Seeing double early in the morning is not unusual but seeing triple? I really thought something was wrong. Three different versions of Real Living, who odd is that?
One is the regular copy, another is the value pack and the third is the same as the first but with a free set of notepads.
I’ve see the value pack before from ACP magazines for other titles. I’m not a fan. I think having two versions of a title on the shelf is confusing for the consumer. Also, how should we merchandise this to leverage the offer – and if we did this would it hurt traditional sales.
I don’t know what the deal is with three versions. We figured it deserved a display at the counter so that’s what the team did. I’m not sure if this achieves what ACP would like – looking at the display as a consumer it is confusing.
Tell me about it. Next to customers seeking out the shelf locaiton of a particlar magazine, queries about “value packs” have to be the most common question we receive.
Theses packs don’t make sense to us as retailers – why would they make sense to consumers. Its also worth pointing out to publishers that while wrapping your publication in plastic may look wonderful during the design stage, it doesn’t present well on just about all fittings. The cover becomes … well, covered … and with all the lights in a retail store the glare often makes what is behind the plastic unreadable unless picked up (good luck gettign a consumer to do that when its bound in plastic).