Special issues bring a serious uplift to magazine sales, with some seeing uplifts of over 80%. Retailers can boost their sales by making sure shoppers are aware of these specials. Knowing how to market them is a major asset.
Emma Bone, head of Future Newstrade, told Better Retailing: “The uplift significantly varies for each special. At Future we often see special issues around key events where there is a lot of awareness, such as key sporting events and around seasonal periods, generate the highest uplifts.”
Iain McKenzie, head of circulation at DC Thomson, told Better Retailing: “Bumper special issues are a key part of our publishing strategy, where we strive to provide even more great-value content for our readers and drive retail revenues.”
He highlighted the upcoming Beano special on 5 April, which features a cover mounted Build Your Own Posable Robo-Menace toy. “We normally see a sales uplift of over 12%, with retailer revenues up 50% on a standard issue.”
How can retailers maximise sales around special issues?
Immediate PR consultant Toby Hicks added that the annual Gardener’s World 2-for-1 special is coming soon and retailers should get ready for a surge in demand: “The May issue has the highest retail sales value of any monthly magazine in the UK.”
Bone added that every month sees specials on Future’s women’s weeklies, a convenience store staple, with bumper issues and a better value offering for customers.
She said: “Specials offer consumers something new and exciting on the newsstand. Sometimes our Future specials are our well-known brands offering additional pagination with premium content and at other times we launch specials on the newsstand around key events. For example sporting events and tournaments. Retailers can maximise the sales of these by ensuring they have front of shelf positions and are visible on the shelf. If there is the possibility to place the specials in high traffic, impulse locations we find this boosts the sales even more.”
Future provides point of sale packs for special issues, which Bone said “aid visibility and stand out in stores”.
Eugene Diamond, owner of Diamonds News in Ballymena, told Better Retailing that he posts the covers of notable magazines and specials on social media each weekend. This is to let customers know what’s in stock.
“You have to do it these days,” he said. “I shared a special on Jürgen Klopp leaving Liverpool last season, and even though every newsagent in the country had it, I had someone drive 20 miles to buy it from my store. The thing is making sure that people know it’s there and they can get it.”
Read more news and advice about the newspaper and magazines category and click here for the latest ABC circulation figures
Comments
This article doesn't have any comments yet, be the first!