ACS

Magazines are an important category in community retailers’ stores. Managed correctly they offer many retailers the opportunity to differentiate themselves from the large grocers and their homogeneous convenient stores.

Many of the large grocers’ convenience stores only stock the top fifty or so titles, whereas it is important to stock these titles, after all the top fifty titles account for around two thirds of magazine sales, there is a great opportunity to pull customers into your store with magazines that the others do not sell.

It is also worth noting that, according to him! retail research consultancy, that magazine customers spend more in store that other customers: magazine shoppers spend £6.86 while average shoppers spend £5.90.

This section gives you advice and tips that should help you maximise your sales opportunities, starting with the three steps guide and an explanation of the shoppers field of vision.

There are planograms that will help you maximise profitability from your display, and advice on how to ensure you profit from the partwork opportunity.

Three Steps to Selling More Magazines

In order to maximise profitability it is important that retailers manage their own supplies rather than just accept what they are given.

Here are 3 steps designed to help you sell more magazines to your customers.

Step One:
Focus on the best range of magazines for your customers

• Request your sales information from your wholesaler
• Review your sales by category and rank your top selling titles
• Remove any non-sellers and filter lowest selling titles from over crowded categories
• Cross reference against the top 100 titles and identify any titles that are missing that would appeal to your customers
• Order your new titles from your wholesaler

Step Two:
Implement your new planogram

• Decide the best flow for female to male titles
• Use the planogram like a jigsaw puzzle, linking categories together that will appeal to similar customers
• Start with the Women’s Weekly category and TV listings then continue building your planogram
• Full face key titles in each main category to act as a signpost for your customers to approach the fixture
• Keep referring to the planograms provided show on this website – years of research of category associations, by distributors like Frontline, will help you sell more magazines

Step Three:
Maintaining your new range and planogram

• Once the new planogram is in place just keep replenishing to the same planogram on a daily basis
• Once a week just take a few moments to check your range against the top 100 – do you need to increase your order on any of the titles now they are more visible?
• Once a month review what’s selling and what’s not – make adjustments to your range to ensure you can maintain the great display you put in place
• Read the newsletter from your wholesaler and any other trade papers to ensure you keep up to date with new launches and promotions to sell more magazines
• Highlight magazines to your customers to sell more magazines, have you space near your till? Change which titles you full face in the key categories to highlight something fresh to your customers

If you receive magazines that you have not asked for, and do not want, send them straight back, your wholesaler will credit the title straight away. This will help your cash flow.

You do not have to stock any magazine that you do not want to. But, remember, if you haven’t got it you can’t profit from selling it!

From research we know that shoppers have a relatively narrow field of vision when navigating the magazine fixture. To maximise the sales potential we recommend:

Category Blocking: Grouping titles with a similar theme or category together into blocks. This ensures that all similar titles are within view & reach for shoppers.

Pillar Brands: These are magazines that have significant brand recognition with shoppers & are usual best sellers in a category. Ensuring these are in their correct category blocking & fully faced front of fixture not only drives sales, but help shoppers navigate the fixture. For example, a male shopper wanting to purchase a motoring title will recognise the Top Gear logo/brand & instinctively move towards that area of the fixture to look for their specific motoring title.

Category Adjacencies: merchandise specific categories together to increase the chance of multiple purchases. Research shows that certain magazine categories are shopped together e.g. TV listings bought with a Traditional Weekly…or Celebrity weekly for mother bought with Children’s title for their son/daughter. For guidance, please refer to the attached planogram.

Male and Female Zones: Men & women shop differently & have different category interests. Men tend to take longer over their purchase decision & require more browse time. Defining separate male & female zones enables shoppers to engage with the fixture with reduced interference.

Full Facings: Magazines often rely on their cover to engage shoppers & drive sales, whether it is the face/body, story or title/brand. Fully facing the key brands as a minimum provides a better selling opportunity over those that are half faced or significantly obscured.

Multiple Facings: Where space is available, giving a high volume selling or impulsive title a second facing can help maintain on shelf availability whilst providing a more impactful & eye catching display.

Shopper Flow: By identifying high footfall areas & the flow of shoppers around your store can help you merchandise more effectively. Impulsive titles like women’s weeklies benefit from this “prime” positioning over more specialist/niche titles that shoppers will actively seek out on fixture.

 Shop Save is your customer ordering service. You can’t stock every magazine but you can access over 3,000 titles for your customers directly from your wholesaler.

‘Just Ask’ is an industry initiative to encourage consumers to order magazines/newspapers in order to drive sales.

Why support Just Ask?

• Drives magazine and newspaper sales
• Promotes loyalty and increased customer numbers
• Enables you to effectively increase the range of titles sold
• The service creates a point of difference over other retailers

Just Ask! provides the following benefits:

• The newsstand equivalent of a subscription
• Helps to alleviate the pressure on shelf space
• Reduces the risk of unsolds
• Increases the frequency of purchase and consequently the sales of titles involved
• Offers a real alternative for a regular order if a subscription is considered unaffordable
• Helps to effectively increase the range of titles in store
• Just Ask Best Practice Guide

Why should you consider Shop Saves?

Do you know that customers have an average of five different shops they can pick their favourite magazines from?

If you sign them up to a Shop Save, you’ll keep their custom for every single issue of the year!

Shop Saves offer great customer service and cater for a wide range of customers. They get customers into your shop and they make a great profit!

Step 1: Customer orders a Shop Save
Ask your customer to complete an order form
Explain your Terms and Conditions and collection procedures
Collect a deposit
Place order with your wholesaler and confirm when first issue will take effect
Confirm arrival details of commencing issue to customer
TIP- To help protect your supply notify your wholesaler that this is a reserved copy

Step 2: Set up a customer account
Complete customer order, name, address, contact details from order form and identify as a Shop Save account
Transfer order to your newsagent ordering system and flag as a Shop Save
Record order transaction and payment history including deposit
Note holidays and any other circumstances where collection may be affected
Set up a customer folder
TIP - Consider adapting your HND System to capture and fulfil your Shop Save orders

Step 3: Order delivered to your store
Receive magazine delivery from wholesaler
Book in magazine and cross-reference to the Shop Save account
Place copy in Shop Save filing system
Check status of uncollected copies. Remember to check your filing system when referencing your recall note.
Bear in mind your Terms and Conditions and decide what action to take
Consider notifying customer of the arrival of their magazine…. how about sending them a text?
TIP- EPoS Systems can save time and will help you manage your account. Speak to your wholesaler for more details.

Step 4: Customer collection
Take customer saved copy from Shop Save filing system
Record payment and issue a receipt
TIP - Use this opportunity to introduce the customer to any new titles in a similar interest category
Step 5: Marketing your Shop Save offer
Place your “Just Ask” POS in your windows and on your magazine display
Talk to your customers: What are their interests? What magazines do they buy?
TIP - Tell customers they can order a copy and you’ll save it each week.

Remember – Make sure all of your staff are aware of your Shop Save procedures

What is Home News Delivery?

Home News Delivery (HND) is a tool that you can use to increase the sales and profit potential of your business, without increasing the size of your premises.

HND provides an opportunity to achieve higher sales across a much wider range of titles than might be possible through counter sales only. Home delivered copy is a guaranteed sale. There are no unsold or returned copies to manage.

Getting more profit from HND

For an HND service to operate professionally and profitably, a realistic service charge is essential. Your service charge should cover all of the costs you have in order to deliver to your customers.

Promoting your HND service

Promote your newspaper and magazine offer. Talk to your regular customers, ask what their interests are, what magazines and newspapers they buy and ask if they would like them delivered to their home.

You could incentivise your HND staff to deliver leaflets to letter boxes on their delivery rounds, perhaps on their return journey at weekends. Ensure they are “converting” casual purchasers to regular HND customers.

Leaflets can be targeted at local businesses, new housing developments or houses with a ‘sold’ sign. This should be followed by a personal visit, mention the leaflet and ask customers if they would like to take advantage of your delivery service.

Don’t forget to mention that you can add magazines to your customer’s delivery as well as newspapers.
Consider offering price promotions e.g. free delivery for the first four weeks; or a ‘friends and family’ scheme; or ‘Introduce a friend’ and both get a £x discount for a number of weeks. These kind of offers encourage customers to trial your services.

Make sure you leave sufficient time before starting the order to allow you time to order additional copies from your wholesaler.

Don’t forget to display your ‘Just ask’ PoS in your shop window and around your magazine display to advertise your HND service for newspapers and magazines.

Remember – Make sure all of your staff are aware of your HND procedures