Stuart Bennie has penned an ignorantly incomplete article at Inside Retail about newsagency businesses.
Rather than write about newsagents who have reinvented their businesses and others who are reinventing their businesses, Bennie paints a picture of an old-style newsagency business, the kind that time forgot. Yes, these businesses will die. The thing is, many newsagents have moved on from this death wish model.
Bennie is not the first, nor will he be the last, to tell us that the sky is falling. It’s old news, news that many newsagents have responded to. I suspect articles like this are written reflecting research of some newsagents who have not seen or embraced change.
Bennie’s article misses other points:
- Many of us are growing magazine sales by focussing on special interest titles. And, we are exerting control over supply in a way bennie says we cannot.
- Our margin on phone cards is usually 40% or more and not cents like he suggests.
- Gift sales are skyrocketing, some newsagents are doing $300K a year and more – okay not everyone BUT those working on gifts are growing.
- Card sales, excellent margin, are growing to almost double-digit levels in many newsagencies.
- Toy sales are coming back to us. Some are at $60K and more
- Lottery products are financially rewarding if managed well.
There are many steps newsagents can take to build stronger and more valuable businesses. Many of these have been documented at this blog over the years. They all come down to us, each newsagent, being accountable for our situation and running our businesses with authority and in pursuit of profit.
It does not help when commentators go off half-cocked and tell us the sky is falling. Yes, it’s tough but there is good news there for those who look.
I have never heard of stuart beanie before but i agree with just about 100% of what he had to say .. I do not see it as ignorant i see it as what is exactly happening maybe not happening to you Mark but you are not the only agent out there . A lot of newsagents out there are doing it tough even those that have reinvented .
Mark I think you are a bit blinded.You are not saying just how bad some are doing.You like to be so positive which is good but the reality is the newsagency channel is in dire trouble.
Hasn’t one of your stores closed down? or did you reopen frankston?? Isn’t another of yours on the market at rockbottom price and you are moving it in the centre to save money??If things are so good why are some of your ow stores floundering.???
Yes…the future for newsagents is bright Mark and all with Tower Systems software 🙂
Mark, you’d better install Windows 8 when it comes out. Native spell checker! Just putting it out there…
Oh Mary, If only you didn’t peddle rumours. The lease for my Frankston store came to an end. I declined to rent increase proposed by the landlord.
I have no stores on the market.
I have signed a lease to open a new newsagency in another centre and have agreed to purchase another newsagency.
These are the facts.
I am fortunate to talk with more newsagents than most and see sales and business data from more newsagents than most. There is plenty of good news out there.
Bennie’s view of a newsagent is not what I experience. My sales outside of Tatts are up 12% including magazines.
Mary you need to stick to the facts.
I seem to have started a healthy debate. I bounced my article published in Inside Retailing yesterday off two owners of large Newsagencies and a senior experienced consultant in the industry. I was heartened by their responses which were unanimous: “spot on”. Our company has the benefit of no newsagency baggage, unlike some. We have a pretty sound view on the industry which we hope is clear from the article. However our expertise is in retail and this is what we offer newsagents. To change their business and their lives. And to leave a legacy for their children. This won’t happen if they keep on blindly with their heads where the sun don’t shine!! Stuart Bennie
Stuart, I’d love to know who the consultant was as they probably are not working with enough newsagents. As I have noted, there are many good stories. Gee I am at a newsagent trade show today in brisbane and already at 12 noon the good stories outnumber the bad.
I’d also love to know the names of the two large newsagencies. If their views are reflected in your article they need help.
Some of us with baggage as you call it do good work and help newsagents grow stronger and more valuable businesses.
Good on You Mary, Whatever you have said is true, Mark’s been trying to sell his own shops for quite a while now without any success ..Thats why they r closing.
Now he is stating that he has signed a new lease in another shopping centre which will kill the existing newsagency there.
Chand, I sold my Forest Hill business well over a year ago. No other business on the market. The Frankston store closed because the 5 year lease was at an end and I refused the new lease offers.
The new lease I have signed is in a centre where I will have the only newsagency.
I’m not sure why you want to put your spin out there and why here … so off topic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)
on another topic, how do you receive 40% or more margin on your phonecards??
Lyn, the newsXpress phonecard backed by AT.
I think, after reading the article, that Stuart and Mark have a lot of very similar views on the problems in the industry. The difference being I had the impression from Stuart’s article that the proactive newsagencies were severely in the minority, which I would disagree with.
Also Stuart implied that the problems were usually insurmountable, while Mark regards them as challenges that can be overcome. Without knowing how Stuart questioned the newsagents he spoke to its difficult to comment on why there response was so negative. Perhaps he was only asking for the challenges and not asking them how they were approaching change?
Well said Vicki. I’ve just an hour ago left the GNS Market Fair in Brisbane and the majority of people I spoke with were positive for the future and happy with their business today.
We make our own success.
It’s unfortunate Stuart’s article is out there for bankers to see.
I think it is ignorant to put a story like this out their based on 2 Newsagents and a consultant.
I do like Vicki’s and Shauns responses.
Stuart’s article is 5 or 6 too late as Mark started talking consistantly about the Newsagency of the future and consistantly still does, his foresight has helped hundreds be better Newsagents and helped hundreds stay in the business channel. I say where was your expertise that you offer now, then?
We do need help in our channel, maybe it would be prudent to do a story on Distributors and Publishers and shake the tree a little.
I learn’t a very true saying re attitude years ago, “whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way you’re right”.
The negative minded people will always fail due to their failure to change. Not all of the positive acting businesses will succeed but most will with work and fore sight. This is true of ALL businesses and endeavours. I choose to think positive, act positive and have a better chance of a positive outcome due to that thinking. We’ve had a couple of testing months lately but YOY we have healthy growth due to being willing to recognize the need for change and act on that need.
Mark does no less than encourage and point the way, keep it up Mark.
Watergsadens was on the market for a very long time.Most likely taken off when the other Newsagent went and closed shop.
I know it was on there as I was having a really good look for $150k it should have been a good buy.But It wasn’t but now it will move and feed off the sad closure of 1 mans misery.
The centre was never big enough for 2 and luckily for Mark the original shop was managed by a dinosaur who killed it.
Mary, You are wrong, again. My Watergardens newsagency was taken off the market around a year before the nextra newsagency in the centre closed. We have a lease for the current location. Maybe you know something about a move we don’t.
I wish you would stick to the facts.
Something I do not understand
1- we complain rents are to high for newsagents but yet business is great
2- wages are to high but yet business is great
3 – trading terms suck with mag company’s but trading is great
3- always complaining about over supply but yet business is great
4 – banks don,t want to know you if you are a newsagent but yet business is great
5- newsagents are not renewing leases but business is great
6-we are winging about mags discounting for subscriptions but yet are bragging that sales are up
And we wonder why no one wants to listen when we do want to have a winge ,
1. Yet we sign leases. We have to be accountable for our decisions.
2. Wages are high. Smart newsagents chase margin to compensate.
3. Trading terms are okay.
3 (b). Oversupply is under control if you manage the category.
4. Yes so rely on banks less.
5. Some are and some aren’t. Retailers are more likely to. Agents are less likely to.
6. I complain about excessive subs discounts because of the damage this will cause in the future.
Nice articulate post Brendan.
I understand your post Brendan, but there is a difference between being positive and sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the problem. Most newsagent I speak with are positive people, they have to be to own a business in our industry ( huge volume for small margin, long hours) but the original post was a positive one as in it did offer ways to change and adapt as well as stating what loads of newsagent see as being the obvious.
You either stay positive or you close the door in my view, but that does mean all is rosy and things are great.
Stuart’s comments could be true about many business outlets, shoe shops, bag shops, white goods, food, clothes etc. They all suffer from the great web machine, and are doing it hard with no respite on the horizon. We as Newsagencies have options to add to our mix and can progresively change the direction we have, the others would find it more difficult. My business is rural and going well. I have no fear of the net or those that do their consumerism sitting at home in front of a screen. Who knows…we may even see the decline of sections of the web one day !!
I owned a newsagency for 5 years to mid 2009. We had Tower Systems software and I was an avid reader of this Blog, the Yahoo user group and others. I admire the positivity of Mark and many of the regular posters.
I read Stuart Bennies’s article on Friday. Broadly speaking, it’s a correct assessment of the channel. I sold because I could see four years ago that print was dying and the suppliers were doing nothing to help newsagents.
I still keep a strong interest in the channel and visit the newsagency in every town or centre I travel to. I still also speak to many newsagents I met when I was an owner. Many here in the Hunter are struggling. The answer to soft sales and crappy contracts seems to be – diversify and re-enegrise. That may work for some but ink, gifts, corporate stationery sales and technology products can only get you so far and won’t work for everyone. I tried toys, hardware and flowers in my market over the years all with mixed success.
At the end of the day it’s called the paper shop for a reason – newspapers, magazines, greeting cards and lotto are what MOST people know the newsagency channel for. For too long newsagents have been the servants of the key suppliers. News Ltd, Fairfax, the state based lottery groups and the magazine suppliers have been bending newsagents over for too long to the point where I believe the channel is mortally wounded. The recent changes to the home delivery model amplify this. More dictating, supplier centric rules that strip significant value from the selling price of every newsagency in Australia.
Even the Chinese and Indians have stopped buying newsagencies because they know a 7-Eleven is a far safer bet and less work (even though it’s a 24/7 business!).
The regular readers of the blog are, generally speaking, the newsagents that have the means or the right market to be able to diversify their businesses. But many ‘paper shops’ can’t and they are all going out the back door slowly but SURELY.
Mark said bankers read these ‘negative’ comments and they could be influenced moving forward. Seroiusly Mark, they’ve known newsagencies are a dud bet for at least the last few years. I saw it three years ago with the sale of my business and have heard numerous first hand stories since from both prospective sellers and buyers. I understand why you remain so positive and I commend it but you are trying to flog a dead horse.
Former, You, Stuart and others can keep talking the channel down if you like. It’d disappointing that you appear to deny that there are newsagents enjoying success. Many newsagents in fact.
Mark,
I spent five great years as a newsagent and would like nothing more than for all newsagents to grow and propser. I’m not talking the channel down. I’m just being a realist.
At least three newsagencies have closed in the Hunter in the past 18 months. One newsagency I visit regularly (which was one of the benchmark businesses in the region when I first became a newsagent) is clearly struggling as they have half a shop of stock – virtually zero stationery, 50% of magazine spaces free and have started using their own young children as staff to minimise their wages. The business has been on the market for several years and they are keen sellers. This is really sad to see. To me it seems a matter of time until they close the doors. They are going to have nothing to show for a decade of hard work.
Each newsagent has it’s own challenges and I’m not privvy to their exact situation but you don’t have to be a rocket scientest to identify the core issues. CPI increases on rent, electricity, vehicle registration, insurances, phone costs etc goes up on average 2-3% annually but the Daily Telegraph has been $1 for 12 years! Magazine margins have been the same for 20 years. $1.50 commission from a $40 dollar lotto sale is disgraceful.
The big end of town is taking the piss and the politicians, industry organisations and lobby groups are watching it all unfold.
The newsagents that send you data for your monthly analysis are not the ones struggling but there are hundreds (if not thousands) that are.
You’d be mad to buy a newsagency in the current retail climate and unfortunately I haven’t seen or heard of anything that is going to make life any easier for newsagents in the future. It’s not being negative, it’s being realistic.
I have also been in the Newsagency channel since I left school and I still see the difference between a good Newsagent and a bad One and IMO this One thing has not ever changed only the people going into and out of the business.
When I first got a bank to say yes to me (about 10 years ago now, to finally purchase my own Newsagency I looked and found the newsagency I wanted to buy as the Owner was the and could well of been a Former newsagent I was just so happy to be able to help him become that though, as I knew I had found the business that would start me on my way.
I have seen the blame game for many years now be it News or Fairfax, Magazines blah blah you sign the contracts we must all know what we are accepting yes?
I also think there is so much truth in Brendan comment but not all will ever understand it.
Anyway better get back to work 😀
Oww the One thing
Retailer
Former, It’s a pity you feel the need to come back here and bag the channel from the outside. Clearly you think that I and others aren’t telling the truth.
For me i cant get past the irony.
Regardless of what you do for a living if you want to be regarded as exceptional you have to constantly break new ground and lead through innovation. This hasnt changed in thousands of years.
A news story with nothing new and no opinion on how to stand out is about as relevant as a newsagent who still uses a price gun.
Highlighting problems is one thing. Sure its a skill that not everyone has.
However the brillance, the standout, the ground breaking change is only found by those who are prepared to do it differently and are not afraid of making mistakes along the way.
The challenge for Stuart is to produce articles of substance that challenge people. The challenge for the newsagent is not dissimilar.
I look forward to reading part two Stuart.
part 2 is already there Hamish
Those who believe I am talking down the channel are missing the point. I am talking about reinventing the channel and newsagents becoming REAL retailers. The old model is broken and it needs fixing. I have had an overwhelming response from newsagents around the country asking for our help. It therefore appears that apart from some folk becoming almost hysterical, there are many newsagents out there who understand the need to change. Plus they want fresh facilitators who are not bogged down in a lifetime of baggage. Stuart Bennie
Stuart
Are you providing your services for free?
I do acknowledge that their are Newsagents requiring help.
Mark,
I’m not bagging from the outside I’m just providing a balanced perspective. Struggling newsagents cannot afford to go to GNS trade fair or attend your workshops but, believe me, they exist.
You bang on about providing an open forum via your blog but always get a bit nippy whenever anyone differs from your opinion.
I truly admire your energy and passion and (although you have a vested interest in the ongoing success of the channel because of your software business) you are doing a bucketload more than most to improve the fortunes of all newsagents. I firmly believe you want all newsagents to succeed no matter their POS system or geographical location.
But the numbers don’t lie. The definitive answer to this argument is about the real value of a newsagency and no matter how you spin it, the value has been falling for years (goodwill from anywhere between 3.5 and 4 x EBITDA 10 years ago to somewhere south of 2.5 now and dropping VERY fast). In fact, I’ve been relaiably informed with this new home delivery model many smaller ‘traditional’ newsagents will be lucky to get 2 x EBITDA if they were to sell today. And the average sale time has also blown right out. 10 years ago it was uncommon to see a newsagency on the market for any longer than a year but now that’s almost the minimum. I know of many realistically priced businesses that have been on the market for double that time.
Sure, the best will survive and even thrive but there’s going to be a lot fall by the wayside.
Stuart, Your latest comment is offensive on several fronts. You infer that that there are people here with baggage. because you’re posting this here I am guessing you mean me. Anyone reading what I have said or coming to one of my presentations will see than when it comes to reinventing the channel I have no baggage.
Welcome to the message that newsagents need to change. I have been writing about this for ten years here.
I stand by my point that your article was poorly researched. However, since it was written to get clients for your company I guess it has served your purpose. It suits you to make out that you are the knight in shining armour when you are another consultant peddling your wares to newsagents. That’s your right. But do it based on thorough research please.
Former, it’s not balanced. You gave up and left.
It is not possible for all newsagents to succeed. I want the good ones, the ones prepared to fight for their businesses, to succeed – regardless of the software they use.
You know what they say about numbers. I see newsagents today making more from their businesses than they did one and two years ago. Instead of researching thoroughly, too many only look at the bottom and report on that.
Shaun if your suggesting part 2 is the last 5 points of Stuart’s article then you have not grasped what I mean or I haven’t written it well enough.
There is nothing in the article that hasn’t been either written on this blog or even in the ANF mag -let alone other sources.
My challenge stands. Sure it’s hard to run a good business in challenging times but I am inclined to think that to be an exceptional journalist / guru is equally tough – if not tougher in todays cut and paste world.
As an industry we are in severe evolutionary crisis. It can only be survival of the fittest. The fittest are those who respond correctly to the change by their own initiative. It is an injustice to the strong amongst us if the weak and the slow are mollycoddled through this.
We can’t rely on our suppliers (especially publishers) either. They are the weakest, the slowest and by far the laziest element of the whole chain.
We’ve reinvented ourselves as the local store for anything to do with print or paper, seasonal gifts, premium confectionary and personal stationary. We have a better business now than we did 2 years ago. None the less we can already see this model as having a fixed lifespan and we’re now thinking about the next move. And that will be the way for as long as we stay in the business. We don’t target product sales – we target numbers; traffic, basket, turnover, stock and margin. It’s highly rational and ruthlessly objective but ultimately very rewarding.
Hamish not sure what you are on about ?I have not made any comment regarding anything to do with post #2 except telling you there is an actual post out there .
Well done Azeem. We have been doing similar spurred on by this blog. After years in the game as makr would say I stopped being an agent.
I wonder if Stuart read today’s FR, he might like to add retailers of laptops to his list of disappearing retail….also how bout the 70 odd jobs at the Riverina Army site….and on it goes. I think that before we are left with only Supermarkets the Newsagency might be the last man standing….
Mark I appreciate the fact we have these blogs for us to share ideas and experiences and like a lot of others I am looking at different ways to make my business more relevant to our community.
But where are the ANF/NANA in all of this I am starting to wonder why i am still a member. I had contact with the ANF 18 months ago over an ongoing delivery issue. The ANF contacted Fairfax and Fairfax requested me to keep a log of all the details which i did and handed it back to the ANF so they could present my case. After a month nothing from the ANF, finally after many calls I got a response that it was all to hard and maybe contact NANA as the person dealing with this issue was no longer handling it?
On Aug 24th I contacted NANA on another issue, after a 20 minute conversation i was assured i would have a reply on Monday 27th Aug. Still waiting for that call NANA.
So while we all change and adapt to a changing enviroment what have these organisations been doing. From what i see and read not much, twice i have been let down i wonder how many other have experienced this.
I look forward to hear what they say in their regional meeting next week, then i will decide just how functional NANA is are they worth being a member.
They now levy $15 a month from members for a fighting fund? But do they have any fight in them?
Up until Friday late morning I had never heard of this blog or Mark Fletcher.
I am therefore flattered at the accusation of plagiarism.
Since Friday I have been overwhelmed with comments on this blog and in Inside Retail in response to my article on Friday and Carolyn Doherty’s on Monday.
Yes – we are in business to make money from consulting in retail. We clearly state our web address to make this apparent. We are NOT specialists in the newsagency business but we obviously have a very good understanding of the challenges. We are here to assist those who want to become professional retailers – not just buyers/sellers of goods.
I confess surprise at the personal attacks in the blog, not only directed towards me but towards others.
Rather than respond I will simply detail comments that I have received by email as follows:
“I have read the blog and all the comments and I agree with you.
Not for a moment did I feel you are being negative, however you must understand that there is only one sole arbiter of knowledge in this industry and how dare you even attempt to “share” the light or load!”
“You are right about the hysteria. What about the paranoia? You made a comment and it was immediately taken as a personal attack. Methinks he doth protest too much”
“I have read your website and have never heard of some of the retail stuff you talk about. Please send me all the complimentary spreadsheets. We have never had anything like this from the blog”
“Stuart – you have strayed into a den of (old) vipers who will never change their spots”
“Congratulations on a breath of fresh air. We need new leadership in this industry. Are you up to start a new blog?”
Stuart Bennie
Stuart, thanks for being clear on the commercial motivation for you writing what you wrote, that you want to sell your consulting services.
I stand by my accusation that your comments were ignorant. To speak to two newsagents and a consultant did not give you a good background, an accurate background. You have ignored the many newsagents enjoying success.
Had you been to the seven newsagent trade shows I have attended over the last eight weeks, the ten newsagent business development workshops I have attended over the last six weeks and the other industry functions you would have heard about many newsagents reinventing their businesses and suppliers equally engaged.
There are some who want to spread that newsagents are depressed and the channel is headed for disaster. I do not subscribe to that. The good will flourish. I say this based on evidence.
Had you been to my newsagency of the future workshops (or watched the video) you would have seen that there is a plan newsagents can follow, a plan delivering commercial success. the difference is that the plan is offered for free.
I wouldn’t exactly call Stuarts article “Ignorant commentary”, though melodrama has never been my strongest suit.
What “Former” is saying is not at all improper and he/she is providing nothing more than an unbiased perspective. While you are spot on that many agents are seeing exponential growth, they are becoming few and far between. It is also important to remember that current declining sales are not limited to newsagencies, but the entire retail sector.
As mentioned earlier in the comments, we are on the cusp of an evolution of the entire newsagency model and it really is the survival of the fittest. Those not willing to accept change will sooner rather than later be replaced with a “For Lease” sign.
With rising rent costs and wages, and with the steady decline of sales/margin across nearly every publication product, it is foolish to ignore that many are doing it tough. It is just as foolish to cover yourself with a blanket and say that the sector is doing tremendously.
A fantastic example comes from the recent closure (and eventual re-opening as a Nextra Group store), Mount Ommaney News (Metro QLD) went from one of the states largest grossing agents by turnover, to a rundown old shop with empty shelves in less than 12 months. Crippled by rising rent and declining sales/margins, but more so because they were not willing to expand their market. Nextra will now reap the rewards.
As agents we can all understand the frustrations of getting tattered papers, short deliveries and piles upon piles of magazines we simply don’t want. But as Mark says, the rewards are there for the taking to those willing to expand their business and diversify their target market…
Stuart, many of the regular posters on this blog fit the mould of the newsagents (ie your potential market) you describe in your article. I am truly amazed that in researching for your article about the newsagency industry you did not come accross the blog or Mark Fletcher. They’re both a bit hard to miss.
Having said that, the description of newsagents in your article can only be applied to a minority. There are actually more newsagents who are proactively changing their businesses to suit the ever moving paradigm. And these are the same ones who are more likely to use an external consultant, and indeed be more likely to be able to afford the fees.
Stuart
You can start a new Blog if you like, its a democracy.
You asked Mark why he did not have a disclaimer or similar that he is associated with a Marketing group, which he has many times. I was dissapointed with your transparancy in which you charge for your services on the article you wrote.
I can assure you its not a one way street here, Mark gets as good as he gives sometimes, his word is not gospel however its a voice the Newsagency Channel has needed I believe.
Transparancy was not alive until this Blog arrived.
Good luck on your consulting business.
August in my store;
Books up 14%
Cards up 22%
Confectionary up 16%
Gifts up 98% (not a typo)
Ink up 22%
Lotto up 18%
Mags no change
Papers down 9%
Phonecards up 20%
Stationery up 4%
Didnt see that researched…….cant wait until the “doom & gloom” is all finished…….
Hey Allan,
I have been struggling to get confect up for 2 years now.Is your confect rise simply a function of general sales improvements elsewhere in the store; or have you put something new in?
G’day Bruce, I haven’t crunched the reasons yet but our Darrell Lea sales certainly benefitted from the panic buying all of the DL talk closing created. We do make a focus of DL with our Fathers Day Gift offering…..a “Dads Bag” is a bit of a no brainier really.
Cheers
Al
Thank goodness that my last blog seems to have succeeded in silencing the bigots.
Please see the new article this Friday in Inside Retailing entitled “The incestuous newsagent subculture”
Stuart Bennie
Stuart, It is disappointing you are using name calling against those who out you and your commercial agenda and who question the poor research done on your ‘article’.
You’re happy to use this place to peddle your wares yet fail to address reasonable questions about what you gave written.
Don’t take a lack of response as anything other than what it is.
There are many newsagents enjoying success in this marketplace, reinventing their businesses and playing outside the traditional newsagency model. the article you wrote may have been relevant five years ago, not today – except for your purpose of drumming up consulting work.
Newsagents should not need to pay a consultant.
Stuart Bennie,
I do not understand your problem, at first i thought you amusing now i find you a self promotor of you business and your expertise in retail?
Now finish this crap and move on to another area such as womens fashion i believe they may be in trouble, your expertise may be needed.
I don’t think you have done yourself or your business too many favors with that last post Stuart……..how could anybody want to part with their hard earned to employ somebody that makes comments like that. I think you missed the original challenge of talking to Newsagents who are trading well in the current retail climate…..something I thought a “Retail Guru” would have embraced……
Is the offending post still up? I couldn’t find it on the website.
Mark, I gather that my blog in point form was a little too close to home. I had heard that give the devil his due, Mark allows points of view either way. Be a man – post it again !!
Point taken Shaun.
I still find it ironic that a self proclaimed retail expert lives off a paycheck / fees from consultantcy and not profits from his own retail business. Its one thing to talk it, another to walk it.
Hamish, maybe that could be the next “Reality TV Show”……..take a Retail Consultant and let him buy a struggling Newsagency to show us all how it`s all done………
Azeem – you are understandably confused. Alas, a blog I wrote mysteriously disappeared from this site. Freedom of speech is clearly allowed to go so far and no further or perhaps there was a technical hitch !!
I cannot remember exactly what I said but I will do my best to recap.
1.0 I write articles for the benefit of readers. I enjoy writing articles. Any publicity and business we receive is most welcome. Yes – surprisingly we are in business to make money and we are in no way ashamed of this. We are transparent in declaring our website and our firm.
2.0 We do not need to do any further research on newsagents. We have sufficient knowledge to know what strife newsagents are in and how to assist them.
3.0 We intentionally avoid newsagent’s trade shows, seminars and conferences. We do not want to be tarnished with “plod” from the past.
4.0 We are not experts on newsagencies and we don’t want to be. We are retail experts and we have 9 (soon to be 10) people with a collective retail experience of hundreds of years. Nobody in the Southern Hemisphere can touch us. We are at the cutting edge of retail developments and technology.
5.0 We do not give anything (apart from a few spreadsheets) away for free. We do not need to. Stuff that you get for free is not worth the money you didn’t pay for it !!
6.0 We bring freshness. Given the opportunity (and despite the negatives, we have had numerous approaches) we will assist newsagents to become REAL retailers making a healthy profit. Others can continue to advise them on how to sell more newspapers.
Please read my article on Friday in Inside Retail entitled “The Incestuous Newsagent Subculture”. I think you and others may enjoy it !!
Bigots???? If you bothered to peruse this blog Stuart you would realise that you are espousing nothing new and that the “bigots” on this blog are in fact way ahead of you. We discuss the need to diversify, grow new departments such as gifts, toys etc, while maintaining or better still improving traditional departments some of which are quite strong and profitable but which you chose to ignore in your article. You are clearly trying to instill fear into the struggling sections of this channel and ignore the groups and individuals who have a handle on the situation. You have not offered anything that has not already been canvassed on this blog. If these views make me a “bigot” by your definition the so be it but this industry IS by and large pro-active and not wallowing in the past waiting to die as you assert.
Stuart, No comment or post has been removed from this place.
You are using fear to sell your consulting services to newsagents.
Your article, on the basis of what two newsagents and a ‘consultant’ told you, demonstrates an appalling lack of research on your part.
You are offensive in inferring that people who attend newsagent trade shows and conferences are tarnished.
Yes, I and others are tarnished, tarnished with a track record of success.
You are keen to get your consulting business promoted here so you mix with us who you denigrate when it suits your commercial purposes. This blog gets more traffic than your site and has a higher rank according to Alexa. I wonder if you are using this place to boost your traffic.
Newsagents have had access to excellent and advice for many years, much of it pro-bono and successful. But you don;t want to acknowledge these success stories as they do not suit your commercial narrative.
I see nothing fresh in your article about newsagents, only ignorance in pursuit of consulting fees.
I’ll be interested to see what expert commentary you publish Friday.
Thankfully, professional journalists do more thorough research when writing about our channel.
Stuart
You say ‘We do not need to do any further research on newsagents”
Then you say ” We are not experts on newsagencies and we don’t want to be”
You write articles based on this expertise.
It is very disturbing that a consulting company would display this kind of behaviour.
A bigot is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from their own or intolerant of people of different political views, ethnicity, race, class, religion, profession, sexuality or gender.
Hope you are not going to charge me a fee for that, its for free.
I look forward to reading that article on Friday Stuart…….i also look forward to hearing how many Newsagents sign up for your services after reading the same………hey, if there is people prepared to send their bank account details to somebody running the Ugandan Lottery Commission then surely you will find somebody to sign up…..Good Luck Champ !
Binnie has shown himself for what he is. Ignore him. I get more help and advice from this blog than he and his consultants could give.
Bennie does himself no favours. He is a salesman and not a consultant. I looked at their website and bet I know the consultant he spoke to. Clueless.
We should listen to him afterall he is the owner of “the world’s largest online retailers of boutique Fashion Accessories”
http://www.beautynbling.com/pages/About-us.html
False Statements like that with only 50 or so products in your webshop (it might be true if it was still 1985)- does not do your credibility any favours
*one of
Scott , i could not resist i had to go and have a look at the web site and just had to have a count and there are 30 products
It’s all sweet and Rosie for you Mark as you have enough funds from Tower to compensate for any losses being made on the agencies.
Mark, Whilst I agree on having a positive outlook on things, the Channel, you have to admit yourself, is looking quite dismal for the MAJORITY. Until the government can do something about the Duoply, there is very little light at the end of that tunnel. It won’t be too long when they look to selling Lotto next. Once that’s taken away from the agencies, what is there really left to sell? Everyone has to also be mindful of their demographics? With Woollies and Coles centres opening new stores willy nilly, there’s not a hope in hell for ANY SMB’s out there. I am all for reinventing a business but when funds are low and banks being strict on their lending requirements, where or who can you possibly turn to? You’ve built quite a successful business in IT and I commend you on that but for a newsagency alone with no other means of generating revenue, it’s hard. I truly wish that everyone in this forum can see both sides of the spectrum and stop criticising each other as you’re all in it together. Be happy for the people who have succeeded and who continue to succeed but also spare a thought for those who are losing the battle or who have lost. I for one have always got a positive outlook in anything I do. The only comment I dislike is from Mark saying that Shaun “Gave up and Left”. Here’s a saying for you Mark:
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do”
Future, don’t presume to know what I think or what my situation is.
On your second comment: I disagree with what you say I have to admit. There are many newsagents enjoying success. Those who are not need to be accountable for their situation. It is too easy to blame others: government, online, landlords and suppliers. Newsagents who accept personal accountability tend to make more commercial decisions.
Mark, your second comment sounds abit arrogant. No one is denying that everyone is accountable for their own situation. No one in this forum is blaming anyone. People are merely pointing out the facts and if you can’t see that from another perpective but from your own, then there’s a problem. Everyone is in a different situation and that’s what you need to realise. We’re all trying to do what we can to stay afloat. Your comments sound to me like no one in here is giving it a good hard go. What are you really expecting from those who are struggling?
‘Future’ many newsagents do blame others: landlords, suppliers, government, online. I hear it every day.
I talk to more newsagents every day than many people. Through this I realise that there are different situations. This is reflected in my work helping newsagents.
What I expect of newsagents who are struggling is that they do everything they can to help themselves. For example, I spoke to a newsagent earlier this week who is in trouble. Had not done a magazine relay in years. said no time. BUT for 6 hours work I am certain they would add $1K in magazine sales a week. I see this often – newsagents making excuses for not doing things that will improve their situation.
We are at a time when we need to act, all of us. No ifs, no buts, no games. We need to be serious about this. And succeed.
Stuart Bennie has made the perfect case why newsagents should beware those who come from outside and say they can fix things. Like others it’s all about the fees they can charge. This is a community where we help each other like happens at this blog a lot.
Hwy Stuart, did I miss that story you were writing on Friday? I cant seem to find it anywhere…….
Allan , it is there somewhere I read it Friday
Thanks Shaun, seems as though i didnt receive their weekly e-mail this week……what a surprise….
Found it Shaun, but true to form Stuart did not go through with the title he suggested on this Blog Post………. “The Incestuous Newsagent Subculture”………maybe backed off a fraction for fear of the backlash……Just my thoughts.
Let’s all try and be kind to each other folks.
Sometimes bad things happen to good people.
This industry is changing but sometimes it
is difficult to change if you owe the bank money.
There are a lot of scary stories out there (and some good ones) but Bennie won’t
win friends with his approach and Mark needs to ignore him.
Funnily enough Mark, in his usual bi-partisan way, gave us the website himself.
I had never heard of it before but I went on and contributed, and saw that Caroline Doherty (ANF) had contributed and now I
am sorry I did, because Bennie is obviously
out to tell us something we already know.
Our industry is under attack but we don’t
have to join the melee.
Let’s try and help our fellow newsagents as we all travel this precarious road to the
future.
Keep sharing the good bits so that others
might benefit.
Care and Share products is my latest good
news. Lovely quality books (gift type books) that are quite inspirational.
Not your usual remainder books but nonetheless, another good addition to my
mix.7C7
Well said June
THE NEWSAGENT SUB CULTURE
Last week in this column I wrote an article on how tough newsagents are finding it.
This solicited a healthy number of comments, overwhelmingly in agreement. In particular an interesting response from Carolyn Doherty, head of communications at the Australian Newsagents’ Federation, and a comment from a “retailer with a newsagency flavour”, June Carter.
There was one negative comment from a Mark Fletcher whom I had not heard of prior to his response. He referred me to a blog that he appears to run calledwww.newsagencyblog.com.au. I entered this site and what followed is a flurry of blogs from newsagents, some excellent and others worthy of sixteen year old schoolgirls being spiteful in the schoolyard.
One email described the situation as follows: “I have read the blog and all the comments and I agree with you. Not for a moment did I feel you are being negative, however, you must understand that there is only one sole arbiter of knowledge in this industry and how dare you even attempt to “share the light or load”.
Carolyn Doherty replied to my article and this was published in these columns on Monday. A well considered and measured response, not entirely agreeing with me, but by and large we are on the same page.
There seem to be three main groups in the world of newsagents – those who genuinely want to change, those who play lip service to change and believe that they will become retailers if they follow industry advice, and those who don’t want to change and will shrink and wither.
Newsagents in the first two groups need to consider the three facets to business. Everything can be put into these three baskets.
Most people spend 80 per cent or more of their time below the solid horizontal line, despite this being history (yes – even the present is already history). Some people never get above the line. Here lies the real challenge, especially for newsagents.
The stuff below the line can be changed, but until the newsagent gets his or her head into the space above the line, they are on a hiding to nothing. They will continue to attend industry seminars, conventions, workshops, and the like and fiddle around below the line in their comfort zone.
If they are smart, they will remove themselves from the incestuous plodding newsagent subculture and enter the world of real retail. Then one short step to get their minds above the line and they will never look back.
I suspect that only a minority of newsagents will make this leap as June Carter appears to have done. The rest will continue to plod and blog away enjoying the comfort of those in a similar predicament.
Comments:
________________________________________
Monday, September 10, 2012 by Stuart Bennie
Thanks Natalie and Paul for your great input. It is extremely heartening to hear that some newsagents are on the same page. Natalie, we are here to sell our services but this is a spin off. I write the articles because I enjoy it. Please don’t feel that I am having a go at newsagents. On the contrary I think folk like you are doing great by having cast off what I call the Mr Blog mentality. I have just received advice that butchers are also really doing it tough so I am going to have to research this next !!
Stuart Bennie stuart@impactretailing.com.au
Sunday, September 09, 2012 by Natalie
Good article. I am a newsagent. I am in the process of doing the above. We are moving into half take away food – half “newsagency”. The industry can be heavily regulated but you have to be astute about what you know you absolutely have to comply with – eg Lotto regulations, to what you dont – eg where you are told mags should go.
All retail is doing it tough – it is disappointing that newsagency’s were singled out but you are trying to sell a service – so thats understandable.
I still believe they are a good business to be in – if you carry the right mix of product and don’t carry too much of one product. I believe you need at least 5 different income streams – which most of us have to be safe. Newspapers and deliveries, Lottery products, Confectionery/Drinks/Darrell Lea, Greeting Cards, Giftware, Dry Cleaning, Stationery (delivery service), Party Ware, Postal products, Cigarettes (maybe) etc etc. Normally when one area is down – say newspapers another area is growing such as giftware. This is not possible in a business solely in one area such as dress shops, furniture shops or other specialized businesses. I think you get my drift.
Saturday, September 08, 2012 by Paul Heather
Thanks Stuart for your excellent articles. We run two Newsagencies on the NSW Mid-North Coast having recently acquired the second one after the previous Newsagents closed the doors some months back. We totally agree with the retail concept with the newsagency flavour and don’t even call the second shop a Newsagency and try to focus on retail.
The big question is that the paper companies have told us that they will not deliver papers to us unless we do their home deliveries, a dreadful situation. However, if we do not do the home deliveries we have to source papers ourselves from elsewhere!! So how to get rid of our awful, huge loss making home delivery run which covers large rural / coastal areas. News Ltd have recently announced their new T2020 programme and with this the opportunity arises to get rid of home delivery runs but we have to wait until next year, but only after a lengthy Tender process, in order to select who will deliver papers. Added to this the newspaper companies continue to undermine the newsagency business with their “freebies” and ridiculously cheap promotional offers, and one is forced to belive that it is the newspaper companies themselves who will put the final nail in the coffin of Newsagencies.
Therefore it is imperitive to immediately switch to the retail model and put newspapers in a corner somewhere for a bit of flavour!!
Friday, September 07, 2012 by Stuart Bennie
Great to hear from someone with a (good) brain!! Thanks for your comments John. Fortunately my article and your comment seems to have silenced the mob!! Stuart Bennie. stuart@impactretailing.com.au
Friday, September 07, 2012 by John
First of all; may I say this is a concise and well thought-through article!
But wow; what a clanger: “others worthy of sixteen year old schoolgirls being spiteful in the schoolyard”…. What about the sixteen year old schoolBOYS??
(3) Thinking “outside the box”; yuk! – would it work for the newsagents – if they set up a 2 shop system within their premises?? A bit like the Harvey Norman model… I am thinking – that way they could still comply with some/all of the stodgy / antique demands from within their industry; (I understand it is heavily regulated etc); but still bust out above the horizontal line, with a new retail mix (etc). This would be available for sale to their customers “just across the isle”, in the 21st century part of their shops…
I am in retail – but I am not a newsagent – and the preceding is just food for thought…
Wow…. to all of you. I have been in this industry for a very long time. No business will fail under good management and good decisions. Plain and simple. Everyone talks about cards going online but who … I ask you … sends a card of sympathy or many other things that still hold high sentimental value. Who downloads a magazine on their holiday break. Parents that are sending their kids back to school…. they generally leave it to the last minute seeking somewhere that can give them good value and good service. This and much much more is the success of a newsagency.