Australian Newsagency Blog

Click here to see a copy of the latest newsletter from our Sophie Randall gift shops. We have gone to a mid month publishing date as this fits better with our seasonal marketing plan. The newsletters are very popular with our customers, we have good evidence that they drive sales. This year, […]

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We have had several customers ask about the Trading Post this past week.  All were shocked to hear that it has ceased publication.  One encounter I had was memorable on Friday.
First up, my customer, a lady in her seventies, had been sent to us by Coles because they were “out of stock” of the Trading […]

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Click on the image to read the sign shoppers see as they enter a Golden Casket agency (maybe a newsagency) somewhere in Queensland.  The photo is from the ABC Brisbane website - yes, the world gets to see how one retailer deals with customer queries.
While we are challenged daily with questions for which we consider […]

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Tower Systems has launched the first four of an exclusive series of short training videos for newsagents.  These can be accessed at any time and from anywhere by Tower AdvantageTM newsagents.
The training videos enable newsagents and their staff to learn about newsagent software and topics such as magazine returns and other newsagent topics.  They provide […]

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Click here for a PDF version of the customer newsletter for our newsagency for October.  This is available free to all customers from a stand at the front of our newsagency.  We switched this more promotional style of newsletter in August.  It works better promoting our offers than the more newsy style newsletter it […]

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Today is National Walk and Shop Day in the UK - an excellent promotion of local shopping supported by independent retailers, including newsagents, suppliers, local councils and consumers.  This is part of the My Shop is Your Shop project.
the campaign for National Walk and Shop Day is built around reducing emissions CO2 emissions, buying local […]

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Darrell Lea had a truck on the road in Melbourne yesterday ready to respond to calls from retailers in need of more of their Father’s Day Dad’s Bags.  One of our locations, new to Darrell Lea just last month had sold out and within a couple of hours of calling we had the stock we […]

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In the rush of the Powerball jackpot yesterday I noticed a customer working through each copy of That’s Life we had on display, looking for copies which had cash - as part of the weeks giveaway with the magazine this week.  My initial thought was to go and ask her to stop.  However, I decided […]

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We have made a decision to quit offering Western Union in our newsagency.  The margin we make is too slim, the new compliance costs too high and the transactions inefficient for our business.
A key goal in our newsagency, like many, is excellent customer service.  This is a challenge if you have a Western Union transaction […]

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Newsagents around Australia have the Tax Pack available now.  To better handle the customer queries this week and next, our team has placed the Tax Pack in an easy to access location in a small display with financial year diaries.  While we are giving over valuable retail real-estate to this loss leader, we know from […]

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I am concerned at reports that the Royal Australian Mint is planning to scrap the 5 cent coin.  I don’t want the 5 cent coin scrapped.  I like that I can price items at 5 cents under a round dollar amount.  The 5 cent price break is a service to consumers.  The arguments put for […]

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The small display supporting prepaid Visa at the edge of our lottery counter is generating good sales of prepaid Visa cards and attracting good top-up business.  For a bit of passive marketing it is doing very well.  The growth over the last few months has been excellent. We are finding former BOPO customers happy with […]

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When speaking at newsagent conferences and workshops over the last two years I have asked what do we stand for?  A common answer from newsagents was community connection, being local.
Being connected with the local community is a good unique selling proposition when most of what we sell in our newsagencies is available from other businesses, […]

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Tower Systems is hosting four newsagent specific free online training workshops this week:

Magazine putaways management 21/04/2009 11am
Newspaper home deliveries and customer management 21/04/2009 2pm
Magazine management workshop 23/04/2009 11am  (The most popular online workshop this year by far!)
Retail stock management 23/04/2009 2pm

To book a free place, please go to the Tower Systems website, and click on online training.  You will […]

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Tattersalls and Intralot have both suffered network outages recently and both failed to keep their respective networks informed. It is hard to believe that it is 2009 when you experience such poor communication followed up by buck passing and lame excuses.
We have old technology like mobile phones and email and new online communications channels […]

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Check out the photo of a pair of pink booties we received at one of our shops last week.  What should have been Angel has been spelled as Angle.  The misspelling gave me a smile.  Sure, QA processes for the Australian supplier ought to have picked it up but, hey, nobody is perfect in spelling […]

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Click here for a PDF copy of our April 2009 customer newsletter for our newsXpress Forest Hill shop.
We have copies of the newsletter on a stand at the front of our newsagency  - for any passer-by to take. This is in addition to advertising flyers promoting ink, books and other deals we also make available […]

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In another first, Tower Systems launched Software Ideas on Friday, a facility at its website which gives its newsagent users a greater say in the direction of the software and delivers greater transparency over the product development process.
The Software Ideas initiative is as a direct result of several Tower team members reading Jeff Jarvis’ book […]

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The power to the Tower Systems Head Office and several blocks around was knocked out just before 9:30 this morning.  While it is back on now (10:15), we were able to keep our 1,500 newsagent customers informed of alternative support access points through various information channels including this blog.  Since we take between 200 and […]

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My software company, Tower Systems, formally launched its online Training Academy for newsagents today.  This is an exciting move for us and for newsagents - guaranteeing a on-goinging training opportunities which will help produce better outcomes for newsagents, their customers and their suppliers.
Free online Training Academy for newsagents and newsagent staff
MELBOURNE – March 10, 2009 […]

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Newsagents who see their businesses as being important and connected to the local community ought to check out My Shop Is Your Shop.  The My Shop Is Your Shop - Local And Proud Of It campaign was established in 2004 in support of a campaign promoting independent retailers in the UK.  It focuses effort around […]

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Click here to download a copy of our March customer newsletter.  As the photo shows, we have this in a help-yourself stand at the front of our newsagency at Forest Hill.  While it is a bit of work to produce the newsletter, it is a valuable way we spread our stories to passers-by.

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Tower Systems yesterday announced a comprehensive schdule of free online training for newsagents using its point of sale software.  There are several new training programs including help for all the POS Solutions users transitioning to Tower.  Online training is free.  It is time friendly - do it at the shop or at home - and […]

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I served a customer yesterday who had been told by a friend to come to our newsagency for a calendar for her favourite dog breed. This customer drove past two major shopping centres in 46 degree heat to get the calendar – for her dog. She bought another calendar, a magazine and a […]

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A customer has asked to buy one of the Valentine’s Day posters we created for our Sophie Randall businesses.
This is the second time we have encountered this in the last few months at Sophie. Apparently, the customer loves the image of the girl kissing the frog and they want it for their bedroom.
The requests […]

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