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

Landlords Appreciate newsXpress Shopping Centre Landlord Campaign

Shopping centre landlords are appreciating the latest communication and engagement campaign which newsXpress started a few weeks ago.

With many newsXpress locations in shopping centres, newsXpress leadership created a carefully considered and rounded communication campaign to help landlords understand the value of a newsXpress tenancy.

Landlords and Centre Managers are responding with appreciation for the deeper understanding and opportunities for enhanced engagement with newsXpress and newsXpress members.

Our exclusive national TV and print advertising campaigns demonstrate the investment newsXpress is making to drive traffic to shopping centres.  This alone separates newsXpress from other newsagency marketing groups.  By investing to bring in traffic we are being seen as different and more valuable to any other newsagency marketing group.

newsXpress is not stopping at TV and print to drive traffic.  We have taken landlords into our confidence and shared details of other newsXpress exclusive activity which is driving traffic and building businesses of which landlords can be proud.

It is easy for a newsagency marketing group to say that they have a good relationship with landlords and another thing entirely to walk the walk and consistently deliver a valuable and mutually respectful relationship.  This is the newsXpress difference.  Our members see it every day.  Actions do speak louder than words.

HOT ink! at newsXpress Inverloch

ink-inverloch.JPGnewsXpress Inverloch has fully embraced the ink opportunity with this in-store display as well as plenty of external promotion for the latest newsXpress HOT ink! campaign.

Their pitching of the HOT ink! price offer as well as the exclusive newsXpress collateral outlining ways printer users can save money on ink – on top of the ink display – is a good way of showing off the newsXpress point of difference.

newsXpress leads the field in its ink offers, through supplier flexibility, terrific marketing and other in-store promotional opportunities around the category.

newsXpress Gympie wins Hallmark Alliance Retailer of the Year Award

gympie-winners.jpgCongratulations to Warrick Hosking and the terrific team at newsXpress Gympie in Queensland for winning the inaugural Hallmark Alliance Retailer of the Year Award.

What a terrific win for this creative and energetic team!

newsXpress Gympie won from a field of ten finalists including seven newsagencies of which four were newsXpress stores.  They won for their proactive, creative and commercial  support of the Hallmark brand and products.

This is an excellent win for a newsagency in a town with seven newsagencies.  talk about competition.

Well done to Warrick and the team.  Well done to newsXpress Bairnsdale, newsXpress Glendale and newsXpress Sunbury Square for making the final ten in a tough commercial competition.

Hallmark is a newsXpress Strategic Partner.  Through this relationship we leverage a range of benefits for newsXpress members including residual benefits from the inreased Hallmark national TV advertising and access to exclusive product opportunities.

This Christmas, newsXpress stores will carry an exclusive range of boxed Christmas cards sourced through Hallmark.

Giftwrap Mixed With Cards at Beechworth

giftwrap-beechworth1.JPGnewsXpress Beechworth has introduced a display of giftwrap in with cards to show off new Hallmark giftwrap treatments and their broader range of giftwrap options.

Besides breaking up the terrific card display, these new displays are designed to drive incremental business from the greeting card shopper.  The simple displays present a welcome difference in the card department.

The Best Newsagency Marketing Kit Ever

nx-mktg.jpgEarlier this year, newsXpress launched the most comprehensive newsagency marketing kit ever. Covering a broad range of marketing options from community engagement to in-store offer promotion, the newsXpress Marketing Toolkit provides newsXpress members with professional posters and collateral which can be easily customised to local needs and situations.

Having had four months to engage with the newsXpress Newsagency Marketing Toolkit, newsXpress members are starting to offer feedback. The most common feedback from newsXpress members is brilliant! and thank you!

newsXpress wants the store level feedback to be in the form of money banked as a result of engaging in embracing opportunities in the Marketing Toolkit.

The Marketing Toolkit perfectly demonstrates the newsXpress difference.  It is an excellent example of our commitment to helping newsXpress members drive traffic and increase the average spend of shoppers. It supports strategies and tactics for driving sales of excellent deals available from newsXpress preferred suppliers.

newsXpress has invested considerably in the creation of the collateral in the Marketing Toolkit for newsXpress members.  We own all materials and this provides flexibility in how it can be used.  It also gives us an excellent base off of which we can create more materials for other campaigns.

The newsXpress marketing team is not resting on its laurels.  Since the Marketing toolkit was originally launched earlier this year, a further five marketing campaign opportunities have been released to newsXpress members.

In addition to providing professional and high quality marketing resources, newsXpress also provides advice and guidance on local execution and engagement.

History and Heraldry Range Drives Sales Success

history-maryborough.JPGnewsXpress Maryborough in Victoria is one of many newsXpress stores enjoying terrific commercial success with products from newsXpress preferred supplier History & Heraldry.

This signature pen stand offers a beautiful and quality personalised gift, ideal in many gift giving situations.

By tactical placement of the Signature Pens spinner from History & Heraldry, newsXpress members are able to leverage extra value from greeting card purchases.

Customers love this product and we are thrilled to see it in newsXpress locations across Australia.

newsXpress does not require members to take products from preferred suppliers.  We leave such decisions to members.  Through our communications we share success stories to help guide the choices our members make. Buying from History & Heraldry is something our members encourage each other to do … based on good commercial success.

Ink Sale a hit at newsXpress Ocean Grove

ink-oceangrove.JPGnewsXpress Ocean Grove is putting the newsXpress marketing collateral to good use in promoting the latest HOT ink! sale.  Their poster arrangement and product display combine to drawn shopper attention to the ink offer.  The pricing of the offer and the range available shows that shopping at newsXpress is more valuable and beneficial than driving out of town to one of the larger retailers.  The newsXpress marketing collateral and pricing strategy helps newsXpress members, like Ocean Grove, to demonstrate that shopping at newsXpress delivers good value … often better value than bigger retailers.

Thanks to newsXpress preferred supplier support, newsXpress members are achieving a competitive margin from ink.

Gifts selling well at newsXpress Beechworth

gifts-beechworth.JPGnewsXpress Beechworth is enjoying good sales with its expanded gift range including this broad range of frames which is on display in-store.

Frames are a good, staple, product in the gift department as they can be given for a variety of occasions and to a variety of ages.  They work well next to cards.

Thanks to support from a broad range of newsXpress preferred suppliers, it is easy for newsXpress members to tailor their gift department to local needs from the quirky to the conventional … and at competitive buying.

Toys a hit at newsXpress Pakenham

gifts-toys-pakenham.JPGActivity is the name off the game at newsXpress Pakenham with this toy display.  The display featured and promotes activity and this is vital in any toy display.  Kids are drawn to the display and their interaction encourages parents to purchase.

The display in the photo had more items but many have sold and replacements are on the way.  The floor mat has been particularly successful in attracting engagement from kids and drawing attention of parents.

William and Cate Calendar Pre Sale Delivers Excellent Sales

willscate.JPGThe pre-sale order form for the William and Cate Royal Wedding calendar for 2012 has been a terrific success in some newsXpress stores.  The simple placement of the flyer at the counter has generated sales with customers fully pre-paying to secure their copy of this calendar.  The flyer shows newsXpress stores off as being innovative and offering a product which no other store was promoting at the time.

In many ways through the year newsXpress presents its members with innovative ways to pitch their newsagency businesses as different to other newsagencies and as offering products which are quite unique to the many newsagency products which are also sold at other retail locations.

Through newsXpress energy and creativity, we are able to show our retail channel as being competitive, value-based, exclusive and community connected … genuinely unique, newsXpress unique.

The Sticker Family Counter Mat Drives Sales

sticker-counter.JPGThis counter mat promoting the My Family stickers from The Sticker Family is delivering excellent success in newsXpress locations in which it is used.  There are many stories of customers presenting at the counter to purchase a card, magazine or lottery ticket who notice the counter mat and comment along the lines of oh, you sell these or ah I wondered what these were when I saw them on cars.

Marketing experts tells us that shoppers are more likely to respond if they see a single message repeated in their interaction with a retail store.  This is where the counter mat works in that by the time a shopper gets to the counter they will have passed the pull up banner.  They may also have seen and promotion elsewhere in the business for The Sticker Family range.

The counter mat is another valuable touch point in selling these stickers to new customers as well as those with stickers already.  newsXpress highly recommends it to members.

Zodiac Smurf Figurines

smurfs.JPGThe Smurfs are back!  They are at newsXpress.  Some newsXpress stores have taken the opportunity to offer Smurf zodiac figurines, giving shoppers an opportunity to connect with these wonderful characters from a couple of decades ago.  With the new Smurf movie out this year, Smurfs are connecting with a new audience and reconnecting with an older audience.  These precious characters sell well to a couple of generations.  They connect well with any targeted retro offer.

newsXpress innovation is on show here … helping to bring to newsXpress locations products which you would not see in a traditional newsagency and thereby helping newsXpress members pitch their businesses as different, more relevant, more current and more connected with shopper interests.

Tinco Products a Hit For newsXpress Stores

cats-front.JPGThe Tinco range of gift tins and mugs, bear themed and cat themed, are selling well in participating newsXpress stores.  They are being used to create centre piece displays to attract shopper traffic and drive sales basket efficiency … as the photo shows.

Connecting primarily with older shoppers, the Tinco range is attracting people who tend to purchase more than one item in a newsagency – thus improving overall sales efficiency.

One of the biggest lessons for newsagents and any retailer is that they are not their customer.  Many newsXpress members have experienced this first hand when they have at first declined to take on a product and then see it sell well when encouraged to take it on by the newsXpress merchandise team.  The Tinco range was one such product in a newsXpress store recently.  The newsXpress member almost sold out the entire shipment in less than a month, delivering a valuable return on investment to the business and attracting new customers who have returned to the business.

Part of the newsXpress role is to help newsXpress members to push the boundaries of what their businesses can sell and, through this, to explore attracting new shoppers to the business.

One of the reasons for growth in some newsXpress stores, growth which is considerably beyond the average for the newsagency channel, is the broadening of the appeal of the business through challenging product selection … as encouraged by the newsXpress merchandise team.

This is a newsXpress difference, going considerably beyond offering products.  newsXpress not only negotiated good deals, it also helps members leverage those deals to their maximum advantage.

July In-Store Offers from newsXpress Out Already

nxinstore-jul11.jpgnewsXpress provided members with our In-Store Offers newsletter for July late last week, in time for mailing with customer accounts for the end of the month.  This latest marketing newsletter promotes our Facebook competition, the latest issue of better Homes and Gardens, our forthcoming national TV campaign as well as the value of shopping with newsXpress.

This newsletter is customisable by newsXpress members so that it presents as a local newsletter from a local business.

Many newsXpress members distribute the newsletter by mail, on a stand at the front of their newsagency, via customer bags, delivery to local businesses and by handing them to customers with purchases.

The In-Store Offers newsletter is valuable able professional platform through which to promote the business.  It is exclusive to newsXpress.

newsXpress Redcliffe Enjoys Great Gift Sales

redc_gifts.JPGnewsXpress Redcliffe has been growing gift sales since the store oepened a year and a half ago.  Today, the gift department makes an important and sizeable contribution to sales and GP for the business.  Buying from newsXpress preferred suppliers and tapping into exclusive newsXpress offers, the Redcliffe team has built a solid gift offer based on the mix of cards selected by shoppers.  Using card sales data to drive gift buying is paying off with excellent growth – way above industry average.

While many newsagents talk of tough trading conditions, newsXpress Redcliffe is enjoying success by embracing newsXpress opportunities.  Their success shows the commercial value of embracing newsXpress preferred supplier opportunities.

newsXpress pioneered the use of detailed card sales data analysis to guide gift purchases.  It has had exclusive access to caption sales data with which to guide product purchase choices by members.

Click on the image to see a small part of the Redcliffe gift selection.

newsXpress Knox Stocks Up For HOT ink! Sale

inksale1.JPGnewsXpress Knox, at Knox City Shopping Centre in Victoria, has stocked up for the latest newsXpress HOT ink! promotion.  Sales have been excellent.  Shoppers are bringing in their flyer to purchase their choice of brand name ink from the flyer … many have commented that the prices are better than nearby outlets such as Dick Smith, JB HiFi, Harvey Norman and Australia Post.

The newsXpress HOT ink! campaign is key to driving new traffic to newsXpress businesses.  It combats the consumer view that newsagencies are expensive.  newsXpress is not expensive.  It is the value place to shop.  Delivering value prices on brand name ink and toner is just one way newsXpress helps its members make this important consumer pitch.

Great Art Sale at newsXpress Pakenham

art-pakenham.JPGnewsXpress Pakenham has been running a terrific Art Sale.  Pitched perfectly in a high-traffic location, the art sale offers an extensive range from newsXpress preferred supplier Mont Marte.  The range is supported with a promotional video playing … it cannot be missed.

newsXpress members recently enjoyed an exclusive buying day where they had access to art products at 20% off wholesale.  This enabled smart retailers to buy even better and thereby more valuable fund opportunities such as this Art Sale at newsXpress Pakenham.

More and more newsXpress preferred suppliers are offering buying days, special offers and other opportunities with which newsXpress members can access special and exclusive supplier deals.

HOT ink! on Sale at newsXpress Leongatha

ink-leongatha.JPGnewsXpress Leongatha is making the most of the latest HOT ink! sale not only in-store but through the use of flyers promoting the latest HOT ink! deals to the community.  By offering an excellent range in-store and promoting top brand products to the community, newsXpress Leongatha is knows as the go to place for ink and toner – quality brand name product at competitive prices.  This is important, especially in regional areas.

Thanks to support from three preferred suppliers, newsXpress is delivering choice to members as to where they source ink and toner.  This choice is valued by newsXpress members as it enables smart spot buying.