newsXpress Blog

From easy actionable business advice to advocacy to practical in-store help, newsXpress is helping local Aussie newsagents transform their businesses.

Ten months ago, we embarked on a small experiment: building a POS software connected Shopify website for a local suburban Melbourne newsXpress shop on a tight budget. The goal was to test the waters and see what could be achieved with minimal investment.

That website has, as at the end of April 2025, racked up more than $125,000 in online sales.

What a huge boost to the physical shop!

Starting with a modest product range, the website quickly began generating sales. In just the past seven weeks, this simple online store has raked in over $18,000 without any additional marketing spend or inventory investment. This new video from us takes you behind the scenes on what we have been able to do through the Hugs and Love website integration with our POS software.

The Hugs and Love website (www.hugsandlove.com.au) is a prime example of how seamlessly integrating Tower Systems POS software with Shopify can streamline online sales and fulfilment processes for local businesses. This powerful combination allows businesses to efficiently manage their inventory, process orders, and fulfill purchases both in-store and online.

By leveraging the strength of these two platforms, local shops can:

– Expand their reach: Attract new customers and increase sales beyond their physical storefront.

– Simplify operations: Streamline inventory management and order processing, saving time and reducing errors.

– Enhance customer experience: Offer a convenient and efficient online shopping experience.

The experience with this website has been valuable in helping us take care of the tech for local small business retailers and provide business advice for implementation, advice based on lived experience.

With so many offering website development services, we differentiate ourselves by providing business operational advice and support to make the revenue dream from online sales a reality.

Everything we do in this POS software / Shopify integration space is about maximising profit for the local small business retailers we are grateful to serve. Our innovation with Shopify is part of this.

Profit is vital in any business and especially vital in local small retail businesses.

If you are a small business retailer looking to earn more money from online sales, Tower Systems can help. Our team of experts will work with you to create a customised solution that meets your unique needs. We can demonstrate our POS software and demonstrate integrations like with we have done with Shopify for many of our customers. Better still, we can connect you with many other retailers for whom we have done this already.

Tower Systems is a small business focussed POS software company developing, and supporting POS software for niche specialty retailers.

Here is a video we made five months ago.

If you recognise the need for a transformation in your newsagency but find your business data isn’t up to scratch, don’t despair. There are immediate actions you can take right there on the shop floor to initiate change.

In our experience, businesses in this situation often have a very traditional shop floor layout. The advice we are about to give is all about deliberately disrupting what you currently have. We have found this can be incredibly helpful for retailers to see their business with fresh eyes and identify new possibilities. It’s a radical and somewhat rough approach, designed to shake things up significantly.

It’s crucial to understand that whatever changes you implement aren’t set in stone. Make these moves, observe the results, learn from them, and be prepared to adjust. Your shop needs to be in a constant state of evolution.

First: Confronting the Old Guard – The Newspaper and Magazine Unit

If your shop features a traditional magazine fixture running down the length of the store, with newspapers facing customers as they enter, here’s what you need to do: remove all the stock and rip the entire unit out. Don’t overthink this; just get it done.

That prime central space is valuable retail real estate that should be dedicated to products yielding a gross profit of 50% or more. Allocating this high-visibility area to products with a 25% gross profit or less is simply not a sound business decision.

Tear the whole unit out.

Now, using basic, low-cost shelving – the kind you’d find in any hardware store – relocate your magazines to the back wall of the shop. Whatever was previously in that back wall space will need to be moved elsewhere. Simple strip shelving with adjustable brackets will suffice.

Place your newspapers on a low, flat shelf beneath the magazines.

Furthermore, if you’ve been displaying newspaper or magazine posters, it’s time to stop. They don’t effectively increase sales.

Second: Filling the Newly Liberated Space

Find a couple of old tables or some sturdy wooden boxes. Use these to create display areas on the main shop floor. On each of these makeshift displays, tell a story about a specific product category. Bring products to this central part of the shop that customers might not typically encounter.

If you don’t have spare tables, check out your local op. shop, your garage, or a discount retailer like Amart. Keep your spending to an absolute minimum.

Resist the urge to use spinners in this newly recovered space.

Carefully select products that you are genuinely proud to offer.

Crucially, make sure to include some products that you think won’t work for your customers. This is a vital step in uncovering what you don’t yet know about their preferences and buying habits.

Be prepared to completely change these displays within a week if they aren’t generating the results you’re looking for.

Three: Observe and Learn

The initial changes might not yield immediate success, and that’s perfectly okay. If they don’t, make further adjustments and continue experimenting until you see positive outcomes.

You might also experience some early wins. If that happens, capitalise on it – do more of what’s working.

If your business still has that traditional central magazine and newspaper unit, we suspect you’ll see some encouraging results from this radical shift. That’s been the pattern in every similar business we have seen try it.

Most importantly, have fun with this process.

We know one newsagent who, after making these changes, hosted a Saturday afternoon sausage sizzle specifically so people could watch as they literally used a chainsaw to dismantle and remove the old magazine unit from the shop!

The fundamental aim of this initial move is to disrupt your ingrained view of your business. Yes, the shop floor will be temporarily disrupted, but more importantly, you need to be disrupted in your thinking. That’s why you need to undertake something radical that you’re likely to initially resist. These suggested changes could potentially do more for your personal perspective than for the immediate bottom line of the business itself.

newsXpress helps Aussie newsagents and small business retailers thrive.

If you’re serious about transforming your retail newsagency or any other local small retail business with which you are involved, whether it’s a traditional setup or one that’s already evolving, the journey begins with a clear understanding of your current position. It all starts with your data.

Knowing exactly where your business stands is the bedrock upon which all future progress will be built. This means taking a comprehensive look at your operations from various angles. You need to gather the following:

• An up-to-date profit and loss statement. This provides a snapshot of your recent financial performance.
• A current debtors report and a current creditors report. These show who owes you money and who you owe money to.
• A complete list of all monies owed by the business, both formal loans and informal debts.
• A stock listing showing the total value of your current inventory.
• A dead stock listing, detailing all items with zero sales recorded in the past six months or more, along with the total value of this stagnant inventory.
• A floor map illustrating the gross profit percentage contribution by each product department or category in relation to its allocated floor space.
• Your total rostered hours for a typical week, including all owners regardless of whether they draw a formal wage, alongside a calculation of your revenue per hour.
• A revenue comparison down to the individual category level, comparing the most recent six-month period with the same six months from the previous year.

Simply stating a desire to transform isn’t enough. You need to deeply understand your current situation and the business’s capacity for change. The information listed above will reveal immediate opportunities and provide insights into the business’s ability to fund the costs associated with transformation. This list is the essential starting point for any business I work with on making significant changes.

As you delve into this pool of data, my strong recommendation is to first seek out easy wins that can pave the way for a more focused and productive approach moving forward. For instance, if you discover $10,000 or more tied up in dead stock that has already been paid for, get rid of it! The freed-up cash and valuable space will give you an immediate boost. To clear this stock effectively, consolidate it into a designated clearance area – perhaps a table or a few tables. Apply a consistent discount across all these items; I suggest a straightforward 50% reduction.

While you’re tackling the dead stock, simultaneously work through the rest of your data. Aim to understand the current performance of your business and carefully examine the comparison report for any readily apparent “green shoot” opportunities within your existing product categories. This could reveal a simple first step you can take.

As you analyse your data, compile a comprehensive list of ideas and potential action items. You might uncover some easy wins you hadn’t previously recognised or had been overlooking.

Over the years, we have spoken with retailers considering business transformation or improvement who have been tempted to rely on their accountant for guidance. Unless your accountant has current, hands-on retail experience specifically within your type of shop, we believe this is a misstep. Others have been keen to engage business consultants. Similarly, unless they possess current retail experience in your particular sector, We would advise caution.

The key takeaway here is that this is your business. You’ve reached a point where you want change, a transformation. The next steps are yours to take and are best executed by you, ensuring you have ownership of the changes.

This initial phase begins with diligently gathering your data, cleaning out the stagnant aspects of your business, and getting your business “fit” for what lies ahead.

All of this groundwork is about preparing you to be “match fit” for the more substantial changes that will follow.

newsXpress helps local small business retailers thrive.

Let’s talk about labour costs and how they impact your newsagency or any retail business. The newsagency benchmark suggests aiming for a labour cost that sits between 9% and 11% of your total revenue – that’s your product sales plus any commission you earn from agency lines.

To put that into perspective: if your combined revenue from products and commissions totals $1 million, your total labour expenditure should ideally be around $110,000.

It’s absolutely vital that this labour cost calculation includes a fair market value for the time you, as the owner, invest in the business. Too often, we see newsagency owners clocking up a staggering 60 to 80 hours each week, and frankly, a significant portion of that time isn’t generating productive outcomes.

Think about it – a small business simply can’t afford unproductive management time. Your larger competitors don’t carry this overhead, and neither should you.

This is why we strongly advise against having a dedicated back office, or if it’s absolutely unavoidable, to keep it small and certainly not a comfortable space. There’s a hidden advantage to this lean approach: it naturally pushes pricing and other administrative tasks out onto the shop floor. Embrace this shift, and you’ll likely see your revenue increase.

While the dream of business ownership often involves stepping away from the frontline, remember that the shop floor is where the money is made. That’s where your best people should be, and arguably, where you should be spending a significant portion of your time too.

Allocate your “boss time” strategically, in proportion to the size of your business. For a typical small retail business turning over $2 million or less annually, we suggest limiting your dedicated management time to no more than around five hours per week. Of course, this depends on how you utilise that time. If you’re handling bookkeeping yourself, thereby saving on external costs, then a bit more time might be justified.

Here’s a more practical way to visualise the impact on your bottom line: simply cutting three hours of paid adult labour each day, from Monday to Friday, can directly boost your business’s profitability by over $20,000 per year.

If you’re thinking that’s not achievable in your situation, take a hard look at where you’re currently spending your “boss work” hours. Could some of those tasks be done at the counter or while you’re on the shop floor? By effectively multi-tasking, you could potentially reduce your paid labour hours. Ultimately, it comes down to whether you’re committed to making your business more profitable.

Consider the experience of one newsagent who heeded this advice. They successfully cut their labour costs by a remarkable $50,000 in a single period, and during that same time, their revenue actually increased by 6%.

Gaining control of your labour costs and ensuring they align with the benchmark starts with a well-thought-out and efficient roster.

This is more advice from newsXpress a marketing group that helps local small business newsagents thrive.

Discovering a suspicion of theft involving an employee under the age of eighteen requires a particularly cautious and considered approach. It’s crucial to take a step back and plan your actions thoughtfully before confronting the individual or even initiating a formal investigation. An ill-conceived approach can have significant and challenging consequences for you, your business, and the young person involved.

Our advice is that the moment a suspicion arises, arrange a meeting involving the young employee and their parent or guardian. It’s also wise to have a second person, ideally independent of your business, present as your witness during this discussion.

In the meeting, present the evidence you have gathered in a calm and factual manner, and then provide an opportunity for them to respond. It’s paramount that you remain civil, stick to the facts, and avoid letting emotions cloud your communication. Actively listen to their response and take it into consideration.

Be prepared with a reasonable course of action if they ask what you intend to do about the situation. If there is agreement on your proposed resolution, you can then move forward accordingly.

However, if there isn’t agreement on your proposal, or if the young person denies the theft, you must have your next steps ready. This subsequent action should be fair, reasonable, and primarily aimed at uncovering verifiable truth.

If there is an admission of theft and the employee is casual, our recommendation is immediate termination, ensuring all legally owed entitlements are paid out. It’s often best to draw a line under the matter at this point and move forward. Avoid discussing the situation outside of your business. In close-knit communities, particularly outside major cities, constantly revisiting such issues can be incredibly damaging to your reputation.

If an agreement cannot be reached, ask the other party what resolution they propose. It’s possible that even while denying the theft, they may be willing to part ways with the business. If this isn’t the case, you could suggest mediation as a way forward. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s office may be able to offer assistance in this area. Alternatively, you could suggest that both parties report the matter to the police.

It’s vital to understand that once you involve parents or guardians, you need to be prepared to see the matter through to a reasonable conclusion.

The key message here is that handling suspected theft by someone under eighteen demands careful consideration and thorough planning. This will help ensure that you, your business, and the young person involved are all treated fairly and safely throughout the process.

This advice is provided by newsXpress for the benefit of all local small business retailers who stop by here. We are a marketing group that helps local retailers thrive.

Running a local small retail business can be tough, and when things feel slow, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. There are plenty of straightforward, cost-free actions you can take right now to improve your situation. Here are 13 to get you started:

1. Engage Your Entire Crew: Make sure everyone on your team understands how the business is tracking, its needs, and the “why” behind it all. Work together to set achievable goals and outline the steps to get there. Keep the communication flowing and track progress openly.

2. Declutter for Clarity: Spend a day decluttering your shop. You’ll be surprised how the act of physically tidying up can help you see potential positive moves for your business. Do it yourself, and then action those insights.

3. Ditch the Dead Weight: Be honest about slow-moving stock. Whether it’s items gathering dust for six months or two years, dead stock is costs space, time and cash. Anything you can recoup is better than its ongoing drain.

4. Reward the Next Visit: Include a discount voucher on customer receipts that encourages a return visit within a short timeframe – say, seven days. This is a quick win, focusing on immediate repeat business rather than long-term loyalty programs. Think of it as a “come back soon” incentive.

5. Know Your Missing Opportunities: Surprisingly, top-selling items often go out of stock. Your POS system can easily identify these missed revenue opportunities. Fix those stock gaps, and you’ll see an immediate impact on your bottom line. Check your “Insights Dashboard” if you’re using our software.

6. Partner with Your Community: Connect with a well-regarded local community group with a strong membership base. Offer their members a discount and consider donating a small percentage of each purchase back to the group. This introduces your business to new customers.

7. Have a Cracking Time on Socials: Social media is for fun! Entertain your audience. Don’t overthink it – show the fun side of your business and share unique knowledge that sets you apart.

8. Embrace the Freebies: Ensure your Google Business and Bing (yes, it still exists!) listings are up-to-date, engaging, and accurate. These free platforms are crucial for local visibility.

9. Trim Payment Costs: Card payment fees can eat into your profits. While surcharging is an option, exploring alternative payment providers could lead to significant savings. Even if you switch, consider still applying a surcharge.

10. Connect via Email: If you have customer email addresses and purchase history, use this valuable data for targeted email campaigns. Personalised communication can drive repeat business.

11. Re-evaluate Your Pricing: Ask yourself: “What price could I realistically sell this item for?”. Your convenient location or lack of nearby competitors might allow for a higher price point. Most POS systems make price adjustments simple.

12. Chat with Your Suppliers: If you’re feeling the pinch, chances are your suppliers are too. Ask if they have any special deals on inventory they need to move. If it’s stock you can easily sell, snap it up for a better profit margin.

13. Set Your Shop Up for Success: Create an environment that encourages spending: * Inside the front door: Feature a new, bright, optimistic, fun, and unexpected display each week. * At the counter: Place impulse-buy items with strong performance and unexpected finds. * Introduce a scent: Use a pleasant incense or candle. * Play happy tunes: Choose familiar music that customers might sing along to. * Temperature control: Make your shop warm in winter and cool in summer. * Keep things fresh: Move at least one product category each week to create a sense of change.

Implementing even a few of these free and easy actions can make a real difference to your local small business. Start today and see the positive impact!