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

Boxed Charity Christmas cards help Australian charities

newsXpress is grateful to offer boxed charity Christmas cards in newsXpress stores and online this year.

Our boxed Christmas card range serves many different and valued charities that serve Australians in many situations. The charities supported buy the boxed Christmas cards include Beyond Blue, Peter Mac Cancer Centre, Make-A-Wish and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. All such good causes.

These beautiful boxed Christmas cards represent the work of many artists, too, offering an appreciated outlet for their creativity. It is wonderful that their art can being joy to those receiving the cards, those giving them and to those supported by the charities the cards raise funds for.

Boxed Christmas cards are ideal for those sending many Christmas cards. They are also ideal for businesses sending cards to employees and to clients. Community groups, too, benefit from sending boxed Christmas cards to those supporting them.

We are proud at newsXpress to offer a wonderful range of boxed Christmas cards for 2020, an odd year we are sure many will want to celebrate by sending more Christmas cards than they may have sent in the past. This is a year to spread joy, hope and love and a Christmas card, from our charity boxed Christmas card range, is a wonderful way to do this on so many different levels.

Boxed Christmas cards are cost-effective, too. Look at a pack costing $12.99. In this pack you receive 12 beautiful cards, meaning that each card costs only $1.08. This is terrific news for the charity supported and for the Australian artist who designed the cards and for the local Australian printer who printed the cards. yes, this pack, like many packs we offer, is 100% an Australian product.

Charity boxed Christmas cards are good for you, good for the charities supported, good for those you give the cards to and good for the artists they support.

newsXpress through more than 200 stores is a wonderful outlet for Christmas cards ion 2020. We are here with cards that help you express love and care for many this Christmas. We have cards for mums, dads, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, grandparents, neighbours and many many more.

Thank you for buying Christmas cards. Especially, thank you for considering buying Christmas cards and boxed Christmas cards from newsXpress shops and our online card shop.

Christmas 2020 is going to be awesome!

Save money on teacher gifts for students with a perfect Ty Puffies gift

newsXpress has launched a teacher gift for students with this Ty Puffies Christmas pack for teachers. Priced at $119.80, this pack of 25 Fudge Ty Puffies is shipped free anywhere in Australia.

Fudge from the Ty Puffies range is a perfect gift from a teacher to a student in kindergarten, prep, or grades 1 through 4.

Included in the pack of 25 Ty Puffies are 25 activity sheets offering more Ty fun. These are a perfect gift from a teacher to a student. Each Fudge costs only $4.79. The usual retail price for a Fudge is $5.99, plus shipping.

Here is what the pack looks like:

This pack of gifts from a teacher to students is our way of helping teachers access low cost but sought-after gifts for young students. It is another way teachers can gift students gifts they will enjoy, have fun with and remember the teacher by.

We know it can be expensive for teachers to find gifts for students. That is why we have put something together that offers value for a brand-name product, something the kids will enjoy playing with, something that can offer comfort and something ideal for the Christmas season.

Fudge is a perfect ball of fun. Toss him into the air and he always lands on his feet. Cuddle him, love him and look at his adorable eyes. Kids love Fudge.

For a wonderful gift from a teacher to a student, Fudge is a perfect fit. We are grateful to be able to help teachers save money on gifts for students in 2020 with this teacher gift pack of 25 Fudge for a special low price.

Available now from Beanie Boos Australia, Fudge is part of a large range of Ty Puffies, Ty Flippables, Ty Gear and Beanie Boos … wonderful products that help kids of all ages to have fun and celebrate.

newsXpress stores are the best local stockists of Ty products in Australia and our website carries the largest range you will find in the counter.

We are grateful to help teachers find awesome gifts for students through this special teacher pack Fudge Ty Puffies offer from newsXpress.

This Christmas, we hope for everyone a happy, healthy, fun and peaceful Christmas. It’s time for us to all celebrate.

Our local community / small business focussed stimulus package suggestion for the federal government

Small business retailers are nimble and able to lift local economies faster than big businesses and certainly better than online businesses.

Here are six tips for politicians on steps they can take, decisions they can make to help lift retail, especially small business retail, as well as those local businesses with which small business retailers can quickly connect.

  1. Local shops refresh grant. Give every local retail business a grant of at least $25,000 with the stipulation that it is spent locally (at least within the state or territory) on capital works for the shop, to improve the shop. It could be for painting, carpentry, electrical, new aircon, new carpeting, staff training or similar. Proof of local spending in the form of an invoice from a local tradesperson or small business company with and ABN and more than a year of trading as recognised by the ATO – to avoid fraud. The management of this should be online with quick approval and payment. Note: the $25,000 is suggested to provide sufficient local economic stimulus.
  2. Local visual merchandising support. Keeping in-store displays can be a challenge for small business retailers. Fund a network of merchandisers to make a 2 hour call weekly on qualified independent small retail businesses, sub $1M retail product turnover (i.e. not including agency), ABN registered, trading for six months or more. With each visit to be about visual refresh of the shop. Cap the campaign at six months and then assess the economic value. Only local merchandisers to be used – i.e. not an overseas agency who hires local contractors.
  3. Local artists grants. Offer cash grants to fund buskers for local high streets, to make shopping locally more entertaining. Make the application easy. Focus on local artists entertaining in their local community. This serves the dual purpose of injecting cash locally as well as fostering the local arts. The application process should be online, approval fast and payment immediate.
  4. Direct all politician electorate spending to be with local small businesses. For printing, subscriptions, gifts, parties, cards, everything for a year purchased through a politician’s electorate to be through a a business in their electorate. Have the results assessed independently. Ensure that spending is fair, too, to benefit a variety of local businesses, and not dolled out as political favours. Shop local, shop small.
  5. Run a national shop small shop local ad campaign. Make it educational, smart, encouraging … guiding Aussies on the value to them from shopping local, shopping small. Help to understand the true value of shopping local, shopping small compared to the alternatives. The ad campaign should run regionally across multiple media platforms, giving preference to locally owned platforms with a track record for not managing their business to minimise tax. Yes, Amex does this. We need a campaign that is not credit card supported.
  6. Establish local currency systems. These work overseas on regional towns where local currency has more value than the national currency. It supports shopping local through a smart value structure. the government role could be on the tech back end to manage the currency – taking away capital cost from local councils. To find out more ab9out this, read up on the Bristol Pound.

This list could be much longer. It is offered here as a start, to get people thinking of practical ways to support shopping small, shopping local.

Corona is challenging the economy. While I am no economist, I suspect that giving money to people likely to spend it quickly and spend it locally would be good for the economy and at a pace that is helpful to overall economic performance.

This is all about boosting local.

newsXpress launches national creative writing competition

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.