I first heard about Big W planning on quitting magazines earlier this year. It was good news but I wanted to see it happen before commenting.
Now, newsagents near Big W stores are telling me they are seeing a bump in magazine sales. This is good news.
The decision by the group to quit magazines is another in a series of decisions as they recalibrate their business. The magazine category is not the only one to see significant change. However, it is the category that directly affects our channel.
If your newsagency has a Big W nearby, now would be a good time to pitch magazines, especially the depth of your range, to attract people who may have shopped at Big W and not at your store for magazines. If you run a loyalty program, promote that too as it could entice the Big W shopper to engage with you.
Newsagents were in magazines long before Big W and we are still win the category after they quit. This is a good message for small business retail.
Big W might be hitting the news for store and warehouse closures and exiting opthalmics. The other story is strong growth with transactions growing 6% year on year.
If Big W in big cheap sheds cannot justify mags and ditches to achieve growth it shouts out what newsagents should be doing.
Colin,Totally different markets different offer, different categories. We need to look at return for space allocation -traffic flow and customer loyalty and combine this with profitability and and other product mix.
I suspect Big W had similar thoughts