Newsagency shoppers love to browse food titles. Sometimes they are looking for inspiration while other times they are comparing titles before making a purchase decision. Stand in any newsagency watching browsers of food titles and you will see this, right across the country.
I am surprised, therefore, that ACP appears committed to keeping Good Food bagged and unable to be browsed. It’s a good title with plenty of compelling photos. I expect sales would be better if it could be browsed like almost all other food titles.
The bagging of the magazine to hold the free gift they include each month seems hardly worth it since the gifts are usually small cookbooks – smaller than similar ‘gifts’ stuck to many other magazines.
Check out the food magazine section in any newsagency and see how many titles are bagged and how many are not. Of the top ten local food titles today, only Good Food is bagged and I expect this to be hurting sales.
I acknowledge that browsing is not important in all magazine sales situations, trasit for example. It is in newsagencies.
Now before anyone at ACP groans about this blog post, I want what you want, more sales.
Our sales have dropped significantly with the last couple of issues being bagged. I’m ready to remove the bag and keep the freebie at the counter just to regain some ground. The gift is not so wonderful that it justifies being bagged!
We are seeing now more then ever that people have a tight grip on their money, they want to browse before they buy or not buy at all not just with mags but papers as well.
Some people abuse the shop by reading the mags or papers cover to cover and then walking out leaving a mess but most want to get exactly what they want or they will leave it for another day. We are seeing regular customers choose between WD and NI instead of getting both, the same for OK and Who, by bagging the mag the publisher makes the mag less attractive to the customers and lose sales.
I mentioned this before on a previous blog and sales of good food continue to be poor. Prior to bagging I could guarantee a sell out. The freebie as mentioned by Sarah is not worth the cost and effort of bagging. Such a shame because we worked hard to get interest in this magazine.