I noticed Yours placed with Anti-aging and I though that’s an odd placement, like the titles didn’t / shouldn’t belong together. To me, Yours belongs with British weeklies or our Aussie weeklies and Anti-aging with cosmetic and fringe health titles. Maybe I’m wrong but I see Yours as a title for people embracing who they are and Anti-aging more for those in denial. But I am not the customer!
Thinking about this placement later on, I wondered if it was deliberate, I wondered if someone in the business put the two titles together believing that they spoke to the same shopper.
Product placement is an inexact process outside of mass-appeal and obvious adjacency opportunities. Yet it is important. We need to put products next to each other that speak to the same shopper otherwise we miss opportunities.
While newsagency software can guide you about what sells with what and that data is useful for existing products, this post is about products for which you don’t have historical basket data.
It’s important we take time and consider who is the shopper we are targeting here? when looking at parts of our businesses – and in asking the question ensuring that we have product adjacencies that leverage a common shopper.
Yes, obsession about product placement takes time. The reward in more sales revenue when we get it right. This is especially true with magazines. In fact, checking your magazine department for ideal product placement is a good place to start.
Footnote: See my Magazine Relay advice for more on placement opportunities and the process of changing magazine layout.