How Australia Post shops are wasting their retail space
Anaita walks through a local Australia Post shop and points out empty walls, outdated carpets and unused display space, arguing the brand is missing a huge revenue opportunity. She proposes ideas like branded packing stations, local business pop-ups, impulse-buy product walls, and a paid co-working hot-desk subscription for solo business owners.
The lessons
Use every inch of your physical space to drive impulse purchases, not just leave it empty.
Let local businesses pop up in your store to borrow their audience and add excitement.
Add an impulse-buy zone near checkout the way Sephora does to increase basket size.
Turn idle retail space into a paid co-working subscription to create a recurring revenue stream.
Brand every surface consistently so the space reinforces who you are, not just what you sell.
Questions people ask
How can a retail store make more money from the same physical space?
Fill empty walls and cabinets with branded content, add curated impulse-buy products near the till, and host local business pop-ups to draw in new audiences. You can also monetise idle space by offering a paid co-working subscription with perks like discounts and support services.
Transcript
Australia Post shops are missing a huge opportunity. I went to pick up a package from my local post shop and this is what I saw. You can see that the walls are empty, the cabinet is empty, the walls behind the counter are empty. The carpets haven't been changed since 1975.
While I was standing in line for ages, this is the shelf that I was looking at. Here's another angle for you. While I waited in line, I have got ideas that can make them at least $50,000 more per month. Thing they need to do is get the brand vibes in the shop, use that iconic red and put it all over.
Also need to have really cute packing stations where they can choose their label, colour, use coloured tape, even have a selection of thank you card. They should create a space in the shop where local business owners can go and pop up and have activation. By getting small businesses to do pop UPS in your store, you're not only making your store more exciting, but you're leveraging their audience to bring people into your shop. A local bakery could have an Oz Post treat of the week and have that in the Oz post shop.
But this wall in particular, I would like to transform it into something like this, which would actually make people buy something while they wait in line. Also, how cool would it be to collaborate with an Australian artist? And get them to design stationery that you sell only in that post shop. Also do what Sephora does so well, which is while you wait in line, you have these incredible product that you just want to buy as an impulse purchase.
The thing that they could do is have a co working situation because a lot of local business owners work by themselves and it can get really lonely. They could pay for a hot desk in subscription. And in that subscription they could get a really cute desk, meet other business owners, get a discount on all the packaging and also have an Oz post help desk support person who can show them how to print, return label, set up e parcel, do a bunch of other admin stuff.
