Category: newsagency marketing

Stunning Lovatts crossword display

nx_waterg_lovatts.jpgOur talented team at newsXpress Watergardens, our corporate store in Victoria, has created a stunning front-of-store display promoting Lovatts crossword products.

By following a less is more principle, the display stands out to people passing the shop in the mall.  Too often displays at the front of newsagencies are cluttered and project mixed messages.  We have seen customers react by walking to the display and engaging with the Lovatts products on offer.

Part of our visual merchandising strategy is to guide our members to promote ranges which differentiate their businesses from others nearby – especially in the magazine space.  This Lovatts display does exactly that.  The supermarket near us does not have this range.

The key with any investment in real-estate and time is the return – we track this and change our approach as necessary.

Local area marketing workshop this week

newsXpress is hosting another Local area marketing workshop. How to grow your sales using Local Area Marketing will be held Thursday, April 16 at 10.00am EST. Our National Marketing Manager Trent Shields will provide some tools you can take back and use in your store and faacilitate a discussion between participants on local marketing experiences. Each newsXpress member who signs up will receive some pre-reading and instruction of information to bring to the meeting.

This is another free training initiative from newsXpress dexsigned to help our members grow stronger and more successful businesses.

Welcome newsXpress Leongatha!

newsxpress_leongatha.jpgThe team at newsXpress Leongatha put on a great show for their opening this morning.  From the owners, Peter, Debra and Dean through to the retail team, everyone was in uniform and pumped for a great day.  There were showbags packed with goodies for customers, the Hallmark Bear, special deals from Darrell Lea and other suppliers, a sausage sizzle and plenty of smiles.

The shop itself felt great and looked a treat from an excellent range of cards to one of the best ranges of stationery you could find in a newsagency to a full book department to a broad range of magazines – newsXpress Leongatha is an excellent business.

Everyone at newsXpress welcomes newsXpress Leongatha to the family.

newsXpress launches 2009 national newsagent conference

newsXpress is proud to announce pre registration details for our national confercen for 2009. We are planning an exciting agenda packed with valuable learning and networking opportunities for newsagents and their staff from newsagencies of all size.

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Watch for the pre registration link at our website.

Christmas shopping in April

The newsXpress merchandise team is in the middle of reviewing new products from existing and potential preferred suppliers for the 2009 Christmas season.  This annual process is exciting and challenging because we get to see many new products from which to build our recommended core range for the season.  While some products were on show at recent gift fairs, most are available only for private viewings such as those our team has been invited to.

newsXpress Leongatha opens this Saturday

newsXpress Leongatha opens this Saturday, April 11. Located at 30 Bair St, Leongatha.  Peter, Debra and the team are putting on a great day of fun and offers as they bring the newsXpress brand to this beautiful part of Gippsland.  There will be prizes, specials and a sausage sizzle for the local CFA.  If you find yourself in Gippsland on Saturday, drop in and say g’day and meet some happy newsXpressers.

Teamwork at newsXpress Weatherill Park

downloaded-270109-041.jpgAntonella & Ginella, owners of newsXpress Wetherill Park in New South Wales, understand the importance of the team. They brought them along to the NANA Awards dinner ten days ago as the business had been nominated for the Retail Award. newsXpress likes to see members engaging with their team in this way. We understand that newsagency businesses would be nothing but for the efforts of the team behind the counter, in the back room and at home.

newsXpress is demonstrating practical support for team member and owner engagement by introducing special low pricing for team members to attend our National Conference in Melbourne later this year.  Newsagents will be able to bring members of their front line along to participate in an excellent learning and motivating event.  We will provide workshops specifically for team members.

We will announce pre-registration details for the conference in the next few days.

newsXpress strategies drive growth

newsXpress is reviewing the performance of several newsagencies which joined our group in the last three months of 2008 and which have embraced newsXpress exclusive offers. The results are staggering.

In one store we are seeing an improvement in gross profit of 20% in the first three months of 2009. Most of this is from new categories we have introduced to the business.

Another new newsXpress member is reporting increasing gross profit from around $1,000 to close to $10,000 in a category they previously ran in the traditional way. Last year, newsXpress introduced new suppliers and significantly better margin – driving the reported improvement in profit contribution.

The key to achieving such excellent results is engagement. We have several key product category offers backed by management strategies which will be successful. The key message we repeat around these offers is trust the process. Those who do trust the process have more money in the bank as a result.

This is another example of the newsXpress difference. We are happy to share specific location details, with permission, with prospective newsXpress members.

Choosing a marketing group for your newsagency

newsXpress has published updated advice for newsagents searching for a marketing group.  Choosing the right marketing group for your newsagency provides guidelines on factors to consider. Not all marketing groups are the same and it is important to be certain of what is important to your newsagency.

Book Sale goes off at newsXpress Scott’s Lismore

nx_scotts_books.jpgLuke Scott and the team are making a good impact with their book sale at newsXpress Scotts Lismore.  In addition to great deals on books, they are promoting the popular book seat as part of their Book Sale. Cross category promotion like this is an excellent way to deepen the shopping basket – something newsXpress encourages.

If you are in Lismore and like a good deal then get to newsXpress 49-51 Woodlark Street, Lismore. Luke and his cheerful team will take excellent care of you.

newsXpress has negotiated favourable rates for the book sale.  We are supporting this with an excellent brochure which is being delivered to homes around participating newsXpress outlets.  Easter is historically an excellent time for book sales in Australia.

Welcome new members of newsXpress

nx_terr.jpgWelcome to new newsXpress members joining us this month in Eli Waters, Strathpine, Bathurst, Terrigal and Nambour. We are thrilled to welcome these new members of the newsXpress family.  Each newsagent joining newsXpress goes through an evaluation process.

Our interest is in attracting entreprenurial disciplined newsagents who are committed to the principles of newsXpress.  The size of the newsagency is not a key factor.

The photo shows Andrew Strachan, partner in newsXpress Terrigal (with Cathy) photographed with Graham Randall, Director of newsXpress, at the NANA Newsagent of the Year Awards last week.

More online workshops for newsXpress members

Michelle Caia, our in-house calendar expert, is hosting an a repeat of her successful online Making the Most from 2010 Calendars workshop for newsXpress members.  Michelle’s knowledge and newsXpress calendar deals make this a valuable category for our members.

Trent Shields, our National Marketing Manager,  is hosting a repeat of his successful workshop for newsXpress members on Local Area Marketing.  This workshop provides an excellent networking opportunity as Trent faacilitates practical business discussion and a sharing of local marketing ideas.

These online workshops are in addition to newsXpress’ face to face member meetings – the next series of which is being held in April.  Workshop details will be announced to newsXpress members in the next couple of days.

Great ink deals from newsXpress newsagencies

newsXpress newsagencies have excellent deals on ink and toner.  In addition to excellent prices, our current brochure offers a supplier backed cash back deal, a supplier backed discount off additional ink purchased (beyond the first cartridge), a supplier backed 10% discount off USB sticks and a supplied backed free picnic hamper. Our pricing and the associated offers are the best available through newsagencies at the moment.

Our deals are promoted in a colour flyer distributed to hundreds of thousands of homes.  The flyer professionally represents our brand and the brands of our supplier partners.

Here is the front page of the flyer:

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We are proud to lead the newsagency channel on ink deals and drive excellent traffic for our newsXpress members.   We are also proud to not use lazy marketing like – we will not be beaten on price.  Harsh as this may sound, we see that approach – we will not be beaten… – as follower marketing.  Leadership, while harder work, delivers more loyal customers.  We like loyal customers at newsXpress.  This is why our merchandise team invests so much time in creating ink flyers with genuine market-leading offers.

For a list of participating newsXpress newsagencies, please click here.

newsXpress Easter offers drive good sales

feast3.JPGnewsXpress members are reporting excellent Easter sales with the products sourced from newsXpress recommended suppliers.  From excellent Russ and Gund plush to Chocolatier Easter Eggs, we have members reportting having passed last year’s Easter sales already and we still have two full weeks to go.

We know from our sales data tracking that stores with good Easter gift and egg sales will also see good greeting card sales. The cross-department benefit of our strategy is valuable.

As we do with each season, we will seek and consider newsXpress member and supplier sales data and feedback.  This will help us guide better seasonal product and marketing decisions.

VANA golf day success

img_6025a.jpgnewsXpress is thrilled to have been a financial supporter of the VANA Golf Day yesterday.  Newspower was the other marketing group putting cash on the table supporting the popular event.  Some of our team played and had a great time mixing with Victorian newsagents an newsagency suppliers.

The photo shows our own Ron Thorpe decked our in newsXpress gear at the VANA golf day – demonstrating the importance of strong branding.

Golf days are an excellent networking opportunity for newsagents, relaxing too.  This is why newsXpress welcomes opportunities to support them.  We are firm believers in providing newsagents with opportunities to talke in a relaxed environment.

Second newsXpress location in Bathurst

21st-march-001.jpgGeoff and Virginia Dale opened their second newsXpress location in Bathurst this week.  This newsXpress newsagency / gift shop looks excellent by all accounts – welldesigned, very professional presentation, well stocked and with a team of friendly staff ready to provide the excellent customer service for which they have become known in Bathurst.

Geoff and Virginia have stocked the shop with traditional newsagency lines: magazines, newspapers, Lotteries and major brands of stationery.  They have also brought in an excellent range of gifts – sales in the first couple of days have shown the value of excellent buying in the gift department.

The fashionable newsXpress bag

zoe.jpgHere is the latest in how to use the newsXpress red bag!!! Zoe, sister of newsXpress Kin Kora member Sarah, is shown wearing a newsXpress red bag as a top to a Rubik’s cube party. As sarah says: It’s the most fashionable red bag I’ve ever seen. We agree!

The newsXpress red bags are provided to newsXpress members for sale and for use with in-store and local area promotions.  It’s another part of our environmental strategy.