March, 2008 | newsXpress Blog

HOT ink! to the MAX

Warrick Hosking from newsXpress Gympie continues to innovate. By dropping several thousand HOT ink! brochures each campaign and by now backing up the advertising with an in-store display stand to leverage foot traffic, the store is on target to turn over $50,000 in Ink cartridges this year.

Warrick and his team are stoked at this new money revenue stream especially since there are 7 other newsagencies in a town of only 20,000 people. For this outstanding result and may others Warrick is considered the consummate newsXpresser.

No wonder he is Queensland retail newsagent of the Year and the reigning ACP newsagent of the Year.

newsXpress entrepreneurs feature in BRW

newsXpress is featured heavily in this month’s BRW in an article celebrating the renaissance of the newsagency industry on the back of a growing influx of entrepreneurs.

Mark Fletcher, director and owner of two newsXpress stores (as well as a share in the newsXpress corporate store at Watergardens with directors Graham Randall & Mark Nagy) re-iterates throughout the article his belief that newsagents must become business oriented to survive and thrive in the current environment. He continued that Newsagents must embrace trends in the wider retail space such as growing technology sales in the stationery category and use this information to capitalise on proven traffic generators such as newspapers, lotto and greeting cards.

Also featured is newsXpress Toowong owner Paul Martin. Being situated in a busy and competitive shopping centre in Brisbane, Paul relishes the challenge to expand his business and pro actively analyses data and consumer trends to stay ahead of the pack.

newsXpress Toowong’s Paul Martin as pictured in BRW magazine.

The impressive tribute display to their boss presented by the team at newsXpress Toowong.

Presenting the ‘new’ newsXpress Southport Park

This store has just undergone a massive transformation, re-branding to newsXpress and the implementation of our key strategies over all departments for this store has had the effect of taking this business to a whole new level of retail…
The shopping experience and product range is inviting… while the friendly atmosphere and service will ensure return custom.
This store is an absolute credit to the whole newsXpress Southport Park team.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Marissa & Michael (pictured) who operate this business in partnership with Ariel & Mary-Anne.

NEW MONEY REVENUE STREAMS

newsXpress Ascot Vale is producing new money revenue to offset intense competition in the area from major competitors. By embracing gifts, invitations, fine papers, books and cartridge recycling they are bringing in people who would not otherwise visit a traditional newsagency.

INNOVATION CONTINUES

At the newsXpress corporate store at Watergardens we decided to build a purpose built book stand for our new group partnership with Australian Book Wholesalers (ABW). In terms of competition in the book space we forge ahead against Angus & Robertson, Dymocks, and two other major anchor mass merchants in Watergardens Town Centre. Newsagents need not be afraid as initial signs of this new innovation are remarkable with the books attracting a lot of attention and adding another string to the newsXpress bow. Project XLR8 is working well at newsXpress.

Member Meeting experiences

The NSW newsXpress Cluster meeting was well attended with members and visitors traveling to Newcastle from as far as Canberra. The members then went to visit Phil and Wendy Banks store in Glendale. Phil and Wendy were very proud and pleased to explain their gift concepts.

The wearing of the Green – St. Patricks Day – newsXpress Shellharbour

newsXpress Shellharbour were right into St Patrick’s Day will all the green merchandise: Hallmark packaging; bags; wrap; ribbon; themed cards; and newsXpress point of sale.

CANSON RELATIONSHIP GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH

newsXpress Kallangur has just embraced the Canson partnership both the exclusive creative centre and the high quality cardboard range. Not only does it look fabulous in store and acts as a beacon for customers to draw them to the back of the store it has freshened the store up and reinvigorated a good high st location.

Happy Easter!

The team at newsXpress Deception Bay wish all their customers a Happy Easter.

Pictured are Joanne, Amy, and Alex holding Poppie.

The multi faceted life of a newsagent

Success comes in many ways for newsXpress stores and their families.
newsXpress Westpoint is using a television stand to promote their Partwork series, currently the Elvis Partworks is selling exceptionally well with help from the DVD.

The windows sell massive amounts of giftware, the Easter Display is facing both outside and inside, with attractive cutouts adding to the display.

Mark’s daughter Tiarne was delighted with her success in the District Swimming Competition. One proud dad! Well done Tiarne!

Mr Hallmark joins newsXpress!…….

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Ron Thorpe as the newsXpress retail groups Director of Greeting Card Strategy.

Ron comes to us with over 40 years of experience working for Hallmark cards. Ron will work part-time out of the Melbourne office and will be responsible for developing exclusive strategies for newsXpress members in the greeting card space.

Ron with ‘Mr newsXpress‘ and group Chariman Graham Randall & Mark Nagy CEO

Easter by the Bay

newsXpress Frankston has taken creativity to a new level in their Easter promotion. Introducing several new lines of confectionery and plush they realised they lacked a suitable area to merchandise this product.

However outside of the square thinking by manager Simon Frost quickly saw an opportunity where one previously did not exist. And thus a previously unsightly load bearing pillar was promptly wrapped in gold paper and made a visually stunning display prop.

Member Meetings around Australia

newsXpress is proud of it’s member network and ensures regular meetings are held to get everyone together to share ideas, discuss strategies, deliver information and catch up.

Below are some photos of recent member meetings around Australia. Meetings are held in each state every 2 months.

**WA newsXpressers**

**QLD newsXpressers**

**VIC newsXpressers**

Variety is the spice of life at newsXpress Eumundi

Manni Ribeiro manager of the quaint store in Central Queensland is never shy to take a chance by promoting several categories at once.

While his HOT ink! is steadily improving (see picture below highlighting the national TV advertisement) , the plush collectible Beanie kids are flying out the door. With over 40 sales in just two weeks at an excellent profit margin this trial is certainly paying its way.

Canson Art at Scott’s Lismore

The photos below detail the new art centre setup along the back wall at newsXpress Scott’s Lismore, they have also relocated the paper to give it a bigger hit.
Sales of art supplies have already gone up and a lot more people are moving towards the back because of the colour.

The Canson Creative Centre is exclusive to newsXpress.

VANA BALL – OH WHAT A NIGHT! Part II

Some further photos have shown up from what was a fantastically well attended (300 +) industry function. Enjoy!

From left to right: Karen Sutton (Business Development Manager), Andrew & Jacqui Ryan (newsXpress Ivanhoe) and Michelle Caia (Category Manager Seasons & Gifts)

From left to right: Craig Lawlor (newsXpress Greenvale) and the photogenic Karen Sutton (Business Development Manager)

From left to right: Garry Angus (newsXpress Pall Mall), Karen Sutton (Business Development Manager), Graham Randall (Director Business Development) & Mark Nagy (CEO)

newsXpress Ballarat aligning with success

Earlier this blog brought you the inspiring story of how newsXpress Ballarat had benefited from the newsXpress/Hallmark strategic partnership.

It seems that greeting cards are not the only area of the business showing improvement through the Ballarat affiliation with newsXpress.

The store is up over 400% in calendars this year due to the calendarXpress program. It is a great example of members embracing technology, embracing the newsXpress business strategies, tracking sales data and reaping the benefits.

This outstanding run has even stretched into other aspects of the business and two recent snippets in the local paper show the changes in store are being well received by the residents. Letters to the editor expressed gratitude for the team for firstly: alerting a customer of a lotto prize they had won 15 months earlier, before moving to FNQ; and secondly, a team member at newsXpress Ballarat handing in a wallet full of cash.

We hope their hard work pays off with a great Easter result.

MR newsXpress BEACON BRANDING

Now that ‘Mr newsXpress‘ Graham Randall is back out on the road serving newsXpressers, he had to learn how to beacon brand. See the “Chairman” in action here at newsXpress Westpoint learning how to do it.

Mary McNeil one of our Business Development Managers was on hand to teach both Graham and the Westpoint team how to beacon brand. As part of our overall 4 point magazine strategy beacon branding has helped newsXpressers lift magazine store on store sales to the highest in the industry in terms on volume per outlet.

We love magazines at newsXpress.

Hot Golf from team newsXpress at the VANA Golf Day

Believe it or not team newsXpress won the day with the best score. Pictured are Phil Johnson form newsXpress Parkmore, Ian Urquhart State Business Manager for VIC/Tas/SA, Gary Angus from newsXpress Pall Mall, Chris Samartzis from newsXpress Reservoir and Richmond football Club legend Francis Bourke. Rumor has it Chris carried them all day. Well done Christos!

Other photos are of Gary Lovell from Lovell’s newsagency in Shepparton and Peter Cowley and Bronwyn Roney from VANA.

A hot day for hot golf in 38 degree temperature at Royal Keysborough.

From left to right: Phil Johnson, Ian Urquhart, Gary Angus, Chris Samartzis & Francis Bourke

newsXpress/Hallmark Alliance providing great market data for members

newsXpress Ballarat is a shopping centre based member with significant competition. Their efforts of embracing our strong supplier alliance has shown an almost 18% increase in Valentine’s Day sales over last year.

And how do they know? Simple really. Within 7 days of Valentine’s Day, Hallmark had completed a review of the store sales and determined that newsXpress Ballarat has increased it’s Valentine’s Day sales by 17.94% over last year. Additionally, Hallmark used store photos in their recent sales meeting.

Whilst the store visits might have caused Ballarat to get very quick results, Hallmark will provide valuable feedback of sales performance to every member and then work to ensure these great sales increases are continued.