A Bookseller’s Perspective
Independent and locally owned bookstores are a unique stop for their shoppers. Customers look not only for the books they want to read but also see the store as a touchstone of their community’s ideals and interests.
Magazines play an important role in identifying and branding your store. We recently spoke with Petra Serafim, the magazine merchandiser of Bookshop Santa Cruz in California, about her experience with merchandising magazines. As a large independent retailer, the store views magazine sales as pivotal to their success.
Do you do any cross-merchandising within the store? For example, in your political section of books, do you have any shelf talkers or signage that might direct people to a certain political magazine?
We do have a person who, among other things, is in charge of our in-store displays. We have display tables all through the main walkways of the store, which will generally feature books as well as a little rack of any magazines that would be pertinent. We don't usually put racks of magazines in other places around the stores, although in the last year, we've created some additional display racks that are more visible from the entrance. I believe this has been helpful to us in increasing sales in the magazine department. It's been pretty consistent and quite amazing--5% higher since we put in one particular rack.
Is it a small, 20-pocket-size rack?
Yes. It's near our register, which is also near our doorway, which helps people realize, "Oh, right beyond there is the magazine section."
It’s reported that 75 new magazines premiere each month. Do you monitor new magazines?
I do to an extent in my day-to-day roaming around. Like in San Francisco, which isn't far from here, I go into some funky little shop, and I see some title that we don't have that would be perfect; I will find out who we work with who has that title and add it. We just love to do that, and we get a really good response on those types of things. Something that's really helpful to me is your yearly catalog. I spend an afternoon scouring through that every time it comes out, adding 20 or 30 [titles]. I might add some new knitting magazines or whatever our customers are looking for.
How do you measure the trends in categories? Like the knitting category, for example?
I don't work just in magazines. I also work as a bookseller in the store, trained in the book department, and we all talk about what people are asking for and what is selling well in the store. So that's something really good to know in the magazine department, that political titles are really hot or knitting is really big, or we take cues from the media, which we're all surrounded by.
Once you add a new title what kind of life span do you give that title to prove itself? If it doesn't sell well in a couple of months, do you stop selling it? Or do you consider the season?
It depends on the circumstance. Sometimes it will come in, and I'll realize it's not the right thing once I actually see it, versus seeing it in a catalog. I might realize it wouldn’t work because the production values aren't high enough or it's actually about a different topic than I thought it was, and I might cancel it right then. But otherwise, I usually give it three or four issues, which might be a little long, but sometimes it will end up catching on.
Follow these tips from Bookshop Santa Cruz to increase the appeal of your magazine section.
- Buy internationally – It is difficult to subscribe to international magazines, so customers who are interested in these titles will rely on the store that is able to provide global periodicals.
- Shop the competition – Visit bookstores in nearby cities to see what titles they have that your customers might want, and then add those titles to your offering.
- Add local flavor – People surf in Santa Cruz, so Bookshop Santa Cruz carries surfing titles. Whether it’s theater in New York, jazz in New Orleans, or even cheese in Wisconsin, find your area’s unique personality and devote some magazine space to it.
|
