We are promoting The Week magazine at the counter over the weekend.  It has been a while since we gave this title a nudge and I think it may work with our weekend customers.  I have started reading The Week myself over the last few weeks and feel that the title suffers from being misunderstood, especially to the browser in a newsagency.  One way to resolve this is for the publisher to work with newsagents on a sampling.  I’d be keen to try this and help The Week find new customers.

I wonder how long before Cesar’s Way magazine, soon to launch in the US, is published here. It’s a magazine built around Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer.  His recent tour here showed how popular her is in Australia.

Dog magazines are not selling that well.  The segment could certainly do with a shake up.  We know the market is here – dog calendars sell very well.  Indeed, dog calendars are the most successful calendar segment for us and many other calendar specialist newsagents.   It’s the current crop of dog magazines which need refreshing.

Prevention magazine launched by Pacific Magazines on Monday of this week is selling very well based on the data I have received from more than 100 newsagents.  There is spare floor stock available through Gordon and Gotch.  If you have having trouble accessing this let me know and I will navigate through people at Pacific for you. This process has already helped ten newsagents who have just about sold out.

Prevention is getting excellent media coverage so I expect the launch issue to have strong interest well into the on sale period.  Don’t be left without stock.

UPDATE: Stock is now scarce thanks to the success of the title.

Folio reports that magazines will be moved to the rear of the store in Wal-Mart stores under a new store layout plan.  magazines will continue to be sold at checkout lanes.

Supermarkets, department stores, convenience stores and petrol outlets exert more control over the placement of magazines here in Australia than newsagents.  Smart publishers will work with the newsagency channel and respect it for the opportunity it continues to provide.

We have placed the Michael Jackson commemorative issue of Life magazine on a stand in front of our newspapers.  we expect this intrusive yet simple display to work well for us with this one-shot title.  Jackson fans will not browse the newsagency looking for this title unless they have heard about it.  We are better off putting it under their noses to drive the impulse purchase.  This location with our newspaper stand is generating excellent success for us – most recently with Top Gear magazine.

This is another heavy week for magazine promotions.  Madison is the third ACP title we have in a feature location this week. We have it facing shoppers as they leave our two main magazine aisles.  This location is on the back of the ACP Basket Builder stand – space with many newsagents leave idle.  We will leave Madison in this location until next Monday – unless we shift it to our counter position.