We have just cut 250 pockets from our magazine department with the removal of two double sided fixtures to make way for an expanded gift offer in-store. NOTE: We have not cut magazine range. This move is a back to the future approach…
In the early 1990s the push from Gordon and Gotch leadership at the time was for newsagents to move away from partial cover display – where we layered titles such that around a third of a title showed – to what was called full-face display. With less space now as a result of removing two fixtures, we are moving back to a partial cover display in some segments, where we can fit up to three titles in a pocket that used to host one title.
This approach enables us to reduce the overheads associated with magazines. The rent saving to the department will be close to $10,000 a year. I am confident we will not lose any magazine sales. In fact, I am confident we will continue to grow magazine sales at in excess of 10% year on year.
Magazines are important to newsagents as they continue to deliver excellent foot traffic. Leverage that foot traffic into purchases of higher margin items and you make the magazine foot traffic even more valuable.
Too often I see newsagents reduce fixtures as a lever to reduce titles. While this may be appropriate in some situations, it may not in others. Think about such moves carefully. It could be that cutting floorspace allocation delivers the savings you need to maintain your current title range.
Thanks to this latest move and our year on year magazine unit sales growth, the value of the magazine department to this business is stronger than ever.
Mark can you show a picture of how the stand looks now with only a third of the cover showing The picture here still shows full face and does it look messy
Paul I will when I’m back in-store at the end of the week (in SA and WA for two days). We have not done it everywhere. It’s in about a third of the fixturing.
How many pockets do you now have and what is the total size of your shop?
This store currently has around 800 pockets. The total shop is 135 sq m. No back room.
We are due for some fit out works in the near future and are now starting to look at each department and make sure we have the right space/allocation.
We currently have 1,787 individual pockets in our 200 sqm store. We used to be very strong in the magazine department but over recent years have been hit with some changes.
If i could ask your opinions on the optimum sqm/pocket count. I know each store will be very different and have different strengths but im just trying to get an idea roughly about the general vacinity. Im thinking anywhere between 600-1000