ACP Magazine’s prized weekly fashion title Grazia has been shoved off its prime checkout location in Woolworths supermarkets due to a decline in consumer demand.
A Woolworths spokesman, Luke Schepen, told B&T Today the glossy weekly, which has graced checkouts since the title launched in July last year, has been moved to the less lucrative magazine and newspaper section in the majority of Woolworths’ 780 stores in order to better utilise the prime retail space.
“We change products around all the time whether it be in the mag aisle, at check outs or in the normal grocery aisles,” he said.
“It simply comes down to customer demand. We’ve got 20,000 to 30,000 lines in the supermarket and you have to make the best use of that space for the customer.”
Schepen added that some Woolworths stores will remain stocking Grazia at the checkout, but would not go into detail about sales of the weekly, which currently sells for $5.
Simon Davies, head of print at media agency OMD, said while the change of distribution method suggested sales were down, the fact it has been moved from the checkouts will not result in an immediate sales hit.
“If they’re moving it [from the checkouts] then they’re not selling the copies anyway,” he said.
“So while it’s nice to have it there to help get the brand across, it’s not going to have an immediate impact on overall sales numbers.”
He added that Grazia, being positioned as a high-fashion title for AB demographics, is more suited to the general magazine racks than with the checkouts’ stable of tabloid-style weeklies.
“The key thing to remember is that ultimately Grazia is an AB targeted title and what you’re talking about is a distribution method which is about the broader circulating titles, so I don’t know if it 100% surprising that they’ve changed that.”
When Grazia’s launched last July, backed by a mighty $7 million marketing push, PBL Media’s ACP predicted weekly circulation figures of about 80,000. The first Audit Bureau of Circulations’ figures reported a more conservative 70,000 in the September quarter. Circulation figures for the December quarter released next month are expected to be even lower.
ACP’s group publishing and sales director, women’s lifestyle magazines, Lynette Phillips, was unavailable for comment at the time of going to print.
