The team at one of my newsagencies decided tattoo magazines are better situated with photography and art titles so they moved the category. This is a significant move in that it’s across half the shop. It’s a result of careful consideration of the shoppers and the parts of the business they shop.
We see our magazine layout as quite fluid, being adjusted when we see opportunities for growth.
In this newsagency, our November 2012 magazine unit sales were up 9% on November 2011. This is significantly above the traffic growth for the store.. This tells us we’re doing something right – growing magazine sales in a market where many newsagents are recording declines.
As both a professional photographer and a somewhat tattooed man (what will my grandkids think!!) I feel this is a smart move by your team. My local newsagent has the pro photography magazines (like Capture) miles away from the visual art and tattoo magazines. I’ve often told them to bring them closer together but sadly they’re not really into heeding customer feedback.
Chris thanks for terrific feedback from a customer’s perspective.
Personally, we have decided to put our
tattoo mags (previously bad sellers in our
demographic) with sport (AFL/NRL stars
are all wearing “sleeves” these days and
influencing others).
It has been amazing how many are now coming to the counter so we think it all
depends on your demographic.
Our tattoo magazines have gone off the boil and I’ve been culling them. After these posts I’ll move them and try to re-invigorate them.