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Painting together

To celebrate Inaugural newsXpress Conference on the Gold Coast this week and the 30th anniversary of Better Homes and Gardens, the folks at Pacific Magazines invited conference attendees to share in painting something for the wall of the newsXpress Head Office. The photo captures Shelley Petersen of newsXpress Sarina with brush in hand adding her touch to the painting. Some of us less skilled at painting than Shelley were thankful that there were lines to guide our painting.

This was a fun activity from Pacific Magazines for the trade show part of the two day conference.

Annette Sym inspires newsagents

Annette Sym set the newsXpress conference alight yesterday with her presentation on why she sells her Symply Too Good To Be True cookbooks exclusively through newsagents. Her weight loss, personal development, business success story is inspirational and commitment to newsagents and the newsXpress group in particular deeply appreciated.

Annette Sym is one of many speakers at the conference helping us connect with the theme of embracing change and propelling our businesses to a higher level.

Building a stronger newsagency business

The newsXpress conference sessions over two days were very well attended and the speakers highly rated. Key suppliers such as Tracey Wright, Managing Director of Hallmark Cards, Eugene Varricchio, Group General Manager – retail Sales & Distribution ACP Magazines and Vicki Rossi, Retail Sales & Circulation Director Pacific Magazines shared invaluable insights into their businesses and the performance of newsXpress newsagencies compared to other retailers. Business development speakers such as Gary Bertwistle, Peter Irvine, Peter Sheehan and Damian Knoblanche provided us with business ideas and insights we can use to strengthen our individual businesses and the newsXpress network more completely. It has been two days of business and personal recharge.

Peter Sheehan kicks off newsXpress conference

Peter Sheehan was the keynote speaker opening the first ever newsXpress national conference yesterday on the Gold Coast. A packed conference room listened as Peter talked about the challenges newsagents face and shared some strategies we can use to address these in pursuit of evolutionary business models. Peter also presented two well attended workshops in the afternoon on Generation Y – providing excellent insights into working with and serving this sometimes challenging generation.

newsXpress is committed to provide its members with excellent learning and motivational opportunities.

Sea World opener for newsXpress conference

Attendees at the inaugural newsXpress National Conference were treated to a night at Sea World on the Gold Coast last night as the opening event. Following a wonderful show by Sea World’s dolphins and their handlers during which two members got to play with the dolphins, we headed off for a wonderful meal looking over part of the Sea World park. The night was a relaxing and inspirational start to the conference.

The night was all the more special because the location of the evening had been kept secret.

At newsXpress we understand that surprise is important, especially in retail where customers expect the same old same old. Bringing surprise into retail helps a business navitage to greater success.

Expansion for QLD newsXpress team

newsXpress, the premier marketing group for Australian newsagents, today announced further expansion with the appointment Belinda Adshead to a newly created role as Business Development Manager.

Belinda brings more than five years of practical newsagency experience to this new role, most recently with newsXpress Robina on the Gold Coast where she managed the stationery department for two thriving retail outlets.

The Business Development Manager role is unique to newsXpress and a key reason newsXpress members perform so well so well in key product categories.

“Belinda brings the kind of hand-on experience we need to serve our growing Queensland member base.” said Graham Randall, founding Director of newsXpress. “her passion for newsagencies and the newsXpress mission is an exciting and welcome addition to our team”.

newsXpress Business Development Managers work very closely with newsXpress members in their businesses on newsXpress exclusive strategies. It is through this in-the-field connection with its members that newsXpress is able to outperform other marketing groups.

Belinda will work with newsXpress full time out of the company’s Brisbane office.

Preparing for the conference

It is all hands on desk as we make final preparations for our inaugural newsXpress conference here at Conrad Juptiers Casino on the Gold Coast. While the golfers are out enjoying the fine Gold Coast weather, others are here at conference headquarters preparing gift bags and other materials for attendees.

The fun starts tonight with a dinner and relaxing social evening at a secret venue. We have been careful to balance the agenda to ensure that it is a learning and battery-recharge experience. Owning and operating a newsagency is a challenge and establishing a work-life balance can be difficult. Hence the inclusion of relaxation opportunities for newsXpress members to take a break.

newsXpress conference this week

newsXpress members and our entire team are preparing to gather at the Gold Coast from tomorrow for our inaugural national conference. Tomorrow kicks off with a golf day at the Robina Woods course followed by an evening event at a secret destination.

The conference proper begins Thursday with an excellent range of speakers including our keynote from the world renowned Peter Sheehan from New Zealand. The two days are packed with value oriented presentations and workshops, ensuring that all participants will leave with innovations to implement.

Accompanying the conference is a full trade display where newsXpress preferred suppliers offer products and terms exclusive to newsXpress.

Calendar season in full swing

Calendar season for 2009 has well and truly started based on sales data we are seeing from newsXpress stores.

Thanks to strategic supplier relationships, many newsXpress stores have an excellent range of special interest calendars. These are key to early season calendar sales.

Michelle Caia is our in-house calendar specialist with years of experience in this lucrative category. newsXpress is the only newsagent marketing group with such a resource. Michelle is a key reason our newsXpress newsagecnies perform so well in calendar sales and margin.

We see excellent synergy between calendars, greeting cards and magazines – each category attracts consumers based on habit and habit is driven by range, especially in the special interest areas.

Meet the team

The newsXpress team met for most of yesterday in Melbourne to discuss the next phase of our development and make final plans for our national conference on the Gold Coast next week. We took the opportunity to get a group photo. Take a look at the team committed to helping newsagents get the best out of their businesses:

From left to right, front to back: Ian Urquhart, Michelle Caia, Paul Waite, Karen Sutton, Lesly Bortfield, Belinda Adshead, Ben Kay, Trent Shields, Jeff Walsh, Ron Thorpe, Roger Bortfield, Graham Randall, Mark Fletcher and Sonia Ruhland.

Where can I find newsXpress?

On the other end of the phone was someone who has seen our TV ad for ink and wanted to know her nearest store so she could get the ink we at the price we are currently advertising. Every day we are hearing stories like this, stories of the latest TV commercial and other marketing which is changing consumer behaviour and bringing traffic to newsXpress stores.

Earlier this year we committed to increasing store traffic through a number of startegies. Our TV campaign is one of those. Even though this campaignn is only a few days old we already have good evidence of increased awareness leading to sales from consumers who were used to purchasing brand name ink elsewhere.

Bringing people back to the newsagency channel for stationery items and, in particular, bringing them to newsXpress, is an important part of our mission.

TV lures suppliers

The latest TV commercial from newsXpress – which started airing on Sunday – is attracting more than good consumer interest in our stores. Suppliers respect our investment in our brand and want to share in the newsXpress experience. While we are not about to make a supplier decision because of a pitch resulting from our latest TV commercial, it is pleasing to see our investment in the newsXpress brand being so noticed.

In 2008, the newsXpress brand will be the newsagent brand most widely advertised on TV. The more important measure, however, is the commercial results achieved from the advertising. This is what gets suppliers interested. Our innovative national stage marketing places us well in discussions with suppliers – current and prospective.

Historically, newsagents have negotiated fro a position of critical mass. Our approach is to negotiate having demonstrated our capabilities. The latest TV commercial is a good demonstration of our capabilities and our commitment to promoting the brands which support newsXpress newsagents.

Excitement for newsXpress newsagents!

Here is the TV commercial newsXpress will running to promote its HOT ink! offer. The commercial is creating a good buzz in the community as well as among newsXpress members.

It’s great to have the a newsagent brand on TV and it is even better to be actively competing with the majors!

Promoting the shredder

Father’s Day has been a tremendous success at newsXpress this year. Our stores have had a range of good-value items available including this Safeguard shredder which also came with a free photo album valued at $9.95. The album was exclusive to newsXpress and provided us with another way to show the value of the newsXpress difference – to the consumer and to the newsXpress newsagent.

We understand that we compete against the big retail chains and that having a genuine point of difference is crucial. Our merchandise team looks for ways to show this beyond price and range.

newsXpress members have reported excellent results from the shredder offer.

newsXpress national TV commercial

Our latest TV commercial starts tomorrow night on ten pay-TV channels as well as free to air – channels 7, 9, 10, WIN and Southern Cross. This TV campaign is promoting our latest Hot Ink offer and pitched our group of close to 150 stores against the majors. Given the value in the latest Hot Ink offer we are very happy to be in this competitive situation.

newsXpress members tell us that the Hot Ink marketing – the flyers and the TVC – help change consumer behavior. Our investment in better buying supported by strong national marketing shows that we can convince consumers that newsagent, newsXpress newsagents, offer good value. Our consistently strong Hot Ink offers, integrated with everything else newsXpress offers, demonstrates the value of newsXpress membership.

The latest Hot Ink TVC will run natuionally for two weeks and cap off another very successful Hot Ink campaign.

Only newsXpress has a commitment to regular call-to-action marketing outside traditional seasons.

Extending Father’s Day

newsXpress helps its members broaden range around traditional shopping behaviour. Father’s Day is an excellent example of this strategy at work. the newsXpress merchandise team sourced a range of Father’s Day gift lines, many from suppliers new to newsagents.

This week, in the home stretch of the Father’s Day season, we have been hearing from newsXpress members about what has worked and what has not. While there have been some items which have not worked, they will easily fit in-store and sell between now and Christmas. These products are far outweighed by success stories. newsXpress members are reporting dramatic increases in gift line sales for Father’s Day around our offers.

Our merchandise team works hard to help our members push the boundaries. It is only by doing this that we are able to find what our businesses are capable of. We know the days of the traditional supplier driven newsagent are over. Our entrepreneurial members want to grow stronger, more margin-balanced businesses. Our buying and our supporting marketing collateral pursue this goal of margin balance relentlessly.

Our annual conference on the Gold Coast later this month will cover our merchandise strategies in more detail. If you are not a newsXpress members and want to get an insight into the newsXpress different, consider joining us at the conference on September 18 and 18.

Stationery is more than buying

Buying stationery at the right price is important. How you manage the product in-store is equally important. newsXpress recognises the importance of store layout and offers a plan a gram service to its members. Drawing in industry expert advice, we are helping newsXpress members develop new in-store plans around stationery which drive sales. Product adjacencies, brand promotion and retail theatre are all part of what our experts bring to the table in relaying stationery.

Our intellectual property around our approach to stationery is exclusive. It is another reason why we see newsXpress members embracing the model perform so well in the stationery department.

At our Annual Conference on the Gold Coast later this month we will share some insights into our approach on stationery which will further propel newsXpress newsagents to greater success.

Managing magazines in-store

Magazines are important to newsagencies, even more so in newsXpress. From our exclusive MPA category coded magazine header cards through to our unique loyalty program, we actively work this category to our advantage by delivering to our members a cohesive group of strategies and tactics which generate store traffic, increase basket size and make the magazine customer more valuable.

Our intellectual property around magazines is valuable as the results achieved by our members shows. newsXpress newsagents can bank of the success of magazines, for many it is a key financial justification for joining the group.

While others see magazines as a chore, the newsXpress magazine ‘system’ is delivering excellent results and providing our network with an excellent point of difference.

Win a watch for Dad

newsXpress stores are each offering a watch for one lucky Dad this Father’s Day. Run in association with Hallmark, this competition is popular because it offers a prize at the store level. Newsagents tell us this is important, that one of their customers is guaranteed to win. The watch promotion is another way newsXpress newsagencies are playing in a different space to many others. While the watch is on offer to Hallmark Alliance Program newsagents, newsXpress members are part of the Alliance program for no cost – this is a key deliverable from joining newsXpress.

A typical newsXpress store, embracing all of the marketing and support in the greeting card space, will achieve same store year on year sales growth in the double digits without giving away margin. newsXpress offers a host of strategies which guide this outcome.

At our national conference later this month on the Gold Coast we will share some confidential insights into the greeting card market and seek to help our members power even further ahead in this important category.

Cars for dad

newsXpress members are reporting excellent results from the range of gifts sourced exclusively for members for this Father’s Day. Even newsagents who have been in gifts before have been surprised by the results. The Kombi van book ends have been very popular, selling out in several stores already.

newsXpress has several strategies for members which help them reach into new product categories. These strategies feed into a cohesive whole of business plan. Father’s Day 2008 is another step forward in our overall plan to help newsXpress newsagents build stronger, more viable and more valuable businesses.

The book ends have been helped along by the Father’s Day book sale running in some stores at the same time.