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

Thanks for bushfire support

yea_young.jpgnewsXpress received thanks last week for supplying eight pallets of stationery to students in Yea affected by the recent bushfires in Victoria.  Our contribution was driven and co-ordinated through Ted Loader of newsXpress Young and was instigated by the students of Young High School.  Roger and Lesley Bortfield, newsXpress Business Development Managers for NSW drove our involvement and support.

This is an excellent story for all involved.  It shows heartfelt concern by one group of high school students for another and how one town can rally around that concern to help another community in need.  The returned thanks is also recognition of the effort of all involved.

newsXpress is pleased to have had an opportunity to be part of the community effort.  We serve in communities across Australia and appreciate opportunities to help in practical ways.

New Business Development Manager appointed in Victoria

michael_elvey.jpgnewsXpress has appointed Michael Elvey to the role of Business Development Manager of Victoria and Tasmania.

Michael brings more than twelve years experience working in newsagencies in an operational capacity and helping newsagencies in a senior management role with Tower Systems.

“I have had the privilege of working with Michael in newsXpress newsagencies over the last two weeks in NSW and Victoria and have seen his expertise first-hand. His knowledge and approach to helping our members will help newsXpress grow in Victoria and Tasmania.” said Roger Bortfield, NSW/ACT Business Development Manager.

In the business development role, Michael will help newsXpress members develop more successful businesses around the exclusive strategies offered by newsXpress nationally through regular in-store meetings with newsXpress members.

“Michael has the knowledge and discipline necessary to helping newsXpress members and newsXpress as a company maintain its position as the strongest newsagency retail group in Australia. He is a welcome addition to our team.” said Graham Randall, Managing Director of newsXpress Pty Ltd.

Michael Elvey commenced his new role with newsXpress today.

Training in how to make money from calendars

newsXpress is hosting an online training session for members tomorrow, April 7 at 10am, on Making The Most from 2010 Calendars.  This free online session training is in addition to face to face and over the phone assistance provided to newsXpress members who want to maximise their calendar opportunity in the 2010 calendar season.

By hosting an online session we are able to bring members together from various states and thereby facilitate a broader cross-section of views on calendar opportunities.

We have members who have increased the bottom line contribution from calendars from $1,000 to more than $10,000 in one year by following our advice from ordering toprice management to retail display.  The advice from our calendar expert, Michelle Caia, is a keyfactor of the success of our members in the calendar category.

newsXpress Leongatha opens this Saturday

newsXpress Leongatha opens this Saturday, April 11. Located at 30 Bair St, Leongatha.  Peter, Debra and the team are putting on a great day of fun and offers as they bring the newsXpress brand to this beautiful part of Gippsland.  There will be prizes, specials and a sausage sizzle for the local CFA.  If you find yourself in Gippsland on Saturday, drop in and say g’day and meet some happy newsXpressers.

Teamwork at newsXpress Weatherill Park

downloaded-270109-041.jpgAntonella & Ginella, owners of newsXpress Wetherill Park in New South Wales, understand the importance of the team. They brought them along to the NANA Awards dinner ten days ago as the business had been nominated for the Retail Award. newsXpress likes to see members engaging with their team in this way. We understand that newsagency businesses would be nothing but for the efforts of the team behind the counter, in the back room and at home.

newsXpress is demonstrating practical support for team member and owner engagement by introducing special low pricing for team members to attend our National Conference in Melbourne later this year.  Newsagents will be able to bring members of their front line along to participate in an excellent learning and motivating event.  We will provide workshops specifically for team members.

We will announce pre-registration details for the conference in the next few days.

newsXpress strategies drive growth

newsXpress is reviewing the performance of several newsagencies which joined our group in the last three months of 2008 and which have embraced newsXpress exclusive offers. The results are staggering.

In one store we are seeing an improvement in gross profit of 20% in the first three months of 2009. Most of this is from new categories we have introduced to the business.

Another new newsXpress member is reporting increasing gross profit from around $1,000 to close to $10,000 in a category they previously ran in the traditional way. Last year, newsXpress introduced new suppliers and significantly better margin – driving the reported improvement in profit contribution.

The key to achieving such excellent results is engagement. We have several key product category offers backed by management strategies which will be successful. The key message we repeat around these offers is trust the process. Those who do trust the process have more money in the bank as a result.

This is another example of the newsXpress difference. We are happy to share specific location details, with permission, with prospective newsXpress members.

Choosing a marketing group for your newsagency

newsXpress has published updated advice for newsagents searching for a marketing group.  Choosing the right marketing group for your newsagency provides guidelines on factors to consider. Not all marketing groups are the same and it is important to be certain of what is important to your newsagency.

The lucky charms which enhance newsagency sales

the_lucky_charm.jpgnewsXpress members are enjoying success with the lucky charms in the photo and others of similar style.  These are an ideal add on for a card purchase, a good way to extend the shopping basket.  They are especiaally popular with women.  newsXpress regularly works with suppliers on a range of basket extension opportunities.  Products like the lucky charms are easy to try and locate within a busy shop.  What can make them work well is the retail expertise newsXpress offers from being able to draw on the success of 160 stores.

Book Sale goes off at newsXpress Scott’s Lismore

nx_scotts_books.jpgLuke Scott and the team are making a good impact with their book sale at newsXpress Scotts Lismore.  In addition to great deals on books, they are promoting the popular book seat as part of their Book Sale. Cross category promotion like this is an excellent way to deepen the shopping basket – something newsXpress encourages.

If you are in Lismore and like a good deal then get to newsXpress 49-51 Woodlark Street, Lismore. Luke and his cheerful team will take excellent care of you.

newsXpress has negotiated favourable rates for the book sale.  We are supporting this with an excellent brochure which is being delivered to homes around participating newsXpress outlets.  Easter is historically an excellent time for book sales in Australia.

Welcome new members of newsXpress

nx_terr.jpgWelcome to new newsXpress members joining us this month in Eli Waters, Strathpine, Bathurst, Terrigal and Nambour. We are thrilled to welcome these new members of the newsXpress family.  Each newsagent joining newsXpress goes through an evaluation process.

Our interest is in attracting entreprenurial disciplined newsagents who are committed to the principles of newsXpress.  The size of the newsagency is not a key factor.

The photo shows Andrew Strachan, partner in newsXpress Terrigal (with Cathy) photographed with Graham Randall, Director of newsXpress, at the NANA Newsagent of the Year Awards last week.

More online workshops for newsXpress members

Michelle Caia, our in-house calendar expert, is hosting an a repeat of her successful online Making the Most from 2010 Calendars workshop for newsXpress members.  Michelle’s knowledge and newsXpress calendar deals make this a valuable category for our members.

Trent Shields, our National Marketing Manager,  is hosting a repeat of his successful workshop for newsXpress members on Local Area Marketing.  This workshop provides an excellent networking opportunity as Trent faacilitates practical business discussion and a sharing of local marketing ideas.

These online workshops are in addition to newsXpress’ face to face member meetings – the next series of which is being held in April.  Workshop details will be announced to newsXpress members in the next couple of days.

Great ink deals from newsXpress newsagencies

newsXpress newsagencies have excellent deals on ink and toner.  In addition to excellent prices, our current brochure offers a supplier backed cash back deal, a supplier backed discount off additional ink purchased (beyond the first cartridge), a supplier backed 10% discount off USB sticks and a supplied backed free picnic hamper. Our pricing and the associated offers are the best available through newsagencies at the moment.

Our deals are promoted in a colour flyer distributed to hundreds of thousands of homes.  The flyer professionally represents our brand and the brands of our supplier partners.

Here is the front page of the flyer:

nxhink.jpg

We are proud to lead the newsagency channel on ink deals and drive excellent traffic for our newsXpress members.   We are also proud to not use lazy marketing like – we will not be beaten on price.  Harsh as this may sound, we see that approach – we will not be beaten… – as follower marketing.  Leadership, while harder work, delivers more loyal customers.  We like loyal customers at newsXpress.  This is why our merchandise team invests so much time in creating ink flyers with genuine market-leading offers.

For a list of participating newsXpress newsagencies, please click here.

newsXpress Easter offers drive good sales

feast3.JPGnewsXpress members are reporting excellent Easter sales with the products sourced from newsXpress recommended suppliers.  From excellent Russ and Gund plush to Chocolatier Easter Eggs, we have members reportting having passed last year’s Easter sales already and we still have two full weeks to go.

We know from our sales data tracking that stores with good Easter gift and egg sales will also see good greeting card sales. The cross-department benefit of our strategy is valuable.

As we do with each season, we will seek and consider newsXpress member and supplier sales data and feedback.  This will help us guide better seasonal product and marketing decisions.

VANA golf day success

img_6025a.jpgnewsXpress is thrilled to have been a financial supporter of the VANA Golf Day yesterday.  Newspower was the other marketing group putting cash on the table supporting the popular event.  Some of our team played and had a great time mixing with Victorian newsagents an newsagency suppliers.

The photo shows our own Ron Thorpe decked our in newsXpress gear at the VANA golf day – demonstrating the importance of strong branding.

Golf days are an excellent networking opportunity for newsagents, relaxing too.  This is why newsXpress welcomes opportunities to support them.  We are firm believers in providing newsagents with opportunities to talke in a relaxed environment.

Expansion of Business Development Team in Queensland

jeff8.jpgJeff Walsh is moving from a merchandise role to a Business Development role with newsXpress in Queensland. Jeff brings a wealth of experience in the stationery and related categories to this new role. He suggested the move after spending the last six months working in the field with newsXpress members on planagrams for several key newsXpress stationery offers.

Jeff will retain a watching brief in the merchandise role, ensuring that the group leverages his excellent industry contacts and knowledge for newsXpress members nationally.

Jeff joins Belinda Adshead in sharing Business Development Manager responsibilities for our large Queensland member base. This means we will be able to get to members more regularly. These visits by our Business Development Managers provide members with practical help in building healthier businesses.

Best of all, the regular visits by newsXpress Business Development Managers are free – part of the newsXpress deliverables.

Newsagent networking opportunity

The newsXpress member meetings which we are hosting in April will have a strong networking component – there will be excellent opportunity for newsagents to share ideas with each other and learn from each other. Our role is to provide the environment and the open discussion between colleagues.

We have several discussion starter topics we will bring to the meetings to get people sharing their approach to issues newsagents face. Our goal is to focus discussion on parts of newsagencies which local management can change.

Newsagents considering joining newsXpress are welcome to ask for an invitation to a member meeting – or book directly online at our website.

Ron Thorpe guides newsXpress members on greeting cards

ron_thorpe.jpgAs National Business Development Manager for Hallmark Cards, Ron Thorpe developed an excellent reputation for his formidable knowledge about greeting cards and how newsagents can configure their businesses for optimum competition in this category. In his role with newsXpress, Ron guides the group on greeting card strategy.  Our access to Ron’s insights and knowledge is a key point of difference in the newsXpress offer.  Ron is also available as a resource to members on store-specific card issues.

newsXpress has assembled a team of experts to help in various parts of member businesses. Thanks to the expertise of Ron Thorpe and the rest of the team, newsXpress is able to help newsXpress newsagents lead the channel on year-on-year growth.

newsXpress at QLD State Conference

20090324_0143.jpgnewsXpress had an excellent contingent at the QNF Queensland State Conference yesterday in Brisbane. The conference provided a range of stimulating speakers and some excellent opportunities for networking with newsagents and suppliers. newsXpress is proud to have been a key financial supporter of the event and to have had another opportunity through which to demonstrate practical support for all newsagents. Kudos to the QNF for excellent organisation.