There is no better indicator for understanding trends in your retail newsagency business than comparing revenue and unit sales performance for a recent period to the same period a year, two years and three years ago.
In my own newsagency I undertake this type of comparison every month on a rolling basis – looking at the most recent three months of data with the same three months from a year, two years or three years ago. Since I look at my data regularly I have a good feel for trends. If you do not regularly look at data, start with a three year comparison.
The best decisions newsagents can make about changes for their business will be best guided by what they see i the trends.
For example, if magazine sales have dropped 25% over three years, what is the space allocation today compared to three years ago? Or, if gift sales are up 500% over the three years, what is the space allocation today?
Trend analysis is not about knee-jerk reaction. No, it is about thoughtful assessment of the dataset and consideration of future plans based on the shifting traffic and product interests as reflected in the data.
Here is a video I participated in last year for newsagency marketing group newsXpress that shows the report I use and how I use it. This report is something anyone could create for their business regardless of the software they have.
In each of our businesses our future can be explored more easily by thoughtful analysis of historical data. I urge you to do this for your newsagency.