While the best personal resolutions are those we keep to ourselves and work toward without being all look at me, people and businesses with common interests can gain from sharing resolutions that serve our common goals. With this in mind, here are resolutions / goals I have for the newsagency channel for 2014:
- Achieve meaningful change to the newsagency magazine supply model.
- Encourage more newsagents to be engaged retailers and not shopkeepers or agents … to be more responsible ourselves for our own success or failure.
- Being more active in challenging newsagents who seriously let the shingle down and thereby negatively impact how shoppers view our channel.
- To enjoy the business more embracing that it’s my choice to own the business and my responsibility for what happens here.
- To rely less on suppliers for guidance of our future.
Please, add more resolutions that can serve our channel as a whole by us collectively engaging.
Achieving Meaningful change at the State Associations and ANF. To truly represent us and eliminate the crossover of Staff and Office space between the various organisations.
I like number 5 Mark but would also like to see some more engagement from some suppliers. Suppliers need to embrace our channel and give us the respect that it so deserves. I know at a retail level I could sell more of certain products but these suppliers just keep putting on the handbrake. Lost sales are going to be the downfall of a lot of these organisations and they will cry poor well after it is all too late.
With some suppliers we order more than usual so we don’t run out because we don’t trust the supplier to have stock for the long term.
For newsagents to claim a little time back as their own. Enable ourselves to be healthy and positive business owners.
This year I only ordered 50% of my previous diary orders because I had been
downsized considerably (half) and was not sure what diaries I might be left with.
I am happy to report that I have sold through and re-ordered (and received) all the extras that I required which also meant that my cashflow was better because I was not paying out b4 I had even sold any of the product.
It has been an eye opener for me after all these years of getting a huge diary order and then having to pay for it B4 it was even 1/4 sold.
I know this could backfire but I had 3 other companies that I could ask for extras if ANCOL didn’t have what I needed.
However, they did and I am very satisfied with how it has panned out.
I am going to work harder on these sorts of products e.g. calendars this year for the same reason.
I think that I might be more profitable even if I don’t sell as many, if you get what I mean.
Happy 2014 everyone and thanks for all the input during 2013. I find it useful, funny, uplifting and sometimes downright scary but it is a big part of each day for me – like asking friends what they would do in certain circumstances.
Happy New year to you too June and to Mark and all the blog readers. May 2014 be the best year ever in our Industry. I hope everybody has a very safe and prosperous year and look forward to catching up with many of you for a few cold beverages throughout the year.
Cheers
Al