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Newsagency businesses perform well in latest sales benchmark study

I’ve completed the analysis of the latest newsagency sales benchmark data covering the July – September quarter compared to the same period last year.  The pool of data was from 123 newsagency businesses around Australia and covering a good selection of circumstance.

Here are the newsagency sales benchmark highlights:

Trading remained steady for newsagents in the July – September quarter of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. Year on year results almost mirrored those of the previous quarter. This is good news.

  1. Traffic. Customer traffic was up slightly with 61% recording an average increase of 2.1% of transactions.
  2. Basket depth. 43% recorded an increase in the number of items in a transaction and the average increase was 4%.
  3. City versus country. City based newsagencies delivered the better results.
  4. City vs. country. Regional & rural newsagencies are the best performers.

Now for the results by key departments:

  1. Magazines. 44% of newsagents in the study reported unit sales growth with an average growth of 3.5%.  Of the newsagents reporting a decline, the average decline was 5%.  60% reported a sales decline for women’s weeklies – average 6%.
  2. Greeting cards. 69% of newsagents reported an average 3% revenue growth.
  3. Stationery. 49% of newsagents reported an average growth of 5%.
  4. Ink. 55% of stores participating in the study separate ink sales data allowing further analysis.  67% of stores reported ink an average of 5% growth.
  5. Gifts. 61% reported an average of 6% growth.
  6. Newspapers. 61% of newsagents reported a decline of 3% in newspaper sales.
  7. Tobacco. Sales declined. 65% of store with the product reported 11% decline.
  8. Confectionery. 54% of store reported an average decline of 3%.

That said, there is no doubt that shopping centre newsagencies remain vulnerable.  This speaks to the fickle nature of shopping centre traffic performance.  While am no economist it could be that they are the first to experience trends.

Newsagencies continue to be good businesses to own. They respond to attention.  Retail is not as tough as some keep saying.

For what it’s worth, the best type of newsagency to own today is one where you have the most control over what you sell. This can be in a shopping centre but is more likely to be in a high street and / or regional situation.  Ideally, it would be a business where you can ultimately own the building.

We create our own luck, now more than ever.

I appreciate the time given by the newsagents using the Tower Systems newsagency software who shared the sales data that is the basis for this study.

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Newsagency benchmark

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  1. bruce

    Interesting Mark. Great that you share this sort of stuff!

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  2. Mark Fletcher

    Thanks Bruce. This just scratches the surface on what newsagents can discover about their own businesses. We can find success in our data.

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  3. Brad C

    Great review, thanks for sharing. As someone who is just waiting on the bank to come good on the finance of my first newsagency, its heartening to read articles like this.

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  4. Mark Fletcher

    Thanks Brad and welcome to the channel!

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