Another newsagent in Melbourne walked away from their shopping centre tenancy last week. He dropped the keys off at Centre Management and left the building mid lease. The shop was relatively full of stock.
While there is no doubt that newsagents in shopping centres face extraordinary challenges, walking away is not an answer. There are avenues of mediation, especially in Victoria.
Landlords are less concerned about the need for a newsagency today from what I hear. This has been brought on in part by the behaviour of some shopping centre newsagents.
You can only try to imagine the pressure & stress that someone would have to be under to just walk away – very sad.
Sometimes cutting your loses and walking is the best option for your own health, stock would be about $100K but most of this would already be paid for. Apart from lotteries newsagents sell nothing that cannot be bought from supermarkets or the department stores which are the focus of center management. It’s sad and it may be unfair but that is the reality.
In our city Woolworths have bought out an entire center to make way for a masters store and have told all small operators their time is up and to move out.
rent increasing 30% and one month notice. I am finished.
Frank you can fight that.
i believe this country is heading for economic disaster
I disagree Eric.
Economists and big business disagree Eric. There is no evidence to suggest that we are headed for economic disaster.
Eric you are so right carbon tax ,giveway to all who do nothing or come by boat 817000 people on a pension not includeing our older australian
Sadly some business operators are their own worst enemies.
and Luke, Woolies is about to go into Ink !!!!
As per usual Allan, they wait until small business build up a market then they swoop in and rip the guts out of it without having to add the customer service we do in order to make the sale. That’s business I’ve been told.
We have seen the local hardware store shut down as well as the local bookshop, butcher, green grocer all of which offered superior service but no one has the cash reserves anymore to compete long term and they know it. The newsagent involved told me he has got too tired of it all and will shut the doors, so add another one to the list.
Luke, I think that you nailed it there “he got too tired”.
A common story here on the Gold Coast. People just get to a point that it has become too much effort, to keep battling landlords & downturns in the economy, just to keep going backwards.
🙁
It does;t always happen tis way. Sometimes a newsagent runs the business badly, driving their own downfall. We need to be realistic and acknowledge this.
i have never seen some many shops in my lifetime. yes big business will thrive, but you and me will be at their mercy and not too long. when so many soon to be unemployed people where are our customers????
minig boom will be doom in 5 years . if you don’t believe me i will post a reminder in 5 years or less year. good luck to all of us. do you think china is keep going? wait next 2 years very interesting
i meant so many shops closing down
The sky is falling, the sky is falling!
Those in retail who believe they can do nothing to improve their lot will do nothing and as a result fail.
Others will find it hard (we certainly are) and some close. Taking on change and adapting is a basic for businesses in good times and bad and is essentail to survival in the current market. The old style newsagency is probably dead or dying but innovative newsagents who can adjust the business model can thrive.
i often see statements like “newsagents need to innovate do something….if not its thier own fault”……my question is …what if you have done everything in YOUR power to improve everything….but the people just stopped coming to that particular centre?
have to look at it frm different angle…..not all who fail are to blame……there are things that we cant control
There are some who fail because of the factors they can’t control and there are some who fail because they choose not to control the factors they can.
It’s the latter group that are facing the most hardship over the coming years. The industry is aging and naturally so too it’s ability to change and take risks.
W need to distance ourselves from those newsagents who refuse to embrace change. It is not viable for the industry to expend resources on them, nor allow them to hinder progress.
I believe we will see the industry become more divided into ‘progressives’ and ‘traditionalists’ over the coming years – and that’s a good thing.
Hate you are right there are a few different angles that should be looked at.
I can understand what the other guys mean also and I agree to a point where change, diversity and all those words will help survival and hopefully strenghen one’s business.
In Hates case and there are many of them it a real kick in the guts when patronage is down to no fault of your own, some of these malls and shopping centres are dying also and they also need to invest. It is hard to take a risk and invest more dollars in cases like yours.
Traditionalists will I think in some cases in Regional & City will suffer a slow demise.
We all have to understand that the overheads and copycat competition are eating their way slowly. Rent, Utilities, Employee benefits and the openning up of Lotteries in NSW around 3 or 4 years will fastrack some unfourtunate closures.
I cannot be as blunt as Jarryd however as a traditionalist like myself, change does not come natural but it has to come.
The Newsagencies that started changes years ago were right and are keeping high profit quality items and copycatting other small business’s.
I think Eric has a point, I think Micro small business are in trouble, butchers, hairdressers, etc and I think one will see again more closures in a variety of the micro small business.
Derek, you need to understand where Jarryd is coming from for him to be blunt. He is the manager of the business not the owner, so does not have his entire life savings/super and lifes work tied into the business so can be cavalier with his views. Also he has not worked through a proper ressesion YET so has no idea how hard it can become with interest rates at 18% and unemployment in the double figures.
hate, this is where it gets tough. We have to ask ourselves whether we have done everything. Sometimes it may feel like we have but have not. I say this not to accuse, just to challenge.
I’ve had my now businesses for over 30 years and have had times when my back was to the wall. Sometimes it took me a while to realise that I had not made the best choices and had not done everything I could do.
Two newsagents who walked away from leases this year did not use the tools, mechanisms and (low cost and easy to access) legal remedies available to them.
In almost every situation I see and every newsagent I work with there are opportunities. yes, often challenging … but opportunities nevertheless.
Luke, your carping about Jarryd does not help progress your argument. You have no idea about his equity position. Just accept that you and he disagree on some things.
I’ll clarify a few things before people think I am attacking Jarryd, Super fund managers can lose billions of dollars of other people money because it is not theirs, bankers can pay themselves huge salaries while not passing on rates cuts because it is not their families struggling to make ends meet, the RBA board can sit on rates and talk about how the economy is so strong because they are not living in an area that is NOT in a mining area.
Until you experience the heartache and struggle yourself you cannot understand what it feels like, pouring everything you have into a business, thinking you are doing the right thing and still seeing it go south, but having other tell you you are a bad retailer.
Just my opinion from what I have seen others go through and thanking God I am stubborn enough to keep going.
I accept that I disagree with Jarryd on a great many things Mark, but I am also a huge believer that if you have not lived through something yourself then your opinion is just guess work or based on other peoples experience. I hope comment 22 clarifies things.
Luke none of us can presume to know what another here has gone through to inform their opinions.
Luke,
The retail business I manage is a family company. While I hold no shares in that company it’s profitability directly affects me. I have always treated that business as if it were my own. I should point out that I do have my life savings and a significant loan tied up in my own business venture.
My comment did not intend to criticize those doing all they could, including changing and adapting, but still find themselves going backwards. I recognize those businesses are out there and feel for them and the hardship they go through.
However I stand by my original comments that those newsagents that don’t do everything they can need to be ‘let go by the industry’. If one doesn’t feel comfortable, or doesn’t know how to approach change then there there are avenues, notably marketing groups, that are there to help. Wanting to change but not knowing how and not wanting to change even if you did are two different situations. Its newsagents of the latter persuasion that do not warrant resource expenditure by the industry.
Spot on Jarryd. I have always maintained that when we cease to evolve our business it is time to get out before we inevitably run it down. The marketing groups certainly keep innovating as well as providing marketing support beyond what most of uscould achieve on our own.
As you said, some businesses will cease to be viable through no fault of the operators and despite their best efforts to adapt.
Others, like rabbits in the spot light will freeze and this will lead to their own demise. Much better to go down fighting and giving yourself a chance.
Due to the sparseness of Australia we tend to insinuate that all Newsagents / Retailers are City or Regional. However we tend to forget that our channel stretches further into Rural and then further.
Is it true to say that Rural and beyond may be in a better position than the City and Regional Channel, not that it is any easy however with some with less competition , change will come a little slower in most cases but I dont think anyone is exempt from change.
City & Regional are oppressed with competion from the 7/11’s etc, AP Government variety shops that sells stamps as well, Woolwoths etc, free Newspapers including Universities Newspaper rates, high overheads including ludicruous rent, Employee benifits, Lotteries competition and I am sure their are plenty more and that is before you sell anything.
The ongoing development of a profit making Newsagency model from where I sit is the only way to survive. I can fully understand the reluctance to invest money to stay for the longer term however I am very confident that 2 Newsagents in my Town will not be here in 3 to 5 years because they will not be able to compete for more than 1 reason.
Shaun & Y & G may have a different take regarding Rural, I hope to hear what they think regarding their positioning for the future.
Derek,
Yes, we all need to run our businesses focused solely on the success of our businesses. That is, we need to put ourselves ahead of any other business nearby which competes with us.
Tough as it is, it is a fact of life.
This means in small towns, newsagents need to take on local gift shops, bookshops, newsagencies and even c-stores.
We each need to be selfish, for the sake of our newsagency and those who rely on us.
Mark & Co
That is right regarding small towns.
Overall it is a shame that we have to be selfish like this, however it is very much out of our hands.
Four years ago I would debate very hard that one not need a Marketing group in City or Regional now I would say it would be wise to be part of one.
We’re a rural newsagent and I’d have to say our biggest threat actually comes from online sales. I say this based on the number of parcels we get through the post office as well as conversations with customers.
We are slowly educating our public on the pitfalls of online purchasing in terms of service, back up support and inablility to actually see the object being bought.
We focus our product range on things people impulse buy or buy at the last minute. eg. toys under $30 for last minute kids parties. And our convenience helps too.
That said, its hard work selling to people at the moment. No one is keen to part with their $
Vicki – You are right, competition from who buy online is another competitor, I agree with you however it seems to be growing.
It may be different for others however it has been hard to sell some items for last 2-3 months, seems at my store it is starting to get better, but when it was at its worst it was very obvious as you watch customers that they were being mindful.
Hopefully this season coming it will pick up and continue for everyone.
Our centre has been under major development for 2 years (almost) and we
have struggled (like many others) with that
plus the GFC and the retail downturn but we have just re-opened the centre and it is
bursting with people again so even before we opened we decided to “stock up” on plenty of gifts and make our shop look really special for the opening. We have put in a range of Xmas bonbons that people are ringing us about (we put it on our facebook site) and instead of the usual
drab bon bons that the supermarket has we have these spectacular ones that cost upwards of $50 per packet right up to $150
per packet and they are walking out of the place.
We want to be seen to have good “stuff” in
our shop and for the past two weeks we have been reaping the rewards that have been totally missing for 2 years. We have a long way to go yet, but we are not going to give up – we are just going to try
to do it better than we’ve ever done before.
I hope it works for us – I have good vibes.
Our industry needs rationalisation, however, and there are still some people who are in business who possibly shouldn’t be there.
Don’t be afraid to admit that – just open another door and walk blithely through.
All newsagents work hard but some just
can’t see the wood for the trees.
Our industry is no different from any other.
We have good and bad operators – we have people who have bad things happen to them through no fault of their own and we have natural attrition.
It’s all in a day’s work folks.
Keep on keeping on and think positive.
Very well said June and good luck with the “re-opening” !!
I DONT THINK CHILDREN ARE TAUGHT TO SHOP WITH SMALLL BUSSINESS. YEARS AGO WE WERE DRAGGED WITH MUM TO THE BUTCHER, FRUIT SHOP, NEWSAGENT THEN THE GROCER. NOW ITS THE SUPERMARKET FIRST & SOMETIMES ONLY. ITS SCOOLIE WEEK HERE & IVE NOTICED UNLESS THEY HAVE A JOB IN SMALL BUSSINESS THEY HAVE NO IDEA WE ARE HERE ASKING ME VAUGLY IF I STOCK PLAYING CARDS, NOTEPAPER, PHONECREDIT SUPRISED IF I SAY YES. THOSE WHO WORK IN A SMALL BUSINESS ARE BRINGING IN PEOPLE TO ME SAYING THELL HAVE IT.
Averill this is our job, to reach the kids and make our shops interesting, compelling.
Averill,
While not the butcher shop and bakery of yesteryear, there are a number of franchises and small well branded chains such as Bakers Delight, Brumbys and Leonard’s that are doing incredibly well. It’s these kind of small businesses that will replace the unimaginative mum and dad run stores.
A Mark said, we have to make our shops interesting. Newsagents need to find a consistent and compelling story to tell and this alone may be the biggest challenge the industry faces over the next decade.
Derek, we aren’t rural, however it feels like it sometimes 😀
I just can’t imagine how it would feel to walk away from something like this, regardless of whether or not I’d brought it upon myself.
It would suck. Big time.
Being where we are, as a corner shop, there’s only so much we can do to diversify, short of investing $100,000 in a kitchen upgrade so we could be licensed to prepare fresh food. And there’s no way we’re doing that!
One of the positive measures we did take, over a period of a couple of years, was to completely divest ourselves of direct supply of mags; and then papers. This was one of the best things we could have done, in terms of stock, space, and finances. Eventually we’ve created a shop that can devote more to retailing on a much broader platform, in terms of product and service. Because our dollar and labour investment (and return, for what that was ever worth!) is much lower in print than before, we can relax a little and actually enjoy our work a lot more.
A certain circulation manager told me that I didn’t want to be a newsagent, once. Hindsight is honest, and told me that he was correct – in part, anyway. What we learned in this location, is that this shop has had the wrong shingle for many years. It’s just that we took it on and had the guts to change a few things. So, as far as a ‘newsagency’ is concerned, it’s been a slow, and often painful process, but we can present a more realistic guise as much, much more than ‘news’. In time, we can hopefully even change our name to reflect that.
We’ve made some hard decisions regarding other suppliers, also, having recently ditched our bread deliveries in favour or getting it retail, which is much cheaper than Goodman Fielder would ever sell it to us for. Go figure.
Our smallgoods, and non-milk dairy products, groceries and sundries are also bought retail. Wholesale is a joke, and potentially fatal to a tiny business like ours; which incidentally is more so in this economic climate. Our community is probably one of the most actively transient in the country,with more and more migrations to mines for employment. The stayers are mostly pensioners, so things like big volumes of stationery and gifts (which usually require a high-volume commitment to purchase) are simply not happening. One kilometre north of us is a small strip centre, with two supermarkets and several specialty stores. Three kilometres south are twin border cities. Say no more. To say we’re kind of marooned is an understatement, in terms of accessibility.
However, what we do have going for us is good, friendly service, great coffee, a lovely outdoor area in which to drink it, a book exchange, self-serve lollies (great in summer holidays!), a little bit of everything, grocery-wise, as well as my own artisan gallery, which shares the space that used to be taken up with magazines. The gallery is in its infancy, but we’ve also been taking on a bit of local art & crafts, on consignment, as well as buying it ourselves for a year or so, now. It’s just starting to pay its way, so that’s heartening. The best thing about that is that so many of the works are being bought locally.
We’re always racking our brains for some ideas that would be worth investing in. The simple question is whether they will be bought by people with no money. For us, that’s the thing. Even those who are well off, simply refuse to spend.
Even so, if it all went to custard (and so many around us have been – shops and suppliers – would simply suck. There are stories around here of people who not only walk away from their businesses, but have taken their own lives, as well. Jeez – it’s only money, but if it’s your heart and soul that keeps it going, and the money runs out, then that’s all you’ve got left.
I vote for compassion, rather than blame.
YG yours is an interesting post. I was especially interested in the part about buying from retailers instead of wholesalers.
Our stationery wholesalers and publishers have long ago decided that we are not the “flavour of the month” and they undersell us into schools and supermarkets etc etc so it is not our industry per se that is to blame for our woes – it is our purported leaders who have allowed this to happen and indeed have condoned it by
siding with publishers and with stationery suppliers who have treated newsagents as second class citizens.
Had the ANF worked for newsagents instead of suppliers – using companies to
fund conferences aka Hallmark and John Sands and the like and thereby not being
in charge of our own destiny – things would
have been different.
However, newsagents have to take some of
the blame – if we had asked for 5000 newsagents to pay $2000 per year to belong to the ANF you do the maths.
$10 million per annum would have funded
us as a sovereign entity NOT BEHOLDEN TO ANYONE BUT OURSELVES.
This was always how I believed it should have been funded but we got “owned” by
WU and Bill Express and almost like the states are being funded by the pokies to a large extent we then relied upon outsiders
to fund our industry representation.
WRONG, WRONG WRONG.
The word “newsagent” or “newsagency” is
now outmoded and we need to find a new
handle for ourselves.
This place would be a good start for ideas.
I certainly don’t think we should be buying from retailers to sell in our shops and it is a sad indictment that we cannot use our
collective power for purchasing when there are so many of us.
I know the branding like Newsxpress and Nextra do buy better but we should be able to buy collectively as members of the ANF and suppliers should be beating down the doors of the ANF to get put on the books as a “preferred supplier” to us just
based on our numbers.
UNITY AND LEADERSHIP ARE THE KEY WORDS HERE.
The states have held the balance of power
for decades and I have talked about this for many years.
Until the CEO’s of each state pass the balance of power to the national entity we
will NEVER have unity and therefore we will never go forward.
It is my fondest wish to see our industry united as one to become a potent force in
retailing – I know the distribution agents will hate me saying this but I think distribution is on its last legs – retailing will be the key to this industry surviving
in one form or another.
June,
The days of industry associations playing a part in supplier deals and terms are long gone. State or national they have a vastly diverse membership and no ability to offer certainty, consistency or marketing. Suppliers have made it clear they want to deal with marketing groups and franchises. And many newsagents who have invested time, money and blood into supporting the brand they belong to would not want their funds being used to duplicate the role of their marketing group.
Y&G – Thankyou for your very insightful post regarding your journey in business, I would like to reply which I hope too soon.
Junes comment ” I certainly don’t think we should be buying from retailers to sell in our shops and it is a sad indictment that we cannot use our
collective power for purchasing when there are so many of us” I absolutely agree with this however I also agree with Jarryd’s point the horse has bolted regarding Associations & the ability to source supplier deals. The people who wanted or waited for this to happen, sadly it did not and frustrated and visionary people needed to progress their business’s and various models have evolved so history is proven by the number of Marketing groups and member around, I would not know how many Newsagencys are members of Marketing groups however it would be close to 500 or more now.
What is the answer? I can only think of one, Wholesalers are making a lot of money or Supermarkets are making a loss on the products. I buy from Coles & Woolies and I am not embarassed about it. I will give you a few examples.
Coke Cans – Today in Big W I think it is $14 a Slab, Coke sells them to me wholesale around $19, I go through in summer around 7 – 10 slabs a week, so I am saving about $40 or $50 just their.
Chocolates – Wholesale price approx $1.30, from the various coles etc, I pick them up for $1.00.
Its not right but I do it like we all to what we do to make ends meet.
Jarryd – Yes their is a market for Bakers delight etc etc, however I still see a market for the Mum and Dad stores that have a point of difference and reputation, sadly their are some that are not, however a community sometimes will put up with whats their.
The contentious issue Jarryd that I have is the issue of investment, especially regarding Franchises or Marketing Groups. I am conservative by nature however I acknowledge their are people who do not mind being indebt or taking risks to achieve their goal to be a member / owner of one of the above. As you know these models are $100’s of thousands of dollars and I have difficulty understanding the investment v’s the risk and the Investment v’s the return. Mainly because people have to pay a mortgage of big proportions. I am not saying its wrong to invest in one but what I am trying to say is what the survival rate regarding Franchises and then Marketing Groups.
Derek,
There is a huge question mark over the viability of a traditional franchise model in the newsagency chanel. That is, the kind of franchise where one is told what to do from their shop fit, product range, pricing and where a very large fee/commission is taken (usually based on a % of sales).
The marketing groups however are a different story. Their requirements are generally less strict (the level depends on the group) and their membership fee is usually relatively small. It certainly does not cost stores hundreds of thousands of dollars to join the three major groups (NewsXpress, Newspower and Nextra).
As you say, the mum and dad stores that will survive are the ones with a point of difference. However as their competitors grow and innovate they have to work significantly harder to maintain a point of difference. Some are able to do this, many are not.
Oh, and I would estimate the nubmer of branded newsagencies to be closer to 1500!
LOL at Derek. Spot on.
Didn’t take us long, either, to work out that Coles/Woolies were cheaper to source from than our suppliers.
Ya do what ya gotta do. to survive.
🙂
It was mum and dad stores that made these marketing groups what they are today. Without the hard work of established businesses that lend their reputations to these brands then the brand may as well be mud. Suppliers love groups so they can get product in store on a larger scale then dealing with each business but do not be so cocky to think the brands are bigger then the members that make up the groups or that they are not making money out of these deals. Over the past 20 odd yrs we have seen all the groups promise the world and seen a lot of branded businesses go belly up as we have seen with non branded businesses. Don’t get me wrong marketing groups play a huge part in the industry as they have done for decades but to think they are the only way to go is small minded. small businesses no matter what industry survive or fall by what they offer their customers not what name is on the shingle. At the end of the day when thing get hard you can rely on no one else for help but need to make the best choices for your own business regardless of what others are doing.
Max – Its a crazy world when your wholesaler is significantly dearer in fast moving products. Like all small business’s as we have learnt from each other here is to maximise profit. Ps How can my Dairy Farmers wholesale normal 2Lt Milk be $3.00, Dare Milk $3.00 when you can also get them cheaper in the supermarkets, I am sure you have seen the 2 for $5 for both products. I know my Dairy Farmer Franchise person works on a 30 percent mark up to sell to me. It shows that Coles etc are also putting pressure on other small business, but like you said you gotta do wat you gotta do to survive.
Jarryd – Thanks for distinguishing the difference between Franchise and Marketing Groups. Do not like the sound of Franchise. I am also suprised of that number of Newsagents that belong to a Marketing Group.
Regarding my comment about the cost of belonging to a Marketing Group, I was not very clear on what I meant to say. a)Assuming one does not own an established Newsagency that is where that number refers too and b) If one is not a member of a Marketing group and then applies and are accepted into one you have the added cost of a refit etc etc.
Has their been any research done regarding Marketing Groups that are in the Public Domain. Mainly to get a better understanding, some say due dilligence.
Luke – An interesting post with a good history of how established business’s helped build onto these marketing groups.
I of course agree that their are some outstanding non branded Newsagencies who do the channel proud and feel no need to become a branded business. Over my small time in the channel and in my demographic I have also seen how a branded business can be helpful to proprietors who follow a flexable model, so yes their is a case for Good established Newsagencys and Marketing Group Newsagencys. Your experiences maybe different however what I have seen and read from an outside view is Marketing Groups provide an advantage in supply, a model to guide one through the unclear waters that are ahead, a more ever present brand for example. It is only a view which I have only realised recently because of what lies ahead. You are right in saying one has to make the best choices for one’s own business regardless of what others are doing.
Ps: Hi Y&G…………………………….
Luke,
When I refer to “mum and dad” stores I don’t mean actual stores run my “mum and dad” or a family. I’m referring to stores that people run predominantly as a source of regular income, rather than a business with intent to grow.
Marketing groups and franchises are more than their name. The ‘brand’ is a combination of the name, the store, the staff and the offer. The brand is reflection of each member store and each member store should be a reflection of the brand.
Hi, Derek 🙂
If you don’t run a business as a source of income what do you run it for?
it is clear to me that in this town, some small businesses are run as a tax write-off to other investments – (20 year observance, I may have been a mug when I started but I’m less of a one now)….
in other words, they “look” like small businesses, but they ain’t.
Oh how I would like to see the first three
shareholders names written up above every store entrance. Then customers could make a true choice of where to shop.
Luke,
Many people operate small businesses like they were just an employee – doing the bare minimum to take home a salary at the end of the day. It’s not that better operators don’t get a source of income from their business – its that they view their business as a venture, something to mould and change and grow. They don’t just view it as a means to a paycheque.
During my time as a Post office Agent / LPO many owners were simply buying an income as opposed to a business. This is the same with a lot of newsagents and lotto outlets. It is these operators who are most likely to struggle in hard times as they do not have it in their psyche to adapt, change and grow their businesses when circumstances make that necessary.
Evolving your business is not a whim but an important part of staying relevant to customers and keeping up with the game if not aead of it. While a larger income is desirable the most important outcome is to ensure the future viability of your business.
From my perspective, joining a marketing group has made it possible to evolve the business more efficently, faster and in a better manner than I could achieve alone.
A lot of successful business owners do not need to constantly seek bigger and better in order to be “a better operator” as you put it, From my point of view and those of other businesses that I view as successful our business has grown and had feed, schooled and put kids through uni without hecs debts for 3 generations now and will be here long after the profiters have moved on to the next big thing.
We have sold our runs, reduced our stock levels and cut staff and are making more money from less hours now then when we had the big, bigger, biggest approach that in the end killed my father after 40yrs of 7 days a week 90+ hours a week.
If people want to conquer the world then go ahead but I have seen a lot of giants come crashing down recently and also over the decades that people thought were the worlds best retailers.
Work for a purpose (family, security, enjoyment) or work purely to be the richest man in the graveyard. Just ask Kerry Packer next time you see him how good it was to have the most but miss your family growing up. I don’t expect you to understand Jarryd as that part of your life is still in front of you but one day you will wake up and figure out what is more important then profits.
Luke I really wish you would leave your condescending comments about Jarryd for elsewhere as they do nothing to advance your point of view.
None of this discussion is about size, it’s about being smart newsagents. … even though the original post was about a newsagent walking away.
Luke,
I’m not advocating for business to push for growth at any cost. Having a long term successful business relies heavily on those who drive it being happy.
My point was that there are many small business owners that are happy to not achieve any growth, not because it fits their lifestyle, but because they can’t or dont want to be smart about running their business.
As for your comments re my age I would like to point out that in our business I was the one who relentlessly pushed for handing back our delivery territory (even though it was profitable). I am also the one who pushes for less owner involvement in the day-to-day tasks. I would suggest sticking to fact based argument rather than taking cheap shots assuming you know how I approach a work/life balance.
Jarryd
Hi, I am very interested in what your thoughts were on wanting to hand back the delivery territory even though it was more then paying its way.
What were the perceived benefits you must of believed strongly enough would be brought about in that decision and did you achieve the desired results without the territory?
Brett,
Our store is in a mining area and this made it impossible to hire anyone because of the money available for unskilled labour at the mines and their associated industries. It ment the owner was doing a lengthy newspaper run 7 days a week and it was taking its toll.
The retail side of the business is very profitable by itself so I argued that we should just cut our losses and hand back the territory.
We made Fairfax and News aware that we were not able to find delivery drivers – neither could they. There have been no home deliveries of News/Fairfax publications in our old territory for almost 2 years now. The adjoining agent could not find additional drivers either.
We found that very few people complained and most understood he situation. Our in-store newspaper sales went up (and over the past 2 years our early morning sales figures across the board have increased significantly).
We only make 12.5% from newspapers now (except our local paper which is owned by a subsidiary of Fairfax and on which still make 25%) but some of the extra in-store sales help make up for this. The rest of the loss we just absorb – it certainly wasn’t going to make or break us.
The biggest problem we have with the change is now that we are serviced by the adjoining agent we are always running out of newspapers. Always! We’ve asked repeatedly for increases to achieve a 5% return rate (3% lower than News/Fairfax aim for) and these requests are repeatedly ignored. Fairfax and News don’t care because they’re still bitter that we gave up the territory (seriously, these people act like children).
So we gave it up, lost a little profit. But the owner got some sanity and sleep returned and we have more time to focus on the retail business (rather than spending it dealing with the endless problems and changes that seen come with home delivery).
None of us regret the move one bit. It was the right decision and we’d do it again.
My comment had nothing to do with your age Jarryd it had to do with your phase of working life. A lot of young people have families and chose not to devote 60-70 hr weeks to a job just to make money, I was talking about your inexperience in retail and that has nothing to do with age so stop using it as a shield. You are not speaking from a great deal of personal retail experience is the point again not your age as you would hope.
Luke, Your attacks on Jarryd distract from anything else you might say. Jarryd does not have a lack of experience in retail.
Luke we all understand that you don’t like Jarryd so please move on to the next topic.
Luke,
Your comment #52 “I don’t expect you to understand Jarryd as that part of your life is still in front of you but one day you will wake up and figure out what is more important then profits”. That statement is a reference to my age.
Not that I should have to defend my experience because it has no bearing on the facts of the debate … but I’ve been in the retail game from when the family took on the business over 10 years ago. I would like to think I’ve achieved quiet a lot in that time. I’ve grown up with a family always in the small business game.
Luke, reading Jarryd’s post #56 they seem to have taken very sensible steps to achieve exactly what you advocate, less hours and stress even at a loss of some profits. I don’t understand your criticism.
The point is that while at our businesses we have a responsibility to manage them in the best possible manner and this should lead to greater returns for the operator and more relevant to Marks original post, more chance of survival in a shopping centre scenario.
That is what the post is about, the difference between operators who work to survive and preferably thrive (every ones idea of thriving will differ) as opposed to those who just sit and expect it all to happen. It won’t JUST happen and they won’t survive. This is vital in shopping centre scenarios where we don’t own the building but pay rent and have tenure only so long as we are profitable and present a business that pleases the centre owners. Your circumstances appear different and it’s great that they suit you.
You are right that a successful business is not only measured by profits and should include a good lifestyle but I know of no one whose lifestyle was any good or improved by going broke or walking away leaving a bag full of debt.
Many businesses that close will do so despite the best efforts of the owners but others just give up without making any effort to change things. Remember that a sign of stupidity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, this is why the effort and ability to re-asses our businesses and make changes as required are VITAL to our survival. The easy quitters are the ones the industry is better off without as they harm us as an industry in the eyes of both customers and suppliers.
Hey Mary – Good to see you dropping in again.
Thought Brendans posts was pretty good and particularly when your best efforts are not good enough due.
I can understand Luke and what he is trying to get across, Luke’s happy with his lot and confident with his own business and like most of us has learnt a lot through adversity and experience.
Because us older blokes grew up in a culture where we (I) never saw people such as Jarryd on an equal footing, he certainly deserves that and respect as well, the world has changed when seniority was the be end and end all, when one is fearless and intelligent it does put the old ways to shame and we would probably be a better country all round if it was done a lot earlier, like last century.
We should respect each others opinions and debate them to the last Mars bar left if one wants however each of us are different, I speak layman, Jarryd speaks with intelligence and little emotion, it took me a while to get used to it but it is not personal.
Good luck to you both Jarryd & Luke. Two good but different people.
With experience comes knowledge Jarryd, not just what you have heard other people talk about or what you have read. I clarified my comment in #57 but again you use the age shield.
Mark I understand Jarryd is your little protege and you are quick to jump to his defence but you seem to have no problem with him correcting others, it made me laugh when he was giving Gerry Harvey business advise in a previous post about GST on imports ( he wishes he had Gerry’s business sense or bank balance). 10yrs total retail experience does not give you enough experience in various retail situations to make your views sacrosant as Jarryd feels his are.
But Mark this is your blog so I will leave your mate alone from now on, Jarryd feel free to give your opinions unchallenged.
Luke I have no idea why you are so bitter. It does nothing for your cause to expose yourself in this way.
Luke,
If you feel personal attacks are the only way to atempt to make your point then I suppose there is little I can say. I need not defend my personal experience when it has nothing to do with the facts of the debate. I refuse to muddy the discussion with irrelevant vitriol.