Author: Mark Fletcher

This is a question I hear often from newsagents – they want to connect somehow with e-books and digital magazine subscriptions.

The easiest way I see today to tap into this consumer is to sell tablet computers and smartphones. Hands down this is the easiest and fastest way to be more relevant to the consumer accessing newspaper, magazine and book type content through a mobile device. However, it takes investment in inventory, display space and staff training – especially given the businesses you are competing with.

There are newsagents connecting to this technology opportunity through store-within-a-store concepts and others simply offering the devices for sale. But most newsagents are not playing in this space.

Jenlist is the best company to talk with here – they know the space well and offer a good selection of gear.  No, this isn’t an ad – they don’t know I am publishing this recommendation.

I have heard of several newsagents who have decided to not run Halloween this year because of the strong engagement in the season by a nearby supermarket – usually a Coles or Woolworths – last year.

Rather than seeking out Halloween product not sold in the supermarkets, the newsagents I have heard from and or about appear to have given up. We have to fight for business, every day. Yes, it’s hard work. But we must. We can’t let the supermarkets win because of fear!

I have seen the Halloween offers at Coles and Woolworths. They are focused on candy – with some terrific displays – and a limited range of cheap Halloween items like witches hats and some make up items. Neither has what I’d consider to be a full Halloween line. Indeed, I see plenty of opportunities not competing with them.

With several supermarkets near my newsagencies this is what we are doing – focusing on products they don’t have. We’re happy with the results so far – good early sales.

The glitter pumpkins in the photo are the hero of Halloween so far. They attract attention. They work at home or in the office. They take Halloween to a new level – they also make it more accessible. Once we realised this we ordered heaps more. Selling out early in the season is a great reason to get more stock and see how far we can go.

I understand how frustrating it is when a major competes in a season you used to have to yourself. It’s not a reason to give up though. We are retailers, small business retailers, newsagents – just about the toughest type of retailers out there given what we have put up with.

Over the weekend I ran a survey here, asking newsagents how many hours they worked in their business.  The collation of the 137 responses shows, not unsurprisingly, that most work significantly more than an average working week.  Here are the numbers:

Politicians need to understand the time we all invest in our businesses and consider this as they develop polices. While some businesses owners will always work long hours others will happily transfer some of their hours to employees if the conditions are right.

Newsagent suppliers need to look at these figures and consider how they can help newsagents save time. For example XchangeIT ought to deliver on magazine statement reconciliation. magazine distributors ought to give newsagents control over supply and thereby reduce the time we spend on processing returns.

There are many areas where newsagents could save time and thereby achieve a better work / life balance than available with some of today’s archaic processes.

Thanks to the 137 newsagents who voted. Given the percentage of newsagents represented I think the results represent the industry average.