retail | newsXpress Blog

Having fun with Halloween

Visit a newsXpress Newsagency this week and you are likely to see cobwebs, spiders, snakes and witches paraphernalia. Halloween season is in full swing and newsXpress newsagents are immersing themselves in the fun of all things scary. Some staff will be dressed up and even some customers. While sales benefit from the effort so does customer enjoyment from the shopping experience as well as team member morale.

Above all else, retail needs to be fun. Halloween embraces that.

newsXpress is the only Newsagency marketing group to wholeheartedly embrace Halloween. This is another point of difference for our network of 150 newsagencies. A happy shop brings customers back again and again.

Q3 sales benchmark

newsXpress has started receiving sales data from members participating in our quarterly sales performance benchmarking. The Q3 2008 results will, be compiled and analysed by the group in advance of release at our next round of member meetings.

newsXpress will use this confidential data to better serve members with product offers and strategies to grow member’s businesses.

It is our relentless pursuit outcomes which are valuable for our members which place newsXpress as the premier newsagency marketing group in Australia.

Extending Father’s Day

newsXpress helps its members broaden range around traditional shopping behaviour. Father’s Day is an excellent example of this strategy at work. the newsXpress merchandise team sourced a range of Father’s Day gift lines, many from suppliers new to newsagents.

This week, in the home stretch of the Father’s Day season, we have been hearing from newsXpress members about what has worked and what has not. While there have been some items which have not worked, they will easily fit in-store and sell between now and Christmas. These products are far outweighed by success stories. newsXpress members are reporting dramatic increases in gift line sales for Father’s Day around our offers.

Our merchandise team works hard to help our members push the boundaries. It is only by doing this that we are able to find what our businesses are capable of. We know the days of the traditional supplier driven newsagent are over. Our entrepreneurial members want to grow stronger, more margin-balanced businesses. Our buying and our supporting marketing collateral pursue this goal of margin balance relentlessly.

Our annual conference on the Gold Coast later this month will cover our merchandise strategies in more detail. If you are not a newsXpress members and want to get an insight into the newsXpress different, consider joining us at the conference on September 18 and 18.

Cars for dad

newsXpress members are reporting excellent results from the range of gifts sourced exclusively for members for this Father’s Day. Even newsagents who have been in gifts before have been surprised by the results. The Kombi van book ends have been very popular, selling out in several stores already.

newsXpress has several strategies for members which help them reach into new product categories. These strategies feed into a cohesive whole of business plan. Father’s Day 2008 is another step forward in our overall plan to help newsXpress newsagents build stronger, more viable and more valuable businesses.

The book ends have been helped along by the Father’s Day book sale running in some stores at the same time.

Visual merchandising for newsagents

Having the right product on the shop floor is important. Landing it there for a good price is another. What you do with this product once it gets there is even more important. Too often in newsagencies we see opportunities lost because of poor in-store displays. This is a topic which will receive attention at the newsXpress conference on the Gold Coast next month. We have an expert in the visual merchandising field presenting at the conference. We also have members showing off their best displays and network with colleague newsagents, discussing what works in their business and what does not.

At newsXpress we are committed to helping our members from the back of the shop right through to the front. There is where the newsXpress offer is unique. We take a whole of business approach and bring energy and excitement into play to achieve the results many newsagents miss even though they may do some good buying.

Father’s Day at newsXpress

In addition to actively promoting greeting cards this Father’s Day, newsXpress stores have a host of gift offers which are supported by exclusive in-store collateral. Our stores have material to promote albums, shredders, confectionery, bookends and desk sets – all items suitable for gifts for Dad on Father’s Day. The posters were provided free of charge. Each is printed in colour double sided and is A2 in size.

The products being promoted on the posters were selected by the newsXpress merchandise team for their suitability for the season and the margin they deliver.

Our mission is to help our members achieve a more valuable shopping basket. We are doing this through better buying, better in-store and out-of-store marketing andbringing new products which fit naturall with the typical newsXpress shopper.

As with all seasons, we will track the results of our offers and invite member feedback. This helps to continue to refine our offer.

STAGE ONE OF THE REBRAND – HALLMARK CARDS INSTALLED & MAKING A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE

The team at newsXpress Seymour led by Vaughan Lawrence who also own newsXpress Beechworth have just finished stage one of their rebrand to newsXpress. They have completely rearranged the shop putting in Hallmark cards and bringing the cards to the front of the store and bringing huge growth in greeting card sales, Hot Ink! has taken off nicley, installed the Canson Creative center and the cardboard range and culled old money ranges area to fit in a whole lot of new money products. In the next 12-18 months the store will undergo a complete re-fit.

WOW… THE KIDS CLINIC WAS A RIPPER!!!!!

The first ever newsXpress Kids Clinic which is supported exclusively by Canson & Pentel was conducted at Watergardens Town Center in Taylors lakes. It was an absolute Ripper! Store theatre is a key to cultivating new business and and tapping into the younger generation provides a “new money” revenue stream and cultivates future customers.

Hundreds of kids walked away with Hallmark balloons, newsXpress red bags and their drawing on canson carboard done with pentel pens. A number of kids had their faces painted, got a Pentel T-shirt or bag and had a balloon made for them by the clown.

We will start rolling these out county-wide ASAP and they will work in all store locations!

Promoting Top Gear in Gympie

Gympie is an old mining town on the Fraser Coast in Queensland town. It has seven newsagencies. newsXpress Gympie never does anything by halves. Take a look at the sign they installed in front of newsXpress Gympie to pronot the launch of Top Gear, the new magazine from ACP Magazines.

Needless to say, Warrick Hosking at the team at newsXpress Gympie sold out of Top Gear.

newsXpress Gateway (WA) shines

The newsXpress Gateway shop is a shining example of how a modern newsagency can look. Beyond its stunning presentation is the success with new money, categories which are genuinely new to newsagents. These newsXpress initiatives are driving good results for the team at Gateway. They can be gvey proud of an attractive and successful business.

The art bar from Canson is particularly impressive. Beyond the good look is a startegy which brings new traffic and deepens the shopping basket. This is where the newsXpress facilities and a smart local newsagent combine for great success.