Recent sales research undertaken by Pacific Magazines indicates that when Women’s Health magazine is positioned next to marie claire or Madison it sells on average 17% more than if left in the more traditional health and fitness magazine area.
For more than a year we have co-located Women’s Health above our women’s weeklies. Thanks to the sales data from Pacific, we have placed a display of Women’s Health next to marie claire. I’d urge other newsagents to try this.
Breaking a title out of its usual place helps it find new buyers and drives sales. While this co-location has a labour cost, it is an excellent way of achieving a better sell-through and that’s what publishers and newsagents want.
Too often newsagents treat magazines as a set and forget business. While this makes management easier, it means you are less likely to achieve your full potential in sales. I know from my own experience that there are around thirty titles which consistently respond well to location change, co-location or promotion elsewhere in the business – without the need for a free gift or some other offer.
I’d encourage other publishers to share data from retail trials so that we can help newsagents have more options for change in their magazine department.