Elle magazine is the subject of a rumour published by Crikey today:
Elle: it might well be a fizzer. Word on the street and within newsagent circles is that the rebirth of the Australian Elle magazine may be a fizzer. Piles of the Bauer-produced product can be seen from the doorway and more than one newsagent has reported that the other fashion magazines are still selling at the same levels as pre-Elle.
So I say, how are your Elle sales? In one store I’ve sold 3 out of 20, in another 3 sold out of 14 and in another 6 out of 11. For a launch receiving considerable advertising support these numbers are lower than I’d expect.
none, not one, zilch, nil out of 6. Prime position, the only posters we have up. Nothing.
got in 9 sold 2. Good position and posters all up!!
3 OUT OF 20
Negative feedback from 1 customer
We’ve had a really possitive response an have sold 36 out of the 75. Being the first issue we haven’t even tried it out in any of our subbies yet.
Same here, very poor sales.
Anyone know how much the RSL wrist bands are? Sorry, off topic
0/14 sold this one will get the biggest flop of 2013 award .
Sold 5 of 21. Has been promoted in 2 prime locations for 3 weeks.
For a launch issue the cover and marketing ‘hype’ seem relatively lackluster.
Yes same here no sales to date despite being adjacent to AWW Etc also on Newspaper stand for @weeks.
Brett wristbands are $2 each should have had paperwork with the delivery detailing quantity supplied and pricing.
Ups a daisy supposed to say 2 weeks.
9/32. They commented in the conference how they had book size issues and I think it may be their downfall. It reminds me of a book of junk mail. At 28, a degree in fashion and disposable income I am the target market and find the magazine disjointed due to the bulk of advertising. They have prioritised the advertising to the point that there is no cover photo to each article and the article headings are in fonts that do not easily identify the beginning of each article (although seems to be a trend amongst the international versions also). I had hoped for a competitor to Marie Claire ie. Fashion, Lifestyle and a few well written global articles.
11/22 We have pushed it hard (3 locations)but very disappointed with the little amount of merchandise we received with it after all the hype and rabbiting on about it at the conference
Sold 2 out of 10. A customer who browsed and put it back commented that it looked like a book of advertising.
Got 51 copies (small shop??????) and have returned 20 and sold 16.
I would love to know how they do their
allocations.
Small shop in Adelaide suburbs.
It doesn’t make sense.
Today I got so much bagged product that I look like a second hand magazine depot so I got stuck in this afternoon and took the mag out of the pack and stickered it by itself and the shop looks so much better.
It will be interesting to chart the sales by
doing this.
June,
I think that same thing when I look at the men’s section of our magazines. It’s a giant sea of plastic. The non-bagged magazines actually stand out!
June, I too hate bagged magazines, why they do this I will never understand.
I take some out of the plastic as I don’t think they sell as well when the cover can’t be seen and customers can’t browse first.
Sales of last months Home Beatiful and Country Style are down and I blame that on the plastic. It cheapens them!
June which publisher accounts for the majority of your bagged magazines?
Mark, can’t answer for June but our biggest problem publisher is EMG. They do lots of bags with 3 magazines, homes and gardening. Rarely sell a copy but still get heaps.
Also quite a few craft magazines like this – knitting, patchwork, craft and stitches magazines, more in bags than not. Australian mags and delivered by network.
And car and fishing and motorbike magazines too, wow the list is endless!
EMG also bomb us with bagged issues, often the same title presented a couple of different ways. Wastes space and customers won’t buy what they can’t at least have a quick look at to make sure they like it.
Every craft mag on my shelf is in plastic , caravans ,camper trailers all plastic ,all these mags take twice the realestate for the same return as single mags . In theory they are getting twice the return with advertising etc where we are only making money on the one sale
As for Elle, sold 5 of 21 supplied and the first four were in September. not working for us despite being well merchandised.
6 of 26.
0 out of 0 sold. Never heard there was a relaunch from our sub agent.
And yet, we still get magazines like ‘Discover’, ‘Guns’, and ‘Aust Coin and Banknote’ that we can never ever sell.
Oh well, I make suggestions to the owners but my advice isn’t heeded.
1 of 14
6 of 32
6 /27 here. Frankie sold more in half a day yesterday.
1 out of 14
2 OF 14
2 out of 22
It’s terrific to see so many responses. FYI several media observers have commented elsewhere about the numbers shared here. These comments reflect the best indication so far of Elle take up in newsagencies.
1 0UT OF 11
1 from 13.
8 out of 14, but I originally complained about our small supply considering the hype and our sales of similar titles but seems I might have over estimated potential sales
4 from 13
Mark, Network by a mile for bagged mags.
14 out of 32
Elle, have sold 3 from 13. Agree with the comments on bagged mags.
As an old boss of mine used to say, if your brand relies on a scratch n sniff (add-on) to sell, it’s in trouble.
Bags cut out browsing which is bad for sales.
The Australian is covering this story today: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/print/bauer-denies-trouble-with-elle-magazine/story-fn9ymmvo-1226743432809
Seems like Deborah Thomas is in denial as she doesn’t mention anything about sales data that they would have been receiving back from launch day.
I just found this thread but wanted to say this magazine was a big disappointment! I can’t believe they got rid of Madison for Elle. The layout of Elle is confusing and hard to read. There’s bits of information all over the place. I’ve bought two and looked at a few other issues. They’re all the same. Lacklustre. I definitely won’t be buying any more. They’re too European which doesn’t really suit the Australian reader.
I’ve not seen any improvement in retail sales.
they have been sending me 2 every month and i send back 2 every month ,so today i recieve 5… i was going to type WTF but then i thought no i know WTF it is ,it is friggin stupid over supply so now i canceled the supply all together . Instead of giving it a go just hoping for the one off chance somone takes an interest in it now we shall nevcer know
I receive 2 give 1 to my wife display the other for a month then rip the cover of. As for the 3 copies of ELLE UK Gotch has started sending every month,they never see the light of day. I believe Hurst publishing is a partner in the Australian ELLE so why their sabotaging there own title by distributing the UK version is beyond me.
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