Reminder: newsXpress creative writing competition
Newsagency marketing group newsXpress has launched a national creative writing competition seeking entries of short stories, poems and songs that relate, somehow, in some way, to the Aussie newsagency.
Already, plenty of entries have been received.
Two cash prizes of $1,000 each will be awarded, one for anyone aged up to and including 17 and the second for anyone aged more than 17.
Writers are invited to submit a short story, first person narrative, song or poem. Each entry is required to in some way reference a newsagency, either a specific business or the type of business generally.
The local newsagency is the quintessential Australian small business, and through Covid the newsagency channel proved it’s value as an essential service to local communities. We wanted to explore a way of celebrating that.
The idea of this competition is to encourage creative writing by Australians, to shine a light on local stories and through these reference in some way the local Aussie newsagency.
newsXpress is a collective of over 200 local family owned and run newsagency businesses across Australia, mainly rural and regional. Most shops in the group have transitioned from the traditional to be modern. newsXpress businesses showcase Australian made products that help Australians express themselves.
To me, this is a perfect newsagency marketing group activity. It is fresh, creative and not tied to shoppers spending money in the business. It fits with my view that sometimes the best way to get from A to B is to head for C. I like it too because there is no supplier connection, no outstretched arm asking for help.
newsXpress is funding this itself, including providing retailers with A1 colour posters.
Here is more information about the competition:
This competition is run by newsXpress Pty Ltd.
There are 2 prizes: one of $1,000 for entrant up to and including 17 years of age and one of $1,000 for an entrant more than 17 years of age. Each winner will receive a certificate.
TERMS.
- All entries are to be submitted by email to writing@newsxpress.com.au.
- Each entry is to include a first page with entrant name, age in years and months, email address, name of local newsXpress business if known (not mandatory) and the name of the piece.
- Each page of the entry is to have only the name of the piece.
- Entries to be an original, previously unpublished short story, a song, a poem or first person narrative. Maximum word length: 1,000.
- Page format is to be A4, font is to be arial, 12pt. No images. For short stories and first person narrative, double spaced please.
- Entries to be in PDF or Microsoft Word format or a format easily read by either.
- There is no limit on entries per person.
- There is no entry cost.
- Entries close at midnight December 11, 2020.
- Each entry must, in some way, reference a newsagency. We are not being prescriptive as to how central a newsagency is to the story, song or poem. We leave that up to the writer. But, we do want there to be a reference at some point to a newsagency, any newsagency.
- The decision of the judges will be final.
- The winner will be announced on the newsXpress Facebook page and elsewhere no later than January 30, 2021.
- newsXpress will publish the winning stories on its blog, crediting the writer.
- Once the competition is over, all entries will be destroyed.
- newsXpress will not share entrant details or use them in marketing.
A newsXpress local store may choose to offer a local prize or prizes for entries from their area. This will be entirely managed at that local store level by the local store.
Footnote: I am the Managing Director of newsXpress.
Gay Christmas ornaments selling well in Australia
Through my suburban newsagency we are selling the December Diamonds range of gay Christmas ornaments. They are selling well, primarily online though.
While we have been selling Christmas ornaments in-store and online for some years, this is our first year selling gay Christmas ornaments. It was a risk as the December Diamonds range was not readily available in Australia.
While we were at the Atlanta gift fair in January this year, we selected a a sizeable range of gay Christmas ornaments products and broader LGBTQI Christmas ornaments to offer in the Australian marketplace.
We received the products in late August and started offering them for sale in-store from September. Customers have reacted wonderfully. While they are pitched as gay Christmas ornaments, there are plenty that serve dual purposes, such as this one:
In-store they are placed on a tree, so shoppers can see them as they would look at home or work.
What is interesting is how people are purchasing these gay Christmas ornaments. It is rare they buy one at a time. Most common is 3, with plenty of sales at 4 and 5. Three is $210.00. That’s a nice sale.
This is opening a whole new market for the business, helping to expand how we see Christmas and ornaments more specifically. That is also helping our other ornament sales too, which is good.
We have promoted the gay Christmas ornaments with a series of social media posts of images, and videos like this one:
Here is another video we used early on to announce the range.
My point here is that we have not spent any money on marketing. rather, we wanted to see if we could build, traffic naturally, without promotions or deals.
We have not done anything significantly unique in promoting the range. The key has been in product selection, nurturing the supplier relationship to show what can be done here in Australia with a unique niche Christmas ornament range.
Overall, ornament sales for us this year are up 45% on 2019. Most of that has been online. In mention this to demonstrate that the in-store pitch is incidental to the core focus of the business. The shop offers primarily the fulfilment infrastructure.
While a core of the revenue from ornaments has come from repeat shoppers, we are serving a healthy mix of new shoppers, which is terrific.
Our hope is that next year, we will see even more business for the gay Christmas ornament range, further expanding the reach of the online business.
Advice for leveraging Christmas now
Here is a small selection of some of the Christmas marketing and management advice that is part of the newsXpress store management / advice kit:
- Always:
- Pitch 3 Christmas cards at the counter, on the newsXpress stand – carefully selected, changed weekly.
- Have gift wrap tape with wrapping paper.
- Have a selection wrapping paper and bags with cards, at the counter and with newspapers.
- Run your loyalty programs through Christmas – to bring them back.
- Make the shop smell like Christmas.
- Keep all everyday and lifestyle cards up – they sell through.
- Let your customers help each other. Setup a whiteboard or sheets of butcher’s paper, yes keep it simple. Get customers to write gift suggestions under different age/gender groups. For example: Girls 18 – 25, Boys 55+. Encourage your customers to help each other through their suggestions.
- Facilitate sharing stories. Find space in your shop for customers to share their Christmas stories. It could be a story wall inside or in front of the shop. This initiative encourages storytelling by locals and better connects the business with the community.
- Share Christmas recipes. Each week for, say, four weeks, give customers a family Christmas recipe. This personalises Christmas in your business, creates a talking point and makes shopping with you different to your bigger competitors.
- Help people rest and recharge. Create a Christmas shopping rest and recovery zone. Offer free tea, coffee, water and something to eat. Encourage people to take a break in your shop – without any obligation for them to spend money with you.
I am sharing this today to encourage others to think about and engage with Christmas 2020. It’s an odd year and results will benefit from fresh, not your usual, engagement.
Attracting shoppers to the newsagency using video
Here’s a video I made this week for my Westfield Southland business. I shot it on my phone, tweaked the visit using iMovie and then added text and music using the Promo platform. The goal of the video is to use ‘retail theatre’ to reflect range, encouraging that any Christmas card need could be satisfied in our shop.
newsXpress launches Creative Writing Competition
Newsagency marketing group newsXpress has launched a national creative writing competition seeking entries of short stories, poems and songs that relate, somehow, in some way, to the Aussie newsagency.
Two cash prizes of $1,000 each will be awarded, one for anyone aged up to and including 17 and the second for anyone aged more than 17.
Writers are invited to submit a short story, first person narrative, song or poem. Each entry is required to in some way reference a newsagency, either a specific business or the type of business generally.
The local newsagency is the quintessential Australian small business, and through Covid the newsagency channel proved it’s value as an essential service to local communities. We wanted to explore a way of celebrating that.
The idea of this competition is to encourage creative writing by Australians, to shine a light on local stories and through these reference in some way the local Aussie newsagency.
newsXpress is a collective of over 200 local family owned and run newsagency businesses across Australia, mainly rural and regional. Most shops in the group have transitioned from the traditional to be modern. newsXpress businesses showcase Australian made products that help Australians express themselves.
To me, this is a perfect newsagency marketing group activity. It is fresh, creative and not tied to shoppers spending money in the business. It fits with my view that sometimes the best way to get from A to B is to head for C. I like it too because there is no supplier connection, no outstretched arm asking for help.
newsXpress is funding this itself, including providing retailers with A1 colour posters.
Here is more information about the competition:
This competition is run by newsXpress Pty Ltd.
There are 2 prizes: one of $1,000 for entrant up to and including 17 years of age and one of $1,000 for an entrant more than 17 years of age. Each winner will receive a certificate.
TERMS.
- All entries are to be submitted by email to writing@newsxpress.com.au.
- Each entry is to include a first page with entrant name, age in years and months, email address, name of local newsXpress business if known (not mandatory) and the name of the piece.
- Each page of the entry is to have only the name of the piece.
- Entries to be an original, previously unpublished short story, a song, a poem or first person narrative. Maximum word length: 1,000.
- Page format is to be A4, font is to be arial, 12pt. No images. For short stories and first person narrative, double spaced please.
- Entries to be in PDF or Microsoft Word format or a format easily read by either.
- There is no limit on entries per person.
- There is no entry cost.
- Entries close at midnight December 11, 2020.
- Each entry must, in some way, reference a newsagency. We are not being prescriptive as to how central a newsagency is to the story, song or poem. We leave that up to the writer. But, we do want there to be a reference at some point to a newsagency, any newsagency.
- The decision of the judges will be final.
- The winner will be announced on the newsXpress Facebook page and elsewhere no later than January 30, 2021.
- newsXpress will publish the winning stories on its blog, crediting the writer.
- Once the competition is over, all entries will be destroyed.
- newsXpress will not share entrant details or use them in marketing.
A newsXpress local store may choose to offer a local prize or prizes for entries from their area. This will be entirely managed at that local store level by the local store.
Footnote: I am the Managing Director of newsXpress.
Shareable social media content driving newsagency shopper traffic
We are having terrific success with videos of artists behind products we sell. Whether shot on a phone or put through a production process like the video I share in this post, this content is referred to by marketers as shareable content. This is ideal for social media as it is a glimpse beyond the product.
Engaged suppliers are good about providing this content to retailers, to help them reach new shoppers.
This video below is for a high-end $80 metal ornament of Ariel and Flounder, from The Little Mermaid. We have this in-store and online.
I’d love to see more suppliers provide shareable content like this or in an ever more raw form that retailers can brand with their store brand.
Promoting Christmas in the newsagency
Further to my post yesterday about Christmas in the newsagency yesterday, here is one of the social media posts that I have created for one of the shops I wrote about. This is for my Southland business.
For those who think this is an expensive production, here is what I did. I shot the video at my Southland store a week ago on my iPhone. I loaded that to iMovie on my Mac and stripped out the background sound. I added a filter to soften the image. I then loaded that video into a platform called Promo where I added the text and music and, voilà, you have this video ready for the socials…
In case people are wondering – I have posted this to show what can be done for no cost and a small time investment, to pitch the business differently to what peso,e expect from a newsagency.
Christmas cards in the newsagency
Here are the Christmas cards that have been in place now for a couple of weeks in one of my newsagencies.
And here is part of the range in another of my stores, where space is quite limited:
I am showing them to speak to range, front of store placement and being out early.
We started with boxed cards over a month ago and comparing year on year we are more than 50% ahead. Singles have been out less time but they, too, are well ahead. It’s clear from early sales that caption 4range will be more important this year than in the past.
2020 is a good year to embrace the Halloween opportunity
The circumstances of 2020 offer an opportunity to embrace Halloween in a fresh and engaging way. I am seeing excellent early sales, good value sales for the season.
Now, before you say been there done that or it won’t work in my area, it is different this year and the best growth I am seeing is in areas where the season has not been strong in the past.
While you want to sell products, this is a season with which to have some fun. Here are some practical and low cost tips for leveraging this
- Get people to dress in costume and offer them a discount for that on the day, October 31.
- Wear make-up yourselves.
- Run a scary sale and offload things you are struggling to sell. Create bright red bloody signs. Make it fun.
- Run a midnight sale or at least a dark night sale – this is another way to get people seeing your shop differently.
- Have free bite-size candy at the counter.
- Select a spooky playlist on Spotify or your in-store music platform.
- Run a colouring competition for kids with a prize for the best and a charity donation to encourage engagement.
- Print a recipe sheet and give this away.
These ideas are to get you thinking. Go on, have fun. Boo!
FYI, here is a quick and dirty, unbranded, social media image I made to promote a Halloween sale. It’s designed to get attention and, like all good social media content, be disposable.
Pop Vinyls continue to deliver terrific new traffic in-store and online
The Funko Pop! Vinyl 2020 Fall Convention Limited Edition range released from embargo Saturday morning has worked a treat, thanks in part of cool social media content, which we made ourselves.
Pop culture is not category that is not for everyone. It requires constant work and has big business competitors. However, it is worth it, especially for the new traffic.
Yes, this is a long-standing newsXpress opportunity – not mandatory though.
What I like about the pop culture category is the diversity of the shoppers, their preparedness to travel to purchase and their happiness to also purchase online. Oh, and their shop efficiency – baskets often contain more than just Pop! Vinyls.
I’ve spoken with newsagents who say they don’t have these shoppers in their area. They cannot know that until they try and find them. It’s impossible to tell who may be a pop culture customer by looking at them.
For this category, it all depends on whether you want new traffic.
Newsagents promoted by publisher of Official Bathurst Program
The publisher of the official Bathurst program has been promoting newsagents on social media, which is terrific to see…
The 2020 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 official program is on sale in newsagents now! The print and digital editions are also available from our online store. Details here: https://t.co/rEq7104XZf #VASC #Bathurst1000 pic.twitter.com/kGweFVXTw8
— SupercarXtra Magazine (@SupercarXtra) October 9, 2020
AC/DC coin set from the Royal Australian Mint driving traffic for the newsagency
At 8:30am yesterday the embargo on the new AC/DC boxed coin set was lifted and by this morning, in 24 hours, we had sold $2,750 worth of the set from one store. This, like other collectible coin sets is another net new traffic driver for the newsagency. 37% GP is good, especially where you can for sure turn all your stock a month before you have to settle the account.
Yes, this is a newsXpress sourced opportunity with access to a quarantined allocation, negotiated months ago, special pricing and terrific background information. The keys to success have been social media videos and photos, like:
And this one:
And photos like these:
Net new traffic is vital for our businesses. This is achieved through understanding. I know of newsagents who will say I don’t have coin collectors in my area. Thanks to a relationship with the Mint, I can for certainty say this is not true. mapping coin buyers by location is revealing. Also, people other than coin collectors buy sets like this.
A common response from newsXpress members getting into coins is that they are surprised at who purchases them.Besides lovers of coin magazines, newspaper customers are common purchasers of coin sets.
This AC/DC coin set is a success as it’s only been out a day. It will sell out.
And … here’s the pitch – this is a newsXpress success story. Driving net new traffic and delivering bankable profit for a safe outlay. Great news in 2020!
Free newsagency marketing session today
Today @ 10:30am I’m hosting an open forum @ 10:30am to outline what newsXpress offers and how it works.
While I am primarily doing this to record and share via video, anyone is welcome to join to listen or ask questions.
With interest in newsXpress among newsagents and suppliers strong, it feels like a good time to offer this session.
Here are the details for joining in – anyone is welcome:
https://zoom.us/j/99657147413?pwd=dmhaa2VHK0pyb1M1bHZSeUxOMDNLUT09
Meeting ID: 996 5714 7413 Passcode: 081628
Newsagency marketing group open forum: This is newsXpress
Tomorrow, Tuesday, I’m hosting an open forum @ 10:30am to outline what newsXpress offers and how it works.
While I am primarily doing this to record and share via video, anyone is welcome to join to listen or ask questions.
With interest in newsXpress among newsagents and suppliers strong, it feels like a good time to offer this session.
Here are the details for joining in – anyone is welcome:
https://zoom.us/j/99657147413?pwd=dmhaa2VHK0pyb1M1bHZSeUxOMDNLUT09
Meeting ID: 996 5714 7413 Passcode: 081628
In the meeting I will be joined by a new products expert who will speak to net new traffic generating products, a millennial shopper expert who will speak to attracting that type of shopper and a data expert who will speak to how data can drive profitable business decisions.
newsXpress is grateful to have welcomed new members to the group over recent months, adding to this community of newsagents keen for new ideas and happy to embrace a culture of optimism.
Why I’m not supporting National Newsagent Week in my shops
National Newsagent Week kicks off tomorrow. It’s a supplier driven week of competitions and promotions designed to support retail newsagents.
While I think there is merit in shining a light on locally owned and run businesses, like newsagencies, this campaign misses the mark.
Take the collateral, it feels like something from the 1980s. It’s not an image relevant to 2020.
2020 has been a landmark year for the newsagency channel yet the creatives behind this campaign for some reason decided to not lead with that. Instead, on the website, they have used a stock image that speaks little to newsagency businesses.
If I was running this campaign, I’d have lead with Covid and the response from newsagents and the gratefulness felt by newsagents for the support of their local communities. I’d have included iso resources people could use along with other support materials that support the essential nature of newsagency businesses through Covid.
Every image on my website would be real, from real newsagency businesses, reflecting the unique role newsagents play in their communities and the valued role the channel has played in 2020. It its heart, my website would be a celebration.
2020 has been the year of the newsagent.
- We helped keep people informed.
- We have served local communities through Covid with shopper safety top of mind.
- We have helped people relax by offering awesome jigsaws, crosswords and maker craft items.
- We have helped homes remain calm by sourcing beautiful Australian made candles.
- We have shone a light on local makers giving them retail outlets for their creativity when local markets closed down.
- We have helped with home office supplies.
- We have provided support for home schooling by finding resources that help.
- We have delivered locally on behalf of loved-ones far away who could not visit.
- We have kept local people in work.
If I was in charge, my website would answer the fundamental question of why … why a national newsagent week? The supplier focus on the hame page reflects on the parties driving the campaign.
I get that those leading the campaign feel passionate about it and may not like critical assessment. The thing is, this is not a 2020 relevant campaign. Nor is it a newsagency in 2020 relevant campaign. The website itself is old and tiresome in design.
I know that in the newsXpress newsagency marketing group, we have run a series of campaigns that shine a light on the value of the local newsXpress business. These have been personally and practically focussed, leading to beneficial local engagement.
All of the above aside, there is no harm in newsagents putting up the poster and supporting the campaign, as I expect plenty will.
Footnote: I’ve written about this today on behalf of several newsagents who have contacted me about the campaign. What I have written reflects their opinions.
Landlords and developers evolving how they pitch retail locations
I hope this video I received this week pitching a new shopping centre location. It’s an example of using smart tech to take us into a new development to get a visual feel. Sure, it’s marketing and glossy, but it’s also more enticing than a text email or a brochure. I know retailers doing things with video for their stores, with success.
Using inventory to extend the reach of the business
We imported this unique nativity set recently after we saw it at the Atlanta Gift Fair in January this year. It is not your usual nativity set. It’s weighty, beautifully hand-finished, strong in detail … well deserving of the $349.00 price point.
In the few days we have had it in-store it’s become a popular talking point with several customers considering the purchase. On social media, too, is driving interest.
We signed up to buy the piece to be part of a planned Christmas display feature;. We made that decision before corona was front of mind.
Based on the interest, we expect to sell this ahead of Christmas, reminding us that items we purchase for display purposes often, themselves, are sought after by customers.
With boxed Christmas cards arriving in-store, and selling, having this beautiful nativity piece on display has a place, even if we are weeks away from our more complete Christmas pitch.
Our approach with this $349.00 piece is in line with our broader approach to gifts. With the Reject Shop our closes competitor across several categories, we decided years ago to play in a different price-point playground. We’ve done this because we know people buying based on the lowest price for something are not loyal. Quality matters to us and to plenty of our customers.
But back to our nativity piece. What people often comment on when they see it is the quality. It is a truly beautiful piece. It does not feel factory produced. This, coupled with knowing it will not be found elsewhere, makes it valuable for us while we have it.
2021 year of the Ox 1oz gold coin out now and attracting interest
We are grateful for the opportunity to offer the just released 2021 $100 1oz Gold Proof Domed Coin – Lunar calendar – Year of the Ox from the Royal Australian Mint. This Lunar Year of the Ox 2021 $100 Gold Proof Domed Coin sells for $3,630.00. It is beautifully boxed and is appropriately stored in a locked cabinet, along with other collector coins from our Royal Australian Mint range.
Coin collectors are terrific customers. Newsagents have served them for decades as magazine customers. Now serving them with proof coins and collector items like this $100 gold domed coin is a real treat.
Can a newsagent sell a $3,630.00 coin? Yes, I think so.
The detail of this product is extraordinary.
We sold 100 of the Qantas centenary anniversary coin sets and they were priced at $180.00 each.
What I like about the products from the Mint is that they span entry level through to avid collector level. At the collector level, people will often purchase two or more of a new release. This is especially true for grandparent collectors who are purchasing for grandkids.
Coins are another category of expansion for engaged newsagents. Key to success is early access to embargoed release information as well as to insights that you can leverage for attracting shoppers you may otherwise not attract in your business. Because, after all, it is net new traffic that we are really after.
The GP% value of unique gifts
Further to my post yesterday about GP%, this display is a good example of the objecting in action on the shop floor.
This is 50%+ GP stock that no other retailers near by stock through which we are pitching outside what is traditional for the business. It is opposite female cards, ideal positioning for the ranges represented.
Selling hugs in the newsagency
Here is what we have had behind the counter for the last couple of weeks at one of retail newsagencies. This is what shoppers see when they are at the counter. People are pointing to the one they want, happily adding to their purchases, on impulse.
It has been working a treat. Shoppers love that they can choose without touching and knowing that others, too, have not touched. They also love the Squishmallows product as it is a perfect huggable gift in this moment in time when hugs are not possible – here in Melbourne at least.
That wall beyond the counter is more important than ever here in Victoria as we can use it to drive impulse purchases with tactical placement, such as with these Squishmallows.
Plush sales were up 25% in July across Australia, not only in newsagencies but in other retail channels as well. I think this is because giving a plush item is like giving a hug.
Tactical placement at the counter is key to leveraging the opportunity. Try it.
Sunday marketing tip: use products to speak for you
This iconic jigsaw at the front of the shop in Victoria makes a timely and powerful statement right now.
While the image on this jigsaw represents a message from another time, the simple words resonate today. I was at the shop Thursday and heard a couple of customers comment positively about it. It reminded me that sometimes products can be a better advocate than pretty signage.
Refreshing Saturdays in the newsagency
Saturdays used to be big in retail newsagencies, back when there were fewer lottery draws, little or no Sunday trading and less late night shopping. We need to refresh Saturdays if the day is to be commercially valuable. Here are some suggestions:
- Host events. Saturday specific. Fun. Engaging. Based around products people would not expect you to stock.
- Host a local activities club – knitting, crochet, book, wine. Bring them and help them find new members.
- Use the day for unpacking new product and get known for Saturdays as being the day for new product.
- Free cake. Everyone loves cake. Partner with a local cake shop.
- Draw prizes. If you do a lottery second chance draw, draw it on a Saturday with a bonus for the winner if they are in-store.
- New displays. Make it a day of major change, noticeable change, in the shop.
- Promote Saturday deals.
What ever you do it has to be about your business as it is the commercial outcomes you are looking for. I mention this so you can focus on what you need rather than what a local group may need / want ahead of you.