Two years ago newsagents were supplied one or two healthy eating related titles. Now, we are supplied ten or more, depending on the time of the year. Sales in this segment are exceptionally strong in many newsagencies. I am not talking here about the diet related magazines like the excellent Symply Too Good series by Annette Sym. My comments relate to titles such as Healthy Food. We usually sell 3 or 4 copies a month. This week I moved Healthy Food next to the newspapers (in a secondary spot we usually reserve for New Idea or Woman’s Day)and we sold 5 copies in two days. The speed of moving the stock tells me the segment is hot – as long as the magazine looks appealing.
One of the challenges for newsagents with healthy eating magazines is whey they are located. Do they go with health and fitness or food or women’s interests. Each of these segments can be a distance from the other. My feeling is that with new titles recently arrived we need to feature the segment to let or customers know that we’re strong in this growing space. In the meantime, I’d expect the weeklies to pick up on this stronger interest in healthy food – but then, cellulite on a scared looking star makes for a better cover.