Magazine newsstand task - Distribution of magazines
During the course of the week I went around to a variety of different shops and took pictures of their music magazine stands. The main focus of this task was discuss and gain an understanding of the distribution of music magazine stands and how they are laid out.
This is the first music magazine stand I found which was in Sainsburys. As you can see the magazines have been laid in an unusual way from how you are most likely to see them in other shops. They have placed the magazines covering the right side of the magazines with another. I think this may have done this because most magazines mastheads are kept the same in every issue of the magazine so the mast head is most definitely something you should recognise even if you can only see the first half of it. A downside to the layout of these music magazines is that the magazines do kind of look disorganised and they would easily get mixed up making it harder for the buyer to find the magazine they are looking to purchase.
This photo was taken in WHSmiths and it shows the usual layout of how you would see magazines in a shop which is having the whole masthead of each magazine showing enabling the buyer to easily and quickly find the magazine they are there to purchase. The bold and big masthead is what is displayed in most shops as it is the most eye catching aspect or feature of a magazine.
Ways of Distribution
Online distribution: Online distribution usually is paper-free, this means the magazine is cheap for both publishers and consumers. Online distribution is good for young people as they are now more frequently using the internet. So the magazine can be downloaded by phone, Ipads, laptops, kindles. Online distribution saves money as it doesn’t needed to be printed or transported to the consumer. Also people can give feedback to the publisher which is instantly sent to their emails which saves more money for the consumer and the publisher.
Postal distribution: Postal distribution is very efficient as it is pre-paid by the consumer which means the publisher makes money. Postal distribution has its advantages as its better for the consumer, because they don’t have to worry about purchasing the magazine and missing out on an issue because the magazine is delivered to their house. Also some consumers may receive their magazine before it appears in the shop. Postal distribution offers gifts to the consumer.
Direct distribution: Direct distribution is when a free magazine is given to the consumer in the market or sometimes given out on the street. Direct distribution does not involve marketing the magazine. Example of direct distribution magazine is shortlist. Direct distribution gets a lot of costumers as its free. Some magazine have 500,000 readers.
You have considered how retailers and publishers work together to optimise sales, and how design elements try to grab the attention of the audience. You have also done some research into magazine distribution, although this could be illustrated with some examples from magazines and publishers. VC
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