Tag: retail data

Most shops sell greeting cards. Few make what they should from them

Australian newsagents sell a third of all greeting cards bought in this country, and the average Australian buys eight or nine cards a year. Cards are a high margin habit purchase. Most shops still make less from them than they should.

The problem is rarely the supplier. It is the pockets. In almost every card department, some pockets earn their space many times over while others sit close to idle. Without data, you cannot tell which is which.

That is where our work starts. newsXpress has developed proprietary pocket-level performance analysis, exclusive intellectual property not available anywhere else. We apply it to your own sales data and return specific recommendations on which pockets are earning their space and which are not. There is no charge for participating members.

The results are why we keep talking about it. One member moved 120 pockets from one supplier to another and more than doubled the return per pocket. Another cut card pockets by 25%, moved to a split supplier model, and grew card revenue 33%. The list goes on: a 70% revenue lift from splitting cards between two suppliers with no capital outlay, and a 50% lift from replacing $2 everyday cards with a better margin mix.

The analysis is ongoing rather than a one-off. Run it, make changes, then run it again and see whether the changes worked. Card departments drift over time, and the data catches the drift before it costs you a season.

“On implementing newsXpress’s card advice, I saw 76% growth in cards over 12 months. Their strategies contributed to an overall sales increase of 57% in the same period.” — Matt Donkin, newsXpress Mount Lawley, WA

There is no restriction on which card suppliers newsXpress members use. We hold preferred terms with Henderson Greetings, Waterlyn, Hallmark, Simson, Affirmations, Vevoke, Paper Street and Spirit, but the goal is not to push any particular supplier. The goal is the best possible return from the space you give to cards.

If cards are a wall you fill rather than a category you manage, there is money being left on the counter. Call Michael Elvey on 0400 331 055 or email help@newsxpress.com.au and ask about the card analysis.

What the Lincraft closure actually tells us about independent retail

Lincraft confirmed yesterday it’s closing every store in Australia and New Zealand. Eighty years of trading, done.

The commentary will follow a predictable path. Consultants will use it as a case study. Retail journalists will write about physical retail dying. Neither response is especially useful.

Lincraft was a chain. It ran at scale — national leases, centralised supply, fixed cost structures across dozens of locations. When that model stops working, it stops working everywhere at once. That’s not the situation an independent retailer faces. One shop, a local customer base, the ability to change something this week and see the result next week.

The data from newsXpress member stores tells a different story from the headlines. The most recent benchmark covered 33 stores, January to May 2026 against the same period last year. Transaction count was down 4.1%. Revenue was up 4.8%. Average sale value was up 8.5%. Gross profit was up 10%. That’s 750,000 transactions from locally owned shops. Not businesses in decline — businesses mid-transition, and the transition is working.

No consultant drove that. No conference session. Individual owners made their own calls — new categories, adjusted product ranges, shops that reflect what their local customers actually want to buy. Gifts, homewares, sensory toys, things no chain bothers stocking because chains can’t move fast enough or care enough about a single postcode.

That’s the advantage independent retail has always had. It just shows up more clearly when a chain hits a wall.

Costs are up for independents too. Some traditional categories are smaller than they were. Foot traffic has changed. The owners doing well aren’t pretending otherwise — they’ve moved, steadily, in the right direction.

The Lincraft closure is a real loss for the staff and the customers who relied on those stores. But scale and longevity don’t protect a business when the model underneath stops fitting the market.

Local ownership and a willingness to change — that’s harder to replicate than any supply agreement.

newsXpress helps local indie retailers thrive on a minimal budget and without overthinking. We like to have fun while we work on our businesses.

…
newsXpress supports small local independent retailers to thrive. Find out more at help@newsxpress.com.au.