Why Magazines?

Your Customer isn’t as loyal as you think. Today the shopping landscape is fragmented, with your customers spending time and money in other stores. Magazines offer, among other things, a reason for your consumer to shop at your store location. And among those other things, Magazines are…

Profitable

There are multiple reasons to carry magazines in your retail location. Not the least of which is the profitability the category itself provides; greater profitability than many other items in your store. Magazines are typically in the Top 5% of categories that contribute to your total gross margin dollars. Typically magazines on average have higher inventory turns than many other general merchandising categories.

Capture and Maintain Attention

Have you ever watched what happens when someone hits the magazine section in your store? Most slow down, as if they are escaping the chore of shopping even if only for a few minutes. Whether in a grocery store or convenience location, consumers linger over the magazines and visibly relax. They linger… and lingering in your store results in increased sales overall. It is proven that the longer someone is in your store, the more likely they are to buy and buy more.

Are a Positive Experience

Magazines provide consumers entertainment, knowledge, relaxation, escape and inspiration. They validate lifestyles and interests and are viewed as a reward, also a luxury that can still be enjoyed upon a budget and in these tough times. Multiple studies have been conducted, that indicate magazines are viewed by consumers favorably, provide value and enhance the shopping experience. Magazines provide consumers with a positive experience, that experience within your store adds to how consumers view your overall store brand.

Impulse purchase

Magazines are habitual impulse purchase items - Consumers will buy them on impulse thereby providing retailers revenue they wouldn’t have had previously.

Despite today’s distractions, people are continuing to read and seek out information. The impulse nature of this product suggests that it continues to have strong potential.

Habit Forming

Magazines are also habitual in nature; those consumers who tend to buy the same favorites time after time will purchase from those that they know carry them. Habitual consumers of magazines, comprising on average of 20-23% of the market are frequent shoppers in your store and you know, they usually don’t leave your store without purchasing something else as well.
 

Beneficial Beyond Immediate Sales

Beyond the profitability that magazines provide as a category, magazine buyers tend to spend more than the average shopper. 70- 86% more on average!1 Those same shoppers also make more visits per year to the store. Add this to the higher than average purchase price, inventory turns and the positive branding influence and you begin to see why carrying magazines and books is just smart business. But wait, there’s more. Consumers purchase those items that are advertised in magazines. In fact heavy magazine readers are likely to be the largest spenders overall.

Risk Free

Finally, carrying magazines and books is Risk Free. All magazines and books are fully returnable to The News Group.

1. 2005/06 Magazine Handbook http://www.magazine.org/