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Shopping around the retail media market may take some time as few other industries are quite so well served by the trade press. Every niche and diverse function of this massive sector appears to have its own title, from In Store Marketing to Cash and Carry Management, making it as busy as any high street on a Saturday afternoon.

"It is a fairly crowded marketplace in terms of the number of titles and the number of publishing houses behind them, but this has more to do with the different audiences that can be identified in the sector than the ad revenue available to the market as a whole," says Guy Blackden, director at media agency Carat. "It would be safe to assume that some players are not making a lot of money from their presence in the market."

But others are doing fine. Retail is a relatively buoyant market to be in. It is massive, worth more than £207bn in the UK and employs three million people. It is also hugely diverse - from Mercedes cars to Mars bars.

Variety of titles

The biggest sector is food and drink, accounting for just over £100bn in sales each year. Within it, the major multiples dominate, scooping up 60% of the share, but there are still thousands of other smaller outlets, including petrol stations, news-agents, convenience stores and independently-owned supermarkets. The variety of those retailers is matched only by the variety of retail trade magazines competing for their attention.

There are the small niche players like Florist and Wholesale Buyer, for independent florists to buyers in the multiples, through to In Store Marketing or Retail Interiors, which focus on the nuts and bolts of shops.

There is also Asian Trader, which would appear to be niche, especially as it is published in Gujarati and Urdu as well as English. However, the company has extended its range to include non-Asian shopkeepers and it now has the largest circulation of all the titles.

Circulation of the majority of these publications is controlled and limited, usually to between 10,000 and 15,000. However, the audience is highly targeted and this is the major selling point for most of the retail media. A title boasting 10,000 readers may be as attractive to an advertiser as a broader magazine with 50,000 readers, if the client trusts the target audience will be reached.

 "It's not about the numbers. A lot of media agencies might just look at the numbers and buy space based on that, but if they understand the market properly they'd see it isn't always the best choice. Having a good controlled circulation that provides the right people is more valuable," says Richard Siddle, managing editor of Independent Retail News and Checkout.

Alongside the niche players there are one or two that straddle the field. Retail Week, published by Emap, covers the whole retail sector, reaching out to directors of the top 700 retailers, while the only vertical title within the food and drink sector is The Grocer, a brand-led magazine published by William Reed.

"There are lots of different titles, but the one that stands out is The Grocer," says Angie Brown, account director at Manning Gottlieb OMD.

The Grocer also happens to be one of the few titles that is currently purely paid-for and has an ABC of more than 40,000. However, Retail Week, with a circulation of around 15,000, is considering the giant leap away from controlled circulation. It has been running trials on paid-for models and has managed, since the mid-'90s, to push its purchase numbers up to nearly 50%.

"Emap's investing a six-figure sum in the title, and we're looking at moving over to a purely paid-for model," says Neill Denny, editor. "The benefits are obvious. If the readers have to pay for it they'll value it more, while it'll create a different relationship between the advertisers and the readers."

The changes within the retail media are minor compared to the changes going on in the sector. Over the past two decades, the multiples have successfully swallowed up the majority of share, leaving the smaller players struggling to compete. More recently, the multiples have recognized a new revenue stream and they have moved quickly to exploit it. A cash-rich, time-poor population hooked on snacking is also prone to convenience shopping and so the multiples have starting popping up next to train stations, on the petrol forecourt and even on the high street, all masquerading as the corner shop.

"The growth of the multiples and their encroachment on to the high street has contributed to the decline in numbers of independents over the years, but there is now growth in the sector," says Paul Gray, associate publisher of Asian Trader, which has a controlled circulation of nearly 54,000. "The retailers that are left are more progressive, professional retailers and those who failed to adapt to not only the multiple onslaught but also failed to adopt a convenience trading outlook fell away."

But falling circulation isn't as drastic for the titles as one would think, and many planners and buyers, such as Guy Blackden, actually find it "reassuring" that the magazines aren't keeping their circulation artificially high.

"It demonstrates their understanding of the market and investment into their circulations," he adds.

Despite dropping numbers, the editors still argue they provide a vital function. While Multiple Buyer and Retail may offer news and features for supermarkets, it can't provide much interest for 60,000 small outlets not affiliated to a supermarket, hence the large number of niche media players.

"The editorial proposition for the multiples is understandably very different to that of the independents," says Blackden. "Perhaps the success of the titles targeting independents is down to the fact they offer genuine business advice that translates directly to profit for the retailer. Often, the retailers don't have access to this kind of information and advice from any other source."

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The magazines have also assumed a campaigning role to woo readers, investing in research and taking a strong stand on issues. IRN, which has been shortlisted four times in the past five years in the PPA's editorial campaign of the year award, links up with sponsors to research and campaign. In one recent battle it hooked up with cigarette giant Gallaher to highlight the problem of bootlegging.

Data gathering and price comparison are also key areas of the magazine. The Grocer produces Grocer 33 each issue, in which mystery shoppers go to outlets around the UK and purchase the same 33 articles. Price, visuals and service are all commented on.

"We know this is widely read and is actually used in price negotiations, even at the big supermarkets," says Julian Hunt, editor of the weekly title.

But the magazines are not just essential to the retailers, they are also crucial to the brands and advertisers who want to reach out to this disparate group, especially among the independent sector.

"The head office buyers are fairly easy to identify and it's relatively easy for manufacturers to maintain a direct dialogue with the key decision makers, which explains the demise of the multiple specific advertising budgets," says Blackden. "However, the independent sector is much harder to keep track of and the trade press has been the most proven channel for reaching them. The nature of independent retailing lends itself to the trade press."

Strong position

It puts the retail press in a strong position even if there is a collapse of consumer confidence. Everyone needs food and drink.

"Even though manufacturers may tighten their consumer adspend, they'll still have to get their brands to the point of purchase. In fact I'd argue it becomes more important," says Gray. "If a consumer runs out of teabags, he'll pop down to his local store to top up. It's doubtful he'll go to another store if his regular brand's not in stock. It's a distress purchase. Therefore, distribution becomes key in ensuring the brand's in front of the consumer. The most effective way is by influencing the retailer's stocking decision at store level and the most cost-effective way of doing that is by utilizing the trade press."

The manufacturers concur, but getting their message out through the heavily populated retail media scene isn't so easy. As Siddle has highlighted, picking the titles with the largest circulations isn't a guarantee, while linking up with an agency hasn't always been successful.

"Ninety per cent of the agencies don't understand this complex market," says Graham Walker, sales operations manager at Nestlé Rowntree. "Last year, we talked to an agency about a PR campaign in the trade press and they came back with a list of target titles. We have our own A-list of the top six, and three of them weren't even on the agency's list."

Instead,  Walker deals with the trade press in-house and commissions agencies to do the consumer advertising.

"The trade press is highly important to an impulse market like confectionery. We need to get our message out to the independents and the wholesalers so they know what is available," he says.

But, like any busy media, the retail press is cluttered with messages, making it imperative that ads stand out, otherwise it might as well be wallpaper.

There have been some interesting campaigns. Last month, Ferrero UK hooked up with Asian Trader to launch its newest flavour of Tic Tac to the trade.

"We went with Asian Trader because of its circulation, but also because we have a good relationship with the magazine," says Lorraine Crowe, group brand manager for Tic Tac and Nutella. "We've found them to be flexible and creative and we can go to them with our objectives confident they will come up with a good plan."

The latest launch saw the February 14 issue of Asian Trader delivered to readers in a branded envelope with a free sample for the retailer to try, a shelf wobbler, a poster and a flyer detailing the consumer campaign that would support the launch. Tic Tac also bought the front cover. Although it advertised in other trade titles, it allocated the bulk of its budget to Asian Trader, spending £15,000 on the one issue.

The campaign has similarities to a campaign organized by Carat for Rothmans, which appeared in more than one magazine. This also included shelf wobblers and posters. More recently, Carat teamed up with Cadbury Trebor Bassett. In the issue of The Grocer that preceded the start of the Commonwealth Games last year, Carat bought the front cover for its client and an inside ad which carried a tip-on. The size of a credit card and folded like a map, the tip-on became an A3 poster of a map of the UK showing the route the Commonwealth torch would take, allowing readers to see if it came near their shop.

"It worked very well, because of the tip-on the magazine naturally fell open on the page. It meant we had the front cover and the impact of it opening on the advert," says Simon Russell, client executive at Carat.

High-impact alternative

Sponsorship deals have also blossomed in the market, offering advertisers a high-impact alternative to display. IRN has been strong in this area. Last month, it worked with Pepsi to create a Cricket World Cup Fantasy League that proved popular among readers. It has also involved sponsors in store make-over programmes.

"We've had an on-going feature looking at four stores since the Millennium and it has been supported by manufacturers who have contributed to the make-overs and store development. In the past 18 months those stores have seen revenue increase by £1m between them. It's great for the manufacturers to be seen by the readers to be contributing something more than just adverts to the industry," says Siddle.

Sponsorship has also helped IRN to create a profit-making website. Different manufacturers have linked to areas on the site to give advice to readers. It is something Siddle wants to develop.

"We could do more with the web. We have 17,600 unique users that log on every month and spend around nine minutes on the site, and we could be using that to do more campaigning and communication," says Siddle. "The web's definitely a growing area, although at the moment it's not as important to our readers as in other industries."

The only other competitor in the web field is The Grocer, which has a popular jobs section. However, it is likely the web will become increasingly important to retailers, providing information and advice currently brought to them by the retail media.

But whether it will ever provide the same campaigning edge is still to be seen. Until then, the retailers will probably stay loyal to their favourite offline brand.

Asian Trader (Asian Trade Publications)                             53,745

Cash And Carry Management                                            4,159

Checkout (Highbury Business Communications)                 10,434

Convenience Store (William Reed)                                     50,798

Forecourt Trader (William Reed)                                       14,047

Independent Retail News

(Highbury Business Comms)                                              44,985

Multiple Buyer and Retailer (MBR) (William Reed)            11,200

Musgrave Magazine (CBG.ie)                                          *32,936

Retail Newsagent (Newtrade Publishing)                            16,638

Retail Week (Emap Retail)                                                14,995

Shopping Centre (William Reed)                                       12,934

The Florist Trade Magazine (Wordhouse Publishing)          9,809

The Grocer (William Reed)                                               40,278

*Ireland only

Source: ABC