According to the ABC, Gardening Australia magazine is available from ABC Shops and via subscription. The lack of support for newsagents shown by the ABC at their website is appalling. Newsagents heavily promote Gardening Australia and it sells well.
The ABC is not behaving as I expect our government funded national broadcaster to act. By ignoring newsagents and actively promoting the channels which they control they harm small business and make it harder for fans of the TV show to find the magazine.
This month’s Gardening Australia is a treat it features Jamie Oliver as well as a DVD with highlights from the TV show. Even though the ABC denies our existence as in the supply chain, we are actively promoting the title and driving sales.
They need to remember it’s our ABC.
It may be off the mark, but the way gardening Australia is hidden in a plastic bag this month makes me ask why do publishers insist on hiding thier mags in sealed bags so no one can browse. We have seen a huge increase in this under the excuse that it included freebies. We constantly find opened magazines scattered throughout our store as customers tear open the bags to get at the magazine. We want customers to feel as if they can browse through the mags before they buy however publishers are making this hard by sealing them. 9 times out of 10 the reason it is sealed is to hide either an out of date backcopy or a pile of subscription offers that want to steal my customers. Surely if the publishers wish to offer freebies they would be better off attaching these to the front and still enabling people to look through the mag also.
Just a gripe I know but it makes it hard at times, cleaning up ripped open mags and loose subscription inserts just so our customers can decide what to buy
Bagged magazines are frustrating – especially if the title is highly browsed. I’d rather have the freebie at the counter – sure this is extra counter work but it also improves the customer experience.