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newsagency marketing

Newspower’s EOFY email — what it says and what it doesn’t

Newspower sent another marketing email early this week, this time with an end-of-financial-year offer. Join before 30 June and receive $1,000 in supplier credit and four weeks of Facebook advertising campaigns.

A number of newsagents forwarded it to me. As with their earlier email, it is tidy and upbeat. And as with that email, I think it is worth reading carefully.

This is my take, my opinion. Do your own research and draw your own conclusions.

The $1,000 offer

The headline is $1,000 credit with a preferred partner supplier. The email adds that this represents “value of over $2,000 profit.”

That profit claim is doing a lot of work. It assumes a margin that is not stated, on product that has not been chosen, in a store whose circumstances are unknown. There is no category example, no margin calculation and no basis given for the figure.

The terms and conditions clarify that stock must be ordered by 30 September 2026. So the credit is tied to a supplier you choose, ordered within a fixed window, for product you then need to sell.

That is not necessarily a bad deal. But “value of over $2,000 profit” is a marketing line, not a financial analysis.

The question I have about the free stock offer is: will it attract new shoppers. To do this, of course, the products need to come from retailers who do not traditionally supply newsagency businesses. This suppliers are very important to newsagents right now.

Four Facebook campaigns

The offer also includes four one-week Facebook advertising campaigns to “maximise sales of the products you choose.”

Facebook advertising can work. The question is always how well. There are no numbers here: no reach estimates, no cost-per-click benchmarks, no examples of what previous campaigns delivered.

A week-long campaign for a single product line is a small window. Whether it moves stock depends heavily on the product, the local market and the creative. None of that is addressed.

The “300 members” figure

The email states that “approximately 300 independently owned newsagents” are already on board.

That is the first time I have seen a member count from Newspower. It is useful context. It also raises a question: how many newsagents have left?

Retention is often a more honest signal of group value than recruitment numbers. The email does not mention it.

The last number I had from research a couple of years ago was 500 retailers. If it’s gone from 500 to 300, that’s a thing.

More customers, more profit, more time

The five “More” promises — customers, profit, information, time, support — are presented as outcomes of joining.

Each one is reasonable as an aspiration. None of them come with a number, a timeframe or a case study. “More customers” through community promotion sounds good. What does it look like in practice? How many members have seen measurable foot traffic increase?

“More time” through social media and business listings management is a genuine value proposition if it is executed well. But the email gives no indication of quality, consistency or how the content is tailored to individual stores.

The dedicated Business Manager

Support through a dedicated Business Manager is listed as a benefit.

This can be valuable. The key questions are how many stores each manager looks after, how often they visit or call, and what their brief is when a store is not performing.

None of that is in the email.

Low-cost joining

“Joining is quick, simple and low-cost” is the close.

What is the cost? The email does not say. For a pitch built around financial benefit, the absence of a membership fee — or at least an indication of one — is a gap worth noting.

The broader point

An EOFY deadline creates urgency. That is the point of it. But urgency is not a reason to skip due diligence.

If you are considering this offer, the questions I would ask are: What is the full membership cost? What are the terms around the supplier credit? Which suppliers are included? What do current members say?

The email is designed to get you to reply with your name and phone number. That is the first step in a sales conversation, not the end of one.

Ask the harder questions before you get there.

…

I own newsXpress, a business that competes with Newspower.

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newsagency marketing

Looking at the Newspower marketing email sent out yesterday.

Yesterday, Newspower sent a marketing email to newsagents. Plenty of newsagents have shown me the email. It is neat, upbeat and confident. It promises buying power, social media done for you, seasonal campaigns, digital solutions and support.

On the surface, it reads well. Look a little closer, and what I think are gaps start to show. What I share here is my opinion about what the email reveals, and what it does not. Do your own research though, draw your own conclusions.

Big claims, light proof

The email leads with “largest”, “most trusted” and “35+ years helping stores grow sales and improve performance”. Those are big claims.

There are no numbers. No current store count. No retention percentage. No satisfaction or trust metric. No average growth figure. No example showing how performance actually improved.

What does most trusted mean, what evidence supports this?

“Proven” is used as a label, but there is nothing in the text that proves anything. For a major decision like joining a group, that is a problem.

“Retail growth made easy” – really?

The theme of the email is “Retail Growth Made Easy”. Growth is presented as simple: time-saving tools, seamless online and digital solutions, “nothing for you to do but display and sell product.”

Anyone who has run a newsagency knows that is not how it works. Real growth usually comes from hard, sometimes uncomfortable, decisions about ranging, space, stock, staff and local engagement.

When a marketing pitch underplays the work required, it is selling comfort more than change.

Buying power without context

“Save up to 25% on key product lines” is a headline promise.

Up to. On key lines. Compared to what? Standard wholesale? Going direct? Another group? There is no category example, no base price, no sense of how common this saving actually is.

“Exclusive discounts and offers” sounds attractive. But exclusive could mean “different”, not “better for the retailer overall.”

If buying power is a core part of the pitch, it deserves more than a single “up to” sentence.

Digital offer reads like a commodity

The digital list is complete: social media management, Google Business Profile setup, targeted online ads, affordable website and ecommerce.

The problem is it could be any agency website for any small business in any category. There is nothing newsagent-specific. No examples. No numbers.

The Facebook posting service promises up to six posts a week across standard categories. Posts are described as designed to drive customers, but there is nothing about engagement quality, local distinctiveness, or measured sales impact.

Volume is not the same as value.

Ink and toner promise is too broad

One of the flagship programs is about ink and toner. The pitch is to “become the go-to ink and toner retailer.”

Anyone trading in this space knows it is not that simple. Big-box retailers, specialist chains and online players set tough benchmarks on price and range. The economics vary sharply by location. In many metro and inner suburban areas, chasing destination status in this category is a real risk.

The email does not mention stock risk, SKU count, location filters or exit plans. It presents a broad opportunity without the cautionary detail this category deserves. That is a significant gap.

Support sounds busy, not defined

Support is a major theme: dedicated business managers, a members-only network, educational videos, weekly virtual meetings, events, trade fairs, bulletins.

It is a long list. But it reads like a brochure. There is no sense of how often a retailer will actually hear from their business manager, what support looks like when a store is struggling, or any example of a store that was turned around and how it happened.

Activity is not the same as outcome. The email does not make that distinction.

For everyone, not quite right for anyone

The email speaks to “independent newsagents” as one group. That is the only segmentation.

No nuance for regional versus metro, high gift versus low gift, lotto-heavy versus lotto-light, centre versus high street, or operator appetite for change. No sense of who the group is not a good fit for.

Retailers are not one thing. A pitch that treats them as one thing will struggle to be genuinely useful to any of them.

Why this matters

A polished email from a marketing group is not a decision-making tool. It is an invitation to ask harder questions.

When you read something like this, look for big claims with nothing behind them, category promises that ignore obvious risks, support that is listed but not described, and comfort language that papers over the work a genuine business change actually takes.

If a group wants you to trust them with a slice of your future, the least they can do is give you enough detail to judge them on more than slogans.

The email in question is slick. The weaknesses are in what it chooses not to say.

…

I own newsXpress and can be reached on 0418 321 338 or at help@newsxpress.com.au.

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Newsagency management

How newsXpress Is Helping Retailers Win Winter 2026

Winter is the quiet stretch that most independent retailers simply endure. Mother’s Day is done. Father’s Day is still weeks away. The foot traffic dries up, the social media ideas dry up with it, and the days start to feel flat.

newsXpress has decided to treat that problem seriously.

The group has produced a structured, practical resource for its members covering exactly this challenge: what to do in the weeks between the big gift occasions to keep shoppers coming through the door, keep the business moving, and use the downtime well.

What the Resource Covers

The document is divided into three clear areas.

The first focuses on drawing people in. Not through discounting or desperation, but through low-cost, community-centred micro events that give shoppers a genuine reason to visit. The ideas are grounded in what gift and related retailers actually sell and how their communities actually behave. Some require almost no budget. All of them create social media content as a by-product.

The second area addresses marketing. Not generic advice about posting more often, but specific strategies for building loyalty, deepening community connection, and extending the selling window into Father’s Day earlier than most retailers would think to start. Several of the ideas involve partnering with other local businesses — the kind of cross-promotion that costs little and tends to work.

The third area is operational. Winter quiet periods are the right time to do the business-building work that never gets done when trade is strong. The resource covers stocktaking, roster reviews, supplier audits, front counter rethinks, and content planning. It is a realistic list for a working retailer, not a consultant’s whiteboard.

There is also a bolt-on business idea included, a practical expansion strategy suited to main street retailers looking to attract shoppers they are not currently reaching.

Why This Matters for Independent Retailers

The gap between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day is predictable. It arrives every year. Most retailers treat it as something to survive rather than something to use.

That is a competitive opportunity for the ones who think differently.

newsXpress has framed the resource around that premise: Winter is not a problem to wait out. It is time that most of your competitors are wasting.

The document runs to 30 specific, actionable ideas. Each one is explained in enough detail to act on without further research. Taken together, they represent a genuine playbook for the quiet months, the kind of structured thinking that most independent retailers do not have time to develop on their own.

Access

This resource has already been provided to newsXpress members through the group’s regular comms programme.

If you are an independent gift, homewares, or newsagency retailer and you want access to this kind of practical, retail-specific support, it is worth finding out more about what newsXpress membership involves.

Visit www.newsxpress.com.au or contact the team at help@newsxpress.com.au.

This post was written by Mark Fletcher. Mark has been involved in independent retail in Australia for more than 40 years.

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Newsagency management

Marketing tip: How to run a MY FAVOURITE MAGAZINE promotion

The range of magazines available in newsagencies is the one point of difference all newsagents in Australia share.  While there are other points of difference in individual newsagencies, magazine range is the one national point of difference.

Despite the challenges with the magazine distribution model, the migration of some print traffic to digital devices and other challenges around the print model I am confident that magazines will continue to play an important role in newsagency businesses for at least some years yet.  This is why I am always looking for and thinking about different ways to promote magazines in my newsagencies.

So, to my marketing tip for today, why not run a magazine focused shopper engagement promotion in your  newsagency…

MY FAVOURITE MAGAZINE

I see this as a very simple yet engaging in-store promotion.  It is unlike anything you would or could see in any other magazine outlet.  It is too customer engaging and too local to be of interest to supermarket, petrol and convenience outlets.

No, this promotion is designed for people who think about the magazines, people who have a relationship with the titles they purchase.

The idea is to engage with your shoppers about the magazines they like and through this to attract more shoppers to engage.  The subtle narrative I would hope for from such a promotion is: what a wonderful range of magazine titles there is in this newsagency and what a passionate group of regular and local shoppers who love these titles.  That has to be the goal for the more shoppers who realise the range and who connect with a regular visit the better.

Here is how I see a MY FAVOURITE MAGAZINE promotion.

  1. Set aside a fixed time for the promotion: two weeks, a month.  You decide and stick to this period.
  2. Before you start, review your magazine department, make sure that the layout is fresh and easy to navigate.  Also make sure that each section is anchored around a good strong title for that niche. your magazine department needs to sparkle!
  3. Find a space near the front of the newsagency for a whiteboard or a wall of paper on which you can post customer entries / notes.
  4. Headline the promotion space: MY FAVOURITE MAGAZINE and note some simple rules like:  Tell us your favourite magazine and let others share your passion.  You could a $50 worth of current issue magazines of your choice. Get your most creative team member to make this space look professional.
  5. Work out your own prize package.  While I’d recommend it be free current issue magazines, you choose the value, the frequency of the prizes and how many.
  6. Create a A5 entry form where they write: the title of their favourite magazine, some notes about why it is their favourite magazine and their name.  On the back have them put their phone number for contact purposes – maybe an email address to build your email database.
  7. Kick off the promotion with entries from every employee and their family members.  I think that a white board or a wall with notes already will look more interesting.
  8. Let the local newspaper know.  It could be a photo opportunity for them.
  9. Get your team to hand entries to every shopper … drive engagement from the counter out. This is not something o do just once, do it through the week to engage with difference shoppers you see.
  10. Offer pens for shoppers to fill the entries in then and there at the counter.  Encourage this with your team.
  11. Send entry forms out with you customer accounts, with a note explaining the competition.
  12. Keep a running total of the top five magazines by popularity of entries.  maybe augment this with a list of the top five selling titles.  This is where a white board can help as you can change it daily – butcher’s paper is just as good.
  13. Encourage your team to hand out entry forms to browsers, yes even those who browse and never purchase. Who knows, getting out onto the shop floor and into the magazine department may lead to engagement which drives purchases.

That’s pretty much it.  As I said, this is a simple and local campaign designed to show off an important point of difference between your newsagency and other non-newsagency magazine outlets nearby.

I have not run this promotion as described.  It’s only something I have thought about in this format this week. I have run promotions where customers vote and others where we focus on top sellers in categories – but nothing like this where customer opinion and feedback for the magazine titles about which they are passionate is so vital.

If you try this marketing tip please share with us your experiences.  Also, let your magazine distributors and key publishers know.

Magazines are vitally important to the newsagency channel.  The value we harvest is up to us.  Local engagement around our point of difference is vital over the next couple of years.

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magazines

Newspower takes a stand

Greg Talbot, National Manager of Newspower, the largest newsagency marketing group in Australia, wrote to Newspower members last week expressing concern at reports of claims being made to Newspower members to get them to switch to another marketing group:

The claims of being able to offer massive increases on sales and profits are not supported by fact or substantiated by documentation.

Newsagents are doing it tough enough without having to deal with this type of rubbish and our industry would do well to reject, expose and remove those who say and do anything to achieve their end. Unfortunately, there have been too many examples of this type of behaviour in our industry over the years and too often, hard-working newsagents have been left to carry the financial burden of their lies and deceit.

newsXpress, the newsagency marketing group of which I am a Director, shares Greg’s concerns.  We, too, have heard of wild claims of massive profits and of offers of cash inducements to newsagents if they switch marketing groups and card companies.  We have heard that the promises are not put in writing and the obligations on newsagents if they do switch are not fully explained.

newsXpress and Newspower make it easy for newsagents to switch to another group because neither requires newsagents to sign a contract binding them to the group for five years. This easy get out holds newsXpress and Newspower more accountable to their members.

A locked in contract suggests, to me, that the group does not back their claims with action and thereby needs a contract to maintain numbers.

Aggressive marketing and cash inducements can divert newsagents from asking tough questions and wanting the claims documented.

A bag of cash today will do little to add value to your business when it comes time to sell.  Newsagents are better off engaging with their marketing group, adding value, increasing profit and reaping the rewards through better goodwill when it comes time to sell.

We saw this last year with a series of good sales for newsXpress members in Queensland.

Last year, I co-wrote How to Choose a Newsagency Marketing Group.  The advice in this document is good for any newsagent considering joining a marketing group.  It is fair and not aimed at directing newsagents to any one group.  Newsagents reading this document would be well prepared for the triple punch from the marketing group targeting newsagents at the moment ad documented in the Newspower letter.

There are two marketing groups in the newsagency channel which lock newsagents in for five years: Nextra and The Lucky Charm.   Five years is a long time to be bound to a group if you are not happy.

The last time I saw this heavy-handed type of marketing to newsagents, it was being undertaken by Bill Express.  Two of the people involved then are involved in promoting one of the marketing groups today.

Newsagents should be suspicious of high-pressure heavy handed marketing where claims and promises are not put in writing.  They should be on alert when the marketing pitch for a marketing group, or any supplier for that matter, is more about attacking the competition than pitching and documenting their offer.  The lack of documentation around the Bill Express claims made it challenging for many when newsagents wanted to get out.

Click here for a copy of Greg Talbot’s letter.  I have his permission to make it available through this blog.

Ultimately, newsagents have to make their own choices.  There is no rush.  Take your time.  Shop around.  Start by working out what you want from your newsagency.  Talk to other newsagents and decide what is right for you and your business today and for when you decide to sell.

I can be reached on 0418 321 338 if anyone wants to discuss this or any other post.

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Newsagency challenges
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