HARRIS TEETER SETS MAGAZINE DISPLAY CONCEPT

JOEL ELSON

MATTHEWS, N.C. -- Harris Teeter here is considering secondary display fixtures for cross merchandising magazines in other departments, and displaying related products on the same rack.

At the chain's 1811 Matthews Township Parkway store here, a 2-foot-by-4-foot power panel with fashion titles -- Glamour, Vogue, Mademoiselle and other selections -- was set up near the health and beauty care section, with Gillette women's shavers and hair brushes also on the rack.

Although Harris Teeter hasn't yet formally embarked on instituting such cross-promotion fixtures in other departments, a company spokesperson told SN that "right now we are simply looking at fixtures to see if we would want to go into (such) a test."

While food chains have managed to squeeze out additional volume for periodicals by displaying publications in grocery, produce and other areas, Harris Teeter magazine power panels would extend this concept with related nonfood merchandise displayed on the fixtures.

"We and Harris Teeter buyers wanted to try and develop more off-shelf opportunities for magazines, and so we put our heads together," said Scott Dunayes, general manager of Jim Pattison Group/The News Group, Charlotte, the chain's magazine wholesaler.

"The cross-merchandising power wings with clip strips for paperback books and shelves or pegs for the related items will allow us to gain additional selling space for magazines near endcaps at various aisles. It also gives the chain the chance to put some of its products there (for impulse sales)," said the supplier.

Sales of the publications and the highlighted HBC items have been positive since the May positioning of the secondary magazine power panel at the rear of the HBC section at the Matthews Township Parkway unit, said Dunayer, adding the retailer determines the product tie-ins on the outposted fixture.

If Harris Teeter decides to roll out the concept, the magazine power panel fixtures would carry the dove gray or hunter green colors of its in-line displays, said the vendor.

"Once a test of the program is approved, there's a strong possibility it would go into an additional 15 to 20 stores, possibly by August," said the vendor.

He said other departments well suited for the magazine power panel could include nutritional, health and fitness sections where titles like Muscle and Fitness, and Shape, could be appropriately merchandised with power bars and other nutritional supplements. The baby and pet aisles are other targeted possibilities for tie-ins to related titles, he added.