Creative approaches to great single-copy placement

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Nov 15, 1997 by Cris Beam

A FEW FRESH DISTRIBUTION IDEAS CAN CREATE A BETTER MATCH BETWEEN YOUR MAGAZINE AND THE CONSUMER. STEP ONE: LOOK BEYOND THE NEWSSTAND.

With the wholesaler consolidations still settling out, magazine publishers are fighting ever more fiercely for their rightful spot on the newsstand. But it isn't easy these days. The racks are crowded, and retailers are refusing to stock titles they feel are redundant or don't have stellar sell-through. So perhaps it's time to change gears. Believe it or not, the newsstand may be the last place you want to focus on to boost single-copy sales. "Publishers are just publishing and distributing their titles, and they think that's enough. But it's not," says Ken Oatman, general manager of Denver, Colorado-based OneSource Magazine Distribution, which handles more than 400 titles. "There are a lot of great magazines buried on the mainline racks."

So how do you keep your precious baby from being overlooked amid the throngs of competing titles? Move it to another part of the store, or to another kind of store entirely. Convince retailers that your title would work well cross-merchandised with a product they sell, boosting the sales of both. Buy special placement pockets to get prime positioning. In short, get creative.

Retailer interest

"There's a reawakening of interest in magazines from the retailers because of the additional money [through bonuses and discounts] they're getting from distributors. They're thinking they can grow the category," says John Bacigalupi, single-copy sales manager at The Taunton Press in Newtown, Connecticut. "Retailers are hoping to partner and promote, and they're really looking for out-of-the-box thinking."

That's the good news. While retailers are now calling the shots, they are also more interested in your product--and your creative ideas. One of the ways Bacigalupi thinks outside the box is to promote his title, Fine Cooking, by sending chefs and cooking displays into gourmet supermarkets. "If you're in two areas of a store, your chances of being purchased double," he says. "The impulse buys really increase." The move draws attention to the magazine, because issues are displayed in store aisles rather than on the magazine rack, but it also makes the retailers happy because it generates additional spending," he explains.

"The chefs give people pointers, which helps make the magazine a source of expertise," Bacigalupi adds, "but it also lets the shoppers know of additional spices, for example, that they may not have bought before. With these things, everybody wins." Bacigalupi says the tactic has helped single-copy sales of Fine Cooking, though specific numbers weren't available.

Another cooking magazine, Cooks Illustrated from Boston Common Press, is shipped directly from the publisher to farmer's markets around the country. Circulation director Dave Mack says that he cuts out the distributor on this one because "we know our product better and can be more aggressive than the distribution companies." In addition to farmer's markets, Mack says, he ships directly to specialty cooking stores. This helps him develop a true relationship with retailers and shows them firsthand why Cooks Illustrated is the right book for their customers.

Education is key

Educating retailers about how your magazine can help their businesses beyond the mere single-copy sale is key to unconventional distribution, says Oatman at OneSource. He sends out regular newsletters to his stores to keep them apprised of developments in the industry, and he advises publishers to follow a similar strategy with their own titles. If your retailers don't believe in the power of a good magazine to generate foot traffic, he says, tell them to look at the book superstores like Barnes & Noble. These outlets always have giant racks prominently displayed because they know people will come in to buy (or at least browse) their favorite magazines, and then possibly roam through the store for a few books.

"I believe in case studies. Show them turnkey examples," says Oatman, adding that education has to be ongoing, year after year. He suggests regularly sending a bundle of update fliers to your distributor, who can get them out to all of your stores with the titles. "The biggest hurdle is the people stocking the racks," Oatman says. "You have to educate them." The flier can let retailers know what's featured in a particular issue or provide general information about your title.

This is especially important if your magazine is focusing on a specific region of the country, says Howard White, president of Howard White & Associates, a circulation consultancy in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In that situation, retailers in the region may want to promote the issue, in hopes of boosting their own sales, and give it special placement.

The most important aspect of this constant communication between retailer and publisher, however, is that it gets your retailer to think about you regularly. And when they do think of you, you should thank them. This is what Manya Winsted, publisher and executive editor of the Santa Fean, does when she runs full-page thank-you ads in the magazine. Something simple like, "The Santa Fean would like to thank these fine stores for providing our magazine," can go a long way toward warming a retailer's heart--and paving the way for a future nontraditional display or cross-marketing strategy.