As I have documented here recently, newsagents are being hurt by a magazine supply model which is inappropriate for the more competitive environment of today. The cash-flow data shows that 65% of all magazines are cash-flow negative. This drain impacts on the ability of newsagents to properly service top performing titles. So, it is in the interests of publishers of popular titles to address the issue and over the coming days I will discuss here several recommendations. The first relates to how newsagents manage magazines themselves. Rather than trying to be all things to all titles, newsagents need to pursue low hanging fruit, that is, top selling titles.
Here is a list of things I’d have retail newsagents do to better leverage magazines for profit:
1. Focus more on your top 50 titles and less on the rest. More growth will come from top selling magazines.
2. At your high traffic magazine area promote, left to right, with a full column each: Woman’s day, New Idea, NW, Famous, TV Week, Aust Woman’s Weekly. (Change two columns to Take 5 and That’s Life on Wednesday)
3. Use the lottery counter, create a second display for women’s weeklies. Display a full covers.
4. On the wall above newspapers install a acrylic pocket to promote weekly titles for the first two days of their on sale period only.
5. Create a magazine of the week area at the lotteries counter. Separate to anything any other marketing program drives. On days 1 and 2 of the on sale for weeklies promote them and on day 1 of major monthlies promote them (AWW, Better Homes, Family Circle).
6. Create a feature magazine display space near newspapers – use this to promote your range, craft one week, dogs another week and so on.
7. If a title is to be in more than one pocket only ever do this vertically. Do not display horizontally. If you are short of room only double up titles (displaying part of the masthead) in the middle section of a tier.
8. Anchor categories with well known titles. i.e. put Wheels and Motor in the top0 3 or 4 pockets of two columns in the cars section; Your Garden, Burkes Backyard and Gardening Australia in the top 3 positions (at least) of three columns in gardening. I call this signposting. Choose titles with common words. For example, four Golf magazines will look better in a waterfall display than spread through sport. The mastheads must scream the signpost word.
10. Once your magazines are out on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, step outside the shop and look at the message, make sure it is consistent. Then walk in and make sure that it is consistent at each key place in the shop.
Many newsagents do this work already. Their only compensation is 25% of cover price. Newsagents receive no retail display allowance or any other compensation for providing additional coverage to a masthead. I’d like to see newsagents paid bonuses for sales growth. This would treat them an business people rather than process workers.
I have been contacted by several magazine executives who claim I am unfairly attacking their businesses in this series on cash-flow. The reality is that I am reporting what the data shows and nothing can colour that. Magazine distributors created and manage an unfair model. Publishers support the model.