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Three times the luck

newsXpress Macarthur are celebrating good fortune today as they sold their third major NSW Lotteries prize in little over a month. Graeme Baker and the team this morning sold the 1^st prize of $100,000 in the $2 Jackpot. This is in addition to the $100,000 first prize this store sold in the $2 Jackpot leading up to Christmas and also first prize of $1,363,636 in the Saturday $30m at their Kellicar Lane store.

So in all in a matter of a few weeks newsXpress at Macarthur and Kellicar Lane have made 24 people very happy as there was 22 work mates in the Saturday lotto win.

Making money out of minor seasons

newsXpress Toowong along with several other newsXpress members created a themed promotional area for Monday’s Australia Day celebration. The simple application of visual merchandising components from a newsXpress sourced supplier coupled with appropriate product, giftlines and decorations capitalised on the sales opportunity.

Minor seasons are not as glamourous nor as well supported by suppliers but are typically easy to set up with product already on stock in store.

Intralot ‘gift sleds’ a winner at Mildura

John, Kerry and the team at newsXpress Klemm’s Mildura have the town jumping with the Intralot Christmas Sled this year.

Whilst the product is different to last year, that hasn’t stopped them selling over 600 sleds at $30.00 each with still a week to go before Christmas Day. Intralot have experienced some growing pains since their launch earlier this year but newsXpress Klemm’s Mildura have only concentrated on the positives and as the sales figures clearly show – to the beneift to their bottom line!

The photo to the left features Kerry and Gay with the next order of 30 sleds, packed and ready for pick up.

Gift Ideas in the front window

newsXpress Deception Bay have transformed their fromt shop window into a billboard, equally advertising the upcoming Christmas season and also great gift ideas.

The image to the left highlights the terrific Christmas marketing posters provided free of charge by newsXpress to all stores, while the photo below features the great gift ideas the store is selling including Morish Nuts gift packs; Plush and novelty gifts; scratchie tickets; printer ink; puzzle magazines and much more…

GO WEST – art is available there!

The recent round of national newsXpress Market Fairs inspired many newsXpress stores to introduce new product lines and ranges into their business.

The Canson Art offer was particualrly popular and newsXpress Margaret River were suitably enticed to introduce the newsXpress exclusive Canson Creative Centre, thecardboard wall and to also particapte in the Canson Creative Christmas promotion.

The photos below show the product in store and early indications are that they are creating considerable interest with customers.

Setting up for a great Christmas

newsXpress Crows Nest have set themselves up for a great Christmas season with these impressive displays.

Daniel and the team have given some great merchandise treatment to greeting cards and gifts while paying attention to traditional themes with the accompanying decorations.

Pelican Waters embrace HOT ink!

newsXpress Pelican Waters have warmly embraced the newsXpress brand and its many and varied business modules.

Chief amongst these are the HOT ink! category which was allocated a large section of prime retail space and has subsequently flourished. The banner size HOT ink! logos around this display are fantastic, delineating the category and drawing the attention of all customers directly to the product as soon as they enter the store.

Supporting breast cancer research

newsXpress Kin Kora are right behind the newsXpress/Pentel exclusive Pink Roller Boys. Sponsoring Breast Cancer Research the always popular Pentel Roller Boys have been given Sarah’s famed merchandising treatment as these very striking merchandise units show.

The benefit of a mobile unit such as this is seen by the positioning just near the Darrell Lea Stand. The stand can be moved to the lotto counter, news stand or magazine rack to capitalise on increased traffic flow and encourage bigger basket size as well as bringing more recognition to this most worthy of charities.

Promoting Halloween outside your shop

newsXpress Silver Sands have fully embraced Halloween and have looked at innovative methods to draw more foot traffic. The newspaper advertisement below invites a new (and very strong minded – just ask the parents!) generation of shoppersby offering a FREE face painting service.

Nothing says Halloween more than a good costume and Phil Foo and his team are doing what they can to spread the word. They have also invested in a small doscument about the origins of Halloween and it’s Australian application to educate their customers who may have had anti-American perceptions.

Halloween’s a hit at newsXpress Riverlink

newsXpress Riverlink greatly enjoyed the Halloween promotion last year, the interaction with their local community, the re-telling of the fun Halloween story, the introduction to several new suppliers and above all else the in-store fun!

This year Belinda and her team have ordered three times the quantiy of merchandise and created a full front window display. By supporting and growing newsXpress exclusive promotions members are reaping the on-going benefits.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit is alive and well!

We are constantly encouraging our members to embrace the idea of becoming more entrepreneurial to capitalise on innovation to drive new sales. While this example is considerably removed from the newsagency channel it is a perfect illustration of understanding your local community and backing your judgement to ultimately make a profit.

For the uninitiated Melbourne is in the grip of ‘Finals Fever’ and the Mighty Brown & Gold of Hawthorn are playing off in their first Grand Final for 17 long years. The two boys in the photo, neither born the last time the Hawks were kings of Football read the mood of their community (around the corner from Hawthorn’s training base in Waverley) and promptly set up a lemonade stand like you see in old American movies.

With well over 10,000 excited supporters walking past on a beautiful sunny day towards the final training run they made a killing!

The simplicity of the idea and execution is the lesson each of us can replicate in our daily business coupled with their obvious savvy in approaching gridlocked cars with a taste of the lemony treat and their glowing endorsement of a Hawks victory despite the fact neither of them actually supported the team.

newsXpress implementation with a local twist creates best results

Further to the post on September 15 ‘Calendar Season in Full Swing‘, newsXpress Beechworth have forged full steam ahead with their Calendar and Diary displays.

Using the advice, experience and supplier relationships negotiated through newsXpress and in particualr our resident calendar expert Michelle Caia coupled with innovative local area marketing that has seen newsXpress Beechworth take out several prestigious industry awards in recent times. Tracy and her team have developed an early strategy to capture new sales as well as satisfying regular customers, such as the local council who like to organise their calendar & diary requirements very early.

Good Things come in Three’s!

Gary Baildon and Wayne Case Co-Proprietors of three newsXpress stores on the Gold Coast are still in celebration mode after their third First Division Lotto win in the past 6 months. With each of Pacific Pines, Upper Coomera and most recently newsXpress Oxenford joining the million dollar club the pair have completed a unique hat-trick.

The loyal customers a couple in their 50’s were stunned by the news that they had become instant multi-millionaires.

Wayne Case pictured with two very enthusiastic team members.

We announce ‘newsXpress Echuca’ …OPEN!

newsXpress Echuca is the latest Victorian regional member to rebrand and open. The Dye Family certainly engaged the community with a month of activity commencing with the sponsorship of a regional conference and culminating with the Gala Opening last Friday.

An alreadt great store has been further improved with the pro-active owners seeing strong growth in Hallmark cards and related product ranges, magazines and Canson Art. Their fun opening day was obvious to all as highlighted by the enthusiastic team. An ever popular sausage sizzle, promotional give-aways and the nromal newsXpress activities provided a great start.

Congratualtions to Steve, Liz, Andrea, Jo-anne and all the team at newsXpress Echuca!

newsXpress Bairnsdale opens its doors

newsXpress Bairnsdale opened under the newsXpress brand on Saturday and everyone came to town.

Promotions giving away free petrol, Accomodation, Show Bags, Lucky Dips etc were supported by Hallmark Forever Friends Bear, Coco the Clown (How do they make motorbikes out of Balloons?) and a lovely chamber ensemble of local musicians filled in a great day that could not even be marred by the cold, wind and rain!

Many people entered the store for the first time and were eager to come back again. This positive feeling was only strengthened thanks tothe local Lions club and the 300 + delicious sausages they gave away out the front of the store.

newsXpress Bairnsdale proprietors Gina and Taz epitomise the newsXpress mantra. As new members, their particiaption is strong and they are subsequently reaping the rewards for their efforts!

Congratualtions on a great day!

GREETING CARD SALES GROWING AT SEYMOUR

Vaughan Lawrence and the team at newsXpress Seymour have grown card sales by 38% since switching to Hallmark Cards. Yes they made some changes by bringing the cards to the front of the store which has also helped, but the stunning growth is mainly attributed to the new range of cards. The added promotions from the Hallmark Alliance Program which is supplied have also been a key contributor to this stunning growth with the store recently giving away a Giant 36″ Forever Friends bear as a part of the promotion.

They cant wait to see the growth at Fathers Day!

Imagine the growth when newsXpress Seymour gets a shop fit which is planned for the future.

ACP Connections Conference is ‘Bloody Fantastic!’

The 8th Annual ACP Connections Conference and Awards ceremony was held at the majestic Park Hyatt in Melbourne yesterday to much acclaim with newsXpress again stealing the limelight from the gracious hosts.

With a conference theme of ABC – (Attitude, Balance, Collaboration) it indeed seemed as simple as 1,2,3 to Warrick and Jo Hosking from newsXpress Gympie who brought the evening’s festivities to a crescendo and the raucous crowd to their feat with the announcement of their momentous victory in the prestigoius ‘Newsagent of the Year’ title.

The ACP Connections website outlines the highest honour they annually bestow upon a worthy Newsagent as: A recognition of all-round excellence and sales growth. Furthermore the winner shall exhibit ‘best practice’ principles across all areas of their operation, including business planning, technology, store presentation, category management, marketing and promotions, customer service and staff training.

This guideline describes Warrick and Jo to a tee, but doesn’t take into account the infectious enthusiasm and generous brand spruiking that is ingranied to their personalities. They are truly the most worthy of winners and these additional character traits consolidated their back to back victory.

Not to be over looked amongst the hysteria that was the main event was the meritoriuos performance of Philip and Deborah Kobelt from newsXpress Parap who were rightfully acknowledged as Runners-Up. Their commitment to the connections program and unwavering pursuit of innovation in the promotion and merchandise of ACP titles capped a very successful newsXpress night.

Happy newsXpressers:

From back left – Mark & Shelley Petersen, Geoff Hilder, Stephen & Liz Dye, Paul & Maureen Blunden, Ron Thorpe, Mark Nagy, Debbie Kobelt.

Middle Row – Karen Sutton, Fiona & Adrian Matthews

Front Row – Ahn Do (Conference MC and Comedian), Scott Day, Warrick Hosking, Paul Martin, Jarrod Black, Ben Kay, Graham Randall, and Philip Kobelt

GALA OPENING WEEKEND

newsXpress wishes to congratulate Jo, Stephen, Liz, Andrea and all the team at newsXpress Echuca on their Store Opening today!

And the celebration continues tomorrow as David and Gina Brakey and the team at newsXpress Bairnsdale enjoy their offical Gala Opening.

Leveraging mass media promotions

newsXpress Beechworth were already great business operators and entrepreneurs before they joined newsXpress as showcased by their multiple ‘Newsagent of the Year’ accolades.

However since joining the newsXpress group which prides itself on attracting, nurturing and challenging the ‘Best of the Best’, they have taken their performance to a new level!

The innovative and high performing HOT ink! sub-brand has been strongly embraced by Tracy, Vaughan and their team and as the photos below show they have tied the Olympic theme of the HOT ink! 8 event into another push on home and office printers.

Dubbing the iconic front of the store their “Green & Gold Window”, Tracy and team have highlighted the promotional product using some simple yet highly effective Olympic visual marketing materials.