Category: About us

Is being in a newsagency marketing group worth it?

Is being in a newsagency marketing group worth it?

I bought my first newsagency in February 1996. Today, I am grateful to own four, with the most recent purchased in December 2021 in Malvern Victoria.

Over the years I have owned businesses that were part of Newspower and nextra. That changed in 2005 when I invested in newsXpress. It would have been a conflict to remain in any other group.

I have found that being part of a proactive newsagency marketing group is vital and here’s why I believe this … a proactive marketing group will place before you opportunities and ideas beyond those you may have discovered for yourself, and they will do this ahead of the pack.

newsXpress is different to other groups. We have been first with traffic generating product opportunities, first with new and valuable supplier relationships and first through Covid withy real help.

newsXpress membership costs $175.00 (inc. GST) a month and for that our members have access to:

  1. Strategic planning. Based on your situation, your data and your budget … a plan for you to consider. Whether you embrace it is 100% up to you.
  2. Bonus rebates. Offering bonus margin opportunities off newsXpress member pricing.
  3. Curated supplier showroom visits. Exclusive early access to launch opportunities.
  4. Seasonal marketing collateral. Beautiful. Exclusive. A1. Double-sided.
  5. Digital collateral. 100s of exclusive assets for your use each year.
  6. Digital collateral for in-store use. Ready for you to print, and use.
  7. Catalogue opportunities. While catalogues don’t work the way they used to – just ask Coles, Woolworths or Ovato – we do offer specialty / niche product catalogue opportunities from time to time.
  8. Customer loyalty cards. For 3 different categories. Free to members.
  9. Exclusive to newsXpress seasons. To help you attract new shoppers.
  10. 100+ preferred suppliers. Better margin. Faster selling. Good terms.
  11. Social media collateral. Images, and videos ready for you to use.
  12. National consumer facing websites. Connection for your shop is easy.
  13. Half price Shopify website.  Connected to your business, made for you.
  14. Supplier problem resolution. We actively represent you.
  15. Landlord negotiation. We help you negotiate.
  16. Low EFTPOS rates. We launched least cost routing in Jan. 2018 and better new deal in March 2022.
  17. Product buying. To your budget, we create orders for you to consider.
  18. Business management advice. Evidence-based advice.
  19. Team member training.
  20. Visual merchandising advice, training, and inspiration.
  21. Shop fit, and layout advice. We have helped save thousands of dollars.
  22. HR. Timely access to award rates.
  23. Member meetings. Online. Via Zoom. Regularly.
  24. Supplier launches / presentations. Filmed by us, for you.
  25. Private Facebook group. Talk about anything, any time.
  26. Online knowledge base. 150+ business management articles.
  27. Deals envelope. Exclusive member deals from suppliers.
  28. Financial guidance. Helping you budget for profit.
  29. Listening. We can be your sounding board on anything.
  30. Mental health support. We will help any way we can.
  31. More. We do more than this every day.

If you want fresh ideas, new traffic ideas for your business, reach out today and see whether newsXpress could be right for you: help@newsxpress.com.au

Mark Fletcher, Managing Director, newsXpress.

newsXpress is not a newsagency franchise and why that matters to local Aussie newsagents

newsXpress is not a franchise group and as such does not operate under the obligations and requirements of the franchise code of conduct.

newsXpress is a marketing group, a local retail business marketing group. It provides support, advice and nourishment for local retail newsagents around Australia.

It is the how and what of newsXpress that sets it as not being a franchise group.

newsXpress is not intrusive or demanding. It does not make demands in terms of products ranged, prices set or how a business operates. newsXpress does not have demands in terms of business name, layout or uniforms.

All of these things and more demonstrate that newsXpress is not a franchise and that newsXpress local retailers are not franchisees, which is liberating for them.

By not being a franchise, newsXpress can be more flexible in terms of what it offers its members while at the same time enabling a more flexible operation by newsXpress member businesses themselves.

This is good news for local small business retailers who value independence.

Now, let’s turn to the what of newsXpress …

The more money you make in your retail business today, the more valuable it is when you decide to sell.

This is key to cultivating joy in your newsagency business.

Focussing on profitability today is vital not only financially but also in terms of your happiness.

Growing profit is achieved through ranging products that attract new shoppers, pricing to maximise the opportunity, marketing outside your usual reach and turning product faster than usual.

newsXpress helps with each of these opportunities, and more. We have added many new suppliers this year, delivered unexpected bonus margin and delivered money-making strategies that go to the core of success.

We offer evidence-based advice to back our suggestions. What you do in your business is 100% up to you.

Here at newsXpress we help businesses that have limited or no capital grow in value. Our team of twelve retail professionals has a deep well of skills and experience.

For $175.00 a month, we think that newsXpress offers the most valuable marketing group membership available.

We’d love to help you run a more valuable business and more enjoyable business. If you’d like that, let’s talk.

How newsXpress helps local Aussie newsagents sell online

The newsXpress exclusive approach to selling online.

newsXpress offers members easy access to several national traffic-attracting websites. newsXpress head office manages the back end of credit card fees, refunds, returns, free freight, and more. These sites are the fastest, and easiest way a newsagent can sell online.

newsXpress also offers members access to half-price beautiful websites made specifically for a member business. Such a site can run alongside the newsXpress group-wide national sites. See www.onebaby.com.au or www.chitchatgifts.com.au for two examples.

The web technology is backed up with go-live support, marketing advice, and more. Our approach is to treat a website for a business as a start-up, a source of new traffic, and new revenue for a business.

 

newsXpress helped us find our niche, get online and through this find online customers as well as new customers for our shop.

It is exciting having a new business like this launch and be successful. It is encouraging, motivating and helping us to see our newsXpress business differently.

Andrea Holmes, newsXpress Numurkah, VIC.

 

At first, we wanted to put our shop online. As we went through this, discovering how and why people shop online, we realised it was time to change our business name. Paperplay Inverloch was born and through that a new pathway for our business opened.

We are excited for where online takes us and appreciate the help from newsXpress through this.

Trudy and Adrian Banks, newsXpress (Paperplay) Inverloch, VIC.

newsXpress helps local Aussie newsagents grow coin sales

The Royal Australian Mint relationship.

newsXpress is the only marketing group the Royal Australian Mint partners with. While it does supply Australia Post outlets as part of common government ownership of both businesses, our retailers benefit more from our relationship.

We have seen newsXpress members go from selling no coins to achieving $25,000 a year in revenue.

Through our work with the Mint, and their products over three years, we have discovered how coins can work for traditional shoppers like those buying newspapers, and lotteries.

Thanks to beautiful packaging connected with key seasonal giving occasions, Royal Australian Mint products support greeting card sales, especially for new baby arrivals, anniversaries, Father’s Day, and other special events.

Products from the Royal Australian Mint also help attract new shoppers to the business as we leverage Mint data to help us understand more about mint coin collectors.

newsXpress leverages a terrific margin for members as well as guaranteed access to limited-edition products. Later in 2021, newsXpress members are expected to have access to their first exclusive Mint coin product.

newsXpress guides success with Mint coins through training, advice, social media collateral, and in-store tactical engagement advice.

 

I never thought we could sell mint coins in our shop. The time an early morning newspaper customer spent $300.00 in mint coins before 7am changed my perspective.

The Supercars coins helped us find more customers as did the AC/DC coin sets.

The Mint relationship is another unique supplier relationship from newsXpress that is helping us grow our business.

Nick Cassimatis, newsXpress Caboolture, QLD.

newsXpress is a unique marketing group helping newsagents

What is unique about what we leverage for you.

newsXpress is genuinely unique in the newsagency marketing group mix.

We leverage the Tower Systems retail experience. Tower serves 3,500+ independent retailers across 10 retail channels. Data insights from these channels provide early insights that we leverage for newsXpress members.

The value of this dataset is extraordinary.

The work by Tower Systems with toy shops, homewares businesses, and gift shops has been instrumental in newsXpress members broadening the appeal of their businesses.

Through this we can speak to key metrics such as return on floor space, return on labour, and return on investment, and through these help you cultivate more value from your business.

We own, and run our own shops, as playing fields where we experiment for our members with their full knowledge, and guidance.

We were first with a consumer-facing online offer at the group level, and at an individual store level.

We have an active new shopper strategy, focussed through several suppliers that do not partner with any other marketing group.

We will disagree with you sometimes. If you ask our opinion, our feedback will be honest, and backed by evidence. We owe you the truth.

 

We joined newsXpress over 10 years ago to take the business to a level we could not achieve on our own. Not only has newsXpress opened doors to suppliers and deals that were beyond us on our own but the family like community of newsXpress has supported us in ways that go beyond a purely business relationship. 

Our thanks to Mark and the team and all the other members.

Brendan and Rita Mason, newsXpress Sunbury Square, VIC.

newsXpress is helping local small business newsagents grow more enjoyable and successful businesses

Nurturing your success.

We nurture your success through opportunities you can leverage, often needing little or no capital investment. We share these in one of our regular (at least twice a week) member emails, or our regular member Zoom meetings.

Opportunities can be new suppliers, new products, in-store tactical changes, out of store marketing ideas. Often, they are early adopter opportunities that can help our members win before other retailers know about the opportunity.

We lay out for your consideration a pathway to a success.

Opportunities can be sales to people who will never visit your shop through any of several national #1 ranked consumer facing websites, and / or your own exclusive website, under a brand you choose.

Helping you cultivate value.

We guide you to harvest greater value, profit, and thereby make your business worth more.

Our 100+ preferred suppliers offer members better margin opportunities.

We shine a light on products that turn faster.

We have preferred suppliers who: provide exclusive product and who offer first to market opportunities.

We have preferred suppliers who do not sell to other newsagents.

Our central billing program unlocks for you delayed billing terms.

Our shop floor tactical training and guidance can help you achieve higher inventory turn rates, delivering a better return on investment, better return on floor space, and better return on labour.

Enjoying your business.

Through our newsXpress community you have friends you can have a laugh with, and folks you can trust to decompress with.

Success is enjoyable. We encourage and help to find success so you can feel the happiness it brings.

Now, let’s turn to the how …

newsXpress helps newsagents transform their businesses

Every day, the newsXpress newsagency marketing group helps newsagents engage with their businesses in fresh ways.

Here are some of the practical benefits of our newsagency marketing group delivers access to for newsagents.

  • Regular Zoom meetings for members. From March 2020 to now these have been daily at 2pm and on Sunday at 4pm. Plenty who can’t make the meetings watch the videos of them.
  • Virtual trade shows. Where suppliers show products and answer your questions.
  • Better pricing from preferred suppliers with discounts off standard wholesale.
  • Better margin from special deals. Exclusive deals can boost GP by 25% and 50%.
  • Exclusive suppliers: like the Royal Australian Mint.
  • Seasonal A1 posters delivered to your store.
  • Strategic planning. Using our business data, we prepare insights for consideration and lay out a roadmap for change for your consideration. This is leveraging your own business data into an analysis report specific to your business.
  • Ready to go social media. We provide social media posts ready to go, branded and unbranded. With a mixture of text, image and video content.
  • Marketing advice on how to attract new shoppers.
  • Pricing advice based on evidence to maximise your profitability.
  • Member emails: management advice, strategic planning advice and supplier deals.
  • Better cash flow with central billing for almost 50 suppliers. We guarantee payment to suppliers and they like that. You pay us at 45 days end of month – extended terms.
  • Group website access. We offer several consumer facing websites that you can sell from.
  • Half price business website. A Tower Systems developed Shopify site for your business.
  • Everything is optional. We don’t force you to do anything we suggest.

newsXpress offers more than this, hellping newsagents to transform their businesses, finding new shoppers, encouraging a focus on shop local in practical and financially beneficial ways for the business and the local community.

We are grateful to our 200+ newsagent members for their encouragement, engagement and support. They make us what we are and help provide a 2020 of terrific accomplishment.

To find our more about newsXpress, start by querying at help@newsxpress.com.au. One of our team members will engage, answering questions and sharing practical information about how we help newsagents enjoy their businesses more.

Storytime

Old Harry is a regular. Every day or so, he is in for the paper, sometimes a magazine. Always with a smile. He’s a happy bloke. Yesterday was different. He was quietly looking at the new baby cards. He’d been in front of them for ten minutes or so, not moving. I could sense something was up. “Hey, Harry,” I said as I approached. “Oh, hi.” It was if he was lost in his thoughts. I took the hint. “I’ll leave you to it,” I said, and turned to walk away. “She would have been forty-five today.” Harry’s face was lined with sadness. He looked at the baby girl cards, reached across and placed his hand on some before speaking again.”Vicky we called her, Vicky. She would have been forty-five today.” Harry paused, looking to the ground. “She died during the birth. So, today’s her birthday, but it’s not.” “I’m so sorry Harry.” “It’s okay. Nothing can change it.” Harry tapped the new baby girl cards again, sighed and walked across to get his newspaper. I stood there realising, once again, that a shop is so many different things every day.

Storytime

Customers tell you the most human and personal of stories sometimes. Sixty-something Tom was looking for a card. I offered help. “Don’t laugh or judge me but I need a card for my dad.” Oh, how old is he,” I asked.  “He died a few days ago,” Tom said with resignation. After a pause, he added “there are some things, some things I never said, that I wished I had said, things I think he’d like to hear.  So, I need a card that I can write on, and put in his coffin.” Tom swallowed a tear.

It turned out Tom’s dad loved penguins and we have a card with the most beautiful penguins on it. Tom was thrilled. “This is perfect,” he said, beaming, “he’ll like that.”

Every day, every day, real people, real emotions.

Storytime: a bouquet of purple pens

Storytime.  A guy in his mid 70s put eight different purple pens and markers on the counter. “Someone likes purple,” I said with a smile in my usual, somewhat cliché, small talk at the counter way. His lip quivered, a tear formed. I felt a chill. He faintly smiled. “They’re for my wife,” he spoke slowly and softly, “she has dementia. Purple was, is, her favourite colour. I want to give her things she might remember.”

I opened a pack of purple tissue paper and wrapped the pens into a small posy and tied that with a purple ribbon. “She will love that,” he said, with a broad smile.

The stories we hear are personal and heart-warming. They make retail more meaningful.

Storytime: the Spirax Music Book and the song about our town

Storytime. 12 years ago, when I sold Toby his first Spirax Music Book, I told him to come and play for me one day. He was in high school then and told me he had plans to be a songwriter. As I was closing up a couple of nights ago, this guy came in with a guitar over his shoulder. “Hey, I’m Toby. Remember me? I promised you a song.” Next thing you know, the Spirax Music Book was on the counter and open and he was playing his guitar and singing. It was a ballad about growing up in our small town.

Some days we experience pure joy in discovering the creativity of others using what we sell.