Specialty magazines eyed, book assortments boost sales

Drug Store News, April 5, 1993

Drug chains fared better than many bookstores in 1992, thanks to the emphasis on paperback book formats - and thanks to specialty magazines hat cater to concerns of drugs store customer such as health, diet and home management.

John Franznick, executive vice president of the Magazines & Paperback Marketing Institute, says the recession wasn't kind to book sales in 1992. "Books got clobbered. Some mass merchants who were very aggressive held their own. I think book stores got hit harder because hardcover is more price sensitive than paperback."

On the other hand, buyer Phil Pepalis of Benecia, Calif. based Bill's Drug reports his chain was "definitely up" in books and magazines for 1992, largely due to resetting and expanding the book and magazine departments in about a fourth of the chain's 22 stores.

By switching to direct suppliers for books, instead of local independent wholesalers (who still handle all magazines), Pepalis is fine-tuning the selection in the chain's outlets. The key, he notes, is customizing the mix to each store's customer base; some stores sell volumes of children's books, for example, and others with different demographics sell few in this category.

Types that sell

Publishing events sell books. Examples are current best-sellers such as the phenomenal, out-of-nowhere love story The Bridges of Madison County. A lot of excitement is generated when one author has multiple titles on the best-seller lists at one time - like current multi-best-selling author John Grisham (Pelican Brief, The Firm, A Time to Kill and his new hardcover release The Client).

More fitness and wellness books and magazines than ever are found in drug chains these days, and often that means in line, at the checkout and in the pharmacy where patients can browse and select books and periodicals. The cosmetics area is another merchandising point for fashion magazines like Elle and Woman's Own (a self-help title) and other periodicals.

Philip Salvatore, executive vice president of marketing for Curtis Circulation, notes that although some of the big circulation magazines received negative press in 1992 for losing readers and ad pages, "that's not true of the entire business." Specialty magazines and comic books are thriving, and drug chains and food/drug combos rank among the better retail performers in today's single-copy sales market.

Health and fitness titles make a perfect fit for drug chains, notes Salvatore, citing new titles from Rodale like Healthy Woman, Quick and Healthy Cooking, and Men's Health ("Women get it for their husbands," notes Salvatore).

Other hot new titles are found in the ethnic category, such as Heart & Soul - a magazine covering health related problems for black readers, also from Rodale - and for a graying customer base, Longevity magazine.

Among the book/magazine category advantages are guaranteed sales. Books are returnable for credit in most cases, and magazines are replaced with fresh issues by the distributor. In sales per square foot and sales per linear foot, magazines outperform a store average for all categories with eight to nine inventory turns and a 20 percent-plus-incentives or 30 percent gross margin. Publishers also provide customized promotions for drug chains with couponing and other offers to cross-promote magazines with other products and departments.