Hi Bob, just been to France for the day (not quite as much fun as New York, but worth the 9 quid all the same) but when i tried to buy CV from the WHSmiths branch in the UK terminal it wasn't on the shelf. Upon asking the sales assistant who was stacking the new mags on the shelf (who you'd expect to know something about their magazine stocks) i was told - "probably not, if it's not on the shelf then we don't have it, sorry".
Any ideas if this is yet another exemption to the "all stores" that WHSmiths claim to stock CV through...?
cheers,
mark.
That, surely, is one of the Railway branches, and they aren't covered by our main agreement - they do their own thing, as has been made clear hereabouts by me a few times.
Bob C
Ok Bob, thanks for clearing that up. I wasn't sure, since it's not part of the Rail Track/Network Rail system etc.
Must be the same at Airports because they dont stock it either
I looked all over Leeds, plus Kings Cross and London Bridge WHSmiths - not a sniff
Airports aren't part of the main agreement, I'm pretty sure - and, of course Kings Cross and London Bridge stores are part of the railway side of things, where they do their own thing.
Leeds, I don't know about, but if it was at the railways station, then that's not, perhaps, a surprise.
Of course, all this said, I'd much prefer it if the mag was in all stores.
I mean to say, it WAS on sale last week in the wonderful little mag shop opposite my hotel in New York's Time Square!
Bob C
Sorry, I should have made clear, "it" in this case was the March issue.
[This message has been edited by bcrabtree (edited 02 March 2003).]
The Leeds station Smiths normally stocks it anyway but it, nor any other news agents in Leeds had it yesterday.
Leeds shops do stock it. but as Bob said they have different agreements with Airports
Surely someone must have realized that the rail and airport locations are just the sites that CV Should be in????
John
very good point John... Bob?
Whatever I say, I will be seen as doing a "Clare Short" - kicking nine kinds of crap out of my superiors and not having the courage to walk out.
So, by avoiding saying anything, I avoid the problem.
Oh, by the way John, thanks for that REALLY helpful posting!
Grrrr!
Bob C
Well at least if the readers agree maybe someone will listen.
Don't know if it would work but sometimes having people keep pestering the manager of the location might get them to realize that people might buy copies
Sorry couldn't resist
John
As usual, things looks simpler from the outside.
With W H Smith, you have to BUY your way onto the shelves.
Which stores you go in depends on what decide to pay for.
The railway side - as has been mentioned here by me before a number of times - is run separately from the high street side.
The railway side charges a LOT more for shelf space and, rightly or wrongly, it seems that our company has decided not to pay the price of entry.
My view, of course, is that the mag should be on display in newsagents in the land.
But if it cost MORE to get a mag on display than you earn from having it there - which looks to be the case here - what would YOU do?
Bob C
A fair point Bob. I think you should consider the Claire Short thing though; you have had a uncontestable answer for everything i've ever seen anyone throw at you, and nothing is (genuinely) ever your fault!
but then the overwhelming honesty that oozes (given minutes and i could find a more pleasant verb...) from you does spoil that political image... oh well, i guess you're stuck role of world's best magazine editor forever...
keep up the good work,
mark.
I guess the question is Since the Mag has not been in the Railway section how did the company decide that it would not pay its way.
Usually in a free market the price for the shelf space is relative to the value. If this were the case then I wonder if you take the ratio of the cost in the stores to cost in the railway and then apply that to the sales in the stores and see if THEN it is still uneconomical.
WH Smith is not stupid and its customers are not either, they are charging more because they are able to offer higher sales.
Fundamentally I think the issue is that IF the company wants to continue to position this magazine as the best of breed, then it needs to offer it maximum exposure in the areas where NEW buyers are likely to be. I would argue that the local wh smith tends to service a very local geograhic market in the main, and as such you will tend to get a high conversion to subscription rate, and I think that the very high CV subscription rate reflects.
At the Rail/airport areas you are getting better exposure to NEW customers, and as such should be a very wise investment. I know that most travelers expecially men to tend to scan the Mag areas, look for new titles (since they probably already have bought their favorites) and then have a captive read period during travel. Then if they like it the will tend to buy again or subscribe.
Problem is this magazine is a leader, there simply is no other credible alternative that is UK focused, it needs to start marketing and operating based on this leader ship position, moving for market penentration.
Basically as you know I probably read everything in sight, and I have really on as Independant a basis as possible see three Magazines that in the DV arena are well worth reading, CV for sure, DV, and Videgraphy. Time and time again I have seen where a market will support three major players, as such CV needs to firmly move to lock in that space.
And that is going to take investment in marketing. The same advice we keep giving manufactures about the need for effective marketing and distribution applies here also
When you have an excellent product you need to increase visibility via marketing and availability via distribution. Just look at what Pinnacle has been able to do in a short time with the Fast Product line.
John
I recently had a flying visit to the UK, and, as is normal in these cases, the only WH Smiths I could visit were at Railway Stations and Airports - hence no CV.
Having not been able to find CV in either of the major newsagents chains here in the Netherlands (AKO & Bruna), I was somewhat p***ed off.
Are the publishers deliberately trying to limit their sales? Most of the major Uk computer mags are available through these chains. (PC-Pro about 12euro)
Just my thoughts
Stuart
John,
Of course, what you say is essentialy true and is, at least, something that needs to be considered.
Trouble is, unlike you, the people who run our company have no experience of running a genuinely blue-chip company, and tend to think only about very short-term outcomes.
Bob C
Bob
Is it truly a all location or none deal or is is possible to say add Heathrow and see what happens
John
John,
I'm not 100% sure.
I'll try to find out.
Bob C
Bob
Just come back from WH Smith's in Truro, Cornwall. They had their delivery on the 24th this month but because of a new rule, they have returned the delivery to the distributors and will not stock the mag in future.
They have to fit all computer and computer related mags onto a 2 metre shelf stretch - so as Computer Video sells less than other mags, it and a few others have had to go.
The new mag, Digital Video I think it is called, is on another shelf section. It is deemed not to be computer related becuase it at least does not have the word computer on the title. So it will be continue to be available.
Des
Des,
Our instructions/agreement with WH Smith is that CV should be with the video and camcorder mags, and I've heard nothing about this changing.
You might care to get your WH Smith to check their standing instructions on the placement of the mag!
Appreciate knowing if this has been changed - cos it's not something we want changed.
Bob C
Well, from the conversation I had today, such sniper-fire marketing is completely out of the question.
Mind you, I was also told that quite a lot of money is coming available SOON for creative marketing of CV and other Highbury-WV titles.
Cheers
Bob
quote:Originally posted by DVDoctor:
Bob
Is it truly a all location or none deal or is is possible to say add Heathrow and see what happens
John
[This message has been edited by bcrabtree (edited 30 April 2003).]
Bob
WH Smiths in Truro, Cornwall have always placed Computer Video with the PC mags, never with the Video mags. I cannot find anyone there with any instructions to the contrary. I guess they are falling back on 'custom and practice' here.
Des
Des,
I'm getting this double-checked at our end.
Bob C
magazine planagrams (shelf layout diagrams) are notoriously difficult to impliment, particularly in small shops where you don't always have dedicated staff, because they're not always specific. As you say, Des, they are just told to fit all "computer mags" (which as Bob says, CV isn't!) in a certain area of shelves... all other areas of the shop are likely to have very specific diagrams detailing the exact position of an exact product - this is aparantly not possible with magazines because there are just to many and titles change constantly...
as usual, the little people at both ends; Bob C (not trying to suggest that you're short of dwarf-like Bob), and the staff in retail outlets are not to blame... it's normally down to a lack of influence, training, or both!
hopefully with this money Bob speaks of we'll all see a big improvement in distribution of a fantastic publication!
mark.
quote:Originally posted by bcrabtree:
Our instructions/agreement with WH Smith is that CV should be with the video and camcorder mags, and I've heard nothing about this changing.
Appreciate knowing if this has been changed - cos it's not something we want changed.
Bob C[/B]
Sorry Bob, a bit late adding to this I know, but WH Smiths Grantham, Lincs, and I think Newark, Notts, have never put CV in the video section, but always in the hunt for it obscure computer mags section. I aways wondered why it was their, now I know it should not be. You could always add arider to the title 'Hi WHS This is a VIDEO MAGAZINE'. I'm sure the current placement must hurt possible sales.
Peter
Hi Bob
Just thought I'd follow Des by saying that CV is NOT sold at the Totnes branch of WHSmith here in Devon. The other newsagent in the town do stock it, but place it next to computer mags, not video, camera etc mags.
Just thought you'd like to know
Til