After an extremely busy time at my newsagency today I noticed ten A5 booklets on the floor promoting magazine subscriptions. Art first I thought a marketer had come in and spread brochures from a competitor about. Some investigation revealed that these 15 page brochures are in Woman’s Day today. So while we’re chasing hared for retail sales, our top selling magazine is chasing just as hard to pull retail sales out of our shop.
While I understand the need for publishers to pursue whatever sale and distribution model is right for their business, I am disappointed that I am not able to offer discounted subscriptions (with fair compensation). The right offer would help me boost sales, help the publisher achieve more subscriptions and give customers a good over the counter Christmas offer. This is a good example where partnership would work.
I cleaned up the 15 brochures and another 20 from the magazine rack – happy that they fell out of the magazines when customers picked up product for purchase.