The newsXpress Melbourne Support Office has been inundated this week with literally tens of thousands of entries for the hugely successful ‘Back to Work - Win a Yaris’ promotion!

Many stores have had to employ packing boxes rather than envelopes just to return their entries received over the last month. The photo to the left shows only the result of newsXpress Pakenham’s labours spread out over a 3m x 2m Boardroom table!  we took care to ensure that all entries were placed into the entry box immediately after the photo was taken.  Competition integrity is required by law and important to us.

The draw will be held at 10.00am on the 17th March where one lucky newsXpress customer will win a brand new Toyota Yaris, while 8 other entries will win fantastic mountain bikes courtesty of Pacific Magazines.

newsXpress Toronto have embraced the industry first newsXpress promotion which will give one lucky customer a brand new Toyotoa Yaris by strongly featuring the newsXpress marketing material at the front of their store as customers enter and exit.

In addition to the effort they are putting in to this newsXpress marketing event, The newsXpress Toronto team have also reported they are recording exceptional sales for the BTS SBG Spencil range of book coverings as introduced in this blog post.

newsXpress Sarina have created a Valentine’s Day display in-store that ties in perfectly with the newsXpress created marketing materials for this major newsagency season.

The newsXpress message reads - “A new love, a secret admirer or an established union - this Valentine’s Day newsXpress has the perfect card or gift for every relationship. Cute plush toys, delicious chocolates, heartfelt messages and even something naughty and fun”. As can be seen in the photos from the store Shelley and the team at newsXpress Sarina truly have ‘everything to say - I love you…‘

The team at newsXpress Roselands take great advantage of the outpost opportunities afforded retailers in their large shopping centre. The image to the left shows an illustration of the range and quantity of stock they are able to merchandise to attract greater sales.

The old adage of ’stack them high, watch the fly’ works in practice for Vinay and the team at newsXpress Roselands.

Victorian newsXpress members participated this year in an exclusive display competition with the popular Select brand of AFL cards.

After a number of exceptional submissions were received promoting the product launch, Select and Network Services were faced with the difficult task of selecting just one winner. The judges selected newsXpress Bairnsdale for their impressive in-store display which incorporated merchandising material provided by Select plus their own material including a mannequin and other AFL memorabilia.

As avid St Kilda supporters David and Gina Brakey have won a 2009 signed St Kilda jumper professionally framed and tagged (pictured above).  Select and Network Services Company expressed their thanks to newsXpress and their members for their ongoing support of the 2009 Select AFL Football cards.

newsXpress has acted swiftly to the news of the record breaking OZ Lotto jackpot and created four ‘Super Group’ syndicates in the Queensland market. These have already started driving impressive traffic and entreprenurial members are capitalising on this opportunity by promoting relevant ranges in store to increase basket size.

State Lotto organisations have provided quality point of sale materials and individual stores have complimented these with balloons and other decoration to create enticing displays in store. The lure of becoming the biggest winner in Australia is certain to have the registers working overtime in the lead up to Tuesday night.

newsXpress Kin Kora featured above have coupled the Golden Casket collateral with colorful balloons, streamers and oversized cut out letters spelling out $90 MILLION.

While newsXpress Eumundi (below) have highlighted the vast array of syndicates available in their store. Both stores are already reporting a massive surge in sales.

newsXpress Toowong along with several other newsXpress members created a themed promotional area for Monday’s Australia Day celebration. The simple application of visual merchandising components from a newsXpress sourced supplier coupled with appropriate product, giftlines and decorations capitalised on the sales opportunity.

Minor seasons are not as glamourous nor as well supported by suppliers but are typically easy to set up with product already on stock in store.

The recent round of national newsXpress Market Fairs inspired many newsXpress stores to introduce new product lines and ranges into their business.

The Canson Art offer was particualrly popular and newsXpress Margaret River were suitably enticed to introduce the newsXpress exclusive Canson Creative Centre, thecardboard wall and to also particapte in the Canson Creative Christmas promotion.

The photos below show the product in store and early indications are that they are creating considerable interest with customers.

newsXpress Crows Nest have set themselves up for a great Christmas season with these impressive displays.

Daniel and the team have given some great merchandise treatment to greeting cards and gifts while paying attention to traditional themes with the accompanying decorations.

newsXpress Silver Sands have fully embraced Halloween and have looked at innovative methods to draw more foot traffic. The newspaper advertisement below invites a new (and very strong minded - just ask the parents!) generation of shoppersby offering a FREE face painting service.

Nothing says Halloween more than a good costume and Phil Foo and his team are doing what they can to spread the word. They have also invested in a small doscument about the origins of Halloween and it’s Australian application to educate their customers who may have had anti-American perceptions.

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.

newsXpress Echuca is the latest Victorian regional member to rebrand and open. The Dye Family certainly engaged the community with a month of activity commencing with the sponsorship of  a regional conference and culminating with the Gala Opening last Friday.

An alreadt great store has been further improved with the pro-active owners seeing strong growth in Hallmark cards and related product ranges, magazines and Canson Art. Their fun opening day was obvious to all as highlighted by the enthusiastic team. An ever popular sausage sizzle, promotional give-aways and the nromal newsXpress activities provided a great start.

Congratualtions to Steve, Liz, Andrea, Jo-anne and all the team at newsXpress Echuca!

newsXpress Beechworth were already great business operators and entrepreneurs before they joined newsXpress as showcased by their multiple ‘Newsagent of the Year’ accolades.

However since joining the newsXpress group which prides itself on attracting, nurturing and challenging the ‘Best of the Best’, they have taken their performance to a new level!

The innovative and high performing HOT ink! sub-brand has been strongly embraced by Tracy, Vaughan and their team and as the photos below show they have tied the Olympic theme of the HOT ink! 8 event into another push on home and office printers.

Dubbing the iconic front of the store their “Green & Gold Window”, Tracy and team have highlighted the promotional product using some simple yet highly effective Olympic visual marketing materials.

newsXpress Kin Kora are always at the forefront of innovative and visually stunning merchandising. Early indications are that Father’s Day will be no different as seen in the following pictures.

Sarah and the team have fully embraced the exciting and delicious range of Morish Nuts, and in particular the newsXpress exclusive ‘Dad’s Nuts’ pack. Also seen is the Hallmark Alliance marketing material with the fantastic Jag watch on offer as a prize in each store.

newsXpress Sarina revealed an uncanny coincidence when communicating their Care & Friendship Grand Prize winner!

The local winner Walter shared his name with the Giant Forever Friends Bear as nicknamed by the team at Sarina. The Girls in the store were so excited about the fluke about the names that they ended up playfully fighting over who would call the original Walter with the good news.

Pictured in the below photo: Bec (who won out and got to call Walter!), Walter, Angela & Walter.

newsXpress Kin Kora received a special early allocation of one of the newsXpress Father’s Day promotional lines - the Gourmet’l cook book.

Sarah at Kin Kora has negotiated a local area cook up with the decidedly male influenced recipes on the menu! Below are some of the pictures of their first display!

If you have visited newsXpress Beechworth in the last few weeks there can be no doubt that they are spreading the Care & Friendship message loud and proud!

Tracy, Vaughan and the team have done a fantastic job of both highlighting the consumer competition (win a giant 36″ Forever Friends Bear) but also merchandising their range of Forever Friends and Wellington product in a manner that makes it both enticing to prospective consumers and also maximises the opportunity for add on sales.

newsXpress Warrnambool wholeheartedly embraced the exclusive Hallmark Alliance Care & Friendship promotion with stunning results.

As a relatively new member to the group they have already implemented a number of our key strategies and business models which are proving a motivating force.

newsXpress Chancellor Park witnessed all the great store displays for the Care & Friendship promotion and didn’t want to miss out on the fun! Manager Emma took the camera out today and sent through these fantastic shots of the in-store merchandising.

newsXpress Goulburn have enthusiastically merchandised their store with the supplied marketing materials for the Care & Friendship Promotion encompassing posters; wobblers; decals and the prize itself - a Giant 36″ Forever Friends Bear!

However they understand that in retail substance goes hand in hand with style. In close proximity and surrounding the impressive marketing they have located the vast range of Forever Friends and Wellington Bear product.

The mechanics of the competition require the purchase of any two of the afore-mentioned ranges and making the connection easier for the consumer is simply increasing your chances of achieving the sales to make the hard work worthwhile.