A magazine relay takes a few hours and you are sure to sell more magazines as a result. January is a good time to do a relay because your’re probably less busy than usual, unless you’re in a beach location.
In my experience doing relays for many years, the return for a few hours work is many times over in a short time, usually within a m month.
So, why do a magazine relay? because you will make more money.
Now, to the how:
Typically, a relay of 1,000 magazine pockets can be completed in 4 hours. If you have 250 titles, you should be don in under an hour.
DO IT YOURSELF, DO IT ALONE.
A magazine relay is a statement about the business, a marketing and management activity. It sets the tone and says this is who we are, what we do and what we stand for. Doing it yourself is a leadershipstatement. Doing it alone means less conflict, less noise. And remember, the relay is not a destination … because regular change in magazine layout is essential.
PLACEMENT.
Magazines are best located on a wall of the shop, and not in a centre fixture taking up premium retail space best allocated to higher margin and business differentiating products.
VISUAL NOISE.
Magazine covers are colourful. Adding more noise, such as product headers, detracts from the products. I say don’t use headers.
FULL FACING OR NOT.
Full facing is a term used in 2 ways: where 100% of the cover of a magazine is shown (true full facing) and where you have 1 magazine title per pocket in a tiered magazine fixture.
If you have the space on a wall and have less than 500 magazine titles, true full facing, showing 100% of the cover, can deliver best results.
In tiered fixtures, while full facing, one title per pocket works best, fitting 2 or 3 titles in a pocket can work with low volume special interest titles people will seek out.
BEACON BRANDING.
This is the process of using magazine mastheads to draw attention to a category of magazines. Use the top 2 or 3 pockets for a single title, allowing it to draw attention.
DOING THE RELAY.
Start at one end of a fixture. Take off all the titles for between 6 and 12 columns and rebuild, with purpose, to draw attention, tell a story and drive sales.
As you build up a column, take off magazines from another 4 to 8 columns, always keeping empty space between where you are working and the old layout.
Look ahead, read the categories on display and think about where you are at compared to where you are headed.
ADJACENCIES.
This is a bit of secret sauce. It is where you can make editorial decisions, business decisions to guide your shoppers. What works best with what. You don’t know, not for sure at least, how can you. Ok, there is basket data you could read … but that only tells you what is happening. What about what could happen? Who knows. Experiment!
For example, should you put model plane magazines next to flying magazines? Or, should model plane magazines be in a distinct section of all model titles?
Do puzzle shoppers shop by brand or puzzle type? Publishers want you to layout based on their brand whereas your shoppers are, in our opinion, more likely to shop by interest. For example, all sudoku titles could work better together, or all large print titles could work better together.
ADJACENCY SUGGESTIONS.
Here are some adjacency suggestions. They are not rules. They are shared here to help you think of your own.
- Cricket, golf and swimming go well together. Wrestling, boxing and buff-type fitness go well together.
- Soccer is not rugby or AFL. Don’t mix them together.
- Train titles should no co-mingle with railway magazines.
- Classic car titles need to be distinctly separated from regular car titles.
- Car lovers do shop by brand. Place branded magazine titles together.
- People interested in home renovation could be interested in any renovation title.
- Creative arts go well together: painting, writing, craft.
EASE OF SHOPPING.
If you have a tall fixture, think of your customers. There is no point placing titles targeting older shoppers up high or down low as reaching or bending could be challenging for them.
HAND OVER.
Once you are done, walk the new layout with others working in the shop. Explain your decisions. Given them a response for customer comments. Make sure that everyone in the business is on your page.
WATCH AND MEASURE.
Next, watch shoppers and listen for feedback and, after a couple of weeks, look at the sales results. The results could guide adjustments, or not.
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Footnotes:
This is an update to advice I have publishers here several times in the past. I share it again as it is an easy in.
And, yes, I get that we make too little from magazines. In my view, we either quit the category or make the most of it. I’m choosing to make the most of it because I know a relay helps me do that.