Addressing an audience at the PPA newstrade forum The Changing Retail Environment, Phil McNally WHSmith Retail business unit director said the company did not want to reduce range but did want to make magazine purchasing "more convenient".
McNally said: "We are looking to stabilise share in 2006 and then grow it by two per cent by 2008."
This would be achieved, he added, by better managing ranges. One example given was "generic spacing" that would give more prominence to market leaders.
Another speaker, Brian Moore, managing director of EMR-NAMNEWS, a marketing consultancy in the retail sector, warned retailers that they must face up to the threat from supermarkets or face closure.
"Big supermarkets are setting standards and you need to follow or perish," said Moore.
"These are money machines that happen to sell groceries. For them magazines are just another route to improving basket size."
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
