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.
News Limited company Advertiser Newspapers sent this note out to newsagents yesterday apologising for the two hour delay in distribution of The Advertiser as a result of problems with the placement of an ‘AD Note’ on the front page of the newspaper.
This is the first example of a stuck on ad bringing newspaper production to its knees. I am shocked that they allowed the delay to extend to two hours. Is the ad revenue from this one ad that important that their employees, newsagents, other retailers and consumers suffer?
Delivering newspapers later in the day puts drivers at more risk as there is more traffic.
I’d be interested to know if News Limited will compensate newsagents and their newspaper distribution employees for the impact of the two hour delay.
It’s interesting to note that the publisher explains that the delay was not due to flat wrap process or press problems before explaining that placing a stuck on AD Note was the cause.
Click on the image to see the letter sent to newsagents.
I hope the Mark Arbib, the new minister for Small Business in Australia, is good for small business. he follows a procession of Small Business ministers who have failed to serve small business. Arbib’s small amount of small business experience apparently includes a job at Sizzler where he organised employees to fight for penalty rates.
I hope that Arbib does good things for small business. With Coles and Woolworths getting bigger, landlords pushing more costs onto small retailers and employee costs rising, something has to give is Australia is to have a growing small business sector.
You only have to look at who sits on government advisory boards and who is invited to important occasions, celebrations and conferences to see that this government is like the last and cow-tows to big business.
Mark Arbib has an opportunity to do genuinely good things for small business, to make a real difference. We will know soon enough if he has the will and permission to do this.
There have been enough studies and reports in recent years on matters relating to and affecting small business for him to have a reasonable list from which he can pull together an agenda … if he chooses.
Here’s what I’d like to see Arbib prosecute on behalf of small business:
I am sure there is more. Not that it matters as past Small Business ministers have shown. Hopefully this guy is different.
We sell between and two copies of each issue of N Gamer magazine. Only once since the start of this year have we sold three copies and that was in July. The magazine allocations team or the computer system at Gordon and Gotch shifted us from two copies to four in November and then from four copies to six in December. Based on our sales history we should have been kept at two copies, maybe three. Either the switch to six is a mistake or it is Gotch needing to place the stock somewhere – just not in their warehouse.
Click on the image to see our sale and return history for the last eleven issues and make your own mind up.
The folks at Gotch will have an excuse for the increase and if they don’t they will say that I can return the stock. Sure, but I am paying for their decision / mistake.
There are too many examples like this, an extra couple of copies here or there. Newsagents are funding this. Our space, labour and cash are being sucked by these decisions / mistakes and no one at Gordon and Gotch appears to be accountable.
Publishers who wonder why their magazines are early returned without justification, talk to your locate newsagent about why they do this and you will soon see that it is oversupply decisions relating toothier titles, like N Gamer maybe, which causes the sometimes wrong shop floor decisions to early return.
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.
Amazon last month launched their lending library, a facility via which Kindle tablet users can easily share books. As if these portable reading devices were not enough of a challenge to physical book sales. It’s a logical move I guess … and more moves are sure to come as the devices and the software on them evolves.
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.
Grab a selection of magazine titles, one for each member of the family, and place them in a display – maybe in the shape of a Christmas tree. Create a gift tag: For Dad from Santa; For Mum from Santa etc.
The idea is to show off the range of Christmas gifts which can be found in your magazine aisle. magazines are perfect stocking stuffers, perfect low cost gifts and perfect last-minute gifts.
I called this a family of magazines because the idea is for the display to show that you have a magazine for everyone. I see it as a theme in the display. That said, there are other themes you could use to show off the breadth of appeal of your magazine range.
Single title displays are terrific. However, a broad category display is more important for your newsagency as that is promoting you.
No other retailer can show this … the magazine range in our newsagency businesses is a key point of difference.
While there are still two more Saturdays prior to Christmas, we saw trading yesterday as if there was just one Saturday left. All departments in the newsagency benefited from the increase in shopper traffic. While cards and magazines enjoyed the most growth, we saw benefits all round – even with calendars despite one trader in the centre discounting their 2012 calendars by 20%.
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.
I’d be interested in hearing from any newsagents selling beef jerky.
From what I understand there will be no Christmas Day newspapers home delivered in Australia this year. If this is the case then kudos to newspaper publishers.
Christmas Day deliveries are expensive for newsagents. This causes many to do them themselves, eating into what should be a genuine day off from the business.
I’d love to hear from any newsagents who have been told that they do have to deliver on Christmas day.
What looks like a block of chocolate is actually a Christmas card with a block of chocolate inside. Pretty cool. A gift and a card all in one. Perfect for a Chocolate lover.
This Christmas card / block of chocolate has been a terrific success this Christmas. We will easily sell out.
Christmas shoppers are looking for something different and even though this item from cadbury is in a range of retail outlets, it’s not something they expect to see in a newsagency and this is where the difference is noticed … that’s what one shopper said at least.
Just as we have done with Marie Claire this week, we have alloced double pockets to Dolly magazine to show off the gift which comes with the title.
The free pyjamas with Dolly make this issue more interesting and valuable as a Christmas gift. The makes allocating good space to show off the gift more important. Newsagents are certain the get extra sales in the lead up to Christmas if they couple display as shown in the photo … I’d encourage this.
We are promoting the latest issue of Donna Hay magazine with this in-location display.
While space is a challenge with all the Christmas titles in-store, we have found room for a week for this double waterfall display to help drive early sales of the title.
Once this display comes down we will support the title in week two with a pocket located with our weekly titles, in a busier part of the newsagency. Our Donna Hay sales are somewhat volatile meaning that we need to work hard to keep them up – hence the additional attention.
Jingle the dog, the dog which interacts as you read the accompanying book, has sold out for us so we have ordered more stock.
I love these products which are promoted on TV. Customers come in, they comment that they saw it on TV and purchase without a second thought. Sales of this product have been a reminder of the power of TV. The sales also speak to the value of branded products. Shoppers trust the Hallmark brand. They would have less trust for a cheap unbranded product.
The sales success of Jingle reinforces my preference for branded products.