Month: January 2010

While I get frustrated with the number of suppliers who ask for counter space, it is great to see a counter unit work and drive incremental business.  That is what we have seen with the last two issues of That’s Life magazine.  The new counter unit is the only additional promotion we have done and it’s worked a treat for us.

The key factors for success with counter units as I see it are: a known brand, a pricepoint which is easy for impulse purchase, a bright display unit and it being from an existing key supplier.

We are promoting the latest issue of Weight Watchers magazine (on-sale yesterday) in prime position at the counter for a few days.  This title has a track record of performing well as an impulse offer – put it in front of shoppers and they purchase, leave it in the usual location and too many miss it.

Our promotion of Weight Watchers magazine ties in with the health related promotion we are running at the front of our business.

We are promoting both Motor magazines which went on sale yesterday.  One is the regular (browsable) full copy magazine and the other is bagged (and not browsable) with Unique Cars.  I suspect that regular browsers in the motoring section will see the bagged product like other bagged car magazines – a good title with junk filler in the bag.  While this is not the case with Motor, it will have to live with the stigma attached to bagged products.  Publishers unsure about shopper interaction with bagged titles should spend time in newsagencies and watch, especially on late night shopping nights and weekends.

We have placed Women’s Weekly Health in prime position, next to the Australian Women’s Weekly, as well as in our health area.  This co-location is important given the brand connection.  Our plan is to leave Health in this second location for a month – depending of demands on space.  We also have it in our health related display at the front of the newsagency.  I expeect the title to do well for us with this coverage.

A newsagent has been asked to remove the current issue of Go Natural, a naturist magazine our of New Zealand, from the shelves because of concerns about child pornography. They visited the shop after receiving a complaint from a local about the magazine.

Newsagents rely on publishers and distributors for providing product with appropriate notices regarding restricted display or sale.

The same photo of Victoria Beckham graces the cover of two different editions of Bazaar on the shelves at the moment.  It’s rare we see this, bizarre some might say.

Jokes aside, it looks odd on the shelves – but maybe this will cause more people to pick up the title.

As part of a series of changes in our magazine promotions yesterday, we moved our Prevention co-location stand to the entrance to the women’s magazines aisle, next to our Darrell Lea stand. The stand itself makes such a move easy – I love well made small footprint floor units which can be easily moved.

We will leave Prevention in this location for a week or two – as well as in our women’s health area.  The current issue is selling well for us.

We have given Cosmopolitan magazine a power end, capping between our women’s and men’s magazine aisles. The two tone summer-feel collateral stands out well.  Having the product available for purchase directly off the display is important in this location – it works a treat.

Here is the 30 second version of the ad for the new New Idea which launched last night on TV and which I previewed last week.