February 22, 2009
How we really sell magazines
Following my previous post, Andy sent me this more usual arrangement from his local, north London, newsagent’s shelves. It’s a familiar scene outside the chain stores and high-profile central London sites – apparently a mess of titles with little order. But things are not as random as they seem.
Andy explains:
‘Mr Newsagent, in his wisdom, divides the shelves thus: cheapest titles in front. Apart from Vogue, Dazed and i-D, as he must be trying to bring a touch of glamour to his little corner of NW5.
Fastest moving titles in front. As in womens weeklies, Nuts, Zoo, etc. But also Glamour, the biggest selling womens monthly (and only £2) sitting next to Zoo. It’s small format, so it’s high sales gets it onto the front row regardless of what it sits next to. Double facing suggests this title is still fresh.
Titles in bags all at the back. If ever anyone needed proof of the active real estate of a newsstand cover, this is it. Titles that readers have looked at, then decide not to buy, stuffed back in at wonky angles.
Men’s to the right, girl’s up top, and homes, bizarrely over to the left. No risk of More getting anywhere near Look, which will piss emap off mightily. And confirms that newsagents often place titles with some considerable intuition. Hence More sitting next to Mizz.
And of course, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, there’s always the lottery’.
12 Comments
Comment on February 22, 2009 by Paul Harpin says:
It’s all based on RSV (retail sales value) – 20% goes to news agent. So most expensive and ideally popular mags (weeklies or monthlies it doesn’t matter) are always more prominent than cheaper ones. And the left top corner is quite often all you see.
Comment on February 23, 2009 by LondonLee says:
And you know what cover stands out the most? The i-D one, because it has minimal cover lines and a simple strong image while all the others get lost in a typographic forest.
But try telling that to a marketing or distribution person at a magazine and they won’t believe you.
Comment on February 23, 2009 by RS says:
i-D may stand out more, but I’m not sure that anyone’s gonna buy it because of that… Unless you’re an Art student of course.
Comment on February 24, 2009 by RS says:
London Lee picture the seen: A marketing executive comes into the Editorial Dept of Take A Break magazine and says “y’now what, I’ve just been reading a magazine blog and some guy says we should make the cover one big image and with minimalist type” “Great” says the Art Director “this will look great in my portfolio”. So, out comes the magazine and hits the shelves! Mrs Miggins of NW5 goes to the shop to buy her milk and bread and sifts through the magazines, she gets to Take A Break and thinks ‘…mmm, where’s my 7 real-life stories and cash prize puzzles that normally entice me into buying this mag? I think I’ll buy Chat instead’. Subsequently sales are lost, marketing guy, Ed and Art Director are fired!
My point is, no-one goes into a newsagent, stands back and buys the one that stands out most.
And before you ask, I’m a designer NOT a marketing guy.
Comment on February 24, 2009 by LondonLee says:
I know, I know. The i-D cover is an extreme example, but there must be a middle ground between that and the cacophony of pink and red cover lines. The problem really is too many magazines all offering the same content fighting for elbow room.
Comment on February 24, 2009 by Captain Scott (Oates has stepped out) says:
i always buy whatever has the most free shit attached to it. Baby mag’s free changing matt looks pretty good value in this pic!
Comment on February 24, 2009 by Andy says:
Is flouro ink now no more than camouflage? Check out Charlie’s post on how pink is the new battleship grey:
http://npdnotebook.com/2009/uncategorized/dazzling-covers/#more-316
Comment on February 26, 2009 by Héctor Muñoz says:
Well, if you are new, standing out is very important.
And yes, I hate marketing.
Comment on February 26, 2009 by Mag Nation says:
We are magazine retailers in Australia and New Zealand. There is a both a real art and a science to magazine category flow and display. mag nation (www.magnation.com) stocks over 4000 magazines, so it is a massive focus for us. You can’t expect a newsagent to get it right if they don’t live and breathe mag retailing.
Comment on April 15, 2009 by Roe says:
Ah, I recognise these shelves, this would happen to be my local store.
Comment on April 27, 2009 by David says:
Mag Nation have it about right. Retailing in th UK is now a full time science project (I imagine). The number of magazines stocked is being reducd across the board as the paperwork and management of the category ensures that only the very skilled with time on their hnds can cope without losing a fortune through mismanagement. Not good news for the smaller niche titles that are already taking a hammering with the advertising crunch and find it very hard to get on te average newsagents shelf….expect many to go under this year…or support them by vsisting places like Mag Nation or newsstand.co.uk (we have 3000+ UK titles). Admittedly Mag nation has a much trendier site but hey, I’ll get there eventually.
Comment on October 18, 2009 by Dazzling covers? — npd notebook says:
[...] occurred to me in a recent meeting, as Andy was telling us about a post he had contributed to on magculture. I explained that last year I had read an article in the Guardian about how fluorescent jackets to [...]
