Given the success we have with British weekly magazines, we have expanded our range to include several more titles. Gordon and Gotch has been particularly helpful through this process of identifying titles and providing a process through which we can test them in our store.
Newsagents tend to take what they are given and complain about getting too much stock. While I complain about this as well, I also look for opportunities for expansion of the magazines we carry. The process is easy, especially with the folks at Gotch who can list titles by segment and let you determine your supply quantity while you feel your way.
I like pulling new magazines to our businesses rather than relying on the push system. We see opportunities based on what sells from other departments and also from customer feedback.
Mark,
Thanks for the pictures and display ideas you’ve been putting up of late, they are great and have provided excellent examples which we have have modfied and used in our store.
How long do you leave a magazine on the shelf “testing” it before you make the decision that its not going to sell or is not appropriate for your demographic?
Thanks.
Hi Mark, You have a wider range of UK weekly woman’s titles than we do!
Steve
Seriously Steve? We also have People’s Friend in our Scottish area – we sell 75 copies a week of this.
B, Thanks for the comments. We leave a display up for between three and seven days. Some titles, like top selling weeklies, fall off after two or three days. We regularly look at our sales decay report for this. Monthlies work well usually for the seven day period.
I too like “pulling” new magazines. We’ve done this recently with a number of titles in the home/lifestyle and food categories with great success. Relying completely on the push system doesn’t allow a store to take maximum advantage of opportunities.
I will post a photo of our weekly display tomorrow. I think that we offer Closer and may be one or two others, but your display is impressive.
75 Peoples Friend, wow, we sell 3 or 4 in a good week.
As others have mentioned, its down to the demographics.