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 mod ..read more

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 newsa ..read more

Nine Media provided this to newsagents in Western Australia, asking them to display it in store. If I received it, I’d bin, or make it into a dart board. Their treatment of newsagents have been appalling. The post After slashing their margin and years of poor treatment, Nine Media expects WA newsagents to promote their digital subscriptions first appeared on Australian Newsagency Blog ..read more

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 at ..read more

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 ..read more

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, convenienc ..read more

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 bu ..read more

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 lea ..read more

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 abou ..read more

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 ..read more