Author: mark

I am a Director of newsXpress, a marketing group for newsagents keen for a bright future. You can reach me on +61 418 321 338 or mark[at]towersystems.com.au

newsXpress conference a hit with newsXpress members

conf2013Two hundred people packed the member’s dining room of the MCG in Melbourne earlier this week for the newsXpress national conference. It was a jam-packed day with on-topic speakers, excellent product opportunities and exclusive newsXpress initiatives.

Feedback from members to the conference in the days since has been excellent, inspiring. Here is a sample of the feedback from members so far:

Many thanks for your hospitality over conference. Thank you for all of the hard work that is put in, in order to provide better buying and opportunity for the group.

There is no doubt that the industry has changed and the business operators need to change with the customers taste and demand and anyone who does not see that and who does not want to participate and support the NewsXpress team should consider whether they should actually be a part of the team.

Whether it is a Franchise or a Marketing Group, it requires consistency and compliance across the group with a vision that they can all see and work towards.

Keep up the good work.

…..

I’m just writing to thank you sincerely for an outstanding National Conference.

It was what I call a “Pattern Interrupt” and “Change of State” message for all Newsagents. The day was chock full of information, data and ideas  and I look very forward to receiving the videos …especially the one on Mark’s very thought provoking spread sheet of a new NXP business transitioning through to 2020.

Having had my own international seminar business for 17 years when we would have between 1000 and 8000 attendees at our sales, marketing, business and personal development 1 day events, I know first-hand the time and effort that goes into running any conference.

Congratulations on an excellent event.

…..

WOW! What a great event. Inspirational.  Thank you newsXpress!

…..

The leadership you are providing newsXpress members and all newsagents is fantastic. Keep it up, we are changing our business thanks to you and, yes, we are making more money.

…..

It was a struggle to get time to come to Melbourne but I am so glad I did. You have helped me fall in love with my business again. I am so excited by what you showed us and the ideas I know will work in my newsagency.

…..

Great conference!

I appreciated your transparency and the excellent business opportunities I have come away with.

 

Yes, it was an excellent event, one we could not have pulled off without the support of our two strategic partners –  Pacific Magazines and Hallmark Cards and our supportive community of preferred suppliers – who wrote some excellent business on the day … by the way – and our team of wonderful people in newsXpress who work tirelessly for the group.

Easter marketing collateral grabs attention

nxeaster2013The exclusive Easter marketing collateral from newsXpress grabs attention in colour rich newsagency businesses thanks to the egg yellow colour.

The collateral also works as a bit of fun thanks to the play on words.

Easter continues to be a growing season for newsXpress members with excellent card sales as well as good gift and egg sales.

This collateral is designed to help drive additional traffic for the Easter opportunity in-store.

Strong newsXpress buying contingent at Toy Fair

nxtoynewsXpress is leading the way at Melbourne Toy Fair again this year with a large group of newsXpress members meeting up to visit suppliers at the Fair.

Planned well in advance with appointments for a range of suppliers, the group had a terrific day of buying and networking, making the most of a newsXpress exclusive commercial opportunity.

newsXpress continues to lead the marketplace with group buying initiatives like this, getting better deals for members and exclusive access with some key toy suppliers.

Hallmark AFL cards feature in newsXpress conference gifts

nxgiftshmknewsXpress members attending our national conference in Melbourne this week are receiving samples of the Hallmark AFL greeting card range in a special gift pack.

Each attendee will be given a gift pack from Hallmark and additional information to leverage more success from this high-profile licence product from Hallmark.

It’s appropriate that the Hallmark AFL packs will be handed out at the MCG, the chapel of AFL in Melbourne. While there is sure to be debate over teams, the real winners will be newsXpress members and hallmark thanks to the sales that will flow.

newsXpress helps newsagents promote St Patrick’s Day

newsXpress has provided members with promotional material with which they can connect with St Patrick’s Day celebrations and product sale opportunities.

For small seasonal opportunities as well as large, newsXpress is helping members make the most of opportunities, tapping into  existing traffic as well as attracting new shoppers with fresh collateral in a variety of sizes and formats.

This collateral is provided to all newsXpress members.

newsXpress helps newsagents make their businesses more valuable.

newsXpress facilitates amazing gift fair experiences

newsXpress has hosted an excellent range of gift fair experiences for newsXpress members in Sydney this week.

From the massive gift fair at Darling Harbour to the excellent Home & Giving fair at Homebush and in between, newsXpress has had buying experts available for members – to help them make the most of the opportunity.

newsXpress merchandise experts have also been working with suppliers to negotiate new deals for newsXpress members and to bring new suppliers on board.

Over five days we have been singular in our focus – to strengthen commercial relationships that help newsXpress members make their businesses more financially successful and therefore more valuable.

Member feedback through the events has been excellent. We are all looking forward to banking the result.

newsXpress adds more preferred suppliers

newsXpress last week announced details of several new preferred suppliers in the art and gift related spaces.

The continued enhancement of our preferred supplier portfolio is an excellent point of difference for newsXpress members and well valued by the participating suppliers.

newsXpress preferred suppliers offer excellent pricing off genuine wholesale and not an inflated wholesale. They also bring insights to our members, enabling newsXpress stores to expand ranges and expand their business offerings.

While the preferred supplier relationship is about margin maximisation, it is even more importantly about money in the bank. We prefer to work with suppliers who help us sell more product sooner. cash is king and you only have cash when you see product.

We’re not announcing details of preferred suppliers here as it’s a competitive advantage for newsXpress.

newsXpress cares for the environment

nxinstoreThe latest issue of newsXpress INSTORE, our in-store customer newsletter, shows the commitment from newsXpress and newsXpress members for the environment.

In communicating with shoppers about our business and social engagement, newsXpress is showing care and practical engagement that is unique among newsagents.

In a range of business areas newsXpress stores are practically and consciously caring for the environment. The INSTORE news is communicating this not only to record the good works but to, subtly, encourage shoppers to engage too.

Our view is that we share the world not only for ourselves but for those who come next. Our newsletter offers this broader picture and demonstrates an engagement beyond mere commercial.

newsXpress wins on ink price comparison against majors

newsXpress has undertaken a comparison of the latest ink prices being promoted by the group and several major retailers and, you guessed it! … newsXpress wins on all but two or three products.

Beating major retailers like Officeworks and Big W who claim to offer the lowest prices is a major win for newsXpress and newsXpress members.

The challenge is we don’t have the budget to match the majors to tell the truth – that  right now for ink, newsXpress has very competitive prices on brand name ink.

newsXpress members are engaging with price comparisons locally and showing, in store and in store windows how they are beating the majors on price. This is a great local story – showing these businesses as places to save on an important and needed consumable item like ink.

This is the newsXpress difference.

Great customer feedback for Hallmark / newsXpress promotion

Here is an email just received at Hallmark from a shopper from newsXpress the Gap – expressing their delight at winning a coffee machine valued at $399 at the store as part of the newsXpress / Hallmark Valentine’s Day promotion:

This is just a small note of appreciation that will never show enough how grateful I am for winning the Hallmark Valentine’s Day Promotion Competition at The Gap Newsagency in Queensland.  I am not someone who enters a lot of competitions but when it was offered to me, I decided to participate.  I was, and am still, in complete shock at winning (and very excited as you can probably tell).

The prize, the Lavazza A Modo Mio, is amazing.  I did not have a coffee machine and have never owned a coffee machine.  I won the competition on Friday and have been making coffees all weekend.  I am still not very good at the milk but am determined to get it right!!  My husband says its great coffee.  His work has a Nespresso machine and he says this coffee is better.

My husband’s comment is that it is a gift that keeps on giving.  I bought him a wonderful Valentine’s Day card and now I get to make him wonderful coffee every day.

Again, thank you for everything!  You have one very excited and appreciative customer.

What a great response. newsXpress provides free access to newsXpress Hallmark outlets.

Helping newsagents drive greater success with greeting cards – another newsXpress exclusive

newsXpress continues to lead  the newsagency channel with best practice advice published to newsXpress members covering the management of greeting cards.

This latest advice empowers newsXpress members and their employees to manage cards for greater profit … helping them make even more money from this most important category in our businesses.

Developed entirely in-house and for the success of newsXpress members, this latest advice reflects today’s best practice and delivers to newsXpress members easy to follow and embrace tools to drive greeting card sales and account management.

This is another example of newsXpress actions matching our words … money in the bank for members.

newsXpress delivers bonus margin on ink for newsagents

hotink1newsXpress members have been given access to bonus margin by newsXpress thanks to valuable work by our national merchandise team.

This unexpected move of even better margin on ink is another example of value delivered by newsXpress to newsXpress members, value that is banked in the form of better margin dollars.

HOT ink! is another newsXpress success story – driving traffic and margin dollars.

Connecting with the Easter opportunity

EasterWebsiteBannernewsXpress is helping members and others in the newsXpress community to connect early with the Easter 2013 opportunity through a digital version of our seasonal collateral. Sent to newsXpress members in advance of our physical posters, this collateral is helping newsXpress members to promote easter through emails as well as on social media – in a consistent way in each business and across the whole newsXpress group.

Our Easter collateral is exclusive to newsXpress.

newsXpress hosting a retail tour of Melbourne

newsXpress last week announced details of a retail tour to follow our national conference next month. taking in some key retail locations, newsagencies and non newsagencies, the tour is a free add on to the national conference – giving newsXpress members another opportunity to network, soak up ideas from others and to consider these in the context of the newsXpress experience.

Hosted by newsXpress head office staff, the retail tours will present many opportunities to participating newsXpress members.

This is another way newsXpress helps members build more valuable businesses – by sharing ideas and helping members see opportunities that could work in their businesses. The mix of businesses to be visited has been carefully selected to ensure that each provides takeaways for newsXpress members is city, rural and regional … high street and shopping centre … situations.

newsXpress is a very open group. We research many formats and ideas and share the best with members, leaving members to decide what works best for them. We do not force formats or products on members as each business is different and each owner needs to be able to make local choices.

Brilliant Valentine’s Day display works a treat at newsXpress Wetherill Park

valwetherillThe team at newsXpress wetherill Park has made excellent use of the newsXpress collateral, the Hallmark Lavazza coffee machine gift and their own creative skills to make their shop the Valentine’s Day display in the shopping centre.

The display is even more stunning live than this photo shows. From outside the shop it has acted as a beacon for shoppers and delivered excellent traffic and sales for the business.

Collecting all the key elements together: products, the unique prize, collateral and packaging it in a visually stunning way makes for a winning season.

Well done to everyone at newsXpress Wetherill Park.

Great use of cut-through newsXpress Valentine’s Day collateral

valelinewsXpress Eli Waters in Queensland has been making excellent use of the newsXpress Valentine’s Day collateral and products from preferred suppliers with this and other promotional displays in-store.

By providing landscape and portrait versions of collateral for all major seasons, newsXpress provides members with the opportunity to create displays with more impact – as has been done here at newsXpress Eli Waters.

It is seasons like this that are vital to driving overall GP performance of the business. newsXpress helps beyond collateral – by ensuring easy access to suppliers with deals to drive margin and therefore the overall return for the business. It’s a newsXpress difference … money in the bank.

 

newsXpress says no to major shopping centre opportunity

newsXpress is regularly offered opportunities by shopping centre landlords. Each opportunity is assessed and negotiations undertaken. If the opportunity does not meet our minimum requirements, we do not proceed.

This happened recently with an opportunity in a major centre in Queensland where the store, trading under a different newsagency banner group, is in hard times. We engaged with the landlord, talked terms and eventually said thanks but no thanks this time.

We will not take on a tenancy just for the sake of it. It must work on its own, the numbers must be right.

Sometimes, a smaller newsagency outside a major centre will deliver a far more valuable return than the higher profile business. Our focus is on the size of the return on investment.

newsXpress announces confidential business performance workshop

newsXpress has announced details to members of a confidential half-day business performance workshop, to be held the day following our national conference.

This closed-door session will see a group of newsXpress members share with each other business performance and other data for open discussion on performance and exploration of opportunities.

The purpose of the confidential session is to have members challenge each other, to uncover new opportunities and to take newsXpress member networking to a deeper and more engaged level.

Participation is free and only available to newsXpress members. The event is being held in the boardroom of our office.  Here is the invitation shares with newsXpress members:

On Wednesday 6th of March, the day after the conference, newsXpress is hosting a three hour workshop to discuss business performance. We have room for up to eight people to meet in the boardroom of our Hawthorn office to share their business performance and discuss these with other newsXpress members. Moderated by Mark Fletcher, this will be a confidential under the hood look at the performance of the participating businesses, to learn what we can from each other, and to challenge ourselves. This session will start at 10am and end by 1pm. Participation is free Confidentiality and openness are important for this session to work.