A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Author: Mark Fletcher

Why Coles’ Big AI News is Great for Independent Retailers (Like You)

You might have seen the news this week that Coles is rolling out an enterprise-wide partnership with OpenAI. When I saw that story, my first thought wasn’t about the competition. It was: “This is fantastic news.”

This move by a retail giant validates what Tower Systems has been focused on for some time, for newsagents and the other small business retailers it serves: AI isn’t just a gimmick for the big end of town; it’s a genuine “competitive game-changer” for independent, local retailers.

It’s levelling the playing field. And the best part? You don’t have to wait. While Coles is just announcing their plans, local, independent retailers are already using powerful AI tools every single day. I made a video this morning about this:

For a long time now, Tower has been embedding AI tools from OpenAI, Google Gemini, and others directly into its point-of-sale software. It’s not about “future tech”; it’s about practical tools that solve real problems for small business owners.

In the video, I discuss how our customers are already using AI to:

  • Save hours of admin by automatically analysing and importing virtually any supplier invoice, with no special setup required.
  • Market smarter by generating unique product descriptions and blog posts that speak in their business’s authentic voice.
  • Boost profitability with plain-English reports that identify what’s not selling, what’s overstocked, and even potential theft, long before it becomes a major issue.
  • Prevent lost sales by getting alerts on popular items you’re about to run out of.

As I mention in the video, I rely on these and more AI tools in my own retail shop – to save time, make better-informed decisions, and run a smarter, more efficient shop.

This technology is here, it’s accessible, and it’s already making a fundamental difference for local businesses. The Coles announcement is a great signal for the entire retail sector and all who serve it that AI is no longer an option, AI is an essential part of modern retail.

Watch the video to see my full breakdown of what this means for local small business retail and how you can leverage this power in your own independent business today.

As you can probably tell, I’m excited about AI. It makes accessible to small business retailers opportunities for more effectively competing – as plenty are already finding. It’s a terrific opportunity for efficiency and growth.

And, when you’re researching AI, get to the facts. Some software companies say they have AI tools, when they don’t. It’s important you see for yourself what’s available today as this matters.

…
Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents keen to evolve their businesses for a bright future. newsXpress has an established package if advice and support for newsagents when it comes to AI. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

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Newsagency management

If you listen to retail advice from supplier reps, this post is for you

A supplier rep told retailers they visited how awesome a new product they were pitching was. There said other retailers had found it successful. retailers bought up. The product failed. The rep doubled down, suggesting that the retailers failed and not the product.

Retailers listened to the rep because of the origin story they always pitched on the first meeting – years of local small business retail experience.

I get it, supplier reps have one job to do to sell the products they represent. The thing is they will fail if they sell products that fail.

The rep in the story above did have retail experience, from more than twenty years earlier, for a couple of years when they were in high school. The way they told the story is sounded more recent, and more significant than part time counter sales.

Unless someone has current retail experience relevant to you, be skeptical about their advice. Do your research. Check their claims. get any promises in writing. And, if you encounter a rep giving bad advice, discretely tell fellow retailers so they don’t get caught.

Thoughtful Verification: Key Steps for Supplier Due Diligence

  1. Seek Peer Confirmation: Ask the representative for the names of a few other retailers who have been successfully selling the product for some time and have placed multiple restock orders.
  2. Request Performance Clarity: Request documented figures for the typical sell-through rate experienced by new customers in their first few months. This turns success stories into a predictable, quantifiable expectation.
  3. Establish a Protective Agreement: For a new product, formally agree upon a buy-back or stock credit option for a portion of initial inventory if the item does not move as projected within the first six months.
  4. Confirm Commitments: Ensure that any agreed-upon details, including promised support or performance metrics, are confirmed in writing (an email is sufficient) to provide clarity and mutual understanding.

Now I know what I’ve written here is vague. That’s deliberate. I am not in the mood for a legal letter or worse. It’s happened before. I have a theory, those misbehaving tend to be quick to fire legal shots.

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Newsagency management

I Was Wrong. We Sold Out. The Humbling Reminder That We Are Not Our Customer.

I have a confession to make.

I feel a bit foolish, and that’s not always a comfortable feeling. But this time, I’m glad I do. It means I had a wonderful reminder I probably should have remembered sooner.

For the last couple of years, we’ve been refining our product mix across at our www.mintcoinshop.com.au website that’s connected to one of my shops. We’ve developed a good sense of who our customers are and what they like. Or at least, we thought we did. We’d been intentionally saying ‘no’ to certain products, especially coin designs that seemed a bit… “out there.”

This policy was put to the test recently when we saw a new range of Halloween coins from Europe.

My immediate reaction was a hard ‘no’.

I looked at them and thought they were gimmicky. They felt “risqué” for our brand. I was convinced they would never appeal to our core audience of serious coin collectors. My internal narrative was all about protecting our reputation, maintaining our curated standard, and not wasting money on stock that wouldn’t move.

This was my bias, fully at work, masquerading as ‘good business strategy.’

I was just about to send the ‘pass’ email to the supplier when I remembered a classic retail truth hit me: We are not our customer.

My personal taste is irrelevant. My assumptions about what a ‘serious collector’ enjoys are just that, assumptions. Who am I to say that someone who appreciates a rare proof coin doesn’t also have a sense of humour and a love for Halloween?

So, we changed course. We took the risk. We ordered some of each design.

Last night, with a healthy dose of skepticism, I drafted a simple marketing email. I sent it out at 10 PM, figuring we’d see what happened by morning. (I even used what I call “deflection framing” in the copy, which is a whole other story, but it was my way of subtly bracing for a non-response).

This morning at 7 AM I checked the results.

We were completely sold out. Every single coin.

I’m thrilled, of course. But I’m also kicking myself. I’m glad we took the risk, but I feel foolish for not taking it sooner. How many other opportunities have we missed over the last two years because our personal preferences got in the way?

It’s a powerful lesson in the dangers of “managing for average.” So many businesses I see manage for average, they manage for results they can be sure of – often denying their business the opportunity of even better results, with a risk for sure, but with that risk comes education and that’s the cornerstone of growth.

It’s easy to get comfortable. It’s easy and safe to keep doing what we’ve always done. If we do, we’ll probably keep hitting our targets. We’ll do fine.

Fine is the enemy of better.

Chasing “safe” means we might miss reaching for something exceptional. Our comfort zone is a place where new opportunities rarely grow. This little experiment proved that the real risk isn’t trying something we think won’t work; the real risk is letting our biases stop us from finding out for sure.

I’m sharing this because it’s a reminder I needed. That feeling of being wrong, of being foolish, is a sign of growth. It means you’re pushing past your assumptions.

It leaves me with one big question for myself, and for you: What are you saying ‘no’ to right now, simply because you don’t get it or don’t like it?

That might be the very thing you should try next.

Final note: Right now, for newsagency businesses, that I have written about here matters. We are at a moment in time where we must play outside our small sandpit, where we must take risks in order to attract new shoppers. This is urgent for each of our businesses and vital for the channel and all who rely on the channel. I can’t stress this enough and the urgency with which we must act.

…
Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents keen to evolve their businesses for a bright future. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

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newsagency of the future

Opinion: NewsQuake from NLNA is rooted in the past

I’ve been asked my opinion about the NewsQuake services launch by NLNA this week. Well, here it is, and it is my opinion. If you’re interested in newsQuake, do your own research, make up your own mind.

NewsQuake pitches parcel pick up, money transfer and bill payment services to newsagents.

These services have been available to and through newsagents for many years.

They are agency services, meaning newsagents receive a commission or service fee that is fractional in terms of the transactional value to the shopper.

The pitch to newsagents is that offering the services drives new traffic. While that may be true, looking at newsagent basket data for decades, I see no evidence that agency business translates into meaningful retail product sales.

There are reasons people paying a bill, picking up a parcel or sending money don’t buy other products in the shop visit:

  1. The visit is a destination visit, for purpose, anything else is a distraction.
  2. The visit is annoying, so they are not of a mindset for a happy product purchase: they are sending money to someone who is not good at saving, they are paying a bill they are not happy with, they are guilt ridden over the online purchase they are there to pickup.
  3. They don’t see you as a shop. Rather, you are a depot, and that’s how they think of you.
  4. The visit is a counter visit, they have no reason to look at the body of the shop.
  5. Your headspace in dealing with them is that of an agent who is aware their value to you today is a few cents and not one of a retailer serving a customer who could spend $350.00 on beautiful gifts.

The other experience with agency business those of us who have offered them in the past is that your agency customer is likely more demanding in terms of attention and transaction time than you are compensated through commission.

Those of us who did Bill Express all those years ago will have stories of customers arguing with you about a bill they are paying, for which you receive a few cents, wanting you to fix a billing issue and not accepting that you cant – all the while a customer with a $250.00 gift purchase is waiting to pay you.

There is a disconnect between the agency shopper and the retail shopper.

I think it’s worth thinking about who makes money out of each bill payment, parcel pickup and money transfer transaction. In each case I suspect there are at least three businesses making margin on the transaction. In my experience from offering these services in the pack and unpacking where margin dollars fell, the retailer always made the smallest margin while carrying the highest labour cost. I can’t speak to this being the case with NewsQuake.

The News Corp. news story about NewsQuake was nice. News Corp. is a commercial partner of NewsQuake though. That was reflected in the puff piece. I smiled at a dinosaur of a company promoting this dinosaur group of services.

Good on NLNA for trying something. My suggestion to them tis to come up with ideas that are actually relevant for newsagents in 2025 and beyond. It’s not NewsQuake in my opinion.

The future of each Australian newsagency business can be found in trading outside the traditional shingle, away from agency products. Your future is in you being an innovative and proactive retailer. This is something I covered at length in my Lotterywest presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ELmh8Grzd8

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newsagency of the future

Has the pace of decline of over the counter newspaper sales increased in 2025?

The data I’ve seen from a range of Australian newsagencies suggests the answer is an unequivocal yes: the pace of decline of over the counter newspaper sales increased in 2025. While the dataset is small, it points to an accelerated decline in 2025, a trend that should be an urgent wake-up call for every newsagent. And, it’s not as if this is the first such wake-up call for Aussie newsagents.

Looking at data from several capital city newsagencies, unit sales of newspapers are down a staggering 13% year-on-year so far in 2025. That is a significant increase in the rate of decline compared to previous years.

Data Don’t Lie: Newspapers vs. Magazines

(Note: data data is technically the plural of the Latin word datum)

To understand how serious the situation is, we need to compare it to other categories. In the same businesses I’ve analysed, magazine unit sales have declined at the same pace or even slower than in previous years.

In one newsagency, while newspaper sales have declines by 13.5% this year, magazine unit sales are down  7.9%. If I remove sales spikes from that data, the magazine decline drops to under 7%. The gap between the newspaper crisis and the magazine slowdown is stark.

The situation for international newspapers is even more dire, with a decline of over 50%. While this could be a data categorisation issue, it more likely signals that these titles are in the most serious trouble of all.

From Profit Centre to Community Service

For generations, newspapers drove our businesses. They created valuable, reliable foot traffic. Today, that is no longer the case.

The gross profit contribution from newspapers now rarely covers the labour, space, and administrative costs of carrying them. For many, it has become a community service rather than a commercial imperative. Any newsagent still relying on newspapers for either their business purpose or their revenue needs to urgently reconsider that position.

Your Action Plan: Making Business-First Decisions

While offering newspapers may feel like a community obligation, we are businesspeople who must make commercial decisions. The newspaper publishers are theirs, you can see it in the products they give us to sell, where genuine news can often be hard to find.

It’s time to reflect this new reality in your own business.

  1. Relocate Your Newspapers: Move newspapers to a low-cost position in the shop, away from the prime real estate at the front door and counter.
  2. Minimise Your Costs: Streamline every process for managing newspapers. Handle returns, ordering, and merchandising in the most time-efficient and least costly way possible.
  3. Stop External Promotion: Cease any active promotion of newspapers outside your business. Your marketing dollars and efforts are better spent elsewhere.
  4. Re-evaluate Your Signage: Reconsider any “Newspaper” brand signs on your shopfront. They may be creating customer expectations that no longer align with the future of your business.
  5. Set Your Exit Point: For every title, determine the point at which it is no longer viable for you to carry it. Be prepared to make that call.

The Writing is on the Wall

It is only a matter of time before a major Australian capital city daily stops being published seven days a week. We’ve seen this movie before. Back in 2009, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer moved to a digital-only model. While the move was challenging, the title survived and exists today: SeattlePI.

The print medium is challenged, but the shift is bigger than that. How, when, and why we consume content, including news, has fundamentally changed. Our businesses, originally created for the distribution of news, are at the heart of these changes.

Newspapers are far less important to our businesses than ever before. It’s time our business decisions reflected that.

Our future is not news.

Our future, your future, is 100% yours to set, without the boundaries of legacy media. But that’s a topic for another day, including a discussion around what to call your business. Watch out, I’ll have something more on this very soon.

…
Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents keen to evolve their businesses for a bright future. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

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newsagency of the future

Have you ever done a Sunday reset in your newsagency?

The goal of a Sunday reset is to make a noticeable difference to the shop for you and your customers.

It’s easy to become ‘shop blind’ to your own retail space, walking past the same displays day after day. This routine can make your business feel stale to both you and your regulars. The goal of a Sunday reset is to shatter that stagnation and make a noticeable, energy-boosting difference for everyone. The key to success is you not overthinking it; this is about decisive action, not perfect planning. Give yourself no more than 2 hours.

Follow these easy steps:

  1. Declutter. Be ruthless. Chuck out what you know for sure is not selling and will never sell. Holding onto it costs you valuable space. Throw away anything at the counter that’s not used or of value there. Remove all products currently at the counter. Take down main product displays and placements in the first 2 metres inside the shop.
  2. Rebuild. Rebuild with fresh eyes. This is your chance to experiment. Put products at the counter people will understand and can easily grab. Include some high-margin products you think people would never buy at the counter. Create product displays and placements in the first 2 metres featuring items you would never normally put at the front of the shop.
  3. Talk about it. Jump on your business social media pages and brag about what you’ve done. Post before-and-after photos to highlight the change.
  4. Create a “Discovery Zone”. Designate one small, high-traffic area, a single shelf, a small table by the entrance, or the corner of your counter, as your dedicated “Discovery Zone”. Commit to changing only this spot every single week, no matter what. Feature a single product, a small collection of related items, or something completely unexpected. This trains your regular customers to look there first for what’s new, creating a sense of anticipation and ensuring your shop always has a fresh point of interest, even on weeks when you don’t have time for a full reset.

Do things you’d not do in your business, even things you are unsure of – for it’s this type of exp[erimentation where you can find fresh success.

What you want is shoppers entering the shop to notice that it’s different and to comment on it. This alone is a win for you since they are connecting change with your shop, it means they notice you.

You should feel good about a Sunday reset. Its good work to do on your business.

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Newsagency management

Best practice invoices make life easy for newsagents

Check out how easy it is to load an invoice from Hunter Leisure into newsagency software:

Hunter is managing fulfilment for Ty products (Beanie Boos) in Australia now.

For suppliers: what makes the Hunter Leisure invoice so good is the clear labelling and inclusion of product barcodes. This example from Hunter is gold standard.

For retailers: this import uses the AI import tools in the Tower Systems newsagency software. More than 1,800 newsagents have access to this software. the AI tools are proving to be a game-changer: saving time, reducing mistakes and facilitating money making business decisions.

I am using AI tools everyday in my own shop, as I mention here:

I get that for some, AI feels too hard to understand. It’s not. AI tools embedded in POS software are helping local independent retailers every day. If you are not using them, you are not competitive.

I’m serious.

I know of newsagents who have cut labour costs by $175.00 a week by using the AI tools. That’s a $9,100.00 saving a year. And that’s for one of many AI tools in the software.

If you want a profitable retail business, using AI tools is essential.

In the Tower Systems newsagency software, newsagents can use AT tools to:

  1. Import supplier invoices without needing EDI files.
  2. Compare prices with retailers nearby.
  3. Generate blog posts that drive traffic to the business website.
  4. Generate product descriptions quickly that help your products be found.
  5. Receive a text summary of trading for the day with meaningful local data insights beyond what POS software usually reports.
  6. Be told if theft may be an issue in the business.
  7. See revenue you’re missing thanks to AI driven inventory watch tools.
  8. See what product pairings could drive additional revenue from impulse purchases.

These AI tools in the Tower Systems newsagency software and more are helping engaged newsagents fundamentally change their approach to business decisions and in-store actions.

To use these tools you don’t need to be a tech expert, an AI specialist. They are embedded in the Tower Systems software and are accessible as part of the everyday use of the newsagency software.

Newsagents and other small business retailers often speak about being time-poor and the cost of labour in the business. The AI tools address both pain points. They save time, which can save labour costs.

Using the AI tools all comes down to whether you want to save your time or the cost of time of staff in the business.

…

You can reach Tower sales by phone on 1300 662 957 or by email at sales@towersystems.com.au. The website is: www.towersystems.com.au. If you’re a Tower customer, the knowledge base has advised on how to access the AI tools.

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Newsagency management

It’s Bluey day in the newsagency today

Two Bluey themed coins from the Royal Australian Mint go on sale today at 8:30am AEDT. The buzz around this release has been huge, resulting in calls, emails and more.

There are purchase limits in place to ensure an even spread for customers.

newsXpress is the exclusive outlet in our channel for these coins. There has been tight control relating to the release of product details and the actual on sale date.

We are leveraging the opportunity with Bluey greeting cards from Henderson Greetings, Bluey products from Ty along with Bluey books and puzzles. We are also selling the Bluey coins from our website: www.mintcoinshop.com.au.

Plenty of coin customers do buy other products.

A newsagency embracing mint coins can expect to do at least $20,000 a year in sales of the coins regardless of their location. I know of stores doing five times that easily. The thing about coins is that they always sell, and shoppers are prepared to drive several hours to get them. It’s an easy win category.

Today is going to be a good day.




5 likes
newsagency marketing

Lotterywest inches toward POS software integration for retailers

While there’s a lot to love about Lotterywest for retailers and the community, their tech is too often behind The Lott. They are catching up, thankfully. Here’s what they sent retailers yesterday:

From Wednesday 22 October, a new internationally recognised EAN13 Price Embedded Barcode will replace the existing price barcodes on Lotto tickets and receipts. Retailers using TOWER and POS Browser systems will now be able to scan Lotto tickets directly into their POS terminal.

What are the benefits?

More than just easier scanning, the new barcode also allows you to scan payouts, cancellations, and other receipts. Scan individual tickets to view game-level sales or use the summary ticket for a quick snapshot of store performance. There is no change to activating Scratch’n’Win tickets, however Scratch’n’Win payouts can now be scanned. In addition, enhanced transaction history is now available on the Photon screen, giving you greater sales visibility and making reconciliation more efficient.

The move will streamline lottery ticket selling for WA retailers.

Tower Systems is grateful to offer WA newsagents access to the Lotterywest integration. If you’re in WA and are a Tower Systems customer, click here for the advice on being ready for the launch by Lotterywest on October 22. Lotterywest sent an email to WA newsagents today. This brings WA newsagents closer to what other stated and territories have had for a while now. Tower has funded this work on behalf of newsagents.

Also in the Tower newsagency software are awesome integrated AI tools that are helping newsagents make big changes including cutting labour costs and making better quality decisions faster. These are the most advanced AI tools in newsagency software right now.

If you’re not currently a Tower customer, talk with Justin Randall on 0434 465 789. Justin grew up in newsagencies and then managed one of my own newsagencies in Victoria before moving into software sales role at Tower. His email is justin@towersystems.com.au

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Lotteries

Make Every Day Your Payday: My Guide to Daily Retail Profitability – small business retail advice

Too often, small business retailers including newsagents think their payday will come when they sell the business. It won’t. Thinking it will stops too many retailers focussing on what matters most:  daily profitability.

A valuable business tomorrow is built upon the profitable decisions you make today.

For this reason, I have long championed a simple, powerful mantra: Make every day your payday.

This principle sharpens your focus on the single goal of driving business value every day. It provides the lens through which you should evaluate every decision. I encourage you to ask yourself constantly: Does this action add to the profitability of my business today? If the answer is no, it’s worth asking why you are doing it.

The challenge, then, is how to put this into practice.

Here are the actionable strategies I recommend for building daily value in your retail business:

  • Optimise Your Roster. Most businesses can find opportunities to lower labour costs without compromising the customer experience. A lean, effective roster is key. Use tech tools, like the recent AI innovation, to reduce hours you pay for.
  • Quit Dead Stock. Look at dead stock weekly. Cut what’s not working. Too many retailers do not look at dead stock at all because it upsets them. This denial can cost a business thousands of dollars every few months. Dead stock is one of the biggest drains on profit I’ve ever seen.
  • Trade outside what’s expected of you. Don’t stock only what’s expected for your type of business. Offer products people don’t expect to see. This speed bump approach to what you stock can slow people, have them notice, and buy.
  • But The Best You Can. Negotiate the best possible terms and always pay suppliers on time to capture valuable settlement discounts.
  • Price Strategically. Don’t hesitate to adjust your prices. Mark up as high as you reasonably can without harming unit sales.
  • Increase Average Transaction Value. Help shoppers buy more each visit. Loyalty programs, product bundling, strategic product location and multi-buy offers are effective tools.
  • Curate Your Counter. Reserve the point-of-sale area for high-margin, impulse-buy items that are easily understood and complement a customer’s primary purchase. Change the counter weekly.
  • Deploy Your Best People. Your bets sellers should be always customer-facing.
  • Analyse Category Performance. Measure every product category by its gross profit () contribution. Discontinue underperforming lines.
  • Sell 24/7. Ensure your business can make sales even when the doors are closed. A functional and user-friendly online store is essential.
  • Expand Your Customer Base. Actively promote your business beyond your usual foot traffic and brand recognition to attract new demographics.
  • Create Compelling Displays. Use stunning window displays to attract passersby and design in-store layouts that encourage customers to browse beyond their intended purchase.
  • Leverage Product Adjacency. Understand what products are frequently bought together. Position them strategically to encourage a deeper, more valuable shopping basket.

Take Ownership of Your Profitability

For me, this is the most critical step. Ultimately, the financial health of your business is your responsibility. It is easy to blame suppliers, landlords, or other external factors, but I’ve learned that profitability always comes down to the decisions you make and the actions you take.

  1. Pay down debt.
  2. Always have access to an up to date P&L.
  3. Keep a clean balance sheet.

A relentless and clear focus on daily profit is the most reliable path to growth. This is far more powerful than waiting for a potential payday from a future sale.

This entire approach relies on one crucial habit: measuring the performance of your business. Your POS software provides the data you need to make these informed, profitable decisions. Use it as the essential tool it is.

…

I first shared make every day your payday 17 years ago when I saw that valuations of small retail businesses, like newsagencies, fall. This post today is refreshed and refocussed.

If you’d like to talk about this, I can be reached on 0418 321 338 or mark@newsxpress.com.au

16 likes
Newsagency management

August 2025 Australian household spending data has some notes for newsagents

There is relevant Australian data for August 2025 from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Monthly Household Spending Indicator. I think there are insights here for our channel.

Here’s a breakdown of the key figures and trends for August 2025 (seasonally adjusted, month-on-month change, current prices) direct from the ABS website:

  • Total Household Spending: Rose slightly by 0.1% month-on-month. Annually, it increased by 5.0% compared to August 2024.
  • Goods vs. Services: Services spending rose by 0.5%, while goods spending fell by 0.2%. This suggests a continued shift in consumer preference toward services.
  • Discretionary vs. Non-Discretionary: Discretionary spending saw a small increase of 0.2%, while non-discretionary (essential) spending declined by 0.1%.

Key Spending Categories (Discretionary and Others):

  • Largest Increases:
    • Transport (+0.8%) – This category includes discretionary items like vehicle purchases as well as non-discretionary motoring goods and services.
    • Miscellaneous goods and services (+0.8%) – This is a broad category that includes discretionary items like personal care, personal effects, and other services.
    • Clothing and footwear (+0.5%)
  • Largest Declines:
    • Alcoholic beverages and tobacco (-0.9%)
    • Recreation and culture (-0.9%)
    • Furnishings and household equipment (-0.1%)

Now, for some context for newsagents:

  • Newsagencies sell items that fall into several of the discretionary spending categories, such as:
    • Recreation and culture: (e.g., magazines, puzzles/games, toys often sold at newsagents) which overall saw a significant -0.9% decline in August.
    • Alcoholic beverages and tobacco: This category, which is traditional on some newsagency businesses, also saw a decline of -0.9%.
    • Miscellaneous goods and services: Discretionary sub-categories like Personal effects (e.g., stationery, gifts) saw an overall increase in this broad category.

Industry-specific reports for newsagencies suggest:

  • Traditional pillars struggling: Newsagents continue to experience year-on-year declines in traditional areas like magazine sales, newspaper sales, stationery revenue, and tobacco/candy sales (as of late 2025 reports reflecting recent trends).
  • Growth in hobbies/gifts/books/homewares/collectibles: Growth is being reported in categories like toys, cards, games, jigsaws, gifts, homewares and collectibles like pop culture and related items – suggesting that a newsagency with a diversified product offering might be experiencing a better result overall, where the decline in traditional items is offset by growth in hobby/gift-related discretionary purchases. Typically, this diversified business has an overall better gross profit position.

Overall, the August 2025 household spending data shows consumer activity moderating, particularly for certain discretionary goods, while services and some goods like transport saw increases.

After all that waffle, the question has to be: where is your business in this?

If your business performance is flat or declining, taking action, new action, is the only option. Continuing doing what you’re doing will continue with the results you have been experiencing.

7 likes
Newsagency management

How are your card sales in the newsagency?

In September 2025, compared to September 2024, unit sales were up 10% and revenue up 16% in our shop. Here’s the headline direct from our newsagency software.

This is a good result, well ahead of the channel average.

While our use of discount vouchers has helped drive this result, it’s the counter pitch, full place display of all lifestyle product and active engagement with the category overall that has helped drive this.

Cards remain a vitally important category for our businesses. Performance reflects investment in the business.

Too many newsagents leave the performance of cards in their shops to their card suppliers. This is a mistake.

If a newsagent says to me they are not happy with card sales, my first question is what are you doing about it? Typically in these situations they blame the card company or companies. This is a mistake. Here are easy things to do to grow card sales:

  1. Review pocket level performance and expand your best caption performers and cut those at the bottom.
  2. Full face display lifestyle.
  3. Always promote 2 or 3 cards at the counter.
  4. Pitch cards on social media: one card per post only.
  5. Have a loyalty program.
  6. Run regular shopper competitions supporting card sales.
  7. Be aware of every order placed for the business.
  8. Put out your own cards – don’t use a merchandiser.

staff training is essential for maximising card sales. Ensure your team understands the importance of the card department and can effectively engage with customers. Providing product knowledge and sales techniques can significantly impact customer satisfaction and purchase decisions. By investing in your staff, you’ll create a more knowledgeable and confident salesforce.

Newsagents have more control over the performance of cards in. their shop than they often think.

Check your card sales for September 2025 over 2024. Look for growth in unit sales and revenue.

Australian newsagents hold a significant position in the greeting card market, accounting for somewhere around 35% of all cards sold  nationally. As the largest single retail channel for greeting cards and with terrific gross profit margins of between 50 and 70%, cards are a cornerstone of the newsagency business.

Go on, check your September results.

7 likes
Greeting Cards

Project Deep Dive: an opportunity for newsagents to truly work on the future of their business

Three weeks ago newsXpress announced to its members Project Deep Dive, an off-site three-day small group retreat for newsagents to unpack, assess and refocus their business, in pursuit of a brighter future.

The one retreat planned quickly filled, so we scheduled another.

The Deep Dive is a confidential off-site session for no more than 8 businesses (more likely 4) and some of the newsXpress head office crew. Each Deep Dive will be conducted in places like Wellington, New Zealand, Seminyak, Bali and Port Douglas, Queensland. While the locations may seem exotic, the objective is, as much as possible, to take people away from their world, to provide them space to look at their business with perspective, to find a valuable path forward.

Each day starts at 8am with 4 hours of business. Each participating business will  have 20 minutes to present their business over the three days being transparent as to business performance, the local situation, opportunities and challenges. This will be followed by discussion of those businesses and workshopping options to fit the needs of the owners of the business.

Some will want to explore when and how to exit, others will want to discover new revenue streams, others will want to grow their retail footprint while others will want to turn their business profitable.

The goal of the deep dive is to offer a safe and confidential space in which all participating can work on each other’s business, consider opportunities and help plot a path forward.

I am keen for each participating business to come away with achievable action items they otherwise may not have discovered.

newsXpress is funding the meeting room, catering and accomodation for attendees. There is no fee to attend, no participation cost other than getting to the location.

Now, why am I writing about this here in this public place? I am considering making a Deep Dive session available to non newsXpress newsagents. If this interests you, please reach out direct and confidentially to me at mark@newsxpress.com.au. I don’t care if you are part of another group. What I do care about is that you want your business to thrive.

For any newsagent, member or not, who feels “stuck” or is seeking a new direction, this is an incredible opportunity. The value offered is disproportionately high compared to the cost required to participate. This project will be a huge success. We think others will copy it, which would be good.

Project Deep Dive is an exclusive newsXpress initiative.

…
Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents keen to evolve their businesses for a bright future. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

10 likes
Newsagency management

Helping newsagents deal with changes to magazine deliveries

As the delivery of magazines moves to one day a week, Tower Systems has published a training video covering how newsagents can easily handle this in the ir newsagency software.

The Tower newsagency software is used now by close to 1,900 newsagents.

Now while we’re talking about newsagency software, here’s what I think makes good newsagency software:

  • Is easy to use.
  • It genuinely saves you time.
  • It actively helps you make more money.
  • Is updated regularly.
  • Can be accessed from anywhere.
  • Helps you sell anywhere.
  • Connects with suppliers.
  • Is integrated with The Lott for seamless lottery transaction sales management.
  • Handles newspaper home delivery as some newsagents still do this themselves.
  • Handles publication prices on different days of the week.
  • Easily manages publication price changes.
  • Manages sub agent accounts.
  • Handles product putaways for customers.
  • Manages special orders for customers.
  • Integrates direct with Shopify, Woo Commerce, Big Commerce and more.
  • Connects with roster apps.
  • Connects with delivery apps.
  • Connects with Xero.
  • Facilitates pre-selling products.

And so so much more than this list. Good newsagency software is all of this and more. It is flexible too, and constantly evolving given that the needs of the Australian newsagency channel are constantly evolving.

I know, I am biased. I founded Tower Systems and while I sold that business a year ago I remain actively involved. So, yes, I am biased. The thing is though, newsagents have noted and Tower is the industry standard.

This all matters because our channel is rapidly changing and you need software that can change with you, software than can serve the needs of an evolving business. Given the diversity of retail businesses served by its vertical market POS software, Tower can be of service to you.

Sure there are the newsagency specific needs, like changing the day of delivery ion magazines. The real opportunities like is time saving, strategic decision support and gross profit growing decisions you can make from the right newsagency software.

I own and run a newsagency and use the software daily. This is the biggest difference that Tower leverages for newsagents. I’m grateful to have owned and run newsagencies since February 1996. It was a game-changer then and continues to contribute to the software wonderfully today.

You can reach the Tower sales crew on 1300 662 957 or by email on sales@towersystems.com.au.

10 likes
newsagent software

Halloween is an easy retail opportunity most Aussie newsagents fail to embrace

Halloween is a tiny season for newsagents yet for similar businesses in the US it is worth sometimes more than half the revenue value of Christmas.

Okay, the US has a bigger engagement with Halloween as a season.  That’s no excuse. I know of newsagents in Australia who do thousands on Halloween related sales. This is a retail seasonal opportunity any newsagent can embrace.

In the US $12 billion is spent on decorations, costumes, candy, and greeting cards, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). It grows annually.

In Australia, the spend is reportedly around $450 million annually. According to The Australian Retailers Association, 20% of Aussies engage with the season.

Among retailers, especially newsagents, there is ignorance as to what engagement can look like. There is candy for sure, for kids out for that. There are costumes – an easy market for us. Then there is home decor for adults hosting Halloween parties. This home decor is a space in which our shops have had terrific success over the years.

You can choose to be at the discount variety any with cheap products, the mid level with a more thoughtful offering or at the high end with $1,000+ pieces. You can land where works best for you.

The thing is, most Aussie newsagents won’t land, most won’t be in the Halloween space, most will miss this opportunity.

I like Halloween in retail because it’s fun, financially successful and attracting new shoppers. In our Malvern shop on GlenferrieRoad our front window has people stopping. Plenty step in for a photo.



Now, the typical Malvern shopper is 70+, retired, conservative. They are not what you would think fits a typical Halloween shopper. The thing is, they love the display, get a smile from it and plenty bring others to show them.

This window placement of Halloween is getting the shop noticed by more people.

Our embrace of opportunities like this outside of what is traditional for newsagents is one reason we continue to enjoy double-digit growth in this business.

Any newsagent can embrace Halloween in the city or country, in the Main Street or in a shopping centre. Sure what we have done is a bit over the top. You don;t need to do this.

The keys with Halloween are to be bold, have fun and give shoppers an experience they will talk about.

I am certain that you could grow Halloween to be worth at least 50% of Christmas in your business.

Now if you do embrace Halloween, be sure to promote it outside the business.

This type of out of store marketing is vital to finding even more new shoppers.

8 likes
Management tip

Now here’s an idea to prime interest in Christmas

The pressure to create a “perfect” Christmas in retail is immense. Forget all that. Right now, today, my suggestion is that you start a small conversation.

Walk outside with your A-frame sign and a marker. In big, friendly letters, write:

“HELP US SETTLE A DEBATE: When should Christmas music officially start?”

Underneath, make two columns: “November” and “December”. If you’re game, you could head a column “October”.

Leave the marker there for people to add a tick.

Or, do this on social media. Or, write it on your front window. or, put up a big sign in your shop. The key is: ask the question, invite engagement.

This isn’t about selling. It’s about connection. It makes people smile, starts conversations, and turns your shop into the heart of the town’s festive debate.

You don’t need a budget to create Christmas spirit. You just need to ask this simple question. Everything else grows from this first, tiny step.

9 likes
marketing tip

An unexpected $1,890.00 windfall

I made this short video yesterday to show some newsagents I was talking with how to create and send a basic marketing email in Shopify. In the email I pitched a new silver coin celebrating the classic 1960s Batman car that we have at a website connected to my newsagency: www.mintcoinshop.com.au. Two hours after I sent the email we’d sold 9 of the Batman car coins – $1,890.00. The email generated $2,000.00 in sales of other coins.

Here’s the video:

I am sharing the video here to be transparent about the ease of sending a marketing email through Shopify. Originally, I made the video to be private and shared with a few. Today I thought why not show off this simple and successful opportunity.

Online is vital for the future of retailers today, especially newsagents where so much is changing about our businesses.

Now if you have a website and are not getting the traffic to and sales  that you want, here are steps we suggest you consider:

  1. Keep your Google business profile current with fresh content. Always link back to your website. Post at least weekly. If you’re not sure what a Google business profile is, Google it. Every business should have one.
  2. Publish blog posts of useful content about your products. If you are running Shopify, use the blog function provided and have a feed of blog posts on your home page. Show your points of difference in the content you publish. Publish at least 3 new posts each week. Posts should be 350+ words and use the keyword you are targeting at least 5 times.
  3. Make sure your website is known to Google and that your sitemap is regularly shared when the website has new content – to get your new content found.
  4. Consider turning on the Google product feed. This itself is free. You can also pay for your products to feature in google search results.
  5. Provide entertaining and useful content on social media. Posts saying buy this are useless, people will ignore them, and your business. How to use a product content is good as is content that makes fun of the business and / or people in it. Sharing local insights is also considered good content. Include a link to your website in posts when it makes sense.
  6. Re-purpose content. For example you might have a social media post that is also part of a bigger blog post on the website.
  7. Email past customers at least monthly with an update on new stock.
  8. Include pages on your website that share useful information. These pages should speak to your knowledge. Sharing your knowledge is key to you being seen as an authoritative source and this is the first step in AI models including your content in their results. This is the new search.
  9. Ensure your product names reflect what people search for.
  10. Ensure product descriptions are comprehensive, useful, and, containing text people are searching for.
  11. In every communication about your website –  email, social media, on the website itself – add value. By value, I mean make sure that what you write or say is helpful and supports your mission to be a trusted source of products and knowledge and enjoyment related to those products.
  12. Refresh the look and feel of the website at least yearly. A theme change is Shopify could be all that’s needed here.
  13. Do not outsource this work. Doing it yourself helps you learn and decide on the steps that best suit the type of business you are running.

A website is a hungry beast.

newsXpress offers its members access to a unique set of support services to help newsagents maximise the online opportunity. From strategic to tactical, newsXpress newsXpress difference for online success can add tens of thousands of dollars of gross profit.

No other group has the experience and tech skillset to offer what newsXpress offers newsagents. If this interests you, please email help@newsxpress.com.au.

16 likes
newsagency marketing

Giving your marketing group control of your social media feed is a dumb move and here’s why

I was looking through newsagent social media feeds this week and was surprised at how many newsagents give their marketing group control over the content on their local business social media, content published in the name of the business.

Almost all the centrally served content I saw was space filling rubbish, the kind of social media content people scroll past.

Nothing, no content, no posts would be better than this filler.

A promise that a marketing group will manage your social media for you or publish content for you is a bad offer for any local retail business.

The centrally controlled content I saw this week is the kind of content that results in newsagents being judged as out of date, as dying businesses.

Typically, this content is pitching low margin products over which newsagents have minimal control and from which they make agent fees and not valuable retailer profit.

If you have given a marketing group control over your social media post, my opinion is that you should disconnect them from this, that you should take control for your own social media content. Reflect you and your local business in your posts.

Have fun.

Give something of yourself.

Stop trying to sell.

Entertain.

Show your local difference.

Here are 3 key reasons you should control what your business posts on social media:

  1. Controlling your social media preserves your shop’s authentic voice, allowing you to build a genuine connection with the local community.
  2. Handling your content yourself provides the agility to share timely updates, such as new stock arrivals or spontaneous promotions, without delay.
  3. Managing your own channels fosters deeper customer engagement through knowledgeable, direct interaction and is considerably more cost-effective.

If you are not sure what I am talking about, go search the social media pages of newsagents you know. Maybe you ‘ll come across the junk posts to which I refer earlier. I won’t name a group to search for because I don’t want another letter from their lawyer. But they are bad, for sure, a waste of time, a waste of pixels.

As a local shop, one advantage is people. Let people connect with people. Consider this type of content:

  • Meet the Team: Post a friendly photo of yourself or your staff with a short bio or a fun fact. This puts a face to the business and makes you more approachable.
  • Behind the Scenes: Share snippets of your day-to-day life in the shop—organising a new display, unboxing an order, or even just making your morning coffee. It feels genuine and exclusive.
  • Customer Features: With their permission, share a photo of a happy customer with their purchase. This acts as a powerful, real-world testimonial.

Celebrate your local community:

  • Local Love: Give a shout-out to the cafe next door where you get your coffee, or mention a nearby park. This builds goodwill with other local businesses and strengthens your community ties.
  • In-Store Environment: Post photos of your shop’s interior, especially when the light is nice or you’ve created a beautiful new display. Make your physical space look as inviting online as it is in person.
  • Neighbourhood Events: Share information about local markets, festivals, or events happening in your area. This positions you as a helpful community hub, not just a retailer.

Offer content that adds value:

  • Tips and Tricks: Share your expert knowledge relating to products you sell without telling people to shop from you.
  • Answer FAQs: Turn frequently asked questions into content. Create a post or a short video answering a common query about a product’s material, care instructions, or origin.
  • Gift Guides: Curate gift ideas for upcoming occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays. This is helpful for your customers and a soft way to promote multiple products at once.

Yes, I know all this sounds like hard work and you feel you don’t have time.

So what?!

You chose to own and run a newsagency.

Make the time.

Investing in the public face of your business is one of the most valuable investments you can make. Delegating this to someone else, maybe someone far far away from your shop, is a mistake since it would be like delegating responsibility for the success of your local business.

Leek at what you’re posting on your social media. Make it yours, make it local, make it something of which you can be proud.

Stop outsourcing the heartbeat of your business. That generic content is a waste of pixels and a public declaration that you’ve given up on personally connecting with your customers. Taking control is non-negotiable work. It’s the difference between being a passive agent for national brands and being the owner of a local business that actually matters to its community. Make the time, make it yours, and make it count.

14 likes
Newsagency management

Warning: read and understand the newsagency marketing group agreement before you sign it

I had a newsagent on the phone yesterday asking for help to get out of an agreement they signed a couple of months ago with a marketing group I won’t name. The newsagent says they were told they could leave if they were not happy. The agreement they signed locks them in. They’ve already been told by the head of the group that there would be legal action if they try and leave.

The agreement is clear. They are locked in for a few years with a group they are unhappy with, a group they say is not helping their business.

Before you sign an agreement with a marketing group read the contract. read it. be sure you understand it. be sure you know what you would be agreeing to if you sign it and are happy to stand by the terms of the agreement

Do not sign the agreement based on what someone says. Read it. Sign the agreement based only on what the agreement says.

This is a problem in our channel, especially for new newsagents buying their first business. They are easily dazzled by a friendly sales pitch. Beware the friendly sales pitch. You’re not signing to be their friend, you’re signing for the business they represent to help you thrive, or at least that’s what you’re hoping for.

If you are uncomfortable with the agreement, don’t sign it.

Make sure you know the minimum period you’re required to be in the group. This is your locked-in period. Read it in the contract. Are you sure you want to commit for that period of time?

If you’re not sure, don’t sign. You’re in control at this point.

Now, if the business you are buying is branded to a group and they are pressuring to sign to keep that branding and they say there is a cost to you if you don’t join the group because you have too de-brand that’s nonsense. The current owner needs to sort out the branding before they sell. Don’t be duped into thinking you must stick with the current brand if you are not sure.

Do what you think is right for you.

Now, on the brands. Take a moment to think about them. What do they stand for? How are they known by shoppers? What is their value? I don’t want spin answers from the groups. rather, I want answers from shoppers.

With any of the groups in our newsagency channel you can visit 10 different shops in the group and have 10 very different experiences. Consistency is not there.

The brand that matters is your brand, what you call, your business. It’s what you do locally that matters.

Before you sign an agreement with any newsagency marketing group, read it, understand it and only sign if you fully understand it and are completely happy with all of the terms.

The person I spoke with yesterday was in tears. They desperately want to leave the group but are scared of legal action. An ethical marketing group would help them leave to find a home in which they are more comfortable.

21 likes
Ethics

The West Australian price rise will hurt print sales

The West Australian cover price increased 50 cents today, to $3.00. It’s a 20% increase. (corrected)

From each sale, a retail newsagent makes 30 cents.

If a customer pays by a card and the shop does not surcharge, what the shop makes gets cut to 29.58 cents but more on that another time.

The shop has to fund theft from the 30 cents. Oh, and the 30 cents has to cover the cost of labour, the retail space, and overheads.

Let’s say a typical newsagency sells 30 of these newspapers a day. Heck, let’s make it 50 a day for this scenario.

That’s $15.00 the newsagent makes, not allowing for payment processing costs.

The time taken to unpack the papers, count them, make off the invoice and put out the stock and take off and count the unsold stock is, say, 10 minutes. That costs the business at least $4.20. If we were being thorough in analysing labour costs we would add a cost for each sale, but let’s not worry about that today.

The newspapers take up a set amount of space. Allowing for average lease costs, average shop space and a typical newspaper placement, it’s reasonable to say the retail space costs between $1.00 and $1.50 a day. For this post, we’ll agree on a $1.00 a day cost.

On average, the cost of theft of newspapers costs newsagents the equivalent of 2% of total newspaper sales in a year. In a shop like our example here it’s like the cost of a paper a day. I’m happy to cut that in half and say the cost of theft averages out to $1.50 a day.

So, from the $15.00 made from papers each day we deduct $4.20 being the labour cost, $1.00 being the cost of the retail space and $1.50 being the cost of theft. This leave $8.30. not allowing for the overheads of running the business and not allowing for opportunity cost – what we could do in that space if we did not have newspapers.

Until around eight years ago, newspaper traffic was valuable for a newsagency with the habit based shopper purchasing enough other products to make being a newspaper destination worth it. With newspapers now everywhere, the habit based shopper is rare, making the value of the newspaper shopper less.

Back to $8.30 the newsagent in my hypothetical makes from selling fifty newspapers. That’s 16.6 cents per sale.

The moment you slice the 50 newspapers a day into half, the numbers are awful as the labour cost and retail space costs are the same and theft will not be far off being the same. At 25 papers a day, the newsagent is left with 80 cents a day to cover the labour cost of selling 25 newspapers.

If you’re not a newsagent and reading this maybe now you can see why more newsagents are choosing to not sell newspapers.

Given the cost of labour retail space and theft, a $3.00 sale of The West Australian should, in my opinion, net a newsagent at least $1.00. That would be closer to being fair.

The current model of compensating retail newsagents for the sale of newspapers does not provide for a living wage. It is unfair. Nine Media, News Corp and other newspaper publishers need to pay a fair commercial rate for the services provided. That’s what a socially responsible business would do.

I’d love to see how the supermarkets are compensated, like completely compensated. I can’t imagine them accepting what newsagents get.

19 likes
Social responsibility

The Existential Threat of a Surcharging Ban to Australian Retail Newsagencies

A proposed ban on card payment surcharging by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) poses a direct and existential threat to the viability of hundreds of small business newsagencies in my opinion. While intended to simplify payments for consumers, such a policy fails to account for the unique, low-margin business model of newsagents, who lack the ability to absorb these costs.

This would disproportionately punish small businesses and could lead to widespread closures.

1. The razor-thin margins of survival in the average Aussie retail newsagency

The typical Australian newsagency operates on a knife’s edge. The financial model, based on industry averages, leaves almost no room for additional costs:

  • Typical Gross Profit:
  • Rent Costs: (of revenue)
  • Labour Costs: (of revenue)
  • Operating Overheads: (of revenue)
  • Final Net Operating Profit:

This net margin is the entire buffer a newsagent has to cover unforeseen expenses, reinvest in the business, and earn a living. It is a financial reality that cannot sustain new, unrecoverable costs.

This situation is a function of the history of the newsagency channel and years of price control applied suppliers such that the price of many products have not kept up with inflation.

2. The burden of price-controlled products

Unlike most retailers, newsagents are price-takers, not price-setters, for their core products. These goods, including lottery tickets, newspapers, magazines, and greeting cards, account for approximately of total revenue in many stores.

Newsagents do not set the retail price of these items; they only earn a small, fixed commission. Therefore, they cannot increase prices to offset the cost of card transactions. This leaves them uniquely vulnerable to any changes in payment regulations.

3. How payment fees destroy profit

Surcharging is not a profit centre; it is a transparent cost-recovery mechanism. When a customer chooses to pay by card, the surcharge covers the fee charged by the bank. Without it, the cost is deducted directly from the newsagent’s small share of the profit.

The impact on the gross profit from each sale is devastating:

  • Lottery Tickets: Payment fees consume of the gross profit.
  • Newspapers: Payment fees consume of the gross profit.
  • Magazines: Payment fees consume of the gross profit.
  • Greeting Cards: Payment fees consume of the gross profit.

Forcing a newsagent to absorb these costs is not a minor adjustment, it’s a direct erasure of their already minimal profit margin.

4. An uneven playing field and inevitable closures

A blanket ban on surcharging would create an unfair market, favouring large corporations over small businesses. The two major supermarkets leverage their immense volume to negotiate dramatically lower payment processing fees from banks, a privilege unavailable to any small newsagent.

Forcing newsagents onto the same regulatory field without providing them with the same cost basis is inequitable.

A ban on surcharging would shift this entire financial burden back onto the business owner. Wiping out the fragile net profit margin will make hundreds of newsagencies instantly unviable. The foreseeable result is at least 100 small business closures within a year, hollowing out local shopping strips and costing local jobs.

I urge the RBA to consider these severe, unintended consequences and recognise that for many small retailers, surcharging is not a choice, but a fundamental requirement for survival.

…
Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents keen to evolve their businesses for a bright future. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

44 likes
Newsagent representation

The RBA’s surcharge ban proposals will hurt small businesses and fuel inflation, warns industry body

The Independent Payments Forum (IPF), an advocacy group representing over 120,000 small and medium businesses across Australia including newsXpress members (newsXpress is a paid-up member), has issued a stark warning to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). In a detailed submission, the IPF argues that the RBA’s proposed ban on card payment surcharging, without first addressing the “inequitable, high fees” paid by small businesses, will stifle competition, harm productivity, and create upward pressure on inflation.

The comprehensive submission is a response to the RBA’s “Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging” consultation paper. The IPF contends that the RBA’s proposals are based on flawed assumptions and will have far more serious consequences for the Australian economy than the central bank’s modelling suggests.

Surcharging more widespread than RBA believes

A central point of contention is the prevalence of surcharging. The RBA’s paper suggests that only 10% of businesses currently surcharge for card payments. However, the IPF’s survey data paint a different picture, indicating the figure is closer to 45% among “high street businesses”. In some sectors, such as pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurants, the number of businesses applying a surcharge is as high as 79%.

This significant discrepancy, the IPF argues in its submission, “throws serious doubt on the RBA’s associated economic impact assumptions”.

Price hikes and job losses possible

If a surcharge ban is implemented without a significant reduction in underlying fees, small businesses have indicated they will have little choice but to raise prices how else are they to cover the business cost. According to the IPF’s current research, 56% of businesses would be forced to increase their prices to cover the new costs. A further 8% would need to let staff go, and 5% fear they would go out of business entirely.

The IPF highlights that many small businesses, such as newsagents and cafes, operate on razor-thin profit margins. In our newsagency channel the problem is compounded boy us selling products over which we have no control as to retail price. Absorbing a typical 1.4% blended merchant fee could reduce a newsagents typical gross profit on magazines by 5.6% and on newspapers by 11.66%. 

Price increases would affect all consumers, including those who choose to pay with cash, as businesses would be forced to build the cost of card acceptance into their general pricing. Again, newsagents are limited as to what they can do here. The IPF submission points to comments from Qantas, which has already stated that the cost of acceptance “will likely be passed on to our consumers and our passengers through higher ticket prices”.

The inability of price increases for newsagents with papers, magazines, cards, lottery products and a bunch of other services disadvantages our channel. It places a burden on local small business newsagents that some businesses will not survive.

The real problem: blended rates, failed LCR, and unregulated scheme fees

The IPF submission argues that banning surcharges targets a symptom, not the cause of the problem: decades of market failure that has left small businesses paying disproportionately high fees. They call for urgent policy reform in three key areas:

  1. Ban Blended Rates: The practice of charging a single “blended” flat rate for both debit and credit card transactions results in higher prices for small businesses. It forces businesses to cross-subsidise expensive credit cards with cheaper debit card transactions. Meanwhile, big businesses are offered more transparent and cheaper “interchange++” plans.
  2. Mandate Dynamic Least-Cost Routing (LCR): LCR is designed to route dual-network debit card payments through the cheapest network available, delivering savings to merchants. However, the IPF states that the industry’s self-regulated adoption of LCR has been a “complete failure,” with banks and payment providers failing to pass savings on. The IPF is calling for the RBA to mandate “opt-out Dynamic Least-Cost Routing,” which they claim could reduce debit transaction fees for some businesses by up to 70%.
  3. Regulate and Cap Scheme Fees: Fees charged by international card schemes like Visa and Mastercard remain unregulated and have been rising, putting upward pressure on costs for merchants. The IPF argues that the RBA’s proposal to merely “set an expectation” that these fees won’t increase is insufficient. Citing the complexity of over 400 different fee categories, the IPF joins calls from banks like Westpac for these fees to be regulated and capped.

A path forward: key recommendations from the IPF

To create a fairer and more competitive payments system, the IPF has put forward a series of recommendations to the RBA, including:

  1. Ban blending of debit and credit card fees for small businesses.
  2. Mandate opt-out Dynamic LCR to ensure savings are passed on to merchants.
  3. Regulate and cap scheme fees.
  4. Delay any surcharge ban for 12 months to allow businesses time to renegotiate contracts with service providers, and in the case of newsagents to negotiate with suppliers who control newsagent gross profit.
  5. Fund an independent comparison tool to help merchants navigate complex fee structures.
  6. Re-evaluate interchange fees, suggesting higher caps for high-fraud overseas transactions and near-zero rates for secure domestic transactions.

All of this should matter to newsagents. In our channel though, it is only ALNA and newsXpress who have invested in this representative vital work by the IPF.

This issue is an example of an issue newsagents can use to compare marketing groups. Here is newsXpress investing money to lobby for fairness for all newsagents. This is work being done, for newsagents. No marketing puffery, just practical work for costs that are at the core of every newsagency business.

The submission by the IPF is good, well thought out, professional. I am proud and grateful that newsXpress is part of this.

You can help by asking your local member of federal parliament where they stand on this matter.

…
Mark Fletcher founded newsagency software company Tower Systems and is the CEO of newsXpress, a marketing group serving innovative newsagents keen to evolve their businesses for a bright future. You can reach him on mark@newsxpress.com.au or 0418 321 338.

16 likes
Newsagent representation
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