This week in magazines: Magazines to the max

They might be few and far between, but there remains a significant group of independents who continue to buck the trend by growing sales of magazines.

RN has been speaking to some of them ahead of an issue which will share some of their secrets. Without giving too much away, most share some common traits.

First, all are engaged with the category and keep a close eye on sales trends, events and promotions likely to boost circulation.

Secondly, they make sure that customers are aware of the magazine offer. Many use window displays or PoS to get passers-by through the door. We’ll also be showing the power of secondary magazine sitings.

It might be easy to imagine that all of the retailers in growth are magazine specialists with a focus on a single category, but that’s not the case. While many have a 1,000-plus range of titles, plenty are significantly smaller and have instead boosted sales by focusing on growing frequency of purchase, good merchandising and capitalising on impulse sales which continues to drive the weeklies market.

None would say it was easy and magazines is a category that requires discipline, time and a sound understanding of the market.

There are some parallels to be drawn between developing a large magazine range and offering home news delivery. Both might look daunting to get up and running, but as we will show over the coming weeks, they offer steady repeat business once the initial legwork is done.