Like most newsagents, we start the week with a full waterfall for all major weeklies. As the week unfolds, we scale back and use the empty pockets to promote titles from other categories. We carefully select and place titles. Click on the image for a larger version of how our magazine space looked on Thursday this week. See how we block titles and use logic in adjacencies – Real Living and Home Beautiful together for example. We always double-pocket these co-located titles – to give them a chance of being noticed in this most shopped magazine real-estate. We know our approach works because we track sales from these pockets.
Newsagents I talk with usually do not have a strategy for filling space as the week unfolds. I have found that a consistent process for this works well, others in the business can follow the process. Putting thought into the titles you co-locate is more likely to drive the sales outcome you want than letting anyone put any titles into the spare pockets.
Magazines are vitally important to us because the range in an average newsagency is our only product-based point of difference. If we embrace this by working the category we make our business a destination. While print has challenges, these are more long term. Aggressively managing magazines today provides a valuable point of differeence for newsagents over other magazine retailers.
Just starting out. Bought a newsagency and they told me not to return any mags for 2 months. They supply endless copies of Beadwork which I’d fall over if I sold one. If I return mags I don’t want how long before I get a credit?
Cheers
John,
The magazines are supplied with preset return dates. You should al the very least follow these. If a magazine is not selling, return it earlier than requested.
The process of determining if a magazine is not selling is straightforward but somewhat dependent on your situation: shopping mall, high street etc.