Author: Mark Fletcher

I am pleased to see Pacific Magazines getting behind Famous with another promotional push. It certainly has an audience in some demographics. In our own case, sales are soft in Forest Hill yet strong in Frankston. Frankston is where the display in the photo is located – Sherie has done a brilliant job creating a stunning display for the title this week.

Famous is different to other weeklies in newsagencies – it sells consistently through the week whereas most other women’s weeklies sell between 60% and 70% on the first on-sale day and taper to a trickle by day four.

I was interested to see Newsweek being discounted by 14% at a Relay store at Hong Kong airport.  Given the demographic of the excellent foot traffic it makes sense.   They also promoted the 14% discount at the counter.  This was the only title in-store with a discount.

I would be prepared to trial a promotion like this for appropriate titles here in Australia – if the terms are right and if the publisher did not use the promotion to drive subscription business.  Burke’s Backyard is a good example of a title which could benefit from support like this.  The discount could achieve good impulse sales.

Dymocks in the Princes Building in Hong Kong has an impressive window display for the launch issue of Power magazine. Rather than posters and the usual materials we use, they have gone for a less is more approach and let the title speak for itself. This is more in line with the location (a business building) and the general approach to magazine marketing in Hong Kong.

As for the magazine itself, timing may not work out to be that ideal for it.

The Bookazine group have opened a new smaller footprint magazine and bookshop in Honk Kong. The shop would be no more than 50 square metres. Notice the magazine display on the front to the left of the shop – around the corner from this is the main magazine display which is quite small.

I have seen Bookazine evolve over the last few years. This latest incarnation is the best. The smaller footprint has a lot going for it in a shopping mall situation.

I like the this shop – neat, easy to shop, feels like a specialist and not too deep.

The remodeled Dymocks at the IFC centre in Hong Kong has a nice and efficient magazine display.  Triangular in shape, it packs a lot of stock into a small space, covering most areas of special interest. The fixturing looks like it is from Kleerex in Ireland.  The lighting behind the fixtures makes covers pop – better than shown in the photo.