Several times recently people have raised the question here about the value of carrying magazines that don’t cover their costs. Here are two magazines not currently paying their way for us but magazines I choose to carry because they show off our range and make for good impulse purchases by those interested and as gifts.

We are giving MANSPACE and SHAFT extra support by placing them so the full cover of each is on show.

One of our value propositions is to offer a competitive magazine range. To achieve this we need range and a competitive presentation. Yes we can and should argue about margin and supply. However, we should also chase incremental magazine business where we can. Good growth is achievable from fringe and smaller market titles.

frankie was named Magazine of the Year at the Australian Magazine Awards. This is deserved kudos for a popular magazine that is attracting valuable shoppers to newsagencies. here’s what they said on their blog established to communicate with enwsagents and other retailers:

We are very humbled to have won the Australian Magazine of the Year at the 2012 AMA’s.

After eight years and 50 issues, we know that we couldn’t have gone this far without the dedication and enthusiasm of the newsagency channel.

Thanks to you, we’ve seen each issue grow from strength to strength with Australian readers.

Here is the TV commercial currently airing promoting the Home and Away one shot. This is not a title to ignore. I started a small social media campaign on the weekend and interest has been excellent, driving traffic to the store already.

The tagging of newsagents in the TVC is important and it’s good to see Pacific Magazines get that and support us.

We are promoting some health and fitness titles for guys at the counter this weekend. This placement encourages shoppers to add one or more of these titles to their basket at the counter … simple.

We are pitching The Monthly with newspapers because of the terrific cover and the story headline: The Honest Woman. This cover will polarise shoppers, that’s why we wanted it in a higher than usual traffic location. I am confident we will a sales boost as a result.

This is how we can grow sales of some magazines, by being tactical in our placement and engaging in pursuit of impulse purchases. I see plenty of cases where this works to the benefit of the newsagent and the publisher.

Check out the video from a couple of days ago shot at the Australian Magazine Awards were Ita Buttrose was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Watch Ita talk up magazines beautifully.

I love her positive attitude about a product so important to us. Yes, she discusses digital products – but in context.

The one-shot magazine celebrating the 21st anniversary of Home and Away sold very well. I expect the one-shot celebrating 25 years will do just as well. It comes out Monday and pacific magazines is supporting this with plenty of marketing including ads and social media. I like the pre-sale promotional flyers provided to newsagents yesterday for customisation and printing in-store. We have set aside prime space to go hard promoting this opportunity. We will use it to pull traffic to the store and to extend the basket. Pacific announced details late yesterday to nexus marketing program members.