newsXpress is disappointed that News To Business is paying to come up in Google searches for newsXpress. This morning, if you type in newsXpress to a Google search, a sponsored link for News To Business comes up.
News To Business competes with newsXpress. Our view is that they would be better off winning customers on their own merits rather than trying to ride off our coattails.
Halloween is big business at newsXpress Castle Towers, showing that this party season can be a lot of fun and good for business in a large shopping centre based newsagency. The newsXpress Castle Towers team has a broad range of Halloween products from the small to large. They have an excellent range for a Halloween party together and for those planning to walk the streets on a trick or treat mission.
The placement of Halloween near cards at Castle Towers is ideal in that it helps drive add-on greeeting card sales to the Halloween shopper.
newsXpress Eumundi is bringing Halloween fun newsXpress style to beautiful Eumundi with a good range of Halloween party products and other items.
Even though we are in the last week of the Halloween season, the team at Eumundi has been able to display plenty of fun products and show that Scary can be fun.
Sometimes the most obvious opportunities to find new customers are right in front of us. This is what some newsXpress members are finding with the newsXpress EXCLUSIVE Stationery Now promotion. The almost 1 million flyers delivered to letterbox and the in-store collateral are combining to draw new traffic in-store and one there convert this to sales.
Stationery Now is a brand based campaign, supported by key suppliers and newsXpress, designed to pitch newsXpress locations as offering. It is deliberately running at a time of the year when few other stationery players, newsagents included, are promoting the category.
The newsXpress strategy has delivered excellent stationery product at highly competitive prices to our network and backed this with an integrated marketing and merchandising campaign which demonstrates the newsXpress difference. So, this is a good traffic and good margin story – making old money new money.
We are proud to be innovating in this area – it certainly beats complaining or sitting on your hands.
Newsagents can use a professionally structured offer to drive good margin stationery sales. newsXpress can show you how.
Nia and Aaron Kugel from newsXpress Fernvale won the Golden Casket newsXpress Agent of the Year Award for 2009. Announced by David Robinson, Head of Retail Golden Casket Lottery Corporation Limited, at our National Conference in Melbourne a week ago, the award recognises sales growth and engagement with Golden Casket products. The award includes a cash price and movie passes to be shared with employees who helped the business win the award. Congratulations of newsXpress Fernvale.
newsXpress is sincerely grateful to the suppliers which supported our national conference a week ago in Melbourne. These sponsors, detailed below, helped make the conference a huge success.
With over 250 attendees, the conference has now established its place on the annual calendar.
newsXpress has launched a re-usable fashion black bag that will sit comfortably alongside similar items at major retailers. This bag can be used for items commonly sold in newsXpress locations: newspapers, magazines, ink, cards, gifts. The quality bag is versatile and fashionable. We are certain customers will use the new bag in everyday situations, increasing newsXpress branding in the community. It is an excellent branding investment. This new bag will supersede the red bag currently in the newsXpress range.
Many newsXpress members took part is a special offer for HP branded ink this past week. The offer applied only to genuine HP product – i.e. product not imported through the grey market. This genuine offer was put to newsXpress members earlier this week and in three days excellent orders were received. Participating members demonstrated the value of wise buying of brand name products.
newsXpress is passing on to members the full benefit of the special pricing and thereby enabling newsXpress locations to achieve better margin for this product.
The newsXpress strategy for driving high margin calendar sales is reaping excellent rewards already this year. We have newsXpress members new to calendars ordering extra stock, having sold most of their initial order early in the season.
newsXpress calendar range advice, training and promotional collateral such as the exclusive newsXpress branded poster demonstrate the newsXpress difference in calendars. The value of business transacted by our members already this year is proof of the excellent commercial value of our calendar strategy to our members and our calendar partners.
You know the newsXpress strategy is working when the calendar outlet nearby is selling their stock at 25% (or more) off already this year. Some of our members are seeing this as they walk past on their way to the bank.
The team at newsXpress Forest Hill moved Halloween to the main thoroughfare entrance to the shop as part of their plan to combat store blindness and to better connect with the Lotto October 31 superdraw. This was always part of the plan. Halloween started in the window three weeks ago as it did last year. Moving key seasons in this way is part of the newsXpress strategy of embracing change and keeping the retail offer fresh. The time involved is rewarded with sales growth. newsXpress Business Development Managers pitch the value of change in their regular store visits.
With newsXpress Radio playing in more and more of our stores, we have provided free collateral with which these locations can let customers know what they are listening to.
While the newsXpress brand is pitched regularly on-air in advertisements, station identification and at other times, we figured that posters promoting our own radio network were appropriate to reinforce this newsXpress exclusive.
We currently have more than twenty advertisers promoting product through our radio network.
newsXpress radio is unique in that it is live. This means live news, live weather, live commercail reads and live shout-outs to newsXpress stores around the country. Being live makes newsXpress feel more real than the canned radio you hear in other retail networks.
Belinda and the team at newsXpress Riverlink are scaring up a storm with their Halloween range. Besides the display in the photo they have a terrific display using cobwebs and our newsXpress collateral at the entrance to the store.
The range at newsXpress Riverlink makes them the go-to store in the area for Halloween and this will drive excellent word of mouth business. The newsXpress merchandise team has helped drive this by sourcing excellent, competitively priced, Halloween product for this year’s season.
newsXpress has prepared collateral for use by its members in promoting the range of Twilight themed products available in-store. Our marketing campaign ties in with the soon to launch New Moon movie.
The maketing collateral from newsXpress includes an A0 colour poster which announces that merchandise is available in store.
Months ago, the newsXpress merchandise team sourced a range of Twilight related items for members. This included two items which were new to newsagents and helped us position ourselves alongside the majors in this lucrative market segment.
Twilight is a natural fit for newsagentsgiven that many magazines we sell have Twilight content regularly.
newsXpress Upper Coomera has Halloween products on the shelves and terrific displays all around to draw attention. Having had success with Halloween previously, they understand the value of strong support for the season.
In addition to the hang-sell display in the photo, they have our newsXpress Halloween posters out and appropriately scary cobwebs ahanging from the ceiling.
Halloween is about retail theatre and at newsXpress Upper Coomera it’s on show.
Someone at newsXpress Sunbury Square is getting into the fun of Halloween early judging by the photo. They are showing off one of the fun Halloween costumes they have on sale. In addition to costumes they have other Halloween product including pitch forks, candy baskets, witches hats … all sorts of things to celebrate Halloween and have a good time and all available through our newsXpress preferred supplier relationships.
The folks at newsXpress Sunbury Square have gone all out and had a lot of fun creating their retail displays and engaging with customers in the lead up to Halloween on October 31. We love this!
newsXpress National Marketing Manager Trent Shields hosted a well attended workshop on Local Area Marketing at our conference last week.
Trent provided outlined a range of local marketing initiatives which better connect retailers with the local community. This is an area of particular interest and experience for Trent. It is also an area where he helps newsXpress members on a day to day basis.
It was good having a newsXpress resource like Trent on show for members and suppliers to see as it demonstrates the added value newsXpress brings to its member relationships.
David Haskard, National Marketing Manager with Hallmark Cards presented a workshop called Why Brands Matter! at our conference in Melbourne last week. David provided an insight which connected with Hallmark, the leading card brand in Australia, newsXpress, the leading newsagency brand in Australia and many other brands we sell in our businesses.
The conference hosted six different workshops, providing atendees with opportunities to learn in a smaller format interactive environment .
The feedback on the value of the workshops demonstrates they were a valued part of the conference.
The Trade Show which accompanied the newsXpress Conference in Melbourne last week was spread over three adjoining rooms at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne. The photo shows part of one level. We had stationery, gift, greeting card, confectionery and services suppliers showing their products to newsXpress members and other newsagents who attended the conference.
Meal and other breaks were taken in the Trade Show area, providing excellent opportunities for good business to be written and for conference attendees to network around products.
newsXpress is grateful to its suppliers for their support of the conference and the Trade Show.
The 2009 newsXpress Awards Dinner held last Thursday evening at the beautiful Plaza Ballroom at the regent Theatre was a wonderful night of laughs, great music and recognition for achievement. The night was hosted by the very funny Michael Pope, hilarious magic was provided by Matt Hollywood and great music was from Funky Town Express.
The evening was a perfect end to the first day of the conference, a great way to relax and enjoy an evening with friends. The entertainment was supplemented with a gourmet meal and fine Victorian wines.
newsXpress is proud of how well the night worked and the professional way our brand was represented.
Warrick Hosking was announced 2009 newsXpresser of the Year at our Awards dinner on Thursday evening. Warrick embraces everything newsXpress stands for. He pursues change at newsXpress Gympie relentlessly and aggressively. He understands our brand and all we stand for. He is passionate about newsXpress and never misses an opportunity to share this. His passion is driven by the success he achieves in his business with newsXpress initiatives. Warrick is the newsXpresser of the year because he is a great ambassador for the newsXpress brand our mission.