Nothing against Donna Hay but the magazine bearing her name does not sell that well in our newsagency. The Donna Hay kids issues, however, sell exceptionally well. So, the brand is not the problem with our sales.

Looking at food titles generally, Delicious sells well (sells out since our supplies have been cut) as does Gourmet Traveler. Donna Hay is the weakest of the mix yet we receive more copies than the other two – ah the magazine supply model starving and drowning all at once.

We are planning a promotion for the next issue of Donna Hay to reintroduce the title to our customers. This will happen at the same time we relay our food related titles – it is time for a major rethink of how we display the range. We want a better point of difference.

Famous magazine has had a makeover and as a result it stands out better when in the mix on the shelf with competitors Who and NW.

We are going to use our magazine loyalty program to support the new look with a double clip option on Famous next week. While the merchandiser has created a good in-store display I feel that an over the counter offer to draw attention to the new look could help more.

The offer will also remind our team of the new look – it is hard sometimes to keep up with the changes in product at the counter.

The BBC is reporting Emap as reporting digital revenues up 34% in the June quarter. Print revenues are down in the same period.

Hmm, interesting headline…

Apparently a My Business magazine ad playing on Australian Newsagent Satellite Radio yesterday promoted the title as being available in newsagencies as well as by subscription. This would be like the CSI producer running an ad on Channel 9 saying it is available for download elsewhere. My Business would do well to revisit their ad copy for in-newsagency ads.

Take a look at the Wedding and Bride – it is four times the thickness of Australian Women’s Weekly. One more page and it would not squeeze into traditional newsagent magazine pockets. While it is an impressive publication, space allocation is a challenge in an already full wedding segment in newsagencies. We are playing with co-location next to our high traffic women’s titles for a week to see what happens. It is wedding season after all.

Ben Kay has come up with an excellent promotion in support of Diabetes Week at my newsagency.

Ben, the manager of the newsagency, has brought together a range of titles including the excellent Diabetic Living from the Better Homes and Gardens team at Pacific magazines and Annette Sym’s Symply Too Good cookbooks to create this excellent display.

In the middle of the display Ben has placed information sheets takes from the Diabetes Australia website.

It is this kind of local marketing which newsagents can use to better connect with customers and to demonstrate to publishers their relevance.

Diabetes does not attract the glamour and glossy marketing support of, say, breast cancer at Mother’s Day yet it affects so many. What Ben has done in our shop reflects well on the cause.

The Cadbury Boost bar given away with Alpha this month boosted sales. We sold out in record time.

Customers have been asking if our newsagency is giving away a free pair of tights with Famous as is being promoted at Safeway. We’re not and I am okay with that as I know publishers need to offer premiums at different times in their various channels. What is interesting is that we are being asked. I see this, in part, as a consequence of our Magazine Club Card, a loyalty program which is pulling customers who would traditionally purchase their magazines at a supermarket.

Our comeback to the question is what’s a pair of tights when you can get a free magazine.