Category: Gifts

Inspiring gifts driving sales

dream.JPGnewsXpress members are reporting good sales from a new limited edition gift range from Hallmark.  Featuring mugs, plaques and other items with inspiring quotes, these high quality gift items have arrived just in time for Christmas.  Sourced through our strategic partner relationship with Hallmark, the items have been selected not only for Christmas but for their year-round appeal.  They work especially well with Thank You cards and this is important given the number of Thank You cards newsagencies sell compared to all other card retailers.

With such strong early sales, newsXpress members offering these very exclusive gifts from Hallmark are looking forward to the Christmas season.

Gifts integrated with cards at Port Lincoln

portlincoln-gifts.jpgTwo weeks ago, newsXpress Beers Port Lincoln (SA) integrated gifts with cards as part of a strategy pursuing increased basket penetration.  They have placed a selection of appropriate gifts near each key card category.  Shoppers in Port Lincoln now have another reason to shop at newsXpress Beers Port Lincoln for cards and gifts.

Joy and David Whennen have been terrific innovators in their business, constantly evolving their offer to build a more enjoyable shopping experience and a more valuable retail business.

Father’s Day at newsXpress Wetherill Park

wetherillpark-fathers.jpgFather’s Day features on the dance floor at newsXpress Wetherill Park, located in Stockland Mall Wetherill Park in Sydney.

From the gift table featuring good margin gifts, including the Top Gear range, from newsXpress preferred suppliers through to the Hallmark Father’s Day card range, newsXpress Wetherill Park is a one stop shop for Father’s Day.

The newsXpress merchandise team sourced an excellent range of Father’s Day products to suit a broad range of economic situations.  newsXpress members get to choose products from the range, there is no mandatory supply.

Father’s Day at Deception Bay

deceptionbay-fathersday.JPGnewsXpress Deception Bay has a great Father’s Day display on a power end, facing customers as they enter the store.  Promoting a good range of Father’s Day gifts as well as Hallmark cards, the display makes shopping easy and presents many options.

The Deception Bay display is bright and easy to shop.

The range of Father’s Day gifts this year stretches from the fun to the serious … serving diversity in the Dad’s Day market.

Elvis sighting at newsXpress Sarina

41270_1495626142985_1004038331_1438855_2394021_n.jpgThe team at newsXpress Sarina started an ‘ELVIS DAY’ tradition a few years ago by creating an in-store celebration on the 16th of August – the date of Elvis’ “disappearance” in 1977. They have a variety of Elvis related products on sale and went to the next big step this year by actually having the King in-store on the day.

They have promoted this event almost exclusively through their Facebook page which now has over 800 friends, and passing on hints to customers in store.  The local paper, the Daily Mercury, will also be running a story about this fun event in their social pages, along with newsXpress preferred supplier, Gibson Unity featuring the event and products for sale in their upcoming newsletter.

Without doubt the highlight was owner, Mark Petersen in full Elvis garb and performing along to the ‘Around the clock’ Elvis hits through the store’s sound system all day. The response from customers has been outstanding and many were spied tapping their feet or singing along to the classics such as ‘Jailhouse Rock’, or ‘A little less conversation’. The team enthused by this outcome plan to make an even bigger event of the day next year, inviting particiaption from other lcoal businesses.

Hallmark recordable storybooks at Ocean Grove

oceangrove-recordable.JPGnewsXpress Ocean Grove (VIC) has the new Hallmark recordable storybooks at their main sales counter, showing off this popular new range.  Bringing innovative products like these to Ocean Grove is getting newsXpress Ocean Grove known as a terrific place to shop for gifts.  By placing the recordable storybooks at the counter, they are able to leverage card sales to also include a book as a gift.

The recordable storybooks are a line which newsXpress encouraged Hallmark to bring into Australia following our last Hallmark study tour overseas.

Goin fishin at newsXpress Knox

fishing-knox.JPGPart of the Father’s Day range at newsXpress Knox, Knox City Shopping Centre in Victoria, is this fishing themed range of caps, mugs and stubby holders from newsXpress preferred supplier TSK Giftware.  Featured on one of the gift tables faciling into the mall, the display which has been up for one day only is already drawing good attention – you can see people walking past and then be drawn to the display.

It’s Father’s Day already at newsXpress Knox

knox-fathers-day.JPGnewsXpress Knox went out early with Father’s Day gifts from newsXpress preferred suppliers and has had to order more stock thanks to excellent sales in the last week.

The early sales success has provided an excellent indication of which items from the newsXpress Father’s Day range will work well at our Knox corporate store.

Displaying on a specialist gift table at the front of the store and facinng into the Knox City mall, the Father’s Day gifts are attracting plenty of traffic to the business.

newsXpress Orange dominates in Gifts

orange-gifts.jpgPaul Blunden has developed an excellent gift department at his newsXpress Orange store.  From the quality display in glass cabinets to special offers on the dance floor and elsewhere in the business, newsXpress Orange has a strong presence in the gift space.

The products in the photo are from a newsXpress preferred supplier – preferred suppliers offer newsXpress members preferential terms and, often, products.

Paul and the wonderful team at newsXpress Orange are among a small group of newsagents leading the newsagency channel in running a profitable and growing gift department in their store, leveraging traditional traffic.

New product range an instant hit at newsXpress Wetherill Park

wetherill-park_1.jpgnewsXpress has brought on a large number of new preferred suppliers in the past three months to provide a wider range of products and opportunities for their members to add to their retail mix. One such supplier, Jacman Designs who produce named gifts & novelty products were initially treated with apprehension by newsXpress Wetherill Park.

However, Ginella and her team decided to trial them based on some previous success with newsXpress supported suppliers and installed a spinner late last week. In just over 7 days they had sold no less than 107 units at $7.99 each, an outstanding success in any measure of this result.

They now believe these are a huge hit and the sales figures certainly back this up, and encourage other newsXpress members to give them a try as they could work in almost all locations!

Mother’s Day at newsXpress Sun Valley

img_0258.JPGnewsXpress Sun Valley have created a Mother’s Day destination in store using a four sided slatwall gondola. The main side features Hallmark’s range of Mother’s Day cards, including the new and wildly popular recordable greeting cards, while the front end contains perfcet gift ideas from suppliers such as Hallmark, Ernest Hillier, The Book Seat & hiPP.com.au.

The photo to the left illustrates the reverse side from the card display and features great product from newsXpress preferred suppliers including: Keyrings from Alexander Brands, KTwo range of DIY Binders also frm Alexander brands, Forever Friends, Gift Bags, Ribbons & Decorative Bows from Hallmark, Inspirational Plaques and Mugs from Artique, Photo Frames from Gibson Unity and Lako Digitla Photo Key rings available through LDC.

The last side of the display features seasonally relevant magazines, such as Women’s Weekly, Lovatt’s Big Crossword, Better Homes & Gardens and an assortment of AWW cookbooks.

newsXpress Members can order products featured and many more at great terms by visiting the newsXpress website and logging into the preferred supplier section.

Mother’s Day at newsXpress Leongatha

mothersday-leongatha-newsxpress-004.jpgMother’s Day cards, books and gifts are being promoted on the dance floor at newsXpress Loengatha (VIC).  These are all part of the newsXpress Mother’s Day offer – a broad range of good margin gifts catering to the interests of mums of all ages and situations.  The team at newsXpress Leongatha has created a wonderful Mother’s Day environment by framing the gifts with cards as they have done.

Easter at newsXpress Orange

clipboard03.jpgPaul Blunden and the team at newsXpress Orange have called on their vast experience in the gift category to present a stylish Easter promotion “choc”full of fantastic gift items to complement the traditioanl range of sweets and other goodies.

The use of the newsXpress A1 posters as an event signpost and encompassing a range of Easter themed mobiles completes the story in this extremely pro-active store.

Expanding Top Gear opportunities

top_gear_gifts.JPGnewsXpress has launched a package of Top Gear branded products at its members meetings over the last two weeks.  From pens to clocks to USB sticks, the range is certain to appeal to the Top Gear enthusiast.  We like the Top Gear range because it is a strong international brand – the Top Gear calendar was #3 this season in the UK.  Brands are important to the newsXpress strategy and offer our stores an excellent point of difference from other newsagencies.

Access to the Top Gear package is available for newsXpress members.

newsXpress merchandise team at Melbourne Gift Fair

Several members of the newsXpress merchandise team have spent the last three days at the Melbourne Gift Fair looking at new product, meeting with suppliers and hosting members looking at gift opportunities at the Fair.  A large range of products have been assessed by newsXpress on behalf of members.

The results of this considerable effort will be evident in offers coming out exclusively for newsXpress members over the next few months.

newsXpress is having considerable success in guiding its members into the gift space.  Sales are showing that we are making good buying choices which are helping our members increase sales and deliver better margin balance to the business.

Melbourne Gift Fair support

newsXpress is hosting a tour of key suppliers at the Melbourne Gift Fair for newsXpress members.  The tour will include newsXpress preferred suppliers as well as several other key suppliers of interest to newsXpress members looking to expand their gift offer.  The tour taps into the considerable gift expertise among the newsXpress team.

newsXpress is also hosting evening drinks for newsXpress members attending the fair.  This will be on Sunday evening at Crown Casino.  Please contact newsXpress for details of this event.

Gift fairs present excellent opportunities

newsXpress is guiding its members in Brisbane and Sydney to visit with our preferred suppliers at gift trade shows this weekend. The REED Gift Fair at the Brisbane Exhibition Convention & Centre features several preferred suppliers as does the GHA Home & Giving Fair this weekend at the Sydney Showgrounds, Olympic Park.

With gifts a high growth area in newsXpress newsagencies, both fairs represent excellent opportunities for our members to grow this high margin feel-good department. We are grateful to our suppliers for the offers they will have available for our members.

newsXpress has a range of categories like gifts which are important to the evolution of the newsagency model. Like Rome, the newsagency of the future will not be built in a day.  The key is to have a plan.  Gifts, relevant and good margin gifts, are part of that.

Father’s Day offers launched

newsXpress has communicated a range of Father’s Day offers to its members including some excellent gift opportunities designed to work well with Father’s Day card sales.  included in the range is, back by popular demand, the newsXpress Dad’s Nuts Bags! The bags will retail for $20. newsXpress will make a donation based on sales to a charity to be announced closer to the season.