We have been promoting BETTER basics and diabetic living from Pacific Magazines at the counter, between our top selling daily newspapers.  Not being monthly or weekly, shoppers can forget when the next issue of these popular titles is out – hence the placement at busy point at the counter.

Our magazine sales are up, well into double digit growth, in part due to our obsession with tactical placement.  More and more shoppers in newsagencies are in and out.  We need to chase these shoppers, the ones who do not browse the store.  We need to help them find magazine titles which will interest them.  Hence our valuable obsession.

We are promoting the latest issue of Unique Cars with this in-location display is a feature area we have created to drive impulse purchases of men’s magazines.

The location of this display will see it seen by more male shoppers than if we left it in the men’s magazine aisle.

The creation of this impulse location is another example of our obsession with magazine placement and display.

In Australia, at the moment, it is only in the women’s magazine area where we see current issues bagged for a discount.  In Europe I noticed this 20% discount pack for FT Weekend (The Financial Times weekend edition) and The Economist.  Both titles were also available separately in-store.

While the 20% off is a good deal for the shopper, I am not so sure about the retailer.

Interestingly, this was the only time I saw bagged current issues over the last week of traveling.

I was surprised to see so many small format magazines in Germany and Switzerland.  In most cases there is a larger format version elsewhere in store.  Click on the image to see the display atg the entrance to one transit newsagency I visited yesterday.  There are eight small format editions of monthlies.  There is obviously a market otherwise publishers would not invest the money.

As I have written here previously, the challenge with these editions is the size.  here in Europe they address that by displaying the small format editions on flat display units – as shown in the photo.

If what I have seen is the case across the country, shopping malls here in Germany usually have just one newsagency.  The store in the photo was no more than 60 square metres.  The products offered are: magazines (between 700 and 800 titles), Lotto, tobacco products, drinks and not much else.

The cornerstone of the magazine model is range.  Two, sometimes three, copies of a title.  Very few titles in volume to flat stack.

Talking to the retailers they see their value proposition as range of magazines and being local (convenient).

It is terrific having an opportunity to see these stores up close and to chat to owners or managers (where they speak English).  Seeing how a sister channel operates in other countries is part of essential research to navigating our own future.

Footnote.  In the mall where I took this photo, I could not find a single greeting card retailer.  Some retailers had a spinner of cards, but not the range we see in many stores in each Australian shopping mall.