Following a comment on this blog about Action + Adventure from EMG being bagged with other titles from the publisher I contacted EMG for feedback yesterday. They responded in detail and I publish there response here for all to see and consider:
In the past newsagents commented about EMG using returns for value add. As you know EMG has stopped collecting returns since last year. Every value added magazine which goes with every new title is mint.
In the case of Action + Adventure that magazine is bagged with 4WD Action, 4WD Custom Guide, Camper Trailer Touring, 4WD Camping Guide, Modern Fishing, Modern Boating, Overlander, Saltwater Fishing and Fishing Tips. The print run for that magazine is some 190,000 copies with 20,000 distributed separately. The trial of 3 issues was to determine if there were buyers of just Action + Adventure but who did not wish to purchase any of our regular titles – as that title contains 4WD driving, camping, fishing, boating and trail biking.
In the short time Action + Adventure has been published it has been popular with readers and advertisers. We know many advertisers have achieved a good response as they have increased their advertising expenditure and this would not have happened if buyers were not reading it. I can see Brendan’s point that maybe it should not have been sold separately if it was being given away free. Then again how would we determine whether Action + Adventure has a following in its own right.
The strategy for Performance Garage is very similar and it goes with Street Commodores, Street Fords, Hot 4’s, Fast Fours, Performance Imports, Zoom, Extreme Performance and some motoring specials. Again, it is only a trial for three issues.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention and if you wish to do so you may post all or part of the above.
This is a good response, a direct explanation from the publisher about their strategy. I’m glad they are open to sharing this here and for the opportunity for newsagents to comment.
I certainly appreciate the effort EMG have gone to in ensuring value add-ons are mint and I’m sure customers also appreciate that. I also understand that you cannot know if a value add-on will be popular in it’s own right until you try selling it separately.
Unfortunately, the value of the separate product is diminished when it has already been made available for free weeks before it is released. Maybe it’s just a matter of timing? I certainly struggled to explain why one should pay to buy a title that they already got for free.
The saving grace was that the mag was
not an “old edition” as is often the way
with bagged product.
I love bagged product when it is the current issues because it is an excellent
selling point. I always ask if the customer
wants the bagged one if they bring ANY of the copies that are bagged (meaning
one only) and we upsell to get the increased price of the two for one.
However, giving away this magazine free
is NOT AN OPTION. It devalued the mag
and didn’t have a reason for us to upsell.
Usually bagged current product is more
expensive than the current item e.g. 2 mags for $9.95 when one costs say $6.95
and the other $4.95 – a saving to the customer by buying the bagged product.
I understand EMG’s explanation but it is
flawed for the above reasons.
Even if they added $1 to the price it would
make the comparison better at our front
counter but FREE means devaluation.
EMG, thank you for the response. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate the efforts EMG put into the industry and have been pleased to have received calls in the past directly from EMG regarding supply quantities when your previous trials on release dates etc were initiated. However June pretty well covers my issues with this magazines handling. A major issue not covered so far is that we have received 44 copies of Action and Adventure, 40 of which are bagged with the various magazines you mention. This creates a problem for us space wise as magazine display space has limited flexibility to cater for this many bagged issues at one time.
“In the short time Action + Adventure has been published it has been popular with readers and advertisers. We know many advertisers have achieved a good response as they have increased their advertising expenditure and this would not have happened if buyers were not reading it. I can see Brendan’s point that maybe it should not have been sold separately if it was being given away free. Then again how would we determine whether Action + Adventure has a following in its own right.”
These two comments contradict each other and won’t be accurate anyway as some buyers will buy the bundle instead of their usual single purchase of Action & Adventure. I suspect that the bundling was to get the magazine under the noses of a broader reader base and fair enough that makes good sense but bundling in so many mags at one time puts unreasonable pressure on our space limitations. I would suggest that maybe this should be done by bundling with only a couple of related magazines per issue over a few issues and with some increase of price for the bundle as mentioned by June. This would be a reasonable way to reach a wider reader base and increase sales without placing as much pressure on shelf space.
Please keep working with us as our aims are after all the same in that we want more customers buying more magazines and need to work together towards these ends.
Thank you Mark for seeking EMG’s feedback and again, thank you EMG for responding.
I’ll second what Brendan just stated with the addition that by making a magazine free in a bundle, you cheapen it to the customer and they don’t value it on its own. If the bundled mags are slightly dearer, customers see that the extra mags have an inherent value and will then be more prepared to pay for the new mag when its out on its own.
Just my thoughts, and thanks to EMG for responding to the original post so promptly. Kudos to you!
Sorry. June just realised I was repeating what you said.
Nothing wrong with a point being re-iterated by others. It strengthens a point of view.
Good on EMG for trying and responding in this blog. I like the changes they are making.
We are finding our sales of most EMG titles are increasing. Part of this is the increase of construction workers to our town, and the other part is that we actively promote these magazines, particularly on weekends. The space challenges are huge, we don’t put these magazines in traditional mag tierage, we use mostly flat stacks and the newspaper stand.
We have loved the move to Action + Adventure. It has added more value – a lot more than is lost on sales of the stand alone title! If nothing else, it means people can view the freebie before buying the bagged magazines!
good on EMG for their changes, and responding to newsagents on this blog
as for the future of action and adventure, we will have to wait and see