Australian Newsagency Blog

Tower Systems, my newsagency software company is exhibiting at at the GHA Home and Giving Fair in Sydney and the Reed Gift Fair in Brisbane.  The photo is of our stand GHA Home and Giving Fair at Homebush.  Both of these fairs will be of interest to newssagents because of the cards, gifts and associated […]

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Nici pencil cases did not sell at our newsagencies like we thought they would.  After almost a year in stock and few sales we moved them to one of our gift shops in the heart of Melbourne.  They started selling immediately.  It turns out that we had a good product in the wrong location.  The […]

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Swobbles get the star treatment as we launch our STOCKTAKE SALE.  We have a table of swobbles at half price right at the front of the shop.  In the one day they have been up sales have been good - they will not last long.  The stock was acquired in a way which enabled the […]

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We have a new range of gifts on display in our window.  The display has been created to be seen by people as they leave the new Dick Smith store opposite our newsagency.  The display does not have much height as we do not want to block the view behind the display, into our card […]

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We had a good selection of these cows on display near our counter, expecting them to sell quickly - they are a cute and inexpensive novelty gift (with a good margin).  We sold one.  Within two days of moving them to our window we had sold all stock except for one.  As we have found […]

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Click here for a copy of the June Newsletter for our Sophie Randall gift shop businesses.  We have evolved this into a more professional, outcome-focussed, document.  The June is the second in this new format.  The customer reaction has been excellent.  We are applying more learnings from our gift businesses into our newsagencies.

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We have a small selection of animal themed wrapping paper on the table with our animal themed jigsaw puzzles.  While this is common in major retailers, it is less common on newsagencies.  We have achieved good success with suggesting items which go together - like the wrap in the photo.  This approach works especially well […]

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We are playing in the jigsaw puzzle space at Forest Hill and early sales are very good. Our team has selected puzzles based on successes from our calendar range.  The Planet Zoo range looks great!  Each features an appealing image.  There is a social responsibility connection - a portion of each sale is donated to […]

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With Easter later this year the pressure was on to get Mother’s Day out and into promotional space.  It is an important season for us in terms of sales of cards and gifts.  Mother’s Day is also important in connecting us with the National Breast Cancer Foundation though the sale of Hallmark cards as part […]

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We put the Wearables range of purses and related gift items from Russ into our Forest Hill and Frankston stores two weeks ago.  Sales at Frankston have been slow while at Forest Hill they have been excellent - to the point that we need to re-order.  We liked the offer from the outset since the […]

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I have been digging further into the January - March 2009 newsagent sales benchmark study data over the last few days and have evidence which demonstrates a correlation between gift sales and card sales in newsagencies.  Newsagents with a strong gift offering, $2,000 a month in sales or more, derive a benefit in greeting card […]

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We’re pleased with the range of graduation gifts we have found, the yellow mugs especially.  Graduation is a good season for us with cards and gifts - from primary school through to university.  Indeed, having good graduation gifts on display helps drive good card sales and this, in turn, gets people shopping the rest of […]

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The table of Easter plush and related gift items we have located in our card department, at the front of the shop, is achieving excellent results.  Each week is better than the last. Since we do not have a defined gift department as such at our Forest Hill store it is a challenge for us […]

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We are not timid when it comes to promoting seasons nor are we late to the party.  It is hard to enter our Forest Hill store and not pass Easter cards, plush and Darrell Lea products.  The display in the photo (click on the image for a larger version) is the latest created by our […]

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We are pitching a healthy Easter range in our newsagencies with a good range of plush and other Easter related gift lines.  We have the display at the end of our dance floor, in a high-visibility area.  The Easter stock will be moved a couple of times as the season unfolds - change is crucial […]

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We are continuing to experiment with gifts at our Frankston newsagency. A couple of weeks ago we put in a spinner of Gardeners’ Knee Pads. While we were skeptical, they have generated good sales and reminded us one again that we are not the customer. Indeed, this mantra is true in […]

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The Reed Gift Fair in Sydney is well worth a visit by any newsagent considering playing in the gift space.  It runs until Wednesday this week.
Judging by the number of newsagents there yesterday, many are now playing in this space.  It is terrific to see newsagents expanding beyond the traditional.  Some were looking at homewares, […]

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Tower Systems will be showing off its POS and retail management software for gift shops at Reed Gift Fair in Sydney starting this weekend.  Hall 4, stand 6132.  With so many newsagents now playing in the gift space, we will also have newsagency experts on hand to show off our newsagency software. The Sydney Gift […]

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Our team at Frankston has come up with a range of gift packs for Valentine’s Day. The one which intrigues me the most is the Monkey Business pack. Inside there are a couple of monkeys and a bottle of passion massage oil. Their goal in using themes with the packs and giving […]

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I spent time yesterday at the Reed Gift Fair in Melbourne looking at product for our shops, catching up with some newsagents and checking in on the Tower Systems stand.
There were plenty for products suitable for newsagents who want to expand their gift range. This is a view shared by other newsagents I talked […]

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Several newsagents I have spoken with over the last  few days tell me that Valentine’s Day card sales are good even though the big day is three weeks away.  I prefer to go out early with seasons like Valentine’s Day because it shows customers who like to browse that you have the range.
The challenge is […]

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I love this Valentine’s Day gift packaging from Hallmark.  It is different ot the traditional Valentine’s Day material and will appeal to a broader demographic.  While the traditional range is well covered in this year’s Hallmark range, it is this new packaging which draws attention.  The nutrition facts on the side show that a lot of thought has […]

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I was asked yesterday about  the purpose of the wedding keepsake, a bridal horseshoe.  My customers were a young Chinese woman and her mother.  I stumbled through, saying it represented a wish of luck for the bride on her wedding day - to be given after the ceromony.  The giving of a horseshoe is something […]

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These postcards make customers happy - when they browse and when they purchase.  Their positive message is infectious to people open to feeling happy.  They are part of a range we have from Compendium.  In several of our stores are have a happy space where everything is about nurturing happiness.  We have not signed the […]

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After an amazing three week run we have replaced our counter Australian Women’s Weekly display with Christmas gifts - as shown in the photo.  We have gone for easy to sell Christmas items here.  The mugs are selling especially well from this position as are small Christmas decorations.  It is great seeing people come to […]

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