marketing | newsXpress Blog

Hot ink offers for Halloween and beyond

The latest newsXpress Hot Ink campaign which started last week has a Halloween theme. Beyond being a bit of fun, we show we are serious about driving traffic to our stores and competing on price. Integrating simultaneous campaigns like this is common among national retailers but rare in newsagencies. newsXpress felt ready to take this step given the maturity and success of our Hot Ink campaigns.

The two page flyer is being delivered to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses around participating stores as part of our co-ordinated marketing campaign. The offer is even more timely than usual given the talk in the press on economic matters. People looking to save money know they can shop at newsXpress newsagencies for quality branded ink and toner and trust that our prices are excellent.

Many newsXpress members entered the ink and toner space only after being guided by newsXpress. Our training, support, supplier relationships and national marketing has combined to deliver excellent sales results. While newsXpress members are thrilled at winning new business from existing customers, they are even more thrilled at seeing new customers come through the door.

As the only newsagent group marketing ink and toner on TV, newsXpress members are well positioned to leverage this high growth category even further in the coming months.

If you want innovative marketing strategies for your newsagency, contact newsXpress.

Connecting with the Spring Racing Carnival

Seasons like the Spring Racing Carnival present an excellent opportunity for newsagents to engage in retail theatre. newsXpress supports these seasons through visual merchandising packs which supplement local creativity around the opportunity.

Too often others neglect opportunities like the Spring Racing Carnival and then complain later about the leakage of consumers from their business to other retail channels. In today’s market, more than ever before, we need to be on top of every opportunity. Certainly as the premier marketing group for newsagents that is the case for newsXpress. Our members can choose whether to engage or not – our job is to put the opportunity on the table and to back this with appropriate collateral.

Newsagents are a good fit for promoting the Spring Racing Carnival because newspaper sales are up, racing magazine sales are up, party supplies are up and, most important of all, it’s fun!

Supporting breast cancer research

newsXpress Kin Kora are right behind the newsXpress/Pentel exclusive Pink Roller Boys. Sponsoring Breast Cancer Research the always popular Pentel Roller Boys have been given Sarah’s famed merchandising treatment as these very striking merchandise units show.

The benefit of a mobile unit such as this is seen by the positioning just near the Darrell Lea Stand. The stand can be moved to the lotto counter, news stand or magazine rack to capitalise on increased traffic flow and encourage bigger basket size as well as bringing more recognition to this most worthy of charities.

Halloween’s a hit at newsXpress Riverlink

newsXpress Riverlink greatly enjoyed the Halloween promotion last year, the interaction with their local community, the re-telling of the fun Halloween story, the introduction to several new suppliers and above all else the in-store fun!

This year Belinda and her team have ordered three times the quantiy of merchandise and created a full front window display. By supporting and growing newsXpress exclusive promotions members are reaping the on-going benefits.

Smart business at Bathurst

Geoff and Virginia Dale at newsXpress Bathurst wholeheartedly embrace the opportunity of the Bathurst race at Mount Panorama each year. They transform their newsagency into a Bathurst race souvenir and memorabilia shop. This year was no exception. They replaced greeting card and other fixturing with Bathurst product including a huge range of clothing. For several weeks, newsXpress Bathurst was THE go to place in town for all things Bathurst.

It is terrific seeing newsagents embrace opportunities such as this. We are proud to count Geoff and Virginia as newsXpress members. We will learn considerably from their input to our group, especially around special event marketing.

More fun with Halloween

Even though October 31 is still a few weeks away, newsXpress members and their team are happy to get into the spirit of the season with some dressing for Halloween. It is this team based approach which makes work fun and when work in retail is fun customers notice.

Happy customers are good for the business. This is another reason newsXpress puts considerable effort into Halloween – it is a season of fun before the busy Christmas season.

Enjoying Halloween

Wayne and the team at the newsXpress Upper Coomera Coles store are getting into Halloween. This photo shows part of their display.

This shop is right near Warner’s Brothers Movie World where they celebrate Halloween over three spooky nights. The newsXpress products and marketing collateral help the store be part of the area’s Halloween celebration.

Like any good promotion, there is an important balance to strike between pure fun and commercail success. With newsXpress having done Halloween for so long now, the group has a good mix and this is why our members enjoy the season so.

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.