Consumer print may be dying, but don’t write off the trade press
With naysayers continuing to predict the demise of print Nick Green argues the trade press should not be tarred with the same brush as consumer media.
Trade media is a powerful thing, and I bet that you also read your trade media while at work – it’s probably where you are right now reading this, and it’s where I read mine. But why are we having to spend so long explaining the function of the trade press to advertisers?
Green
I have spent the last two years of my career in printed trade media. Currently, I am editor of Convenience World – a title that communicates with and informs 12,865 convenience retailers, petrol stations, newsagents and tobacconists. It is a popular title in the trade, with engaged and responsive readers.
Well said Nick Green!
It’s great to agree with a competitor. Our publication, Convenience & Impulse Retailing, operates in the same space as Convenience World, but with around twice the circulation into the broader and more disparate impulse channels. Nick makes some excellent points and it’s a great loss that he’s now left the industry.
We are showing solid year on year growth with trade print advertising, but are having to work much harder for it.
For many trade advertisers, the difficulty is that they often don’t really understand the full breadth of the distribution channels they are trying to sell into. That’s because it is impossible to buy accurate scan data, and therefore impossible to extract measurable results, from the disparate channels of the impulse trade that are not dominated by chains. I refer to the 37,000 corner stores, independent convenience stores, mini marts, news agencies and foodservice stores that have a a convenience or impulse offer.
Around two thirds of these 37,000 independent retailers in the impulse channels, who collectively sell $29 billion a year, never see a sales rep from one of the top 30 manufacturers. So they buy, on average fifteen percent of their stock from one of the major supermarkets. Why? Firstly because it’s cheaper than at a wholesaler and, secondly, because they have no relationship with the manufacturer.
I agree with Nick that most independent retailers see their trade mags as an information lifeline. And a lot of manufacturers and their agencies simply don’t understand that.
I’d also suggest niche market printed magazines have a life still (like mine – Australian Videocamera)