newsXpress difference | newsXpress Blog

2009 STOCKTAKE SALE

newsXpress has pushed the button on producing the brochures, posters and other collateral to support the 2009 STOCKTAKE SALE. This sale, exclusive to newsXpress, is an excellent opportunity for our stores to quit items and save the cost of counting stock. Talking with our members, there will be some excellent bargains on offer. Most important will be the in-store excitement the SALE and the supporting collateral generate. We will announce details here over the next few days of the various offers and supporting strategies which will feature in our STOCKTAKE SALE.

Three $20 million superdraw syndicates

newsXpress members in Queensland are participating in three syndicates for the $20 million superdraw to be held on Saturday June 20. This will be our third mulit-store syndicate offer. The previous two have sold out. Details were announced to members today.

Golden Casket has helped us develop this opportunity and build lottery sales for enwsXpress members.

newsXpress flattered by the attention

newsXpress and its members are flattered to be the target of a recruitment campaign by another newsagency marketing group. Their marketing targets our members categories in which we lead.

The best measure of how much a newsagency marketing group backs their ability to deliver rewards for members is how long they force a newsagent to stay in the group. Locking newsagents in for five years and not permitting newsagents to leave because they want is a reason the group will struggle.

That’s Life fairy blesses newsXpress again

Linda, a lucky shopper at newsXpress Canning Vale is the latest newsXpress customer to be blessed with a cheque from the That’s Life fairy as part of their Random Acts of Kindness project. What a lucky break for That’s Life reader Linda! The details are in the That’s Life issue which it out today.

The Random Acts of Kindness project by That’s Life is another reason this magazine is so popular with customers and so popular among newsXpress members. A publisher proactively engaging in our stores in this way and rewarding customers with cash and a feature in the magazine is good news all round.

Phil and Shelley De Giorgio at newsXpress Canning Vale offer a great shopping experience – as the That’s Life fairy shows!

newsXpress launches stock take sale

In response to interest expressed by members, newsXpress last week announced details of an exciting Stocktake Sale for June. The Stocktake Sale, which will be supported by four page A4 flyers and large in-store posters, features six outstanding offers to generate traffic and stimulate sales. The sale has been structured to provide newsXpress members with an excellent opportunity to clear stock prior to the end of financial year stock take. The marketing collateral places newsXpress on a par with major retailers also playing in this space in June.

newsXpress Melton lucky for customers

newsXpress Melton at the Woodgrove Shopping Centre in Melton was a lucky place to shop last week.

The That’s Life! fairy visited newsXpress Melton and surprised one lucky customer with a chequer as part of the Random Acts of Kindness campaign being run by the magazine.

newsXpress Melton is in a temporary location in the shopping centre at Melton pending the opening of a new, larger, shop in the centre. If you live in Melton be sure to drop in to say g’day to Ian and the team. They have great deals on ink, a fantastic range of cards and a magazine deal which will bring you back for more magazines.

In addition to being a lucky place to shop, newsXpress Melton is known for great customer service and great value.

Promoting Halloween in newsagencies

newsXpress this week sent out a range of offers for Halloween 2009.

Designed to create a fun shopping environment and drive good sales, the products include fun Halloween party items through to higher end Halloween gifts.

By pitching the various product offers to our members now, in May, we are providing plenty of time for planning in-store theatre and local events around this growing season.

In our recent round of member meetings we shared details of the commercial value of Halloween 2008. 2009 will be even better for newsXpress members who embrace this optional marketing opportunity.

Online survey for newsXpress members

Today, newsXpress is launching the first online newsXpress exclusive and member-only online survey. By using smart web 2.0 tools we are able to gather crucial survey data from our members and have the results collated automatically aand available to guide our decision making and the decision making of our members.

This online, time-efficient, survey is another way newsXpress is embracing web tools to help us help our members make better quality business decisions.

Saving money on Christmas tape

Christmas is a great time to sell tape, especially with Christmas cards and wrap as well as at the counter. newsXpress negotiated a very special offer for Christmas tape in an easy to sell unit, from 3M. The exceptional discount off wholesale closed yesterday. Our members were able to lock in deals which will help add good margin to Christmas 2009 sales thanks to the work pout in by our merchandise team.

Our merchandise team focuses in finding excellent product as well as excellent deals, especially for everyday items which sell easily in newsagencies. This tape deal is one such deal.

Alexander Brands joins with newsXpress

Respected gift, premium pen and social stationery supplier Alexander Brands has signed on as a preferred supplier with newsXpress. The Alexander Brands relationship brings and excellent range of gift and related stationery lines to the newsXpress offer under terms which are good for newsXpress members and good for the group. newsXpress will support the Alexander Brands range with merchandise guidance and training in pursuit of a mutually beneficial relationship for all involved. Brands covered inclide: Artex, Eagle Creek, Inoxcrom, Filofax, Jack + Miss Honey, Lantern Studios, Letts, LFX Designs and Montegrappa.

newsXpress announces Market Fair dates

newsXpress has announced its June Market Fair dates. At these fairs, members will be presented with excellent stock purchase opportunities, many of which will be exclusive to the Market Fair event. The Market Fairs are excellent for buying and terrific for experiencing the newsXpress difference as we have a members meeting and networking session associated with them.

Access to the Market Fairs is by registratrion only. This is done online through our smart website.

Supporting Mother’s Day

In addition to the terrific marketing collateral and Sony Camera (as a customer prize) we have arranged from Hallmark Cards to support Mother’s Day, we have produced this poster for use elsewhere in our newsXpress locations. We know from consumer research that some need a reminder of the day. This poster achieves that in a natural feel-good way. It is a credit to our internal marketing team.

We have newsXpress members using this poster to support their Mother’s Day gift offer while others use it to promote Mother’s Day at the counter. Either way, it is proving to be a useful extention to newsXpress marketing collateral.

The newsXpress community helps each other

A newsXpress member put out a call for a Collins Debden Colplan 51 Planner Diary for a customer a week ago in the hope that another newsXpress member might have one still in stock. Two days later they received the diary in the mail. The customer was thrilled to receive the diary and surprised at the extraordinary lengths newsXpress went to to find the right diary and get it to them.

newsXpress members often help each other in this way – reinforcing the value of being part of a community of colleagues.

Transparency with newsXpress members

We have just completed a national tour of member meetings which included a discussion of revenue and expenses for newsXpress. The Board outlined our income sources including supplier rebates as well as how this money is spent. The presentation was followed by member questions about the group financials.

This transparency is important and reflects the commitment the Board gave at our National Conference late last year. There will be another finance report from the Board in a cycle of member meetings later this year.

newsXpress appoints National Merchandise Manager

newsXpress is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert Henderson to the role of National Merchandise Manager. Robert brings years of stationery supplier experience to this key role, most recently as National Sales & Marketing Manager for the Pentel Group. In this role, Robert directly managed national retailer accounts and managed the team which worked with newsagents.

“This appointment completes a planned and strategic extension of the merchandise strategy for our 168 member newsagency marketing group.” commented Graham Randall, Managing Director of newsXpress. “newsXpress is leading newsagents to a strong future.”

As National Merchandise Manager for newsXpress, Robert will be responsible for developing merchandise strategy, establishing new supplier relationships and enhancing existing arrangements.

“I look forward to bringing to newsXpress members excellent opportunities from the kinds of supplier relationships you deserve when you have a retail network of 168 proactive retail locations.” said Robert Henderson.

“Enhancing the strategic management of our merchandise offer has been in the planning since last year” said Ben Kay, General Manager of newsXpress Pty Ltd. “Robert will provide newsXpress and its members with strategy and offers which will excite the channel”.

Robert Henderson commences his new role with newsXpress mid May.

newsXpress has a merchandise team with expertise in stationery, calendars, gifts, electronic services and circulation product. This rounded representation ensures that the company provides its members with strategy which reflects the history of the channel yet is focused on the future.

PHOTO: Ben Kay, newsXpress General Manager left and Robert Henderson, new National Merchandise Manager right.

Uniball joins newsXpress as a preferred supplier

Respected pen supplier to newsagents Uniball has signed on as a preferred supplier for newsXpress stores. Uniball will bring to newsXpress members special offers, low every day pricing and other support which will help drive sales of their products. newsXpress will support the Uniball range with in-store range guidance and training in pursuit of excellent returns for our members and for Uniball.

Victorian member meeting a hit

We had a full house at our newsXpress Victorian member’s meeting yesterday. The excellent attendance was matched by excellent participation when we met as a whole group and when we broke into four smaller groups for the more intense business to business discussion.

As happened in Brisbane two days ago, members shared terrific business insights with each other, insights which are certain to result in excellent business developments.

Great things happen when you get proactive forward-thinking newsagents in a room together to talk about and work on their businesses. newsXpress corporately and individual members have to do lists which will significantly enhance business performance.

newsXpress members work on business

The latest round of newsXpress member meetings started yesterday in Brisbane. A feature of the meetings is small group discussions on traditing conditions and business opportunities. In these smaller groups, members share persoanl experiences from their bsuinesses. Collaborating with colleagues like this opens newsXpress members to experiences and ideas which they may not have encountered had they remained in their businesses focused locally.

We set the discussion up with up to date performance numbers provided by key newsXpress suppliers. This provided a factual basis from which we were able to develop the discussion.

Facilitated networking such as the business discussion which opens the current round of member meeting is a key newsXpress difference. It demonstrates our commitment to helping our members expand their options and make more informed decisions.

With more than 160 members nationally, we are well situated to bring diverse experiences to the discussion table.

The photo shows one of the small groups from yesterday’s meeting.

Supplier participation in newsXpress member meetings

We have a range of suppliers joining us for our next round of newsXpress member meetings which start next week. Senior managemennt representayives from Golden Casket, Intralot, ACP Magazines, Pacific Magazines and several other suppliers will be available to newsXpress members for discussion, feedback and networking.

The meetings will be held in four states:

Brisbane: Tuesday 21st April Brisbane – 10am, Brisbane Technology Park, Conference Centre,1 Clunies Ross Court,Eight Mile Plains QLD

Melbourne: Thursday 23rd April Melbourne – 10am, Malvern Valley Golf & Reception Centre (Arlington), Golfers Drive, Malvern East VIC

Sydney: Tuesday 28th April Sydney – 10am, The Lakes Golf Club, King Street, Eastlakes NSW

Perth: Thursday 30th April Perth – 12pm (Lunch) 1pm (Meeting), Country Comfort Inter City Perth, 249-263 Great Eastern Highway, Belmont WA

Newsagents considering joining a marketing group would be most welcome to book a place and experience the newsXpress difference first-hand.

Not all suppliers will be at each meeting.