May was a tough month for newsagents
I have now reviewed sales data for May 2010 and compared this with May 2009 for twelve newsagencies. It’s been a challenging month for newsagents and retail in general.. While there is a risk in only looking at data for a month, here is a summary of what I have seen:
- Magazines. The average decline in unit sales is 4%. That said, my newsXpress Forest Hill store recorded year on year growth of 4% in May. Our weeklies are up 7%. Looking closely at the performance of the 12 stores though, May 2010 is better than thefirst quarter of the year – the decline appears to have softened.
- Newspapers. Down 4% in unit sales. Newspapers are more affected by the news cycle.
- Stationery. Sales are pretty much line ball year on year in most stores for which I have data.
- Books. Excellent growth in the stores with book sales at $2,000 a month or more – i.e. stores selling more than the discount novels. Of the twelve in this initial sample, only three were into books in any reasonable volume.
- Copying & faxing. Double digit growth in all but two stores.
- Gifts. I only looked at stores with $2,000 a month in sales or more – double digit growth in most. Of the 12 stores, only four were into gifts in any volume.
- Cards. This is the hardest hit department. Red ink everywhere – declining unit sales ranging between 5% and 20%.
- Customer traffic. Down on average 7% – but a couple reporting a concerning double digit decline.
I have seen Year to Date sales data from a landlord for our retail category and they are reporting a decline of 9%.
While the news does not look ideal, there is good news in the data for entrepreneurial newsagents who are driving change through their businesses.
