Since joining newsXpress Jim O’Toole from newsXpress Rutherglen has swapped from newsink to HOT ink! With the superior brochures, marketing and supply chain offered by newsXpress, Jim has seen his sales go through the roof.
Month: January 2008
Valentine’s Day at newsXpress Scott’s Lismore
newsXpress Scott’s Lismore have gone all out to stamp themselves as the premier retailer in town.
Their Valentine’s Day set up is a great example of how they have gone about this. Giving the promotion prime real estate at the front and centre of the store. They are hoping this produces a good sales result and to show their initiative even further have introduced an opportunity for customers to win their money back with the purchase of any Hallmark Bear.
Australia Day at newsXpress Sarina
Patriotism is alive and well if you consider the outstanding support for Australia Day in the small Queensland township of Sarina.
Mark Petersen and his team gave out over 600 Australian flags and sold 50 flag caps and 36 shirts. Mark believes they would have sold more than three times this quantity if they had have promoted during the week and not just on Friday and Saturday.
Embracing the newsXpress/Hallmark Strategic Partnership
Since joining the newsXpress group and swapping card suppliers from John Sands to Hallmark, Jim O’Toole at newsXpress Rutherglen has seen his card sales go through the roof.
Marketing is what drives sales and that’s what newsXpress and the Hallmark Alliance partnership does for newsXpress stores, turning newsagents into savvy retailers.
HOT ink! powering along at newsXpress Orange
Since leaving newsink, Paul Blunden’s ink and technology sales have sky rocketed. Not only is he selling more ink cartridges but his media, technology and allied stationery has gone up as a result. Not only is he cheaper than the majors the impact is lifting the traffic to the store.
Embracing gifts – newsXpress Orange
newsXpress stores are embracing giftware in a big way. Not only for the margin opportunities but for the point of difference it gives our network.
newsXpress Watergardens continues to innovate – new giftware tables
Not being content with the fit out of the store newsXpress Watergardens has invested for the future by adding some new giftware tables. These learning’s have come from outside the traditional newsagency business and preliminary results are very positive.
BACK TO SCHOOL
newsXpress Castle Towers ‘Back to School’ – No stress at newsXpress. Whilst most newsagents leave this to the majors newsXpress provides the marketing collateral to give you the confidence, the ideas and the customer draw to return ‘Back to School’ to the farm.
No stress at newsXpress!
Canson Art out-posting at newsXpress Watergardens
At the newsXpress laboratory at Watergardens in Victoria, we have taken our new Art partnership with canson to the next level. Out posting of Art product with a National brand draws customer attention and builds sales.
Here is a fantastic example of how the newsXpress network looks for new money positive revenue streams. The Canson brand born in Europe some 450 years ago allows the newsXpress stores to further accelerate new product innovation and bring new product to the market.
newsXpress Indooroopilly gets a perfect score in Mystery Shopping
newsXpress regularly mystery shops its network of stores country wide, and for the first time one of our members has come in with a perfect 100%. Congratulations to Brett and Ellen Deans from
newsXpress Gladstone Park
newsXpress Gladstone Park are proof that you can run two marketing campaigns at once. They are currently running the “no stress at newsXpress“ Back to School marketing in conjunction with the newsXpress-Hallmark Valentines Day seasonal marketing. Working multiple parts of the store at once is paying dividends for them with great sales across multiple categories.
Valentine’s Day Merchandising at newsXpress Watergardens
newsXpress Watergardens is approaching Valentines Day as most other retailers would with passion and vigor utilising gift ware that suits this season and embracing the support of the Hallmark-newsXpress strategic partnership.
Natural disaster brings out the best at newsXpress Emerald
The team at newsXpress Emerald have managed to keep their humour as their town has become waterlogged by the terrible rainfall in the central Queensland township.
Peter and Sally Murphy have been perfect members since joining the group in March, 2007. This setback will undoubtedly affect their business and life but with a smile on their face and the support of the group they will come back bigger and stronger.
The temporary newsXpress Emerald store in Andrew’s St.
HOT ink! gets HOT results!
The following testimony is from Paul Martin at newsXpress Toowong in Brisbane.
Hot Ink catalogue #1 gave Paul from newsXpress Toowong the lever he needed to enter the Ink market with compelling strategies of best cost price and selling price, a professional flyer, great service and back up, and the knowledge of which product to stock. Having just ordered his 5th consecutive flyer he commented that You have to be patient the first time, but then results compound, he has seen a 30% growth each catalogue. Getting the message through to customers and watching sales expand has been great, – “My team hand deliver catalogues to our local businesses around the Village twice during each campaign and this has great results”. “Once customers know the prices are so good, they have confidence that my other stationery product is also well priced, and so sales become linked as customers buy other stationery product in the same purchase. Why give your customers an excuse to shop elsewhere, once they can buy ink from you, they buy their other product as well”.
newsXpress Gympie and Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors
Warrick Hosking at newsXpress Gympie is passionate about everything in his business. Last year when it was encouraged to charge retail customers 10c per plastic bag and to donate the money to a charity Warrick showed no hesitation in running this program and advertising his support for the Wildlife Warriors.
The Wildlife Warriors continue the great work of their founder Steve Irwin in pursuing conservation projects from their base at Australia Zoo.
Warrick and his team raised the princely sum of $611.95 last year and the photos below show the presentation of the cheque at Australia Zoo.
We strongly encourage newsXpress members to decrease their plastic bag usage and to support worthwhile local charitable organisations to better connect within their community.
Warrick has also arranged four separate collection boxes for his shop with co-branding of newsXpress to feature alongside the Wildlife Warriors logo.
Melbourne Member’s Meeting
As written earlier in the blog, newsXpress hold regular member meetings in each state every two months. Late last year they initiated a regional meeting program to ensure the opportunity to attend and contribute to the network was maximised among its member group.
On the 22nd February at the VANA office in Fitzroy, over 20 newsagents from Victoria and South Australia participated in a lively discussion about issues affecting their everyday operation. With topics ranging from Stationery strategies, through the newsXpress sub-brand HOT ink! www.hotink.com.au and onto the newsXpress obsession with magazines the debate was passionate and healthy. A number of attendees commented about how much information they are able to take back to their team from these meetings.
The next meeting for members from Victoria and South Australia is planned for the 4th of March.
newsXpress appoints National Property Manager
newsXpress, the premier marketing group for Australian newsagents, has announced the appointment of Chris Hicks as the newsXpress retail groups National Property Manager.
NSW/ACT goes ‘Back to School’ at newsXpress
With a strong newsXpress member base now pushing 30 in NSW and the ACT any large scale promotion is beginning to make an impression in Australia’s largest market.
Back to School is being promoted with great intensity by major retailers such as Big W, Officeworks, even Woolworths and The Good Guys. Small businesses such as newsagents have a magnificent opportunity to compete by utilising the expansive media campaigns and delivering exceptional service, convenience and competitive prices.
The NSW/ACT members have participated in two BTS themed catalogues during this period and called on their vast experience to deliver some outstanding results. See below for the unique successes and strategies used by individual stores.
Above Left: newsXpress Woden presented a wide range of notebooks in different colours, sizes and price to satisfy even the most discerning customer.
Above Right: newsXpress Bondi Eastgate took the opportunity of breaching the lease line to stock a well presented trestle table with low price high turnover lines. This acted as a beacon to attract customers to the store.
Above Left: newsXpress Castle Towers create a massive out post each season filling the are with great product and low prices. They also have a personalised newsXpress Castle Towers BTS banner made up for further visibility
Above Right: newsXpress Goulburn have had an all encompassing pen stand specially commissioned and it is central to their BTS efforts. Containing every pen type studious types would ever need and great signage.
Above Left: newsXpress Scott’s Lismore have celebrated their name change with a renewed vigour in becoming the leading newsagent in town. This compelling newspaper ad is part of a strategy they feel will grow their business results to meet their output.
Above Right: newsXpress Shellharbour City clearly advertise their intentions to customers and passers-by with this visually inviting signage consisting of newsXpress seasonal posters and the actual pages of the BTS catalogue.
Above Left: newsXpress Orange depict a busy scene with customers busily selecting product to purchase and team members tidying and refilling the large BTS display at the front of the store.
Above Right: newsXpress Jamison transform the front desk into a BTS destination with signage and product in an easily accessible location.
Above Left: newsXpress Carr’s Armidale compliment their Hallmark Alliance Marketing materials with the newsXpress posters (seen around the pillars). The effect is to draw the customer’s attention to the cleverly conceived display stand housing seasonal cards and add-ons including gift bags and wrap.
Above Right: newsXpress Macarthur is right into ‘Back to School’, already this year they are 100% up compared to last year. Notice the great location for their outpost? their neighbours are Best & Less and Lowes, which means their customers can purchase all their needs at one location.
Back to School branding at newsXpress Sarina
Mark & Shelley Petersen at newsXpress Sarina are always looking for new ways to market their business and has stumbled across a winner this BTS season.
Mark sourced the pictured BTS box from overseas and in conjunction with a couple of fellow newsXpress members imported a large quantity into Australia.
newsXpress Sarina team members with the BTS boxes
The box itself is 430 x 305 x 250 (LxWxH) and is the perfect size to fill BTS book orders. The proactive members are constantly searching for new and improved methods to sell their business to a new customer base and this box which features the store name and logo on all four sides is one of the better ones.
newsXpress Sarina team member Felicity gives her approval!
NSW/ACT Member Meeting
newsXpress hold regular member meetings in each state every two months. Late last year they initiated a regional meeting program to ensure the opportunity to attend and contribute to the network was maximised among its member group.
Early 2008 saw the first such meeting held in the ACT with Dominic De Marco and his team at newsXpress Jamison hosting the meeting and then resigning later in the evening to dinner.
Among the topics covered in the relatively open forum were:
- Stationery strategies
- HOT ink! Flyer #5 www.hotink.com.au
- The newsXpress exclusive Canson Creative Centre and other art opportunities
- Giftlines and recent experiences
- The newsXpress obsession with magazines &
- Valentine’s Day
