Tag: retail membership

newsXpress is not a marketing group. Here is what we are instead

For most of our 25 years, people have described newsXpress as a newsagency marketing group. We no longer describe ourselves that way, and the difference matters if you own an independent retail business.

Marketing groups promote a channel. The trouble is that the traditional newsagency channel is in structural decline. Newspaper unit sales fell 13% in 2025. Magazine revenue is contracting. Lottery players are moving online. No amount of catalogue marketing fixes that, and we think it is dishonest to pretend otherwise.

So we work differently. newsXpress is a Local Retail Accelerator. We work on the specifics of your business: your data, your floor space, your margins, your suppliers, and what you personally want from the shop. The goal is measurable change in how the business performs, which usually starts with margin and how hard each square metre is working.

Independent retail is not dying. We say that because we see it in member data every week. The same shopfront, rebuilt around the right categories and run with the right tools, makes good money and is enjoyable to own. We also run our own shops and online businesses, and we test ideas there before we recommend them to anyone.

The commercial model is deliberately simple. Membership is $295 a month for your first store, and $0 for up to two more stores you own. There is no percentage of turnover, no minimum purchase obligation and no exit penalty. We are not a franchise, and nothing we offer is mandatory. If you leave, your agreement ends and what you built stays yours.

We are not right for everyone. If your plan relies primarily on newspaper home delivery, lottery commissions, parcel collection and betting top-ups, we are probably not the right fit, and we will say so. If you are looking for supplier discounts alone, you will find some with us, but discounts are not where the real money is.

If you want a more profitable, more valuable and more enjoyable business, and you are open to change, we should talk. Call Michael Elvey, our Retail Development Manager, on 0400 331 055, or email help@newsxpress.com.au. If we are not a good fit for you, we will tell you.

Who is the ideal newsXpress member?

Not everyone is a fit. That’s not a criticism — it’s honest.

newsXpress works best for people who want to grow their business. Not protect what they have, not manage a slow decline, not wait and see. Grow. Find new shoppers. Bring in categories that weren’t there before. Build something that earns more per transaction than it did three years ago.

We’re looking for owners who see their business differently from how it was set up. The traditional newsagency model is well understood. It served a lot of people well for a long time. But the world around it changed, and the shops that are thriving now are the ones whose owners decided to change with it — or ahead of it.

That’s the newsXpress member. Someone already pulling their business toward something new.

It might mean adding gifts, homewares, or locally relevant products that no chain would bother stocking. It might mean rethinking the floor layout, the customer experience, the way the shop feels when someone walks in. It might mean going after a completely different type of shopper than the one who came in ten years ago.

We’re not prescriptive about what change looks like. Every location is different. Every owner is different. What we care about is the direction of travel.

Location doesn’t determine fit. We have members in capital cities and small rural towns. A busy suburban strip and a quiet main street can both work. Capital backing doesn’t determine fit either. Some of our best members started with limited resources and made up for it with energy and willingness.

The one thing that does matter is desire. A genuine, hot desire for change. Not curiosity about it. Not a vague interest in doing things differently someday. A hunger that’s already showing up in what you’re doing — or trying to do — right now.

newsXpress exists to back that kind of owner. We bring ranging ideas, marketing support, supplier access, and a network of people working through the same challenges you are. We share what’s working. We help members move faster than they would alone.

If you’re already moving, we want to hear from you.

If you’re not sure whether you’re ready, ask yourself one question: do you want your business to look different in two years than it does today? If the answer is yes, we’re probably a fit.

Talk to us.

The real cost of staying in a marketing group that is not working

Not all newsagency marketing groups are the same.

They tend to be built on old structures created in the 1980s and 1990s.

The question worth asking is not just what your group costs each month. It is what you are getting for that cost, and whether the structure of the relationship is set up to help you grow or to extract revenue from your business regardless of whether you do.

newsXpress does not see ourselves as a marketing group. So much of what we do is unique.

Groups built around promoting the traditional newsagency channel — print, stationery, supplier-pushed inventory — are marketing a model that is declining. Generic promotions and template marketing do not fix the underlying problem of a business that needs to change its product mix and improve its margins.

What a business in that position actually needs is direct, evidence-based advice on what to change and how to change it. Access to suppliers and categories that perform better than the traditional mix. Tools that reduce administrative overhead. And a commercial model that does not penalise growth.

newsXpress charges a flat $295 a month for your first store, with no turnover-linked fees, no mandatory buying obligations, and no penalties for leaving. Additional stores you own are included at no extra cost. The structure is designed to stay aligned with your interests — newsXpress grows commercially when its members grow.

That alignment matters more than it might sound. When a group profits from your volume regardless of your margin, its incentive is for you to buy more. When a group’s success depends on yours, the incentive is for you to run a better business.

Changing groups is a decision worth researching carefully. But if your current arrangement is not delivering measurable benefit, it is also worth asking how long you intend to keep paying for it.

All of this is why what your group is matters. You don’t want something old, out of date and not structured for a viable future. You want something playing into the future, working on opportunity beyond the traditional beyond the past. This is newsXpress: different, fresh and not a newsagency marketing group.