Author: Mark Fletcher

We are promoting issue #3 of the master chef magazine next to our main newspaper stand, in with our weeklies as well as in our usual food titles section.  If Issue #2 is anything to go off we expect to see another lift in sales. That’s right, issue #2 sold out and achieved a great increase on the launch issue.

The key to success is tactical placement in high traffic areas – hence our placement next to the main newspaper stand.  Next week, we will run the title at the counter for a few days.  Constant movement is essential in chasing impulse business for a title like master chef.

The over the counter feedback on the title is very strong.  People who have purchased the magazine comment positively about it.  This is where master chef is a stand out from title launches in recent years.  I cannot recall such unsolicited and positive comment for a new title.

We have thankfully accessed additional stock of Diabetic Living.  The last issue is selling very well.  Again, our success is being driven by tactical placement in-store.  The title performs well in high traffic locations: with the weekly magazines, with health titles and a stint at the counter.

If you have Diabetic Living in only one location you are probably missing out on sales.

We are promoting Famous magazine at the counter this week thanks to the offer is a $100 WISH card which could be won with a purchase of this or any of a range of titles from Pacific Magazines.

Given the decay curve for Famous we are likely to leave this display up for most of the week – it performs quite differently wo Woman’s Day and New Idea.

The other important reason for having Famous at the counter this week is the text message and email marketing campaigns running in support of the $100 WISH card promotion.

We are promoting the Woman’s Day / NW double pack in a dump bin on the shop floor.  Since this is a discounted deal I did not want to place it in the usual location for the titles.  I am chasing impulse business rather than educating our regulars to switch to the discount pack.

This dump bin approach worked for the last discount package from ACP – it sold out.

We have the dump bin in a high traffic location on the dance floor.

Further to my post yesterday, here is how I am choosing to use this premium space at the moment.

Bliss Victoria is a title which responds to placement away from its usual location.

Our Real Living sales are up thanks to placement here above the weeklies.

We start each week with a seven pocket waterfall for weeklies – leaving the top two pockets for other titles.  As the week progresses we shrink the waterfall and bring other titles in, titles we choose.

By yesterday morning we had sold out of Philosophy Now magazine.  Our usual sell through is between 25% and 50%.  Our tactical placement of the title with newspapers last Monday is what created the opportunity for the sell-out.  The brilliant cover is what drove the impulse purchases.

We have opportunities like this every day in our newsagencies. It is vitally important to our health that we work tactically on extending a shopping basket with just a newspaper to a newspaper and something else.

The Julia Gillard cover on Who magazine, out yesterday, encouraged us to create a display at the prime impulse location between our two busiest sales counters.

My assessment is that in the right impulse location, the cover is likely to achieve incremental business for us.  hence the use of prime space for the small display.

In terms of the display itself, we have followed our usual simple approach for these things: creating only a couple of layers, nothing too fancy and letting the product speak for itself.  The display is not bordered by other products – it has a clear spotlight.

This counter location is succesful for around 75% of our placements.  I am happy with that strike rate.

Our tactical placement of Philosophy Now with newspapers on Monday is working well.  In five days we have matched our usual sales for the total on-sale.  I’d expect us to sell out before the next issue comes out.  The Is God Really Dead? cover is the reason – you can see people notice it when they go to pick up a newspaper.

We are taking the opportunity to promote the latest issue of The Week magazine with Julia Gillard on the cover on our main newspaper stand for the next few days.  The cover is excellent and with the new PM in a honeymoon period it should achieve some extra business for us.  We have two perspex pockets on our newspaper stand, one above The Age and one above the Herald Sun, for tactical title placement.  Our goal is to turn newspaper sales into newspaper + magazine sales.  With the right title they work very well for us.