Supermarkets are fine-tuning their magazine mix at the checkout to spice up sales at this high-impulse movement location.
Part of the recipe includes peppering checkstands with special-interest magazines devoted to such topics as gardening, cooking, decorating, leisure activities and teen issues.
Retailers told SN that as a result of these changes, 65% to 75% of their periodical sales are being generated at checkout. "Special-interest magazines have definitely grown in demand as people are buying more of them, including ones for hobbies," said Dave Sinwell, manager of nonfood at Dahl's Food Markets, Des Moines, Iowa. "It seems there's a new one every week." Some of the hottest titles of late include occasional spinoff titles from major consumer magazines covering specific interest areas dedicated to topics such as cooking, decorating and sewing, said Wayne Streva, buyer-merchandiser at Hughes Family Markets, Irwindale, Calif. "The hot titles are the special spinoffs from
McCall's, Better Homes & Garden, Woman's Day and Family Circle." Streva said these titles "come out several times a year," and have sold "very well." Brookshire Grocery Co., Tyler, Texas, has cooked up a new checkout display fixture with more magazine pockets at its 100-plus stores, said Francine Molloy, merchandising coordinator. This move has helped the chain cash in on faster shelf turns and boost its magazine sales.
"We try to maintain as great a variety in our magazines as we can within the structure of an authorized list. We're downsizing the list by removing the slower movers as the 80-20 rule applies to magazines. Twenty percent of the mix accounts for 80% of the sales," Molloy said. Streva said Hughes also is attempting to update its magazine checkstand presentations and maintain upward sales of the category by retrofitting the checkstand fixtures at all its stores. Even though they are larger fixtures, Streva said the magazine units' configuration will remain unchanged except for a height increase of 3.5 inches. "It just allows us more space in 40 pockets instead of the 28 we now have at each checkstand, which will provide space for around 48 titles." "There's only so many titles you want to sell at the checkouts, and there's probably not a lot of call for Hot Rod magazine or Guns and Ammo," added Streva. "When you get past 50 titles, you're going to have to search hard for a publisher who even wants to be at the checkouts and pay the freight to be there."
Sinwell of Dahl's said his store also is revamping its checkout magazine fixtures, and in the process will add about a third more titles than before. Sinwell said most of the checkout assortment doesn't duplicate the mix at the mainline rack. "Some of the areas we'll be getting into include titles on gardening, home improvement, leisure activities, sewing and teen magazines. We'll pretty much have everything, as we have large in-line sections."
While Big Valu Discount Foods, Lexington, Ky., has scaled back its overall magazine variety, it has boosted magazine pocket capacity at checkouts, said Bob Slone, president of the 17-store chain. "Based on a printout of our magazine movement, about 75% of all magazines we sell are at the checkout lanes," he said. In some of its stores, Big Valu has cut back its mainline rack size. At such units, the format has shifted from an upscale approach to more of a limited assortment. Magazine sales are simmering sweetly at Big Valu's other stores where the faster-moving titles are concentrated more at the checkstands in new racking that doubled the number of pockets to around 24. "We're working with our distributor, Kentucky News, to try and get more sales out of the space allocated to publications, including changing the mix and titles," Slone said. Strack & Van Til, Highland, Ind., is changing its checkout publications racks to maximize sales and retail display allowances at that area. "There are many types of magazines out there that interest many people and are important for a supermarket. The titles are highly diverse and along extremely narrow interest niches," said Jim Johnsen, buyer-supervisor for general merchandise and health and beauty care. Although the retailer "can collect retail display allowances for checkout display, if we're not selling magazines we really have not done ourselves a whole lot of good," he said. "Our strategy is placing the best-moving magazines at checkout pockets, which is an ongoing process that involves constantly re-evaluating the better selling titles for that display area." Johnsen stressed, however, that "you can't use retail display allowance money as the basis for pocket position. A retailer should not let the choice of titles placed at the high traffic checkout area be guided by RDA funds." Changing magazine racking with increased pockets and beefing up title variety at cash registers last December enabled Carl's Grocery, Mission, Texas, to better satisfy its shoppers' tastes. George Padilla, director of nonfood, said magazines sales have been up 18% in the past year, due in part "to the better variety we have up front." He said Carl's manages to sell 65% of its magazines at the checkouts. To improve front-end variety, Padilla moved several women's titles from the mainline fixture. "What we're doing now is triggering more impulse sales at the checkouts."
