Category: newsXpress difference

Finding employees with initiative

Since the launch of our new newsXpress wbesite late last year we have been receiving employment applications from people keen to work with specific newsXpress stores. We are able, corporately, vet these applicants for members. If one member is not looking for employees and another nearby is we are able to redirect the application.

This is another way our new website is helping newsXpress members. Finding good employees is a challenge. Applicants coming through our website have shown good initiative – a trait important in retail staff.

Our website continues to evolve, at the back end, to deliver excellent facilities exclusively for our member newsagents.

Valentine’s Day marketing collateral

nxp_vals_blog.jpgIn addition to the excellent marketing collateral provided by Hallmark for newsXpress members as part of the Alliance program, newsXpress has produced artwork for A4 and A3 posters for our members to use with Valentine’s Day gift displays. Given that gift displays may not be mixed with card displays, we saw a need for additional collateral. Having this extra marketing collateral available means newsXpress members can more effectively dress a second and third Valentine’s Day display and thereby drive better sale outcomes.

newsXpress members can access the artwork from our website. We will also send printed material to stores who request this – at no cost.

The importance of standards

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday about the Vinnies Op Shops run by the St Vincent de Paul Society, is a timely reminder for retailers, and newsagents in particular, about the importance of standards around a national brand. Without commenting on the politics of the changes being applied to Vinnies locations, it is important for a national brand to be more than a logo on a wall or hung as a shingle over a shop.

At newsXpress we are committed to strength behind the brand. The extent on this strength will be evident in the first round of members meetings we will run this year. We will demonstrate the importance not only to our members but newsagents more broadly the importance of a strong brand which is respected with consistency in every location in which the brand trades.

The newsXpress brand, what it stands for and how it is managed is another newsXpress point of difference.

newsXpress tagged in national TV and radio campaign

newsXpress is proud to be the only newsagency marketing group tagged ABW in a national TV and radio campaign featuring the new Schoolzone range. newsXpress is tagged along with national retailers, very proud company.

Each station & time-slot being used in the campaign is either the number 1 or number 2 rated for the appropriate demographic – grocery buyers with children aged 5-12 years.

This TV and Radio coverage coincides with the national TV campaign being run by newsXpress to promote its Back To School offers.

Electronic media exposure such as we are seeing for our brand at present is crucial to creating a difference in the minds of consumers for our retail brand over other retail newsagent brand.  We are grateful yo the folks behind Schoolzone for their support of newsXpress.

Crossword offer exclusive to newsXpress

puzzlernxp.JPGExclusive to newsXpress.  The sticker in the top left corner of the crossword pack from Puzzler is an important message in newsXpress members and to consumers shopping in newsXpress stores.  This is one of several exclusive to newsXpress offers from Puzzler planned for this year.

The crossword category is important in newsagencies because of its efficiency.  Crossword customers are more likely to buy multiple titles from the category.  Crossword customers are also loyal – once they have found a store wwith the range and service they like, they are more likely to return.  This ties in with our newsXpress exclusive traffic generating loyalty program.

Campaigns like this one we are running with Puzzler reinforces the value of crosswords in-store and the key supplier relationships we deliver exclusively for newsXpress members.  The sticker is a proud badgs for us.

Back to School success at newsXpress

newsXpress members are reporting excellent results with Back to School even though the season proper does not kick off until next week.  Some of our members have gone out early with the support of the group and have found plenty of shoppers getting and early start on Back to School shopping.  That we had our collateral out to our members early was crucial in enabling those members who did want to start early to do so.

Information for newsXpress members only

newsXpress has loaded more content in the members only section of the new corporate website.  This includes product specific marketing collateral in support of Valentine’s Day. 

Our new website is generating excellent consumer traffic – driven in part through Google searches – to the public areas and excellent member traffic to the member-only areas.

Pentel Pop n Pop for newsXpress

popinpop.jpgPentel is proud to bring ‘Pop n Pop’ correction tape to newsXpress as the first retailers to sell this product outside of Officeworks.  Pentel’s ‘Pop n Pop’ correction tape has sold over 100,000 units since release late last year.  Having this product reinforces our relevance and appeals to a demographic important to our businesses.  ‘Pop n Pop’ correction tape is a good point of difference for newsXpress.

newsXpress Bargara in the news

Bargara’s NewsXpress owner Debbie Chapman said her store experienced expected sales despite the economic squeeze.

“People are price conscious for their back to school shopping, but I haven’t noticed a difference from this time last year,” she said.

“It’s one of our peak periods in the year … last week was really strong.”

Debbie was quoted in a report published by the News Mail about businesses and the reported economic climate.  It is good to see the one report cover Officeworks and newsXpress.

Many newsXpress businesses are reporting good trading thanks to the balancing the group has brought to traditional newsagency businesses.  With categories like calendars, gifts and books delivering better-than-before margins, the newsXpress offer is proving to be financially rewarding.

Newsagency marketing group news

newsXpress is a full service marketing group for newsagency businesses.  It is the only group delivering regular in-store business management support – a key reason newsXpress members outperform other newsagencies, regardless of brand, in key departments of magazines, cards, calendars and other areas. 

To drive traffic to their newsagencies, newsXpress members have access to national TV advertising, regular catalogues and a comprehensive online marketing campaign.

To leverage the best value from each customer visit, newsXpress members have access to excellent product deals, the best in-store marketing colateral in the channel, tactics to help achieve strong impulse sales and a loyalty program which is applauded internationally as ground breaking.

To drive business efficiency, newsXpress provides regular training to members around newsXpress exclusive intellectual property.  This is delivered face to face and online. 

newsXpress members are offered these benefits – marketing, products and in-store support.  We respect their independece and their right to decide whether to engage.  The group does not force members to take every deal or engage in every promotion.  This is why some members do better than others.  Those who truly engage do very well.

What makes newsXpress unique among newsagency marketing (franchise) groups is that members are NOT locked into long term agreements.  This is a consideranble risk for a newsagent who may want to sell their business in the future as it could cause a sale to fall through.  Our view is that if we do our job members will support the group.  This is better than tying people into an onerous contract.

If you want to achieve the best from your newsagency in 2009, talk to newsXpress and see whether your business and ours are a good fit.

Face to face with newsXpress members

Our team of Business Development Managers are travelling the country these next few weeks, completing our last round on in-store visits for 2008 with newsXpress members, working on group strategies and delivering training and other support to help our member businesses experience a great Christmas.

Over the next two weeks members of our team will visit with newsXpress newsagents in many cities including Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton, Mackay, Darwin, Devonport, Burnie, Bairnsdale, Yarram, Lismore, Armidale, Tamworth, Singleton – and these are just some of the regional centres we will cover.

These visits are a considerable point of difference for newsXpress and for our members. Newsagency suppliers like that we have a team which conducts these in-store visits. Suppliers tell us they are tired of negotiating deals for newsagents which are not backed by an association or marketing group to help the deal achieve the maximum potential for newsagents and for the supplier. Our BDM team and bring supplier offers and newsagent needs to a commercially rewarding union thanks to our store visitation program.

As one of our members said recently, it is like having your own personal business coach.

Lease help for newsagents

Negotiating a lease is a daunting task, one which often overwhelms newsagents as they navigate dealing with tough negotiators and are confronted with lease agreements which are burdened with legal jargon and unfair clauses which can, over the long term, devalue a newsagency.

To help newsXpress members navigate lease negotiations, newsXpress has a lease Consultant on our team.  Chris Hicks has years of experience in lease negotiations with all of Australia’s major landlords as well as many small independent developers. 

Chris liaises with the landlord, takes the emotion out of negotiation and leaves the newsagent to get on with building the business.

Chris Hicks’ service to newsXpress members sees him provide day to day help on lease issues which arise long after the lease is signed.  Issues such as outposting, lease lines, shop-fits and other operational matters can be resolved thanks to Chris’ help.

Over the last two years, Chris has successfully negotiated fifty new leases for newsXpress members.

Lease advice and support is another benefit newsagents can access when they join newsXpress.  It is part of a host of services we provide access to through our membership.

The challenge of selling the newsagency

newsXpress backs itself with a membership structure which enables members to leave the group at thirty days notice.  There is no time this is more important than if your newsagency is for sale.  Prospective purchasers look at a business from the perspective of what they can achieve with it.  Sometimes this will include re-branding to mark a departure from previous ownership.

A prospective purchaser cannot re-brand if the franchise agreement a vendor has signed with a marketing group does not permit a fair and reasonable exit strategy.

Another risk with franchise agreements can be the requirement to give the franchisor first right of refusal.  This means that a newsagent may have a signed buyer but cannot proceed until the franchisor decides if they are going to purchase the business.  Buyers will be wary of making an offer in this situation.

At newsXpress we believe in a simple structure which sees members stay in our group because they want to and not because of an onerous contract.  We believe in a structure which does not get in the way of the sale of the newsagency.

The business development difference

One of the differentiating services newsXpress provides its members is on the ground visits from our Business Development team.  Our experts are armed with years of practical newsagency experience and an exclusive to newsXpress toolkit of marketing and management strategies which offer our members help in many areas of their businesses.

On the phone and face to face our Business Development Managers play a key role in helping newsXpress members achieve greater year on year success than other newsagents.  This success was recently reported by magazine publishers and greeting card companies at our National Conference – data showing that in a same store basis, year on year, newsXpress members achieved growth ahead of any other group in the channel.

Our Business Development Managers guide, drive and encourage our members and it is through this regular contact that together we are able to achieve more.  They are unique in the newsagency channel and exclusive to newsXpress.