Hot ink – saving money on ink

The hot ink website created by newsXpress exclusively for its members participating in ink and toner promotions is driving sales for these newsagencies. As well as promoting an excellent range of branded Canon, HOP, Epson, Lexmark and brother ink, the site lists store locations and facilitates easy contact.

Our view is that newsagents cannot put their businesses online as is – they need a separate identity which reflects an online approach to business marketing and management. This is why Hot Ink works and why newsXpress members like the website and associated collateral material.

If you are in the market for ink for your printer, contact your nearest newsXpress location now.

Halloween promotion

newsXpress stores across Australia are embracing Halloween with special offers and wonderful in-store displays. The photo shows part of the display at our corporate store at Watergardens.

Watergardens - Halloween07_3.JPG

We see Halloween as a fun time when families and friends can hit the streets for a candy fix. In retail it is good to have opportunities to dress the store outside of the traditional Mother’s Day, father’s day and Christmas.

Halloween lets us play with some retail theatre – something which is important to newsXpress members.

Winners at Margaret River

newsXpress Margaret River sold a winning ticket in the Saturday night draw with one lucky customer looking foirward to a cheque for $800,000. The newsXpress track record wins is excellent! Congratulations to Tanya and Andrew Wagner and their team at newsXpress Margaret River.

Halloween scones, yum!

newsXpress is helping its members really have some fun with Halloween this year. In addition to fantastic posters promotions and party products, we have also corralled Annette Sym for a recipe for Halloween pumpkin scones. Take a look at this tantalising batch made at the newsXpress head Office yesterday:

newsXpress Store Support - Halloween Scones!.jpg

newsXpress newsagencies are a fun place to be this October – as well as all this Halloween fun we have amazing ink and toner deals and some excellent stationery offers.

Supporting Rugby World Cup

newsXpress is the only newsagency marketing group actively promoting the Rugby World Cup. Through free posters to all member stores and a heap of marketing ideas, newsXpress newsagents are driving traffic and having a ton of fun as this photo from newsXpress Kingaroy shows:

Kingaroy Mall - RWC07.jpg

Any newsagency marketing group can put its name on a stationery flyer or get a card company to pay for a card deal, it takes real marketing effort to create a campaign from scratch such as newsXpress has done with the Rugby World Cup.

newsXpress team members, like the folks at Kingaroy, are the ones really making this and other marketing campaigns a success. By painting their face they support the Wallabies and newsXpress and provide some entertainment for their customers. This is great retailing!

This is another reason newsagents are switching to newsXpress – they want to enjoy the difference.

Meeting newsagents

Since its inception, newsXpress has been holding regular meetings with members to ensure open communication and active participation of all in the activities of the group. Last week, newsXpress hosted member meetings in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. There, several exclusive deals were announced and some valuable opportunities for 2008 explored. Our Brisbane meeting was well attended with more than 50 participating.

nx_meet_qld.JPG

What is interesting about this from a newsagent perspective is that these numbers roll up every six weeks or so. Newsagents networking so regularly become empowered to strive for success – sharing great ideas with each other.

Awards for newsXpress members

newsXpress members have done well at the Newsagency Excellence awards hosted by the Morning Bulletin in Rockhampton at the Weekend:

Employee of the Year: Margueite Powell from newsXpress Emerald.

Outstanding Marketing of Capricornia Newspapers: newsXpress Rockhampton.

Runner up Newsagency of the year: newsXpress Northside Plaza.

newsXpress Laidley having fun

Choosing newsXpress newsagents is more about the people as it is about the business size and location. We look for proactive, positive, entrepreneurial people who want to business a bright future under the newsXpress shingle. Every new store opening is like a new baby to the family. Laidley is our latest – in Queensland. The happy team run a positive business which serves the local area well. We’re thrilled to have them on board.

laidley.jpg

The team members are proudly wearing their newsXpress provided Father’s Day t-shirts.

newsXpress Gympie – ACP Newsagency of the Year

Warrick and Jo Hoskings and the team at newsXpress Gympie received long overdue praise from ACP and their peers at the annual ACP Gala Awards dinner last night in Sydney.

gympie.jpg

Beyond the bright green suit – to match the ACP magazines Emerald Club colours – Warrick and the team actively embrace every marketing opportunity possible in their business. They have to since Gympie in regional Queensland has seven newsagencies.

The team at Gympie drive newsXpress into new areas and this adds value to the 135 other newsagencies which are part of the newsXpress community.

A Diddl success story

diddl.JPG

With the Diddl range now in half of our stores and on the way to another 25, we are seeing some excellent results. Diddl is another example of newsXpress experts discovering a new range which works well in a newsagency environment and delivering this on terms and with support to ensure the best possible commercial outcome for newsagents.

The folks behind Diddl in Australia continue to be wonderfully supporting to newsXpress and its members and for this we are grateful.

Each store is giving over either a high traffic aisle end (as shown in the photo from newsXpress Buderim) or an area of free standing space where the range can be promoted. newsXpress is supporting this exclusively for its members by sharing learnings among group members and providing marketing materials for local support.

On the road with newsXpress

newsXpress Van - Robina_6.JPG

The team at newsXpress Robina were the frist from the newsXpress group to promote their business everywhere with this corporate image van. newsXpress has an arrangement with the team behind the design of the van and offers access to the design service to all newsXpress newsagents who want to promote their brand on the road.

Exclusive diary deals for newsagents

newsXpress has launched a series of exclusive diary supply arrangements for its member newsagents. These deals make product available on substantially better terms than available to individual newsagents. The commercailk value of the arrangement is significant for newsagents of all sizes as the newsXpress deals trade off the collecting volume of our 120+ stores.

newsXpress Jamison

newsXpress Jamison is a new location opened to our brand recently. They have undertaken a creative shop fit which respects newsagency traditions yet pursues new sales opportunities in stationery and allied areas.

jamison.JPG

newsXpress Armidale

Take a look at the smiles on Ewan and Rod Carr from newsXpress Carr’s Armidale.

nx_armidale2.JPG

Ewan, Rod and their families are go getters in Armidale and have joined newsXpress to further grow their business and to help the newsagency group grow as well. We are thrilled to have them as part of the newsXpress team as they show how a regional / rural newsagency can be very competitive yet retain the enjoyment of a happy family business.

Watergardens, coming soon

We are deep in the middle of building a new corporate store at the Watergardens Shopping Centre in Victoria. We are using this as a test bed for innovations we plan to share with our membership including plasma poster units, Irish magazine fixturing and a new warm and soft overall feel.

nx_water.JPG

The store will open at the end of this quarter.

Member meetings rock

Central to the newsXpress offer is regular member meetings. These are held every six to eight weeks in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with between 80% and 100% member attendance. Members leave the meetings invigorated with practical ideas ready to implement in their businesses and the newsXpress team leaves with good feedback which will help create a more successful over for member newsagents.

newsXpress is a unique marketing group for newsagents. We focus on the positive and use the member meetings to motivate and guide our members to greater success.

Congratulations to newsXpress Gympie

Congratulations to Warrick and his team at newsXpress Gympie for reaching the number 1 spot in the ACP Emerald Club. newsXpress Gympie is one of 7 newsagents in the town of Gympie and competes with all the major retailers in the area. This result has been achieved by participating in every promotion with ACP and continually driving sales of his magazines through Beacon Branding, the use of the Magazine Club Card and local store marketing. It is Warrick’s relentless focus on in store promotions and marketing that make newsXpress Gympie a credit to the newsXpress brand and we look forward to seeing more of the wonderful ideas and promotions that come from Warrick and his team.

Care and Friendship Month

Here is part o the campaign support for Care and Friendship Month – a greeting card and gift promotion developed and run exclusively for newsXpress newsagencies. All to often in our busy lives we do not take time to say thank you to those who help us: teachers, doctors, priests, friends. We created Care and Friendship Month o focus on saying Thank You. It is designed to help people find the right cards and the right words to show appreciation.

care_friendship.JPG

Having started some years ago, this campaign has built a strong following among newsXpress members. They like that they are able to focus attention on cards at a time of the year when card sales are flat. Bu this is not purely a commercial pitch. care and Friendship is also a reminded to our members to appreciate co-workers, family and friends. It reminds us to take a moment out of our busy schedules to show that we care too. For that reminder alone, this newsXpress exclusive program is worthwhile.

Care and Friendship month starts July 1, 2007.