded with terrific content on the history of the media in Australia.

My contribution was on the history of newsagents. I share it below as part 1 of what I plan to be three posts on The history of the Australian newsagency.

…

The first organised newsagency in Australia was created in the 1800s to distribute publications to the Victorian goldfields.

The delivery news agents soon found themselves delivering multiple publications along particular routes, creating the beginnings of the first newsagency businesses. Over time, delivery routes were organised, providing the newsagent covering a defined route with exclusivity by arrangement with publishers.

In the latter part of the 1800s, some newsagents opened retail shops from which to run their distribution businesses. In addition to selling newspapers and magazines, these early retail newsagency businesses also offered stationery.

A traditional newsagency business model evolved, consisting of a retail outlet, distribution of newspapers and magazines to homes and businesses in a defined territory, and the supply of newspapers and magazines on a wholesale basis to other retail outlets. This model was not national: in South Australia and to a certain extent in Western Australia, the distribution and retail businesses evolved separately, making it rare for one business to operate both a retail shop and a distribution business.

The supply of newspapers and magazines to other retailers, called sub-agents, on a wholesale basis was contentious almost from the outset. Early in the 20th century, newspaper publishers took the lead in controlling who could purchase a newsagency and where one could be opened, opening hours, service levels and even what products could be sold. The lever of control was the Newsagency Council, established in each state and made up of publisher representatives.

Central to the newsagency model was that newsagents were – and are today for some suppliers – agents. This meant that they could exert little control over key aspects of their businesses, such as products supplied, quantity of supply and selling price.

Newspaper publishers micro-managed all aspects of their products in a newsagency business, from the time by which they had to be delivered to homes to their placement in the shops. Newsagents accepted this as a cost of having a monopoly.

It was not uncommon, even as late as the 1980s and early 1990s, for publishers to restrict access to ownership of a newsagency based on race. Magazine distributors exerted similar control on the granting of a trading account.

Newsagents were selected as the preferred retail outlet for lottery products and held this position almost exclusively until the 1980s.

A typical newsagency shop for much of the 20th century would have around 30 per cent of floorspace given over to magazines, 30 per cent to greeting cards, 30 per cent to stationery and 10 per cent to newspapers.

As shopping centres evolved in Australia, more newsagents opened retail newsagency businesses inside them. In 1999, through a process overseen by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, newsagents lost their monopoly over the distribution of newspapers and magazines. This resulted in other businesses being able to access direct supply of newspapers and magazines. While some publishers maintained newsagents as the last-mile distributor of products, they no longer controlled the relationship. No compensation was offered or paid to newsagents for the loss of the monopoly.

While the distribution of newspapers and magazines was deregulated, pre-deregulation rules and processes have remained for newsagents in relation to the supply of magazines. This has disadvantaged newsagents. In the years since deregulation, the relationship between newsagents and magazine distributors has prevented newsagents from breaking free of the monopoly-protected business model.

Since 1999, distribution and retail newsagency businesses have evolved. The number of newsagencies with a combined retail, home delivery and sub-agent business has significantly fallen as a result. Whereas up to 1990 newsagencies carried a reasonably consistent range of products across a limited number of core categories, in the 1990s some newsagents branched into new areas.

The pace of change in the newsagency channel increased in the mid-2000s, with many newsagents either selling or giving up their newspaper home delivery and sub-agent

distribution businesses. This came about because newspaper publishers refused to allow newsagents to charge a commercial rate for distribution services. Coupled with a static cover price for newspapers, from which newsagents made a margin, this meant the majority of newspaper distribution businesses were loss-making. A limited number of newsagents purchased these businesses, combining them into bigger specialist distribution businesses by leveraging leverage critical mass to make newspaper and magazine distribution profitable.

Since 2011, the pace of change in retail newsagency businesses has increased considerably, driven by declining sales of print media products, increased retail real estate and labour costs, a higher cost of capital and a greater penetration of franchise groups providing newsagents with management and marketing advice.

By 2012, there was a growing separation between distribution newsagencies and retail newsagencies, as well as a growing gulf among retail newsagencies. This was encouraged by News Limited with a trial project called T2020, intended to force newspaper distribution consolidation among newsagents. While T2020 failed to go beyond trial, newspaper publishers continued to encourage newsagents to consolidate to drive operational efficiency.

In 2013, around 7 per cent of retail newsagencies closed, due to a lack of newspaper home delivery revenue and falling newspaper and magazine retail income. Today, while a typical high street newsagency has a floor space similar to that of 30 years ago, the average shopping centre newsagency has a more diverse product offering.

Whereas in 1999 newsagents did not sell printer cartridges, by 2014 they accounted for around 40 per cent of stationery sales. Some product categories, such as toys, have come full circle. Decades ago, newsagents used to dominate in the toys category. This faded from the 1980s; however, since 2013, newsagents have clawed back toy sales and are now a sought-after channel among toy manufacturers.

Market forces are driving newsagents to pursue greater change and develop businesses that are more competitive and with a broader appeal to shoppers. While some suppliers continue to resist this, newsagents expect to finally unshackle their businesses from pre-deregulation anti-competitive practices.

Nowhere is the change confronted by newsagents more evident than in industry representation. In 2003, close to 3,000 newsagents were members of the national Australian Newsagents’ Federation industry association or one of its affiliated state associations. By 2014, that number was estimated to be under 2000, with newsagents relying less on national representation.

REFs: Australian Newsagents’ Federation, Newsagents Year Book (2014).

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Newsagency management

We installed a self checkout kiosk in our newsagency recently

We installed a self checkout kiosk from my POS software company in our newsagency on Glenferrie Road Malvern recently. My understanding this is a first in the local indie Aussie newsagency channel – while WH Smith have their self checkout terminals they are far removed here from a local Aussie newsagency. It’s going well. Customers are using it.

While we developed this POS software self checkout solution for other retail channels, I wanted us to test first in one of our shops, to allow us to see interaction first-hand and to tune the software and hardware as a result.

Here’s a short video about it:

Australia’s big two supermarkets have damaged the reputation of self-checkouts with cameras watching shoppers and less shop floor staff because of more self-checkout positions, they have given self-checkouts a bad name.

There are situations where self-checkouts can be useful for customers and for the business, and where then can be setup without the nasties the big two supermarket chains have used.

I know of retailers who like the idea of a self checkout located far from the counter, closer to where customers load their car or van. A small format self checkout kiosk can be the answer.

I also know of retailers who have shopper traffic peaks for brief periods and where a self checkout terminal could be a cost effective way of smoothing shopper flow.

Tower developed a self checkout solution for our POS software, found awesome small-footprint hardware and installed it at malvern as a trial.

What we have discovered so far is that people are familiar with self-checkout, there is no hesitancy. An unexpected use is by people preferring a discrete purchase.

There have been some questions, like whether there is a camera attached. People like that there is no camera.

One older (80s I am guessing) customer said to me they were surprised to see self checkout in a newsagency and then went on to say they love the innovation, shows you’re keeping with the times he said as he headed out the door.

While I don’t see self checkout becoming a big thing in newsagencies, nor in many smaller independent shops for that matter, there are situations where it is an ideal solution. This is why we invested money in the new software. The development project had to overcome some tech hurdles which resulted in knowledge that will help in other areas of the software.

Software innovation is important in all retail channels given the rapid changes we are seeing in how, when and where people shop as software innovations facilitates retail innovation. What could be sold from here could be quite different to what people pass across the counter to purchase.

This is, in part, what the trial install is about – learning what could be.

While I mention this is a first. If I’m wrong, please comment on this post so the record can be corrected.

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newsagency of the future

Newsagents: are you tech-ready for the new Weekday Windfall game from The Lottery Corporation

As I wrote here on May 3, the tech implementation by The Lott for the new game has been selfish and poor.

Despite strong protests from me to senior management at The Lott, they, in their infinite wisdom (bless them), plan to reuse a product code for the new game. This  code is currently linked to a payout department.

In our opinion, this is a seriously stupid and dangerous move by The Lott. They should have used a completely new product code.

Failure to adhere to the steps outlined in our knowledge base advice will result in all sales for the new Weekday Windfall game being treated as payouts or lotto wins. This risks you disbursing funds to customers by mistake.

Have you taken steps with your newsagency software to be ready? If you haven’t, and a mistake at the sales counter is made, it could be expensive.

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Lotteries

The Australian Financial Review all but out of Western Australia

This note has been sent to newsagents by Nine Media:

Supply of The Australian Financial Review

Nine has been notified of a substantial increase to printing costs of copies of The Australian Financial Review (the AFR) supplied to newsagents, distributors and sub-agents in Western Australia.

As a result of these increased costs, the supply and distribution of print copies of the AFR in Western Australia is no longer commercially viable.

Our existing print distribution arrangements for the AFR to newsagents, distributors and sub-agents in Western Australia will cease effective close of business on Wednesday, 22 May 2024. Your business has been identified as currently receiving print copies of the AFR and as a result, you will no longer receive these print copies effective close of business on Wednesday, 22 May 2024.

We will be contacting all AFR subscribers to advise them that home and office delivery of print copies of the AFR will no longer be possible after that date.

We kindly request that you make a copy of this notice available to any sub-agents or other retail outlets supplied and billed by you (i.e. those retailers who do not have a direct account with Nine).

Separately, Nine will distribute retail copies of The Australian Financial Review Magazine and the quarterly Fin! magazine in metropolitan Perth from the end of the month. If you are interested in receiving supply of any other publications that Nine may determine is commercially viable to distribute within Western Australia from time to time, please notify us of your interest via email at circsales@nine.com.au

We thank you for your past support of The Australian Financial Review. If you have any questions in relation to this matter, please contact us via email at newsagencycontracts@nine.com.au.

It’s an odd move by Seven West. Maybe they think this may help with sales of their local paper or boost interest in their new online after nine product. It will be interesting to watch how it plays out.

Aussie daily newspapers have hung on to print editions for longer than in plenty of other parts of the world. While I am no expert, I suspect that somewhere around half the daily newspapers in Australia are not profitable on the majority of days they publish. They are thin and loaded with ads from a small group of businesses.

I suspect that if were see a capital city daily close it’s print edition, several others would follow quite quickly.

There is no upside for print newspapers. Publishers have repurposed the print product to rely far less on news and to give advertisers more control of their once respected mastheads. Smart newsagents long ago adjusted their businesses to not rely on them.

Newspapers themselves are inefficient products with more than 75% of newspaper purchases in a newsagency being a newspaper and nothing else. This basket inefficiency has been a challenge for our channel for decades. Back in the 1990s the inefficiency percentage was 85% or more. It has dropped a little, not enough though and this is despite extraordinary effort to engage with newspaper shoppers to try and sell other better margin products.

In their treatment of newsagents over recent years, newspaper publishers have shown little respect. Our margin is down, which makes newspapers less valuable. It’s at a point that there are newsagents in our channel who no longer sell newspapers.

What’s happening in Western Australia with The Australian Financial Review is interesting yet far from the bigger story about newspapers that is playing out nationally.

4 likes
Newspaper distribution

Inspiring newsagency transformation: Mount Lawley News, WA

Matt bought a traditional newsagency shop in late 2021. It was his first retail business. He knew he wanted to reinvent the business, to be relevant and appealing.

In less than 3 years Matt with his family and team have transformed the business into a thriving and loved local shop in Mount Lawley 10 minutes out of Perth.

While it’s called Mount Lawley News, this shop is not a newsagency, not what you think of as a newsagency. It’s a gift shop, a fun place to shop, somewhere you’re likely to find a gift for just about any occasion.

As Matt shares in this video, he embraces the opportunities of change, and he shows that even though the shop has been transformed, he’s not done. What he has created online through the website as well as on social media is fresh, engaging, and successful.

I are grateful to Matt for the opportunity to find out more. Be sure to check out their website: http://www.oliviaandgrace.com.au.

12 likes
Newsagency management

How is the Aussie newsagency travelling in 2024: looking at retail sales January through April 2024 vs. 2023

Looking at sales in your newsagency from January through April 2024 versus 2023 is useful. Knowing your results is more important than the noise from news outlets on retail sales.

While it’s not a full-on benchmark, I’ve seen data for enough businesses to share the following as reasonable results with which to compare your business when looking at sales for the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2023 for traditionally core categories:

  • Magazine unit sales: down 8%.
  • Newspaper unit sales: down 5%.
  • Stationery sales: up 3%.
  • Card sales: up 2%.

If your results are outside these, consider what you are doing in the business to change the situation. There could be a good reason your numbers are different. It could also be that the business is challenged in ways you can positively impact.

There are many things we can do in our businesses to drive sales growth. The key is taking action to achieve this. Success won’t seek us out, we have to seek it. Please forgive this cliche … but it is true.

Stationery is having a good moment, growing sales is easy. cards, too, respond to care and attention from you, especially if you are tactical in chasing the impulse purchase.

The big winner is gifts. What we can sell in our shops has changed so much. The price range we can offer has changed too. Gone are the days of newsagents targeting gifts that cost $25.00 or less. I love hearing from newsagents when they have sold their first $300+ item – it opens their mind to expanding their gift offer further.

I own a newsagency on Glenferrie Road Malvern, in Melbourne. For decades it was a traditional newsagency, owned and well run by one family: huge in magazine sales and strong in newspapers, cards and stationery.

Since I bought the business we have engaged in evolving the business while not anting to hard the existing core. It’s working. We are attracting new shoppers and winning new category revenue while maintaining good core sales.

Switching card companies provided a huge boost and continuous evolution of the card mix in the 2+ years. Introducing gifts is working well as is the introduction of sensory products, multi-generational plush as well as homewares.

What we stopped early on that helped too: we got rid of the drinks fridge, the ice-cream fridge, candy at the counter and 20% of the magazine space. Now, in cutting the magazine space, we did not cut any titles – we have maintained excellent magazine sales: $100,000 in January through April 2024. Special interest titles are the biggest segment, accounting for $20,000 in sales in the first four months this year.

All of this has been done on a minimal budget in a step-by-step approach, following opportunities revealed in the data.

Please take a moment and compare your January through April 2024 with 2023. See what’s working and what’s not. If you see in this things that need attention, get to it. If you are not sure what your comparison shows, feel free to reach out. I’d be happy to take a look and comment back to you on a confidential basis. I’m at mark@towersystems.com.au or 0418 321 338.

4 likes
Newsagency management

URGENT IMPORTANT NOTICE. Changes Required by Newsagents to handle the new Weekday Windfall Game

The Lott has informed Tower Systems via XchangeIT about changes slated for May 6 to accommodate the Weekday Windfall game launching on May 20.

Despite strong protests from me to senior management at The Lott, they, in their infinite wisdom (bless them), plan to reuse a product code for the new game. This  code is currently linked to a payout department.

In our opinion, this is a seriously stupid and dangerous move by The Lott. They should have used a completely new product code.

Failure to adhere to the steps outlined in our knowledge base advice will result in all sales for the new Weekday Windfall game being treated as payouts or lotto wins. This risks you disbursing funds to customers by mistake.

Act now to prevent this. Here is a link to advice for Tower newsagents: https://help.towersystems.com.au/portal/en/kb/articles/lotto-setup-new-products

Here is the response from The Lott once I had explained to them the risks involved in reusing a product code:

I appreciate that you some concern about reusing product ID 22 however due in part, to some code capacity issues, a decision was made to use this code for the upcoming Weekday Windfall. Please note, that all terminal development which includes the use of product ID 22 for Weekday Windfall has received regulatory approval and is unable to be changed.

Newsagents are at risk here.

14 likes
Newsagency management

Inspiring retail: newsXpress Leven, Ulverstone, Tasmania

This business has been in the family for decades, across two generations. What was once a traditional newsagency is today a vibrant gift shop that has some newsagency lines as a service for customers.

This shop is an excellent example of doing it yourself and creating something genuinely local, warm, comforting and clearly loved.

This shop also shows that you can succeed by trading outside of what people expect for your type of business, that today in retail, your shingle does not have to define your business.

Ulverstone is a wonderful local community, a beautiful part of the world. What Sharene and Wayne have created at newsXpress Leven is a shop people love to visit and spend money in.

Often, local retailers can get caught in their head about what they could do in their business. Seven years ago, Shareen and Wayne set about embracing change, and they haven’t stopped since – creating a business of which they can be proud.

It was a thrill to see what they have created.

13 likes
newsagency of the future

Local retail management advice: How to partner with local community groups to win new shoppers, increase sales and support your local community

Talk about a win, win, win. This local retail business management tip helps you win new customers, your customers save money and a local community group raise funds. Engagement is measurable, so you can assess the return on your investment.

Find a locally loved and trusted community group in need of funds, a group that has a reasonable number of members who do not currently shop with you.

Offer the community group a percentage from each purchase made by members of the group and their family members.

Offer each member a discount for each purchase.

The amounts offered need to be considered in the context of your business, your margin and the value of the anticipated additional purchases.

Consider a timeframe for the offer. For example, it may be useful to trial the offer for a limited period so you can assess engagement and then adjust as appropriate. It may also be an offer only open to certain days of the week, your quietest days.

Consider the products to be included in the campaign. It may be appropriate to exclude products categories where your margin is not enough to justify inclusion.

To manage the offer, see if your Point-of-Sale software can help. I know the software from my own software company can manage this. You give each community group a member a card, which when scanned ensures they get the discounted price and the donation to the community group is tracked.

The card becomes valuable itself, something talked about, sought after.

The commercial goal of this campaign has to be net new shopper traffic for the business delivering revenue the business would otherwise not have achieved. If this is the case, a discount off the usual margin achieved is acceptable as it is effectively a cost of acquiring the additional business.

Key to the success of this campaign is the active engagement of the community group in rallying members to visit the shop, to encourage them to support you so that you support the group they love.

Make an event of handing over the donation to the community group. Get photos. Talk on social media about being grateful for the local support that has enabled you to make the donation.

Share stories on social media about the activities of the group as your support of them can encourage their support of you.

I love the campaign outlined here as it represents the circular nature of the local community: people living locally, shopping locally, enabling local shops to thrive locally and support loved local community groups.

Using POS software you can easily manage this, and adjust the offer based on the results.

…

I wrote this article for the latest issue of the Channel magazine published by ALNA.

10 likes
Newsagency management

Retail transformation: Wattle Bee Next Mount Morgan QLD

Retail transformations are challenging in an ever changing retail landscape. The challenges are compounded when you’re in a small population regional town and in a retail channel that itself is undergoing extraordinary and rapid change.

Rather than following others, Kerrilyn and Schae at newsXpress Mount Morgan evolved their newsagency into something unique, wonderful and loved. They made their business a destination and refused to be limited by assumptions about what their type of business should be.

This video shares some of their journey and reflects on a business the people of Mount Morgan love. It also plays against assumptions about the local newsagency: what it is and what it can be.

I am grateful to be a small part of this inspiring story.

15 likes
Newsagency management

Some airport shops are a rip-off, like the shop in Brisbane selling a bag of Smarties for $8.99

$8.99 for a bag of smarties that I can buy at a supermarket for $5.00 or at a discount confectionery shop for $4.00. I saw this in a shop at Brisbane domestic airport a week back. Crazy pricing.

Now, of curse, there will be factors impacting this: retail lease costs for one. The other big on being a captive market, little competition.

The prices were not turning shoppers off. Plenty of people were paying over the odds for stuff at this shop.

The experience had me thinking about the choices we make when we price items, especially readily available everyday lite=ms, like this bag of smarties. Our pricing decision tells shoppers something. It told me this shop is expensive and reminded my of why I don’t shop at airport shops.

One way to help shoppers understand your prices is to speak to factors that play into your pricing decisions. You could do this on social media or even by equipping shop staff with information.

If I sold these bagged Smarties, for example, and if my price was considerably lower than $8.99, I’d share the story from Brisbane airport on my social media to be grateful that I could sell them for less – hopefully not in a bratty way. That type of personal experience social media post can be a good way to share a pricing comparison that can reinforce your proposition.

3 likes
Newsagency management

A good read for retailers: The Effect of Least-cost Routing on Merchant Payment Costs

The Effect of Least-cost Routing on Merchant Payment Costs, an article by Boston Dobie and Benjamin Watson and published by the RBA is a valuable read for retailers interested in the cost of cashless payments.

The conclusion pitches the value of least cost routing.

This article introduces new estimates for the potential cost savings for merchants from enabling LCR. We estimate that on average LCR is associated with a nearly 20 per cent lower cost of acceptance for debit card transactions, with potential cost savings being largest for small merchants and those on plans that blend together prices for different card types. The results presented primarily capture the savings from LCR for in-person transactions using physical cards, given the limited availability of LCR for online and mobile wallet payments. As LCR becomes more readily available for these types of transactions, the potential savings should be higher given they account for a significant and growing share of debit card payments.

Plenty of newsagents had access to and benefited from least cost routing years ago. There is an even better (lower cost) option now with a cost plus model.

At the very least, newsagents should be on a least cost routing model. If you are not on that or a cost-plus model, you are likely to be paying more than you should. And, if you surcharge and think it’s not your issue, customers will notice the cost of a surcharge.

6 likes
Newsagency management
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