I always like it when a new magazine launches so I’m happy to see Star arrive today. It will be interesting to see how it travels. There are several challenges: gaining retail space (existing high volume product already fights to get pockets in newsagencies, supermarkets, petrol and convenience); it’s Wednesday on sale date is contrary to consumer habits (Wednesday is hump day, it’s a light Lotto night etc etc); Wednesday is guilty pleasure magazine day (that’s what I call it at least) – That’s Life and Take 5; confusion about where to place it – I’d say next to NW but as I said that’s prime position and there are no spare pockets; what’s the value proposition – especially for the newsagency customer?
Star is a very different product to Real Living, Notebook, Madison and OK! – the recent major new releases I can recall. It looks and feels like a supermarket magazine from the US or the UK. Based on what I saw in the UK a few weeks ago I’d expect more magazines in the Star genre. This genre presents more of a challenge for newsagents than supermarkets. While celebrity is separate to the Woman’s Day / New Idea space, it’s close yet the product looks and feels very different. In fact so different that it may be appropriate to identify the celebrity category some way – away from the others. I could be completely wrong on this and my thoughts are only half baked at present.
I’m a but frustrated with supply quantity – it’s low for an established magazine in this category. When OK! launched we received plenty of stock and could create a good retail story. With Star we can fill a few pockets but that’s it.
All that said, it’s great to have a new title and the opportunity to work with the title to find sales.