The Magazine Main Line is Dead!
If we’re going to successfully sell magazines at retail, let’s change the way we sell them.
The Main Line is empty
Like you, I head to the grocery store a couple of times a month. Over the past year, I started to notice how empty the ‘magazine and book aisle’ (referred to as the main line) is. It’s empty because consumers are inundated with information and content in today’s allways-on world. No one adds “pick up a magazine or two” to their grocery list. It’s no wonder the main line is devoid of interested shoppers. Magazine retail sales are down and it’s time we re-think where, why, and how we sell and sustain magazines.
“Put us in the produce section”
So goes the plea from Food Network Magazine’s Maile Carpenter at last week’s PBAA-MPA (the Periodical & Book Association of America & the Magazine Publisher’s Association) event in Philadelphia. Malie Carpenter couldn’t be more dead-on.
Malie went on to explain that Food magazines should be with the food in a grocery store. DIY magazines should be with the hardware, and certain women’s magazines should be in the cosmetics aisle. Ms. Carpenter is right and here’s why.
Magazines inspire purchases
For too long, magazine publishers and editors have failed to harness the single-most powerful result of publishing high-quality, editorially-sound content - the ability of their magazine content to inspire people to purchase.
Without DIY magazines and television shows who’s going to inspire homeowners to head to Home Depot to pick-up up a truck load of lumber to build a shelving unit they didn’t know they needed? Without beauty magazines, who’s going to inspire consumers to adopt a new fashion trend or try a new style of eye-make-up? Without Food Network magazine’s ‘Cheese Issue’ who’s going to inspire consumers to make 50 different types of Mac & Cheese?
Selling more mac, more cheese & more magazines
It’s high-time publishers, retailers, and manufacturers work more closely together to sell more stuff. I’m willing to bet that Food Network Magazine increased demand for Mac & Cheese (and the ingredients for these dishes) a substantial amount during the month of March 2013 (when this issue hit newsstands and mailboxes.). But the magazine’s editorial staff, the publisher, and the sales team couldn’t be bothered to measure the impact of their content (on the demand-side) in the marketplace.
For argument’s sake, let’s imagine if Kraft’s cheese division purchased shelf-space in the dairy section to display the magazine for the month of March. Now, let’s imagine that Prince Pasta purchased shelf space in the “macaroni aisle” to display the magazine again. Don’t you think we’d sell more magazines, more pasta, and more cheese?
Why this works
Manufacturers are constantly trying to get closer and closer to the consumer’s moment of purchase. Sure, adding magazines at the already cluttered checkout line might benefit the magazine publisher (you can’t get much closer to the moment of purchase than that.) But I’m unlikely to buy a food magazine with 150 recipes I can’t make this week because I didn’t pick-up the needed ingredients. The moment of purchase for those ingredients occured long before I arrived at the checkout aisle. It happens when I’m looking for inspiration in the ‘pasta aisle’ or in the ‘cheese section.’
What if…
What if we took this theory even further? What if the entire magazine issue was underwritten by the International Dairy Association and the National Pasta Association? Isn’t it in their best interest to help increase demand for their respective categories in the most efficient way possible? What if Food Network Magazine was advertising-free? What if publishers finally were paid for the impact they have in the marketplace?
Ask yourself…
Isn’t it time publishers, retailers, and manufacturers worked together to improve each of their respective businesses?
I was lucky enough to speak at a PBAA event last year with Bob Sacks, who this year provided me with an amazing round-up of the event’s content. Take a look at his Bo Sacks Speaks Out Newsletter covering the issue. http://conta.cc/11SuwgE
