I am curious as to whether newsagents track the success (or otherwise) of displays, especially magazine displays. A check over the last week with a bunch of newsagents suggests that fewer than 5% of newsagents track the performance of displays.
A simple check of sales for a title on display once the display comes down and a comparison of performance for the week against the average of the same week for the last eight issues will quickly show if the display paid for itself.
I expect that newsagents will discover over a few months which titles respond well to displays and which do not. This information can be used to guide choices regarding displays.
The core outcome newsagents must want from a retail display is sales in the newsagency, not in another store, but in your newsagency. This is why careful tracking of the success of a display is crucial.
While an attractive display may win praise of prozes from a publisher, if it does not generate incremental sales in your newsagency then the labour and retail space investment is not worth it.
G`day Mark,
we have previously only done magazine displays on a periodic basis, however it is something we have concentrated more and more on over the last couple of months. One problem i have is the tracking of sales of the weekly titles that we display because of the ebbs and flows these titles have in our store. One thing that also concerns me in displaying a weekly title is if it has a close competitor i.e. new idea/womans day or thats life/take 5, are we in danger of a customer only picking the one title if it is on its own and therefore missing the impulse purchase of both magazines?
I know a publisher would love his to be on display and not the other but we need to increase the basket.
Cheers
Al
Allan,
Your point is well made, there is a risk in losing salesd if we promote just one title when it is usually purchased with other titles.
We have recently moved our newspapers onto a relocatable stand and are using our newspaper stand to display magazines. As we don’t have a lot of display room in our shop this has opened up two very vital spots for magazines. It is amazing that when the newspapers were there no-one could find them and now the magazine displays are there they are selling like hot cakes!
I think eye-catching displays, however big or small, work to push sales. We quite often (much I am sure to publishers dismay) cross promote mags and associated bits and pieces to sell more. Take 5 and That’s life sell great together and combined with our erasable biros its even better!
i think some of our displays sell more mags depending on where the display is located we find the counter display good impulse and we use a stand next to the papers as a promotional area as well this works well for more the cooking and home lifestyle mags better