Tag: greeting cards

Why newsXpress is the best marketing group for newsagents who want to thrive

newsXpress is not a franchise. There are no mandatory requirements, no turnover-based fees, and no locked-in obligations. Membership costs $295 a month for your first store. Additional stores you own cost nothing.

That fee buys you access to a team of people who have owned newsagencies, managed retail floors, and spent years analysing real store data. The advice is evidence-based. It is not shaped by supplier preference or group politics.

A few things set newsXpress apart from any other group in the market.

Seasonal Edge is exclusive. Each major retail season, newsXpress funds a prize pack worth $350 or more for every member store, provides the in-store and digital marketing collateral, and runs the promotion at zero cost to the member. Some stores have reported a 20% lift in greeting card sales from this program alone. No other group does this.

The Mint relationships are exclusive. newsXpress is the only marketing group in Australia with access to the Royal Australian Mint, the Perth Mint, the New Zealand Mint, the British Mint, and New Zealand Post. Members who have leaned into coins have gone from selling none to generating $50,000 a year in revenue. These are supplier relationships you cannot access through any other group.

The card performance analysis program uses proprietary data to show you which pockets are earning their space and which are not. Members who have acted on the recommendations have recorded revenue increases of 33%, 50%, and in one case 70% — without additional capital investment.

The AI toolkit — 19 prompts built specifically for newsagency retail decisions — is live now and free to all members. newsXpress has been working in this space for over two years. These are not generic business prompts. They are built around the decisions newsagents actually face.

The group also runs its own physical shops and four online businesses, including one that turned over $2 million last year. The advice comes from running retail, not reading about it. This helps it offer practical and valuable advice from the lived experiences.

If you want a group that will be direct with you, move fast on trends, and actively work to make your business more valuable — talk to Michael Elvey on 0400 331 055 or Mark Fletcher on 0418 321 338.

The Newsagency Is History. What Comes Next Is Up to You.

In this video, Mark Fletcher holds up a copy of A Companion to the Australian Media, published in 2014. He wrote several pages for it — a section on Australian newsagencies, capturing the channel as it stood just over a decade ago.

It’s worth reading now, because the gap between then and now is significant.

Visit ten newsagencies today and you’ll find ten different businesses. Gifts, toys, cards, collectibles, books, homewares — the format has fractured entirely. Newspower, Nextra, and newsXpress all carry the word “newsagency” in some form, but the stores operating under those banners look nothing alike. That’s not a problem. It’s proof that the generic model is gone.

The pressure points are not subtle. Newspapers and magazines are down in double digits and falling. Stationery is in trouble in stores that haven’t rethought it. Lotto is moving online faster than most operators would prefer. Greeting cards are still holding, but one category does not carry a business.

The newsXpress approach is to move toward what works locally — high-margin gifts, collectibles, boutique product ranges — rather than defend a format that the market has already left behind. Members who have made that shift are trading well. Waiting for conditions to improve is not a strategy.

The history is worth knowing. The book is worth owning. But the business decisions have to be about what comes next.

Not all newsagency businesses are the same, as we note above. Those with a future are those that are moving, outside what’s expected, beyond the traditional, and this is exciting for the owners, those who work in the shops and the communities in which they thrive.

While we 100% respect every newsagent, the truth of the data is undeniable – the future newsagency businesses will be those playing outside of history, and that matters plenty.

newsXpress works with newsagents of all sizes, shapes and situations. We help newsagents enjoy their businesses more and set themselves up for a brighter future as a result. It’s hard work, rewarding work.

Our focus is on local, independent and willing.

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newsXpress supports small local independent retailers to thrive. Find out more at help@newsxpress.com.au.

Driving High-Margin Revenue Growth with the Exclusive Seasonal Edge Program

Major seasonal events dictate the financial rhythm of the Australian retail calendar. Key periods such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and the extended Christmas season present crucial opportunities to build strong local customer engagement. However, executing a truly professional, high-impact marketing campaign requires significant resources. Independent retailers frequently struggle with the costs of designing premium collateral, sourcing appealing prize packages, and coordinating digital assets across social media platforms. Without these tools, standing out from national corporate competitors becomes incredibly difficult.

To solve this challenge, newsXpress created the exclusive Seasonal Edge program.

This initiative is structured specifically to deliver professional-grade marketing support directly to our members at zero cost. During the course of a single operational year, newsXpress invests substantial funds per member to source high-value customer prizes and provide beautifully printed in-store marketing collateral. For the upcoming Father’s Day season, for example, every single member store will receive a high-end Masterpro indoor and outdoor pizza oven to give away locally. This allows even small regional shops to present a premium retail experience.

The operational mechanics of the program are completely straightforward. No complex opt-in procedures are required, and the promotion integrates seamlessly with daily shop floor operations. The trigger for a customer entry is tied directly to high-margin categories, such as a card purchase or a gift selection.

This deliberate structure encourages shoppers to explore beyond traditional agency lines, driving immediate incremental revenue. In fact, member stores frequently report significant, above-average revenue bumps, including increases of up to twenty percent in high-margin greeting card categories during active promotional windows.

Beyond immediate bankable sales, Seasonal Edge serves as a brilliant mechanism for localised word-of-mouth marketing. Because each individual shop gives away a guaranteed prize pack, a resident from your immediate community is always the winner. This creates genuine excitement and strengthens community goodwill.

The program also facilitates active collaboration among newsXpress members, who privately share their unique in-store display concepts. This shared inspiration allows every participating retailer to optimise their physical layouts, attract fresh demographics, and achieve measurable commercial success.

Seasonal Edge is a resounding success.