I look carefully at shopping basket data for my newsagency and others and an particularly interested in the basket depth achieved from newspaper customers. The industry average in suburban (high street and mall) newsagencies is 65% to 70% of newspapers being sold alone. The Melbourne Observer, a weekly newspaper aimed at the older reader, is sold alone 35% to 40% of the time. It’s an add-on sale in many cases and the traffic driver leading to more business in others. Our Melbourne Observer sales are at 80 to 100 a week and in a challenged newspaper marketplace this growth has to be appreciated. Theirs is a niche publication which serves the niche extremely well. It’s more efficient in terms of inventory, real-estate and labour than half the magazines I sell. I’d note that my sales team reckon the Melbourne Observer customers are happier than most!