Tactical display

We have placed The Monthly magazine at the counter to leverage media coverage for the issue over the last few days.  The cover is terrific and Paul Keating’s photo is bound to draw attention.

I wish the publisher would invest some money in supporting the title in newsagencies.  Cover run ons would help.  Sales volume is too small to enable practical use of a large poster but cover run ons would provide flexibility.

The other promotional opportunity I’d like to see is an A5 flyer with teases about stories in the latest issue.  We could hand these to customers and include them in bags.  If there is room for newsagents to stamp their details I am sure that the flyer would be supported.

Our sales of The Monthly are volatile so anything we can do to make an issue more appealing I am up for.

Last week we took the opportunity to promote National Geographic magazine with this tactical placement next to weeklies.  I figured that the cover story on the Teenage Brain would be of interest to the shoppers I see buying the weekly titles.

National Geographic is one of those titles where the cover can have a big impact on sales, this is why we are sure to check every issue and act accordingly.

The team at one of my newsagencies cleverly placed marie claire and OK! Australia between our newspapers earlier this week.  marie claire because of the Sarah Jessica Parker cover – she is in Melbourne for Melbourne Cup week – and OK! because of of Kim Kardashian’s (shock!!!) divorce announcement and her arrival in Sydney.

One of the ways we can drive impulse purchases of magazines is to demonstrate their relevance.  Showing off covers which connect with the news of the day is one way of doing this.

With the growing interest in family history, the success of Who Do You Think You Are TV show and the ancestry TV ads running on pay TV, we figured that it was time for us to put Australian Family Tree Connections magazine in the spotlight.  we have placed it with our UK weekly titles.  While this does not get as much traffic as our Australian weeklies section, it is still a very popular location in-store.

I’ll decide in a few days if we keep this placement or move it back.  The challenge is that this title and a few others really have no set place in newsagencies, making it difficult for shoppers who visit multiple newsagencies to find what they are looking for.

We need to do things like this in our newsagency businesses, giving special interest titles time in the spotlight.  It’s these time which will play an important role in our long-term success in the magazine space, regardless of what long-term means.

Given how the Justin Bieber card / photo pack from Network Services sold for us (4 reorders), we have placed the latest issue of Girlpower Popqueen at the counter.  Bieber is still very popular with tweens. The launch of a new fragrance with his name on it in Australia today will have Beiber shoppers out so we might as well make the most of the opportunity.

This is a good example of taking action based on a title cover.  If we left this issue in its usual space we would have missed impulse purchases by Bieber fans and those who buy for them.

Further to our promotion of the latest issue opt Prevention magazine, we have been using other pockets in the health area of our magazine department to promote popular titles and topics.  We review the titles being given feature position each week, remembering those which respond best to the full face display at the front of the eye level display.  As he photo shows we also mix titles from find when appropriate.  I figured that the Weight Watchers cookbook was worth a try between WellBeing and Good Health.

My experience is that a small investment of senior management time in your magazine department can increase sales.  Too often, newsagents leave magazines to junior employees … and then they wonder why the department is not performing as well as the rest of the shop.

We have been promoting the Latest issue of Women’s Health magazine at my newsagencies. The most successful approach we have found is in-location displays as the photo shows. It makes Women’s Health the hero title in the women’s magazine aisle for the first week of the on-sale. We pull back but slightly in subsequent weeks.  I’d note that this location is on the same side and just one step away from marie claire, Cosmolpolitan and Cleo.

We have both Time magazine and the re-issue of Rolling Stone with Steve Jobs on the cover at the counter, above our newspapers, this weekend.

This tactical placement is in addition to promotion elsewhere in the newsagency.  There is no doubt we see a different mix of customers on the weekend, like in most shopping centres.  This mix of shoppers is more likely to purchase these magazines because of their Steve Jobs coverage.

We are promoting the latest issue of Dolly magazine with this in-location display.  Emma Stone is in a movie which recently came out recently, The Help, so her placement on the cover is perfectly timed.  It’s a cover which could / should drive incremental business for us – hence the high profile placement.

It’s important for us to understand cover subjects and why they may help drive incremental business for us.  Time is a challenge of course. This is where we can engage our team members.  Younger employees will know Emma Stone and why having her on the cover is good.

With two new issues of Lovatts titles out this week, we pulled them forward so that they are at the front of our Lovatts crossword display.

Too often I see newsagencies where titles are replaced in the pocket in which they were situated.  In a category like crosswords, especially with Lovatts titles, it is important to bring forward the latest issues so they are the fresh hero of the section of the magazine display.

Yes, this takes time.  It is what we need to do if we are to be seen as magazine specialists.  Daily attention to the magazine department is what can separate us from supermarkets and others selling magazines.  I put our sales growth down to the attention we provide.

We have been promoting the latest issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly with this tactical placement at the counter, next to newspapers, in its usual location at the entrance to the women’s magazine aisle as well as on an impulse unit located at the front of the newsagency.  We do all this because the title responds to the activity, especially in the first week when we expect to sell between 60% and 75% of what we sell for an issue.  We will pull back mid next week from the counter positioning.

AWW continues to be a popular redemption title in our Magazine Club Card promotion.  I like this as it gives our magazine shoppers a specific free magazine goal which they clearly like and work at achieving.

In our magazine relay completes ten days ago I created more space and a better position for English magazines.  I can already see a list in sales.  Sales were growing anyway – now sales are growing faster.  This placement change is also helping sales of titles near to the English magazines.  Newsagents can increase magazine sales by relaying magazines based on careful analysis of sales and consideration of the range of titles carried in the shop. I appreciate that I have already said this recently.  I want the message to get through and newsagents to embrace the opportunity of annual magazine relays with regular (at least monthly) tweaks.

The team at on of my stores is cleverly promoting our car magazine sections with this front of store Wheels magazine display.

While the display itself is terrific, it is their specially made sign at the bottom off the sign letting our shoppers know that we have more car magazines at the back off the store which I see as a really smart move.

We have to grab every opportunity available to us.

Our promotion of Better Homes and Gardens at the counter, next to newspapers, has worked again this weekend.  I don’t know why more newsagents don’t take the opportunity of this placement.  It’s easy money.  As the photo shows we also took the opportunity to promote the new ACP mini cookbook – Caio Bella in this high profile location.

We have been promoting a selection of kitchen, bathroom, home and related magazine titles on one of our impulse stands this week. Since spring is here people are starting to think more of home renovations so I felt it was time to put this segment of our magazine range in the spotlight.

It’s a very simple display where the titles are the heroes. You can see that I am using well known mastheads to anchor the display.

The display is on the edge of the dance floor and will be seen and passed by more shoppers than the titles would encounter in their usual location. This is what this promotional activity is all about – getting niche titles in front of more eyeballs. We know this drives sales. It’s certainly worth the time and space investment.

We have tactically placed the latest issue of Quarterly Essay – Bad News by Robert Manne – at the front of the newsagency, next to newspapers.  This title usually resides toward the back of the business, with Time and other low volume news related magazines.

Manne’s essay is about News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch’s political voice in Australia, The Australian newspaper and how it shapes debate.

We have placed Quarterly Essay next to The Age as e are more likely to get a reader of The Age purchasing this on impulse than a Herald Sun reader.  I’m hoping we sell out.

I’d urge newsagents to try placing this issue at the counter.  A $19.95 addition to any shopping basket would be most welcome!

We are promoting the Spring issue of Your Garden magazine with prime placement in the garden section.  It’s responding with sales – selling half our allocation already. Since this is not a monthly title we need to remind shoppers that Your Garden is available – hence the high visibility placement next to popular monthly titles.

We have been supporting the free Weight Loss journal from Annette Sym which is on the cover of Take 5 with a prime location placement and to support the sale of her cookbooks.  Once this feature ends tomorrow we will be promoting the Symply Too Good books with our weeklies as well as with food titles.