Newspaper unit sales fell 13% in 2025. Magazine revenue continues to contract. Lottery players are shifting to online platforms. These are not temporary dips waiting to reverse — they are structural changes to the categories that once anchored the newsagency model.
Add to this the latest moves by TLC to further drive lottery customers online and away from physical shops.
That does not mean the newsagency business is finished. It means the businesses that are thriving have rebuilt around something different.
What that looks like in practice varies by location, store size, and what the owner wants from the business. Some members have moved heavily into gifts and collectibles, building a range that bears no resemblance to the traditional newsagency floor plan. Others have kept the newsagency identity but shifted the product mix toward higher-margin categories — greeting cards, plush, stationery ranges that command real margin rather than the thin returns of allocated supplier stock.
The common thread in the stores that are growing is that they made deliberate decisions based on their own data. They looked at what each category was actually returning per square metre, assessed what their shoppers were buying versus what they were ignoring, and reallocated space accordingly.
That analysis is not complicated, but it requires looking at the numbers honestly. What is your current margin on newspapers? What does the lottery section actually earn relative to the rent it occupies? What would happen if you took 20% of that space and gave it to a category with better margin and growing demand?
Most independent retailers have the data to answer those questions sitting in their POS system. The challenge is usually knowing where to look and what to compare it against.
newsXpress provides that framework — evidence-based business analysis using your own data, with specific advice on where the opportunities are. The goal is not to push a particular product category. It is to help you make better use of the space and stock you already have.
This is back room work, strategic work, all in service of more successful local retail businesses for newsXpress members.
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newsXpress supports small local independent retailers to thrive. Find out more at help@newsxpress.com.au.