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 concerns about Australia Post magazine trial with Are Media

Are Media is trialling the sale of selected top-selling magazines in a group of corporate stores owned and run by Australia Post, a government protected and owned monopoly.

This trial by Are Media could adversely impact small business newsagents. It could encourage people to stop shopping their local family owned newsagency and, instead, shop at their government owned post office.

Mercury Capital, the Are Media owners, have been announced as underwriting a rights issue for Ovato (OVT). Ovato controls magazine distribution in Australia.
We are concerned that the Australia Post relationship is a step toward reducing magazine revenue for small business newsagents.
That a government owned and run enterprise is being gifted this opportunity to the detriment of small business newsagents is most concerning.
We can see the possibility of Mercury grabbing the magazine distribution business from Ovato, further strengthening the Australia Post relationship and small business newsagents being a further risk.
Australia Post continues to encroach on what small business newsagents sell. Recently, Australia Post got Lego product – we suspect because they are government owned and protected. Newsagents struggle to get access to Lego even if they have an awesome toy department.
This is a local small business story. It is an important story. One you will most likely not see covered in mainstream media.
The local family run newsagency depends on local shoppers for magazines as a core traffic generator. The Are Media move puts that at risk.
While innovative newsagents are evolving their retail businesses to be less reliant on magazines and related legacy newsagency products such as newspapers and stationery, magazines remain core to the average newsagency business. They are important.
Leveraging government monopoly protection to take magazine revenue from a newsagency to a Post Office would, in our view, be detrimental to small business owners and to the community more broadly.
We call upon politicians to look into this and into the general retail operations of Australia Post more broadly. They need to focus attention on what this protected monopoly is doing to the harm of local family businesses – all for the profit of the government.
Ideally, questions will be asked as to why Australia Post needs to sell magazines. It’s a postal service. The Act under which Australia Post operates is clear.

Charity boxed Christmas cards help Aussie charities like Peter Mac Cancer Centre, Make-A-Wish, Beyond Blue, Starlight Children’s Foundation and more

Shop online for charity boxed Christmas cards this year and support wonderful Aussie charities and our local family business.

Our charity boxed Christmas cards support the work of the Peter Mac Cancer Centre, Make-A-Wish, Beyond Blue, Starlight Children’s Foundation and more.

These charity boxed Christmas cards do good, plenty of good with every purchase raising funds for the charities noted on the boxed Christmas cards.

By shopping online, we will ship to you from our Mount Waverley Victoria shop, to anywhere in Australia. We ship every day of the week. Our cards are packed with care.

Charity boxed Christmas cards also support artists as they showcase their work. we have plenty of our charity boxed Christmas cards printed in Australia, supporting local Aussie printers, too.

It is a Christmas tradition supporting charities through Christmas card purchases. Charities like Peter Mac Cancer Centre, Make-A-Wish, Beyond Blue and the Starlight Children’s Foundation all appreciate the work put in by card designers, printers and shops like ours to raise funds for their work.

Boxed Christmas cards offer good value, especially for people sending many cards, which we expect to be the case in 2020 as more people want to reach out and send the love of hugs that one sends when sending a Christmas card.

With so many designs available, so many good charities being supported – Peter Mac Cancer Centre, Make-A-Wish, Beyond Blue, Starlight Children’s Foundation – and so many artists having their work showcased, we are grateful to offer this year’s range of charity boxed Christmas cards online for your support. Thank you for checking us out. Thank you for considering the charities in the local community. This is wonderful news.

We have customers chat choose based on design, others choose based on the charity supported while others choose based on the artist. regardless of the reason, we have many charity boxed Christmas cards here for your selection and enjoyment. Please take a moment to browse and see what could be good for you and those you care about this Christmas season.

Charity boxed Christmas cards do much good thanks to their support of Peter Mac Cancer Centre, Make-A-Wish, Beyond Blue and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Your support for the range is appreciated and encouraged. tell your friends, too. They can help spread the good works of the fine charities each time they send a Christmas card.

Happy shopping and enjoy your boxed charity Christmas cards this year.

newsXpress launches creative writing competition for Aussies

Newsagency marketing group newsXpress has launched a national creative writing competition seeking entries of short stories, poems and songs that relate, somehow, in some way, to the Aussie newsagency.

Two cash prizes of $1,000 each will be awarded, one for anyone aged up to and including 17 and the second for anyone aged more than 17.

Writers are invited to submit a short story, first person narrative, song or poem. Each entry is required to in some way reference a newsagency, either a specific business or the type of business generally.

The local newsagency is the quintessential Australian small business, and through Covid the newsagency channel proved it’s value as an essential service to local communities. We wanted to explore a way of celebrating that.

The idea of this competition is to encourage creative writing by Australians, to shine a light on local stories and through these reference in some way the local Aussie newsagency.

newsXpress is a collective of over 200 local family owned and run newsagency businesses across Australia, mainly rural and regional. Most shops in the group have transitioned from the traditional to be modern. newsXpress businesses showcase Australian made products that help Australians express themselves.

To me, this is a perfect newsagency marketing group activity. It is fresh, creative and not tied to shoppers spending money in the business. It fits with my view that sometimes the best way to get from A to B is to head for C. I like it too because there is no supplier connection, no outstretched arm asking for help.

newsXpress is funding this itself, including providing retailers with A1 colour posters.

Here is more information about the competition:

This competition is run by newsXpress Pty Ltd.

There are 2 prizes: one of $1,000 for entrant up to and including 17 years of age and one of $1,000 for an entrant more than 17 years of age. Each winner will receive a certificate.

TERMS.

  1. All entries are to be submitted by email to writing@newsxpress.com.au.
  2. Each entry is to include a first page with entrant name, age in years and months, email address, name of local newsXpress business if known (not mandatory) and the name of the piece.
  3. Each page of the entry is to have only the name of the piece.
  4. Entries to be an original, previously unpublished short story, a song, a poem or first person narrative. Maximum word length: 1,000.
  5. Page format is to be A4, font is to be arial, 12pt. No images. For short stories and first person narrative, double spaced please.
  6. Entries to be in PDF or Microsoft Word format or a format easily read by either.
  7. There is no limit on entries per person.
  8. There is no entry cost.
  9. Entries close at midnight December 11, 2020.
  10. Each entry must, in some way, reference a newsagency. We are not being prescriptive as to how central a newsagency is to the story, song or poem. We leave that up to the writer. But, we do want there to be a reference at some point to a newsagency, any newsagency.
  11. The decision of the judges will be final.
  12. The winner will be announced on the newsXpress Facebook page and elsewhere no later than January 30, 2021.
  13. newsXpress will publish the winning stories on its blog, crediting the writer.
  14. Once the competition is over, all entries will be destroyed.
  15. newsXpress will not share entrant details or use them in marketing.

A newsXpress local store may choose to offer a local prize or prizes for entries from their area. This will be entirely managed at that local store level by the local store.