printer toner

Earlier this week we launched a refreshed website for Inkfast, the online printer ink and toner business we started out the back of our newsagency four years ago.  We created Inkfast to capture printer ink and toner sales which we could not get in our newsagency, especially business and government sales.

Inkfast has performed well, attracting business across the country from single cartridge orders delivered to homes through to orders from government departments worth thousands of dollars.

I think that newsagents wanting to chase online business need to do so away from the shingle of a newsagency.  Whether we like it or not, the term newsagency has many preconceived opinions and biases around price, range and competitiveness attached to it.  People buying ink and toner online are looking for something different be it price, range, speed of delivery or delivery to the door convenience.

The online world is different and offering newsagency products and services online under a newsagency name will do little more than serve the existing newsagency customer base.  Sure, it is a feel good to be online but does it really drive incremental traffic.  I see little value in slicing existing traffic and reducing shop visits.

Going online is all about finding new customers who live and shop online and are unlikely to walk through your front door.  This is best achieved by running the online business separately from the bricks and mortar business.

If you research online businesses you see that strong brands have a value proposition different to what you see in the bricks and mortar world. The Inkfast value proposition is speed, it’s there in the name.  This is backed by our support for brand name product at highly competitive prices. Through Inkfast we have connected with customers we could never have reached from our newsagency.