The new News Ltd. magazine, Alpha, is doing good business according to stories from around the traps. Many newsagents have sold out while others are reporting strong sales.
The launch at a price of $2.00 (purchased with the major News Ltd. Daily) is working. While some are grumbling at the need to offer it to the customers, the up sell is getting newsagents engaging – and many are happy with the result.
We’ve gone all out in our own shop for Alpha with two significant displays. The sales results are good with strong sales on the launch day (last Thursday) and strong sales also Saturday. Even today, five days in we’re getting good business.
Alpha is creating a new niche since it’s not pure sports nor pure men’s interests. We’re finding strong interest from women – maybe because of the cover.
Alpha is a big test for newsagents as it challenges us to do more than put product on our shelves. It challenges us to engage with customers and prove that our channel can add value to a product launch. While non newsagents carry the product, I;’d expect newsagents to be more successful with the up sell because of the unique nature of their customer relationship. At least I hope that’s the case.
If Alpha sales are weak in newsagencies for issue #1 I’d expect ramifications for our channel.