newsXpress difference | newsXpress Blog

Launceston newsagent meeting latest networking opportunity from newsXpress

newsXpress hosted what we call a cluster meeting in Launceston on Tuesday last week. This is a round table business discussion / business building meeting where newsagents can talk freely, suggest ideas to others, discuss challenges and network about business generally.

The Launceston, funded and facilitated by newsXpress, is another example of the difference we bring to the life of a newsXpress member, helping by providing time out of the business to work on the business with colleagues.

The result of cluster meetings is usually a to do list back at the shop – based on comments and advice from your peers.

newsXpress leads the newsagency channel in providing networking opportunities.

newsXpress welcomes four new members

newsXpress has signed five new members so far in April. These new members in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia add value to the overall group and extend the reach of the newsXpress shingle. We have more going through the process of completing their application ready for evaluation.

As more newsagents hear about our success we anticipate further growth in interest in our unique approach to helping newsagents drive traffic and GP.

We’re not publishing store names here as doing this in the past has led to the store being chased by others.

newsXpress members embracing candy-lanes

The promotion of the candy-lane opportunity promoted consistently by newsXpress for years is paying off for members now engaging after seeing a lane on show at our recent national conference.

Plenty of members have set up or are setting up candy lanes as a result of the practical demonstration at the conference. Some who have already embraced the candy-lane opportunity are reporting excellent impulse purchase results.

Adding a $1, $2 or $5 item at or close to the point of sale is terrific. It’s even better when the margin is more than 50%. This is where newsXpress is leveraging excellent supplier deals with valuable retail insights to deliver to newsXpress members strategies that are growing GP and delivering better business bottom lines.

This is a newsXpress difference you can bank on.

newsXpress adds more preferred suppliers to newsagency marketing group suite

newsXpress last week advised members of three more preferred suppliers being added to our preferred supplier suite.

This continued enhancement of the preferred supplier range is valued by newsXpress members. Not only are the excellent discounts appreciated, so to is the broadening range of good-margin products.

newsXpress is on a mission to help members build even more valuable businesses. Our constant refining of the preferred supplier mix is key to achieving this – by offering our members more choices and opportunities to specialise in new retail niches.

We think we have the best mix of preferred suppliers available to newsagents in Australia.

Newsagency marketing group newsXpress announces bonus rebates to members

newsXpress has announced details to members about bonus rebates on offer. Being paid by the group in addition to generous supplier rebates and discounts off invoice, the newsXpress rebate is a further benefit for members, further demonstrating the value of being part of this excellent newsagency marketing group.

Newsagency marketing group newsXpress helps newsagents promote local shopping

The newsXpress newsagency marketing group is proud to have included professionally designed and printed posters promoting local shopping and the connecting of each newsXpress business to the local community in a collateral pack just sent to newsXpress stores.

The supplying of these A1 posters connects with other promotion of local community connection work undertaken by newsXpress earlier this year and in 2012 … continuing a tradition of our newsagency marketing group in helping newsXpress members to remind local shoppers of their community connection.

This wonderful collateral and the overall local community support campaign is one more way newsXpress sets itself apart from other newsagency marketing groups. It demonstrates our understanding of the importance of local communities and their support for local businesses and vice versa.

This is a valued newsXpress point of difference.

Newsagency marketing group helps newsagents promote ink value proposition

Newsagency marketing group newsXpress has sent members additional collateral with which to promote the newsXpress exclusive HOT ink! range of products. Through this collateral, newsXpress members are able to connect visually in-store with HOT ink! catalogues and other promotions.

Unexpected by members and provided by newsXpress for free, this latest ink promotion collateral helps newsXpress members connect with national marketing and to work together, in unity, with newsXpress members.

These A1 posters are professionally produced to the highest quality for the benefit of newsXpress members and promoting the quality brand name ink we sell.

New newsagency marketing group training video loaded to newsXpress website

newsXpress continues to load more video training content to the private area of its website to help members get more value from their membership of the group.

This latest video brings to thirteen produced professionally by newsXpress for newsXpress members. Each has been created to help members and their employees to leverage newsXpress insights and knowledge for the benefit of their own businesses. They bring newsXpress national expertise into the local stores.

Accessed via the member area of the website, newsXpress members can watch the videos as often as they like. They can access them from anywhere – providing an excellent resource and positive encouragement for members.

Optimism helps drive retail sales for newsXpress

Many newsXpress members have embraced optimism as a theme in their product purchasing at recent gift fairs and the toy fair in Melbourne. By bringing in products that reflect optimism in words and images the newsXpress members are creating happy shops … happy shops make for happy customers.

Optimism is infectious. It plays out well for the shoppers and the business. We encourage all newsXpress members to make the conscious choice to play in this space of optimism – it’s better than playing the price game as history has shown chasing a price point difference to be a mugs game with little shopper loyalty and no long-term upside for the business.

newsXpress thinks about moves like this carefully and shares insights designed to help members to make the most of moods like optimism. The result is good for our member businesses, suppliers and, most important, shoppers.

Messages of optimism sell.

newsXpress launches training videos

As announced at the newsXpress national conference last week, we have completed production on ten new training videos. These are the next step of an expanded training suite of services from newsXpress for newsXpress members, delivering access to a growing resource you will be able to use to share with your team members and to use yourself. Our feeling is that video based training will be appreciated because of the flexibility you will have in tapping into the resources as and when it suits you.

Produced by us in house, these latest videos reflect a new skill set within the newsXpress team. They also demonstrate a platform we will use to deliver some training previously delivered by RDMs. Some of these videos reflect content from the conference. The two on outposting cover content we had to eliminate on the day because of time over-runs. Here are the new videos available to you:

Planning for 2020
Who is newsXpress?
Getting Started With Outposting
Practical Tips For Outposting
Getting Started With Candy Lanes
NXP Benchmarks
Business Assessment
Getting Started With Visual Merchandising
Post Xmas NXP Comm
newsXpress communication December 2012

Please share with newsXpress your feedback at help@newsxpress. Also,let us know other topics you would like to see covered.

Business roundtable focuses on newsXpress member business growth

On the day after our national conference in Melbourne last week, one of the optional activities was a half-day business round table discussion in the boardroom of our head office.

Here, twelve newsXpress members got to talk about business, their businesses and retail in general.

This was a practical and confidential business discussion designed to get more newsXpress members sharing with and helping each other. It worked a treat with heartfelt sharing in a confidential environment, providing opportunities for taking on new ideas and opportunities.

That we were able to bring together a diverse group of newsXpress members was appreciated as everyone has a different perspective to contribute to the overall discussion.

This is another newsXpress initiative – helping members more effectively and valuable network with each other without it costing anything and without suppliers pressuring members to spend money. This was pure business … and opportunity warmly embraced and appreciated.

newsXpress members love Melbourne retail tour

The day after the newsXpress national conference in Melbourne last week, a group of newsXpress members and a team from our head office visited a range of retail stores in Melbourne including newsXpress stores – checking out new retail trends and seeing how some are growing their business performance through non-traditional shop floor engagement. In all we had three groups touring.

This newsXpress hosted post-conference tour was another benefit flowing from the national conference … letting newsXpress members from outside Melbourne see businesses we think are making good moves and learning from the work they are doing.

The tour was all about chasing above average business performance – making your newsagency business more valuable as a result. By providing in-store context for some of what was covered at the conference we were able to help participating newsXpress members see new opportunities for their businesses without having to spend big on structural change.

Toy Fair suppliers love newsXpress members!

The newsXpress buying tour of the Toy Fair in Melbourne last week resulted in preferred suppliers writing excellent business. Moving sometimes as a large group and other times in smaller groups, newsXpress members looked at new product and tapped into exclusive deals – providing access to sought after product at excellent prices. Tapping into a price point competitive edge made the buying day valuable for all.

It is this type of trade show co-ordinated buying pioneered by newsXpress at successive toy and gift fairs that has enabled our group to become the group preferred by many suppliers to the newsagency channel. they love our support of their trade show events rather than hauling them around the country to buying days only for our members.

By helping suppliers leverage their existing trade show commitments we get to see a broader range of stock as well as tapping to newsXpress member exclusive opportunities.

This is the newsXpress difference in action – supporting suppliers and newsXpress members into making more money through smarter buying. This is the new way to do business.

newsXpress conference provides relaxation opportunities

The newsXpress conference in Melbourne last week was capped with a very different evening of celebration. rather than the formality of a dinner, we decided to party by the Yarra in a five-star venue offering gourmet food, top self drinks and a stunning view of the Yarra River, a place where we could relax without the need for speeches and the like.

It was great to see team members on the dance floor, belting out a tune on the mic and mingling to newsXpress members. Many kicked on after the formal evening ended at midnight.

We greatly appreciate the support of our strategic partners hallmark cards and Pacific magazines and our preferred supplier community for helping to make this evening a wonderful reality.

What a wonderful few days, full of optimism and 100% in pursuit of helping newsXpress members derive greater value and enjoyment form their businesses.

newsXpress conference a hit with newsXpress members

Two hundred people packed the member’s dining room of the MCG in Melbourne earlier this week for the newsXpress national conference. It was a jam-packed day with on-topic speakers, excellent product opportunities and exclusive newsXpress initiatives.

Feedback from members to the conference in the days since has been excellent, inspiring. Here is a sample of the feedback from members so far:

Many thanks for your hospitality over conference. Thank you for all of the hard work that is put in, in order to provide better buying and opportunity for the group.

There is no doubt that the industry has changed and the business operators need to change with the customers taste and demand and anyone who does not see that and who does not want to participate and support the NewsXpress team should consider whether they should actually be a part of the team.

Whether it is a Franchise or a Marketing Group, it requires consistency and compliance across the group with a vision that they can all see and work towards.

Keep up the good work.

…..

I’m just writing to thank you sincerely for an outstanding National Conference.

It was what I call a “Pattern Interrupt” and “Change of State” message for all Newsagents. The day was chock full of information, data and ideas and I look very forward to receiving the videos …especially the one on Mark’s very thought provoking spread sheet of a new NXP business transitioning through to 2020.

Having had my own international seminar business for 17 years when we would have between 1000 and 8000 attendees at our sales, marketing, business and personal development 1 day events, I know first-hand the time and effort that goes into running any conference.

Congratulations on an excellent event.

…..

WOW! What a great event. Inspirational. Thank you newsXpress!

…..

The leadership you are providing newsXpress members and all newsagents is fantastic. Keep it up, we are changing our business thanks to you and, yes, we are making more money.

…..

It was a struggle to get time to come to Melbourne but I am so glad I did. You have helped me fall in love with my business again. I am so excited by what you showed us and the ideas I know will work in my newsagency.

…..

Great conference!

I appreciated your transparency and the excellent business opportunities I have come away with.

Yes, it was an excellent event, one we could not have pulled off without the support of our two strategic partners – Pacific Magazines and Hallmark Cards and our supportive community of preferred suppliers – who wrote some excellent business on the day … by the way – and our team of wonderful people in newsXpress who work tirelessly for the group.

newsXpress helps newsagents promote St Patrick’s Day

newsXpress has provided members with promotional material with which they can connect with St Patrick’s Day celebrations and product sale opportunities.

For small seasonal opportunities as well as large, newsXpress is helping members make the most of opportunities, tapping into existing traffic as well as attracting new shoppers with fresh collateral in a variety of sizes and formats.

This collateral is provided to all newsXpress members.

newsXpress helps newsagents make their businesses more valuable.

newsXpress facilitates amazing gift fair experiences

newsXpress has hosted an excellent range of gift fair experiences for newsXpress members in Sydney this week.

From the massive gift fair at Darling Harbour to the excellent Home & Giving fair at Homebush and in between, newsXpress has had buying experts available for members – to help them make the most of the opportunity.

newsXpress merchandise experts have also been working with suppliers to negotiate new deals for newsXpress members and to bring new suppliers on board.

Over five days we have been singular in our focus – to strengthen commercial relationships that help newsXpress members make their businesses more financially successful and therefore more valuable.

Member feedback through the events has been excellent. We are all looking forward to banking the result.

newsXpress says no to major shopping centre opportunity

newsXpress is regularly offered opportunities by shopping centre landlords. Each opportunity is assessed and negotiations undertaken. If the opportunity does not meet our minimum requirements, we do not proceed.

This happened recently with an opportunity in a major centre in Queensland where the store, trading under a different newsagency banner group, is in hard times. We engaged with the landlord, talked terms and eventually said thanks but no thanks this time.

We will not take on a tenancy just for the sake of it. It must work on its own, the numbers must be right.

Sometimes, a smaller newsagency outside a major centre will deliver a far more valuable return than the higher profile business. Our focus is on the size of the return on investment.

newsXpress announces confidential business performance workshop

newsXpress has announced details to members of a confidential half-day business performance workshop, to be held the day following our national conference.

This closed-door session will see a group of newsXpress members share with each other business performance and other data for open discussion on performance and exploration of opportunities.

The purpose of the confidential session is to have members challenge each other, to uncover new opportunities and to take newsXpress member networking to a deeper and more engaged level.

Participation is free and only available to newsXpress members. The event is being held in the boardroom of our office. Here is the invitation shares with newsXpress members:

On Wednesday 6th of March, the day after the conference, newsXpress is hosting a three hour workshop to discuss business performance. We have room for up to eight people to meet in the boardroom of our Hawthorn office to share their business performance and discuss these with other newsXpress members. Moderated by Mark Fletcher, this will be a confidential under the hood look at the performance of the participating businesses, to learn what we can from each other, and to challenge ourselves. This session will start at 10am and end by 1pm. Participation is free Confidentiality and openness are important for this session to work.

newsXpress Radio connects newsXpress members across the country

newsXpress is the only newsagency marketing group in the country to offer alive in-store radio service. This is a commercially valuable asset, a connection of all newsXpress stores playing the same music and running the same promotions across the group.

Our live in-store radio network is a newsXpress point of difference others envy. It provides a valuable marketing platform as wells as a community connection platform. The store shout-outs, product promotions and shopper reminders help connect us and drive shopper in-store engagement.

newsXpress Radio is provided free to newsXpress members. This is more than $800 a year in value delivered at no cost to our members.