newsagency marketing | newsXpress Blog

THE INDUSTRY COMING TOGETHER

newsXpress is a supporter of all industry events nationally and was a sponsor of the QNF conference this week. With over 130 suppliers and newsagents attending it was a great day for all.

Pictured are QNF President and newsXpress Caboolture proprietor Jim Cassimatis with Bradley Dean ANF Director for Queensland and proprietor of newsXpress GPO in Brisbane.

Captivated audience members at a presentation during the afternoon.

Mark Fletcher, newsXpress Director and store proprietor presenting a topic on ‘Becoming an Entrepreneurial Newsagent’

Ann Nugent CEO of the QNF (formerly of newsXpress Camp Hill), Jo Hosking from newsXpress Gympie & Sonia Ruhland, newsXpress Group Administration Co-Ordinator

Mark Nagy, newsXpress CEO and store proprietor presenting a workshop presentation entitled ‘Marketing Groups – Adding Value to your Bottom Line’

newsXpress Southport Park ‘Official Opening’

newsXpress Southport Park celebrated their store opening on Saturday 19th April. Ariel, Marisa & their Team Members created an exciting, fun filled day for all.

The promotions included:

Newspaper advertising in the local community Newspaper supported by their Centre Management,
Centro Southport Special appearances by the Forever Friends Hallmark Bear and Diddl & Friends
“Rosebud” the Fairy offering free face painting
newsXpress Environmental Bag Give away
Promotional giveaways from Suppliers.
HOT ink! promotion supported with A4 flyer’s
Monthly newsXpress Newsletter & cross marketing promotions with fellow retailers.
And free balloons!!!

Landlords & Centre Management encourage these promotional days as it increases traffic flow and brings new customers in to their Shopping Centres.

Are you thinking of having a promotional day?

newsXpress can provide some easy to use templates to their members, which the store simply follows to execute a successful Opening Day!

‘Lucky Dip’ Lotto at newsXpress Whitford City

newsXpress Whitford City team member’s fill out the lotto numbers at random on the lotto coupons, then roll them up and place them in a “Lucky Dip” Basket near the front lottery counter.

The customers can then select them as a ‘Lucky Dip’ lottery entry to try their luck and purchase these tickets and have them validated for the upcoming draw. The ‘Lucky Dip’ tickets are used as a great up sell tool which customers love!

Exploring innovative products in pursuit of ‘New Money’

newsXpress Kin Kora are old hands at out-posting, however have tackled a new product category this time – baskets.

Their basket out-post will last for one week and then disappear, probably for 6 months. The idea being to encourage customers to buy now. By setting end dates for promotions and strictly adhering to them you train your customer base to purchase when you want them to rather than the other way around.

While they would like to run the product for longer they realise it takes an enormous amount of space to merchandise correctly and accommodating it in-store would be an almost impossible task.

Sarah has identified a niche in her non-metropolitan market area where baskets aren’t readily available and it is certainly a great money spinner with an outstanding margin.

CREATING EVENTS TO GRAB CUSTOMERS

newsXpress encourages its members to create events to awaken customers to the wide range of offers newsXpress stores have.

By creating theatre, it attracts people to the store. The team at newsXpress Castle Towers are experts at this and continue to build huge sales as a result.

Harry the Daily Telegraph Dog being led astray by a couple of newsXpress Team Members.

newsXpress Member Meeting April

newsXpress held another members meeting at VANA for our Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian members.

With another impressive roll up it was a great session to get members together and talk through some industry issues as well as providing a business development session. We were also shown how the Hallmark newsXpress strategic partnership is providing double digit greeting card growth for the group.

STEPPING OUTSIDE THE SQUARE TO CULTIVATE NEW REVENUE STREAMS

newsXpress Toowong & Southport Park are continually looking for new ways to cultivate the younger generation and not just relying on the baby boomers or old money revenue providers to build their business.

Along with a lot of other newsXpress stores they have embraced Diddl product to attract new customers and expose their businesses to a new and upcoming customer base and at the same time transforming themselves from a local community newsagent to a retail outlet of choice by continually providing new products.

Freshness and variety by looking for new products and services to bring existing customers and capture a new customer base will increase your store average sale and increase gross margin which is paramount to a flourishing and ongoing retail business.

newsXpress Southport Park already attracting the target market within hours of installing the new product range.

newsXpress Toowong use a custom built mobile unit for their Diddl range so that they can move it around keeping the display fresh.

PERSUING NEW MONEY REVENUE AT SARINA

In a relentless pursuit of increased revenue streams, Mark & Shelley at newsXpress Sarina have moved their newspapers from prime space and converted their newspaper stand into a giftware display.

With huge margins available in giftware and relocating papers further into the store so customers have to walk past all the magazines, giftware and confectionery to purchase a newspaper. As magazines sell down during the day on the new stand they fill the space with giftware which is a great return on space initiative.

Having started it only a week or so ago the strategy is already paying dividends.

BEFORE: Newspapers

AFTER: Gifts

A sea of pink for Mother’s Day

Luke Scott and his team at newsXpress Scott’s Lismore have created a wonderful display of Hallmark and Hipp products as part of their Mother’s Day gift range.

They have used their front of store dancefloor to really capture customer’s imagination with a sea of pink. Even though Mother’s day is still a month away sales are considerably up from the same time last year.

Introducing bookXpress

Chris Samartzis upon purchasing the newsXpress Reservoir store took the hard line on the Toyworld department and replaced it with hand chosen gift & plush lines and books.

Results so far have shown this to a master stroke as the discounted books are flying out the door and creating a buzz in the local market. Good business is knowing when to make the right moves.

Canson continue their National push through newsXpress

Two more stores were recently fitted out with the newsXpress exclusive Canson Creative Centre Art Bar, joining the 70+ locations across the country already stocking this exciting range

newsXpress Scott’s Lismore has reported an increase in foot traffic due to the engaging layout of colour at the back of their store. The creative centre has been perfectly complemented by the addition of the Canson Colour range of paper and cardboard seen in the photo below.

newsXpress Watergardens have also enjoyed the Canson treatment of late, and the photos show that the custom built stand fits in seamlessly to the design of the shop. Watergardens has also chosen to support this product category with the Canson paper range which creates a stunning visual impact.

Keeping promotions ahead of the pack – Mother’s Day

Victorian newsXpressers, Ballarat and Reservoir have gained a jump on their retail competitors in their respective markets by going out early with Mother’s day promotions. This opportunity has been presented by the earlier than normal completion of Easter celebrations.
Ian & Sue Neal at newsXpress Ballarat have launched the season with a prominent display at the front of the store containing fashionable social stationery, inspirational messages, and other gifts.

Meanwhile newsXpress reservoir have reserved a front window for the introduction to their Mother’s Day message. Here Chris and his team have combined the allure of the Hallmark Alliance marketing materials with a generous sampling of fragrant bath oils, soaps and other sensory gifts which enjoy expanded displays in store.

newsXpress ROSELANDS TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

Vinay and the team at newsXpress Roselands have recently re-branded the store. In terms of being a gun retailer, have a look at how they have attacked the greeting card and magazine categories in their store, no wonder they are at the top of the tree in terms of magazine and greeting card volumes.

With over 200 full face magazine pockets at the front of the store and a huge commitment to the Hallmark/newsXpress strategic partnership, this store is a prime example of a successful and still growing newsXpress retail operation.

Connecting with your community through local marketing

Using the template supplied by newsXpress, the team at newsXpress Reservoir have created their own newsletter to drive sales and let their customers know what they are doing to work harder for their local community.

newsxpress-reservoir-newsletter-march-2008.pdf

newsxpress-reservoir-newsletter-april-2008.pdf

HOT ink! DRIVING NEW SALES AT RESERVOIR

Chris and the team at newsXpress Reservoir have gone the extra step heavily promoting this new money revenue stream in store, so not only are they distributing the HOT ink! flyers to their catchment area, they are leveraging in-store traffic as well.

ABW DRIVING NEW MONEY SALES AT SALAMANDER BAY

The team at Salamander Bay thought they’d have a crack at the new ABW book deal with newsXpress. They sold out and can’t wait for the next one.

NEW MONEY STRATEGIES WORKING AT WYALLA PLAZA

The team at newsXpress Wyalla Plaza have jumped on board with the ABW book deal and the exclusive Canson Creative Centre with tremendous positive immediate impact on sales. Bryan and the team have a flexible store so they can and accommodate new ranges swiftly into their store which is a huge bonus to new money revenue.

ACP EMERALD CONNECTIONS TEACHING NEWSAGENTS WORK LIFE BALANCE

A bunch of newsXpressers attended the Emerald Connections business session in Brisbane this week. The guest speaker was talking about flipping the switch and work life balance. These sessions are great for newsagents and are warmly received by newsXpressers around the country when they are run in each state.

newsXpressers at the ACP Emerald Connections Business Session – Jeff Walsh (Category Manager Stationery); Mark & Shelley Petersen (newsXpress Sarina); Judy Kerr (newsXpress Lutwyche); Sue Probert (newsXpress Harbour Town); Paul Martin (newsXpress Toowong); Jim Cassimatis (newsXpress Caboolture); Brad Dean (newsXpress GPO); and Warrick Hosking (newsXpress Gympie).

Warrick and Sue hard at it.

Judy, Shelley & Mark

newsXpress Networking – point of difference

newsXpress held another meeting in WA in Perth for the metro members and Lyn Mason from Cardpac was also there to talk about her selection of greeting cards Along with Lyn’s presentation, we had a 4 hour meeting discussing local issues and empowering members to build their businesses with new money strategies and the newly launched project XLR8 business building strategy for the network.

This is the second meeting in a week in WA and newsXpress continually supports its members like no other group by conducting state and regional cluster meetings every 6 – 8 weeks all over the country to maintain its position as the premier group in the channel. By bringing learning’s from all around the country, the network of stores and every member can grow their businesses and love to go to work every day.

SHOOTING FROM THE hiPP!

Check out the extensive range of hiPP product at newsXpress Harbour Town on the Gold Coast. Sue and the team have been dealing with hiPP already for some time. The space dedicated to the product shows how well the stock turns.

The newsXpress retail group has set up a retail partnership with hiPP so that all stores can benefit from this niche product. No other company does it better than them in the space they operate in. New money continued to flow at newsXpress with bright fashion stationery and boxes capturing a new retail segment for the newsXpress network.