It’s great to see Performance Garage magazine promoting newsagents on Facebook and Twitter as the got to retailers for their latest issue.
Publishers so actively supporting us with marketing like this and promoting only in newsagents need to be supported by us. They are putting their money on the line for us and the least we could do it to return the favour with active promotion of the magazine.
Every magazine distributed exclusive through the newsagency channel is an opportunity for us to claw back the position as the magazine experts.
Not sure what I want to say here, but as a newsagent I’ve written here before about this publisher and their bagged mags, ie when a “Parent” magazine in a category (eg car/garden/craft) is bagged with a similar category magazine.
So if I was writing here as a customer, I would point out that Performance Garage is the MOST bundled “free” mag in the car category. This month the current issues of Street Commodores, Xtreme Holdens and Extreme Action ALL have the same issue of Performance Garage included.
I wouldn’t think I was getting a bonus of a free mag if I kept getting the same magazine. (In this case, at least the mag is visible in all bags. If it was the “hidden” one in a triple pack you’d never know until after purchase).
And putting the newsagent hat back on, I can only assume that having never sold an issue of Performance Garage, that my customers are wise enough to know that if they buy their regular Street Fords (or whatever), they’ll get Performace Garage free anyway at some stage.
And, hijacking the thread, the latest trend with the bagged mags is to bag a magazine which is still supposed to be on the shelf at full price as a free magazine bonus.
For instance, Modern Muscle VE Performance is due for recall on 190813.
Restored Chargers came on sale a couple of weeks ago. Bagged with it (cover inwards so it is not immediately apparent) is Modern Muscle VE Performance.
As a newsagent, I would prefer to sell one copy of each for 9.95 each.
As a customer, I’d prefer to pay as little as possible.
The ethical question of the day. A regular customer presents both mags for purchase. Do you tell them? Do you tell a customer you’ve never seen before?
My head hurts.
I am with Reg on this one. The other thing about bagged mags is they take up double and sometime 3 times the space but still only the same margin. The “FREE” mags arent free to us. We are selling 3 mags for the margin price of one.
In my store, the double bagged mags go in an under-shelf until each individual mag has sold out. Then I might display one if I feel there I still some chance of a sale. I would say that most bagged stuff goes back unsold because this is oversupply in a different form.
All,
This is probably a good time and place to point out an opportunity that newsagents have to benefit from Performance Garage Magazine being bundled with other performance car titles and to explain the difference between Performance Garage Magazine and other bundled magazines.
In the past we have bundled back-issues with the current issue as a value-add. E.g. the current issue of Street Commodores might come with an issue from earlier that year. While this clearly offered value to those readers who would purchase the title sporadically, for our loyal readers it was simply bundling an issue they’d already paid full price for.
A little over twelve months ago the Performance Garage brand was launched, first via the blog (performancegarage.com.au) and then through social media channels and eventually in print as a magazine. Unlike back-issues a reader almost certainly has in their collection already, each issue of Performance Garage Magazine features carefully selected brand-new content that touches the core of the modified car community in Australia. It’s a magazine about ‘car guys’ and the lives they live and it has been received incredibly well by our audience as the worthwhile, new, valuable content it is.
Performance Garage Magazine is now available only with selected performance motoring titles as the value-add. It is no longer sold standalone and as such serves as a pure incentive for people to purchase those titles with which it is bundled. It is a great magazine put together by a passionate team who are constantly working to build the brand and make it an “ask for it by name at your newsagent” proposition.
I understand that some newsagents perceive a bundled/bagged magazine as not offering real added value however in the case of those titles bundled with Performance Garage Magazine this couldn’t be further from the truth. The magazine is new content presented as fresh, relatable stories to an ever-growing audience. Our blog, social and other promotional channels are all being utilised to promote the Performance Garage brand and I am personally seeing to it that the “Buy it from a Newsagent” message is a staple of that promotion.
Thank you to those agents that have contacted us with feedback on the Performance Garage title. I take it all on board and while I am the editor of the magazine I will do my level best to drive our mutual customers to your outlets at every opportunity.
In closing I would like to say that if you can be confident of anything it is that when you sell or promote any car title that comes with Performance Garage Magazine as a bonus you are offering your customer the kind of genuine added value that will increase the likelihood of them returning to your shop time and time again.
Thank you to the site owner for the opportunity to share this message.
Regards,
Adrian Hodgson
Editor
Performance Garage Magazine
adrian@performancegarage.com.au