Regulars here will know that I am ot a fan of these ‘value’ packs from ACP. I think they are educating shoppers to not pay full price for magazines. There are plenty of examples in retail where regular discounting and sales has led to more or less permanent discount offers. I have not seen evidence of them generating incremental sales. That said, I ensure that we support them in my stores when they come out – like the latest one yesterday: Woman’s Day, NW and OK! all in one bundle for $9.95. we are promoting the title away from our weeklies display as we do not want to detract from regular sales. We figured that the packaging of the offer warrants it being treated differently.
I guess the other issue with this offer is that it is a very different pack to the packs which contain old and even damaged magazines behind a current issue. Is that what our shoppers think of when they pick this Woman’s Day pack?