Month: December 2011

We are using our ACP Magazines impulse display unit to promote Women’s Weekly cookbooks out the front of the newsagency in the run home to Christmas.  We made this move on Saturday and immediately we saw sales as a result.

These cookbooks are popular Christmas gifts so it makes sense to promote them to shoppers as they pass by our newsagency in the shopping mall.  The simple display gets people stopping for a browse, people who would have otherwise walked on by.

We will maintain this ACP cookbook display right through to Christmas.

TIP: we pocket count the stock we put into the display so that we can know how many copies of each title are sold from this location compared to other locations where we have the cookbooks.

We are promoting the latest issue of Men’s Health magazine with this display in the men’s area of the magazine department.

We have ordered more stock as we are sure to sell out based on it being Christmas, this being an ideal Christmas gift and recent sales activity.

Men’s Health will also be part of our Christmas gift magazine promotion in the last week prior to Christmas.

Our sports magazine sales are up 78% year on year when we compare the last four weeks with the same period a year earlier.  This is on part due to the magazine relay which we undertook in September.

Italianicious may be a small title in terms of sales numbers but it is very important in the mix of food related magazines which we sell.

Italianicious is a genuine specialist food title, standing out among often similar looking mass market food titles.  We try and ensure that it gets a good location each issue as it reflects well on our positioning as the magazine specialist in the shopping centre.

We are promoting the latest edition of Feast magazine with this aisle end display facing out into the newsagency, capping one of our magazine aisles.

The cover is terrific – it cuts through when placed in the usual location in among other food titles … bold and noticeable.

The only measure of success for any display is the sales it delivers.  This is why we tend to go for more practical and less pretty displays.  We have limited space and can only afford the amount of space for the type of display we have in place for Feast magazine.  Our displays work … based on excellent magazine sales numbers.

We are also promoting Feast with a half waterfall in the magazine aisle.

Check out our second location for promoting the latest issue of Top Gear magazine.  We had to move the display from the first location and I wanted to show how we sometimes don’t just take a display down but, instead, find a new home where e can repurpose the marketing collateral provided by the publisher.  This new location caps one of our stationery aisles so it will be seen by shoppers who are not necessarily visiting to purchase a magazine.  We still have Top Gear in the usual location with motoring titles.

We have allocated double the usual space to the latest issue of Good Health magazine thanks to the free pedi scrub which comes with each issue.  Since on-sale we have had the title in its usual location with this double space allocation.  Later this week we will move it to our Christmas gift display as Good Health is one of those titles which we can see working well as a Christmas gift … especially with the free pedi scrub.

In addition to prime display of Coach magazine on aisle end, we are also giving it extra pocket space in the usual location for the title.  We justify the space allocation based on the sales.  We expect to maintain this extra pocket space allocation for two weeks.

How we are treating Coach is how we treat all titles in terms of space allocation.  While it means investing more time in tracking sales, the result is even more sales as we give more space to titles which are performing well and respond to the extra space.  This is one reason we order extra stock of some titles – because growth is coming from the space we allocate to them.

We are also promoting Coach as an ideal Christmas gift and this should give us a nice sales boost leading to Christmas.

We are promoting the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine at the sales counter, next to our Ticketek outlet.

This location makes sense for the magazine, getting it to the front of the store where more shoppers who are interested in music are likely to see the cover.  We try and give each issue of Rolling Stone some time in this premium space.

Ticketek has only been in for a few months so we are still getting known as an outlet for concert and other tickets. As that grows I expect sales will increase for titles like Rolling Stone.

I understand why Australian publishers complain about imported titles, especially those which appear to be dumped on our marketplace on terms which do not reflect the real cost of printing and landing them here. Jamie magazine does not fall into this group.

Jamie is a good title, not oversupplied and most welcome in enhancing our credentials in the serious food title space. All round, Jamie is a good example of an imported magazine I am happy to see on my shelves. I guess it helps that it’s a personal favourite of mine.

I was disappointed to see Reader’s Digest promoting a subscription to the magazine at 67% off the cover price on the Living Social website.  While I understand that subscriptions play a role in the sales mic for magazine publishers, a discount such as this helps educate shoppers to not pay full price.  I expect that some of those who pick up the offer would have otherwise purchased the title over the counter in a newsagency.

Newsagents struggle to get subscription offers from publishers to sell.  We are told that 25% margin is all they can afford.  Here is one publisher able to give away 67% of the cover price and then fund delivery through the mail system.

While some magazine publishers actively support the newsagency channel, others grab a sale anywhere they can.  I think this is shortsighted.

Rather than grabbing sales at a massive discount, Reader’s Digest ought to invest time and money in the newsagency channel and thereby invest in this channel which is vital to the sales of magazines here in Australia for the short to medium term.

I am not a fan of magazines which extend the space needed for the magazine itself for a promotion or for some other reason.  Check out this issue of The World of Cross Stitching.  The publisher has stuck it in a bag and taken an extra 25cm of space across the top and down the left side to promote the issue.

While I can understand that the publisher wants to promote the issue, they need to respect that they are in a shared space where most products have a common size.  Stretching beyond it as they have either takes space from other magazines or results in the promotional flaps being crunched … and this is what happens.  It’s a pity because it detracts from the title.

I’d encourage newsagents to check their shelves and see if they have Brock and I in store.  It’s an Australian Muscle Car special edition.  We have the title in an excellent location in our motoring section – with the full cover on display.

I considered placing it at the counter but have decided against it this week.  My plan is to have this title in our magazines as Christmas gifts display from next week if we still have stock.  It’s the kind of title which people will purchase for someone else as a gift because they know it will appeal.

This title is a good example of why newsagents need a senior person managing magazines.  Someone who is just doing their job and not looking for opportunities would have shoved this title into the motoring section without a thought. Giving the title some small attention is certain to drive sales and that’s what we are here for.

If we consider ourselves to magazine specialists then we need to manage the magazine depart=ment as if we are magazine specialists.

We have sold out of The Australian Women’s Health Diary and have ordered more stock.  We have promoted this directly above our weekly magazines with tremendous success.  No flashy display, just perfect placement.

What has been noticeable this year compared to other years is the purchase of the title as a Christmas gift.  Not sure if this is a trend or we are just more aware of the purpose for the purchase.

While I’d like a better margin for this diary, I am please to see it selling so well on impulse and usually as an extension to the shopping basket.

We are promoting the latest issue of Melbourne Home Design + Living at the entrance to our main magazine aisle – where the magazine is usually located.  Our team has done a terrific job creating collateral with which to promote the title and drive sales.

We see Melbourne Home Design + Living a magazine which could be purchased as a Christmas gift – hence the high traffic location placement.

This display will have a week in the spotlight before we move it to another location for a second week.

Melbourne Home Design + Living is not a title newsagents tend to promote is this is not pushed by the publisher.  W choose to promote the title as it responds well to our support.  For us, this is what proportions are about – sales.

We will sell out of the Women’s Weekly Christmas miniatures cookbook from ACP magazines.  We have had this title with other mini cookbooks and at the counter.  The most successful location for this title has been at the counter without a doubt.  It’s a pretty easy impulse purchase and that is how our shoppers purchase it.  If newsagents find them with plenty of stock of this title I’d encourage a counter placement – but make sure the counter is not too cluttered – people have to see what you are promoting.