How to win from high petrol prices

As I wrote six weeks ago, the 50% increase in the price of petrol over the last year is an opportunity for newsagents. We are the quintessential local business. We sell national brands locally. People don’t have to drive. We can help them sale fuel costs. Here is a more extended list of ideas on how we can seize the opportunity:

• Promote local shopping. With with nearby retailers and produce a flyer promoting how shopping locally saves on petrol, time and money. Prepare a follow-up flyer to promote how your prices re as good as bigger businesses further away – reinforce the petrol saving pitch again.
• Get together with local traders. Create a website to promote your local shopping. Promote the businesses, easy parking and how they can save on petrol by shopping locally.
• Study the numbers. Work out what an average shopper could save on petrol by shopping locally compared to driving to the nearest largest centre.
• Improve convenience. Look at how you can make shopping at your newsagency even more convenient and appealing.
• Delivering value. Offer a free delivery service for purchases above a certain value. Promote this around a theme save on petrol!
• Offer deals for volume. In some areas people will shop less frequently. Drive a deeper shopping basket by offering deals for a bigger spend.
• Local Marketing. Reconnect with households and businesses around your newsagency and remind them that you have locally what they might otherwise drive for – or that you can get it in for them.
• Comparative pricing. Make it your business to beat a major competitor on some popular items. For example, at our shop, our printer ink prices are better than Big W, Australia Post and Officeworks. While customers discover this and are thrilled, a small sign near the category could people not in the market for ink to trust us for other categories and shop locally more often.
• Save money. Do deal with a local independent petrol outlet. Offer coupons for discount petrol which they provide in return for them handing out discount coupons for use in your newsagency.
• Talk it up. At your next team meeting share some ways they can let customers know that shopping locally reduces what they spend on petrol.

While rising petrol prices present serious challenges for newsagents, they also present opportunities worth exploiting.