Not Exactly A Bonus Issue: Let's Talk Some Retail - Issue #47
One thing we humans are good at is following, imitating, copying.
If you spend five minutes looking into the history of magazine publishing, you’ll notice that right off of the bat. My first job in the publishing business was for a company that was excellent at following trends. Word Seek puzzle books were big? We launched Find-a Word and then Seek-a-Word just to get a piece of the puzzle pie. Soldier of Fortune was having some success in the weapons space, we launched Gung Ho! Magazine. My first employer had a stable full of titles that modeled the editorial content of other more successful publishers. Back then, the market was very forgiving and we were pretty successful.
During the depths of the pandemic, we heard a lot about how DTC is the future of retail. But is it? The cost to “acquire” a customer in the DTC world is pretty high. So not surprisingly, we’ve seen many DTC retailers test out their own bricks and mortar stores. Amazon was famous for this until it was clear it wasn’t working for them outside of their Whole Foods acquisition. But the list of DTC brands that have opened up stores around the country, and kept them open is pretty long:
As the traditional world of magazine publishing has flown apart and remade itself over the last ten to fifteen years, we practitioners have been advised by industry trades to dive into so many new channels to reach audiences and profitability. So often, they’ve either turned out to be dry wells or meager streams. But everyone dove in nonetheless because the alternative is to close the magazine.
The article below from Retail Dive got me thinking this Memorial Day weekend. we were in Washington, DC and visited with friends in Georgetown and it was fascinating to see some of these DTC trailblazers located on the street in good old fashioned bricks and mortar store. This wasn't the first time I'd seen this - for several years I lived near a row of similar stores on a block on Armitage Street here in Chicago. But it was quite a concentration.
I also thought of all of the retail businesses Monocle Magazine has launched: Their large collection of retail items and their eight retail locations and one cafe (in London). If you think about it, magazine publishers have a great built in audience and ability to sell so many items directly to their audiences.
So if you're a magazine publisher, I have to ask: “What have you got to sell today?”
Retail Dive: Why Georgetown, Washington, DC is a hub for DTC brands
Why this D.C. neighborhood is becoming a hub for DTC brands | Retail Dive — www.retaildive.com Retail industry news, voices and jobs. Optimized for your mobile phone.
If you're ever in Washington, DC, head over to M Street, NW in the Georgetown neighborhood. From a retail perspective, it's a pretty eye opening experience.
Not every magazine publisher can be a Monocle Magazine. But I'm inclined to think that many are leaving a lot of cash by not expanding their readers more than mere words.
And your moment of both magazine zen, and agita is brough to you by this tiny little news item about Veranda Magazine
Hearst Reveals a New VERANDA That Celebrates 35 Years in Print | MediaVillage — www.mediavillage.com As Hearst's VERANDA magazine celebrates its 35th anniversary, the publication has gone through a redesign, which debuted with the May/June 2022 print issue -- the title's largest since 2008.
Lately we've been inundated with a lot of stories about publications ceasing their print editions, it was heartening (Maybe? Kind of? Sort of? Just a wee little bit?) to learn that Hearst was investing in an upgrade to the print edition of this celebrated title.
If you head out to the newsstand to buy a copy of this 35 year old title, you'll be asked to spend $6.95.
Or you can get six issue from the Hearst website for only $12.00 per year.
Or, you can go to Discount Mags and get it for less.
How many emails did you get this morning telling you that the sender hoped you had a great weekend and are off to a good start this week? A lot I bet. So let me add that I hope the same for you. Just not in a chirpy "Good morning! Here's a disaster for you to solve!" email.
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Have a great week!