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Success at the Newsstand
Presented by
Craig TomarkinDart Marketing, LLC
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Success at the Newsstand
OverviewContent and Design Analysis: Relate Past Covers to Sales
Cover StrategyCover Testing on the Fly
Profiles of Newsstand BuyersProduct Positioning: Competitive Perceptual Maps
Newsstand Performance SegmentationReturns Forecasting and Enhanced Performance Scorecards
Summary
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Achieve Success at the Newsstand
Through a process of general strategic assessment, database analysis, testing, and research, we can improve your newsstand sales and sell-through efficiency.
To achieve this goal, we offer a number of services targeted at each objective.
• The process begins by reviewing your current covers and discussing your strategy with you,• followed with a database analysis of past covers, • profiling newsstand buyers, and • assessing your current strategy.
Based on what we find, we may recommend alternative strategies to test. And, with your guidance, our analytic team will take if from there.
The following pages describe some of these opportunities in more detail.
Overview
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Content and Design Analysis: Relate Past Covers to Sales
Purpose:• Look for patterns and relationships between characteristics of past covers and relate to sales. • Determine which characteristics lead to higher sales and validate statistically.
Method:Create an analytic database, which expands existing sales information (which may already include sell through rates and sales by channel, geography, and month) for each issue to include details about the cover. In building this database, the farther back the data goes the better. Validate results through statistical analysis.
Items to be considered:• Article content
– Topics; main and subordinate– Relevance; are topics timely, forwarding looking (future) or backward (past)
• Cover design– Placement; logo and main story, price– Layout; usage of roofline and left-hand column– Design; color, fonts, light/dark background– Strength of Image; cartoons/photos, words/pictures, still/motion, celebrities (age, gender,
setting, etc.)
Results:Increased sales through a comprehensive analysis of cover design and article content.
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Cover Strategy
Purpose:• Put the findings of your Content and Design Analysis to work, plus test bold new concepts in a simulated research environment. • Get quantifiable consumer reactions to new test-covers to verify that the current cover content, design, and pricing strategy beats alternatives. • Determine the price elasticity curve for optimal pricing.
Method:Consumers in malls all over the country are chosen based on the screening criteria we establish. Each test cell of responders is shown a version of the magazine with either an actual cover or mock-up test cover. The price will be masked. We will collect price elasticity and their opinions. Then we show them the other version, asked their opinions, and find out which version they prefer, price aside, on a five point scale (like it a lot more, a little more, the same, a little less, a lot less). They are also given an opportunity to give open ended feedback about the magazine.
Another option is to do this research online.
Results:Increased sales and sell-through efficiency, if a new cover strategy is chosen or increased confidence that current strategy is best.
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Cover Testing on the Fly
Purpose:• Get quantifiable consumer reactions to covers before choosing which to use. • Measure lift of cover choice to sales by calibrating to survey responses. • Predict the overall success of the issue before release, based on live consumer feedback. • Avoid the one “bad” cover, which ends up hurting sales for the year.
Method:Since fast turnaround is required (2 days) and it must be done inexpensively, surveys are conducted on the Internet. We manage the whole process and fine-tune the strategy over time as we learn the most effective way to communicate with your distinct customers; testing different email subject headings, body copy, response incentives, and survey lengths.
We send an email invitation to subscribers and/or members of a qualified research panel to take an online survey. Depending on your objectives, they can be asked to simply choose the best cover or answer a series of questions about it, including their level of interest on a ten point scale.
Determination of which cover to choose is based on those who respond after the first 36 hours. The remaining responses can be used for other questions, if needed. Counts are tabulated and re-weighted to match the demographics of the subscriber base, then statistically validated. Given more lead-time, we can advise if the cover needs to be re-done in time for release.
Results:Choosing the cover that will provide the highest sales and sell-through efficiency.
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Newsstand Buyer Profiles
Purpose:• Identify characteristics of newsstand buyers. • Compare newsstand buyers to subscribers and validate statistically. • Establish the demographic composition of the newsstand subscriber base for
weighting responses from Internet surveys.
Methods:Straight-forward profiles of newsstand buyers and comparisons between newsstand
subscribers and the remaining subscribers.
NewsstandBuyers Subscribers
% % IndexCENSUS REGIONS
South 36.0 28.3 127Northeast 21.1 21.7 97Midwest 22.3 25.4 88West 19.7 24.2 82
CENSUS REGIONS
127
97 88 82
020406080
100120140160180200
South Northeast Midwest West
Inde
x
Profile Example:
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Product Positioning: Competitive Perceptual Maps
Types of Maps:
In this simple example, a broad array of magazines were plotted by their similarity to each other on two dimensions, median age and gender. The size of each bubble represents the number of subscribers.
If we focused only on men’s magazines, the gender dimension would be replaced with something more salient, such as price.
More sophisticated plots, which require advanced statistical analysis, are even more compelling because they show sales correlations, based on past acquisition mailings or cross-promotions.
Purpose: Improve product positioning - Illustrate how perceptions of magazines (or sales of magazines) correlate with each other on various dimensions. Look for opportunities.
-
10
20
30
40
50
60
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female
Med
ian
Ag
e
ART1
ART3
ART2
GARDEN2
GARDEN1
GARDEN3
TEENS
WOMEN2
MEN1
SPORT3
SPORT1
MEN2
SPORT4
SPORT2
COMPUTER
WOMEN1
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Optimize Distribution Strategy through Performance
SegmentationPurpose:• To identify the best and worst performing distribution channels (newsstand sites).• Segment distribution sites by the characteristics that drive performance.
Method:Simple Performance Segmentation - Start with a two-dimensional plot of efficiency (sell through rates) by sales volume.
Scientific Performance Segmentation (Cluster analysis) - Add multiple dimensions for more precision, including variables such as the type of newsstand channel, locations and size.
Regression Model – Precise to the individual newsstand level.
Results:Segmentation will identify newsstands to drop and ones to try to improve. Modeling will identify the most desirable newsstand characteristics and targets for preferred new locations.
High
Low Type Location Size
Low High
Sales Volume
Efficiency
Multi-dimensional plot for each newsstand
High Improve Model
Low Drop Improve
Low High
Two-dimensional plot for each newsstand
Efficiency
Sales Volume
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Returns Forecasting
Purpose:• Reduce the number of returns by accurately matching supply to demand.
Method:Measure volatility by location/channel and derive appropriate margin of supply overage. Forecast returns using a time series analysis. Study growth/decline trends by segment.
Results:The forecasts will reduce the number of returns per distribution channel or newsstand.
Enhanced Performance Scorecards
Purpose:• Track performance of each distribution channel.• Measure segmented newsstand performance.• Update existing reporting methods.
Method:Evaluate current reporting system and design a new scorecard to better evaluate performance. Track changes in results over time.
Results:New scorecards will provide more comprehensive performance tracking.
Returns Forecasting and Enhanced Performance
ScorecardsThese are the basics of tracking newsstand performance. As such, they deserve proper attention.
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Dart Marketing would like to become your newsstand consulting team. The services we provide are designed to pay back multiples of the cost in increased unit sales and increased efficiency.
This will be accomplished through a process we customize to your distinct needs, based on the relevant components of the framework we’ve described. Here are some examples:
• Having a highly experienced industry expert review your current covers, perform an assessment of your strategy and advise on some alternatives to test.• Building a database relating past covers to sales and identifying characteristics leading to higher sales.• Using market research to test bold new concepts, determine the price elasticity for optimal pricing, get quantifiable consumer reactions to covers before choosing which to use, and predict the overall success of the issue before it’s release.• Profiling newsstand buyers and comparing them to subscribers.• Improving product positioning through perceptual maps.• Improving distribution through performance segmentation.• Reducing the number of returns by accurately matching supply to demand.• Tracking performance of each distribution channel through enhanced reporting methods.
Summary
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Getting Started…
Craig TomarkinDART Marketing, LLC
2333 Congress St.Fairfield, CT 06824
Fax 419-858-8545
Contact us today!
Learn more about how we can help you achieve “Success at the Newsstand.”
