August Newsletter

Hello! A month flies by so quickly and the office has been starting preparations for Distripress in October - I look forward to seeing you in the 'good old' U S of A in just under four weeks time. This month I also made a trip to Singapore - see the link for more information on my travels. We are making plans for marketing to Australian holiday makers in September/October at tourist hot spots with our distribution partners. Talking of tourists, you will see in Title Update we announce to you the Australian Restaurant of the Year from Australian Gourmet Traveller. My challenge to you all: If you brave an international flight to see us in Sydney before Christmas '09, we will take you to the wonderful winner, Quay Restaurant here in Sydney (it's sensational)... surely it would be worth the effort! I hope you are enjoying our new format - we always welcome your comments and feedback.

Title Update

Australian Gourmet Traveller

Monthly, A$8.75

A fantastic issue this month that announces Australia's Restaurant of the Year Awards. The overall winner is Quay Restaurant in Sydney, and not only is the food obviously sensational but the view is pure Sydney - overlooking the Opera House and our magnificent harbour. Sydney was not the only city to excite the judges' taste buds with restaurants/bars in Brisbane, Melbourne & Perth represented. Let's hope we get to try some of the restaurants soon. This issue also profiles eating in Hong Kong and staying in Phuket and Italy.

Your Investment Property

Monthly, A$9.95

The Australian property market is on the up again and each issue profiles how to maximize profits in a rising market. Information on rental hotspots around Australia and how to buy property before it goes to auction. This topic will appeal to Australians living here or overseas as a high percentage of our population own their own homes, or are striving to and 'talking property' is never far from Australian's minds. Position the magazine in high Ex-Pat areas to ensure maximum sales.

Lovatt's Publications

One of the greatest family publishing success stories in Australia is the Lovatt's range of titles. James and Christine Lovatt are icons in their respective fields. Patrick, their son, is now the boss.

Colleen, Peter and Terry are great friends of 8Pt and we are proud to offer all our distribution partners, in all markets overseas (except NZ of course), the opportunity to range this prestigious portfolio of Crossword and Puzzle titles.

A4 Lovatt's BIG
A4 Lovatt's Colossus
A4 Lovatt's Cluewords
A4 Lovatt's Mega!
A4 Lovatt's Super Sudoku
A4 Lovatt's Holiday Collection
A4 Lovatt's Large Print Crosswords
A4 Lovatt's Variety Puzzles
A4 Lovatt's Find a Word
A4 Lovatt's Code Cracker Starhunts
A4 Lovatt's Cryptic Collection
A5 Lovatt's Handy Pocket Sudoku
A5 Lovatt's Handy Pocket Wordhunt
A5 Lovatt's Handy Pocket Code Crackers
A5 Lovatt's Handy Pocket Crosswords
A5 Lovatt's Handy Addoku + Kakuro
A5 Lovatt's Handy Pocket Cryptic Crosswords
A5 Lovatt's Handy Pocket Arrowords
A5 Lovatt's Handy Pocket Fill-ins
A5 Lovatt's Puzzle Fun for Kids

CONTACT - Air, Land & Sea

Bi-Monthly, A$8.95

This month we are featuring one of our favourite titles published by a mate of mine, Brian Hartigan. The magazine is called CONTACT - Air, Land & Sea - the latest cover is shown here.

Brian has now successfully published 23 issues (and a oneshot) and copies are in transit to our respective distribution partners. We will be sending out more samples to our friends who do not currently range the magazine to ensure all opportunities are covered.

Targeting (no pun intended) the Australian military - currently serving as well as those retired from the forces, issue #23 covers articles on the best gear and the jobs market. This is a great magazine to consider for retailing near army, naval or air force bases around the globe. So please, do some research on where the concentration of military personnel are in your city/country, and request a sample from 8Pt today. It is bound to sell well!

Marketing News

Coming up in September/October are the school holidays for our largest States, Victoria and New South Wales so we are looking at targeting tourists to key destinations of Thailand, Bali, Fiji and Hong Kong - Australians love to travel for their holidays! Working with our distribution partners is the key to success with our marketing efforts and we look forward to rolling out many innovative marketing campaigns.

It is exciting to see our weekly magazines commencing distribution in Canada (Thanks you to Eugenio, Grace and Frank for their ongoing support) from beginning of September and we hope to do same in UK in the near future (Jamie, Jenna - Many thanks). The launch will be supported with cover posters and "Buy Australian Magazines" themed point of sale.

A tip-on campaign of a "stubby holder"*** will be rolling out in September with the latest issue (Oct 09) of Australasian Dirt Bike to Indonesia, Thailand and Mauritius. We look forward to measuring the success of this strategy closely as further tip-on promotions are planned for the coming months.

*** For those that are not familiar with the term: A stubby holder is an Australian clause for a hand held product that holds your bottle/can of beer and keeps it cold during consumption!

Details of a large raft of one-shots, published by ACP, have been communicated to our customers in the past month or so and we will work to streamline this process and provide as much information as we can at time of announcement - this is not always readily available but we are working on it!

Japan will see another Fashion Week in October and we look forward to promoting Harper's Bazaar during this busy time in Tokyo.

Andrew's visit to Singapore

I made a decision in mid August to take a few days away from Sydney and visit my friends at Allscript and CARKIT in Singapore.

After a pleasant flight I arrived late Tuesday night and hit the pillows. I rose early Wednesday morning, jumped into my walking clothes and ventured down Orchard Road (you may remember Dawn's story two months ago re the retail outlets in this main part of Singapore).

Suffice to say, for the outlets that I visited before 8am the displays were great, predominantly I visited some 7-11 stores and two independent retailers…..who were open.

After breakfast, it was into casual clothes again, to meet Dawn in front of the hotel and we hit the streets in her new zippy Mazda 3. In short we visited nearly a dozen outlets in the following areas: Jalita, Holland Park, downtown and through the main shopping centres in the CBD, having lunch in between at the buffet in Raffles (an experience EVERYBODY should have just once in their life!).

Suffice to say I was most impressed with the display of American, Australian, English and (very vibrant) Singaporean titles. The magazines were well positioned in categories, most in plastic clear bags and all stores were well lit.

Disappointingly, I did come across a concerning tactic that is being undertaken by one of our competing distributors - being illegal parallel importing. We found current issue titles, bagged with "tatty" old issues at mark down prices in all the independent stores we visited (except for Borders and Kinokuniya). Hence, this led us to investigate further and we then found out that that this distributor is also selling unsold copies through a warehouse in the industrial area of Singapore at greatly reduced prices - one can only guess what their logic is!

As we know, and appreciate, all magazine distributors, either exporters or importers, spend many, many hours developing plans and initiatives to sell mint copies. To see one local distributor performing an across the board tactic to destroy mint copy sales left a sour taste in my mouth (but then again maybe I am just too passionate about growing sales and promoting magazines).

However, that aside, the chain stores were a joy to visit. Borders (which we drove past on the corner of Scotts Rd and Orchard Rd), was FULL EVERYTIME I looked at it. I purchased some magazines a day later and stood in a queue at the checkout for 8 minutes whilst the punters in front of me all bought magazines. The displays at counter were sensational. Posters were utilised in the gondola end cap positions to support any currently promoted titles.

Kinokuniya at the Takashimaya shopping centre is one of the best laid out magazine display formats I have seen in the many years of working in this industry. Check out the link below:
http://www.kinokuniya.com.sg/

The shop is bigger than most city blocks and AGAIN was full at lunchtime. As Dawn was buying a greeting card I counted 23 people in the queue in front of her and 17 behind, most with a magazine in their hands.

7-11 was also a pleasant experience. The ACP titles (exported by 8Pt) were well displayed and upon purchase of a magazine the lady serving, most graciously said to me, "Thank you Sir, for shopping with 7-11".

One experience that we are not accustomed to here in Australia is street vending. On Thursday, tt 8am, in front of my hotel, an elderly chap stopped, and commenced to construct his trestle table and then built his magazine display right in front of me. It was so hot and muggy that after he finished, I felt obliged to purchase two magazines from him and took a photo (see above). He was very humble and thanked me for my custom. I will be going back to him every time I am in Singapore to buy The Singapore Women's Weekly and Singapore Harper's BAZZAR (Eug/Brett - I have samples for you!).

One area of future development that was quite clear to me is cover mounting specific issues. In more cases than I could count, I witnessed local Singaporean women purchasing a title called her world, which offered a free make-up bag. Food for thought for our American and English friends when discussing ideas for sales growth in Singapore for the titles you represent. The September issue of her world was "literally walking off the shelves".

Suffice to say, Singapore was everything that you expect it to be. It is hot, muggy, safe, clean and reasonably priced. The people are the warmest I have met and their hospitality is bench setting - thank you Richard and your team for a great day on Thursday and to you Doreen - for a lovely lunch on Friday.

PS: 99% of what I saw gave me many, many ideas on how to grow sales. The 1% (cheapening mint titles with a "tatty" return) was the only downside.

"Buy Australian Magazines" more photos from Thailand

Thanks to Nisana and her team for organizing the "Buy Australian Magazines" displays in Thailand. Photos shown are of the Bookazine shops in Silom and Asia Books in Siam Paragon, where we took prominent positioning at till displays and some poster placement at Bookazine in Phuket-Karon. We would still love to see some more photos of displays so please keep sending them in to us.

ACP title list review

Australia's leading publisher continues to break new ground with many exciting issues planned for despatch in September. Some of the pending highlights include:

30 days of Fashion for the Women's Lifestyle range and Men's Lifestyle titles;
A promotional push for the key weekly titles - namely Woman's Day, NW, OK! Weekly and Grazia;
Eight Point support of cover mounted issues to drive sales;
Ongoing promotion of the Disney range of titles in non-restricted territories through cover mounted copies;
A tip on campaign with The Australian Women's Weekly in Thailand;
Borders promotions in selected countries;
A promotion of belle in US airports with support from Francesca and our friends at SpeedImpex;
Targeted trade press adverts in Ex-Pat communication tools to continue to draw attention to Aussies living overseas;
Our commitment to driving sales of ACP's forthcoming oneshot campaign including titles such as: The Australian Women's Weekly Holiday Food, Australian Gourmet Traveller Annual Cookbook, Outdoor Summer Gear Guide, Shop 4 Girls and Your Body

The most recent Audit Bureau of Circulations data has been released in Australia and a summary of the results include: Note: These figures represent Australian retail sales.

Weekly titles:

Woman's Day - 407,644 copies sold on average per week.
NW - 140,283 copies sold on average per week
OK! Weekly - 120,219 copies sold on average per week
Grazia - 66,240 copies sold on average per week and the title is only a year old! A great result

Eight Point, as announced, is launching selected weekly titles to both Canada and the UK in the very near future. Please ensure that all four of these prestigious titles are displayed prominently in key retail outlets throughout your distribution infrastructure.

Monthly titles: Women's Lifestyle

The Australian Women's Weekly - 493,055 copies sold on average per month
CLEO - 134,286 copies sold on average per month
Cosmopolitan - 166,208 copies sold on average per month
Madison - 90,673 copies sold on average per month
Harper's BAZAAR - 51,467 copies sold on average per month (10 issues per year)
Shop til you Drop - 80,964 copies sold on average per month. Title has grown 8% YOY (Jun 09 vs Jun 08)
Dolly - 125,169 copies sold on average per month. Title has grown 5% YOY (Jun 09 vs Jun 08)
Good Health - 66,115 copies sold on average per month

Eight Point has an exciting campaign for the promotion of The Australian Women's Weekly over the October, November and December issues.

The Jun/Jul and Dec/Jan issues of Harper's BAZAAR are always the strongest here in Australia and please review your current standing order, maximize the opportunity for retail distribution and identify which chain stores we can run promotions through.

Shop til you Drop is proving to be a real hit here in Australia. Currently the numbers are quite modest overseas. Please have a re-think on the distribution strategy in your country, or request a sample, and let's build a plan to drive sales.

Madison recently had a price reduction to A$7.95 (inc. GST) and we ask that you spend 10 minutes having a look at where we can increase distribution and open new outlets.

We have exciting plans for Dolly for late 2009 and early 2010. Our cover mounted campaign will kick in with the October issue (TBC)

Specialist titles:

Australian House & Garden - 96,544 copies sold on average per month. Title has grown 2% YOY (Jun 09 vs Jun 08)
belle - 30,544 copies sold on average per issue
Real Living - 57,205 copies sold on average per month
Australian Gourmet Traveller - 74,292 copies sold on average per month
Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine - 22,537 copies sold on average per issue
Empire - 24,149 copies sold on average per month. Title has grown 6% YOY (Jun 09 vs Jun 08)
Rolling Stone - 23,089 copies sold on average per month

With the growth in movie attendance and recent tragedies in the music world the two titles Empire and Rolling Stone offer sensational content for reasonable price. Please ensure you display both magazines in your key retail chains to capture Australian tourists in the late part of 2009.

Australian House & Garden is performing well and should be positioned with the UK version to maximize sales potentials. If you are distributing the UK version why not consider a package purchase for both brands?

Australian Gourmet Traveller is a regular communicator of international tourist destinations and posters will be supplied going forward for countries/regions that are featured each issue.

Monthly titles: Men's Lifestyle

Ralph - 68,061 copies sold on average per month. Title has grown 3% YOY (Jun 09 vs Jun 08)
FHM - 51,063 copies sold on average per month

Both of these brands should be reviewed for sales and marketing purposes. Offering a slice of Australian for Australian men the opportunity to grow sales in tourist outlets will be a prime focus for 8Pt's marketing gurus.

Monthly titles: Motoring

Motor - 35,160 copies sold on average per month
Street Machine - 55,577 copies sold on average per month
Wheels - 55,868 copies sold on average per month
4x4 Australia - 18,154 copies sold on average per month
ADB - 26,236 copies sold on average per month

Monthly titles: Computing

APC - 34,111 copies sold on average per month
PC User - 42,011 copies sold on average per month

Mills & Boon

I am pleased to announce that after some nine months of trading with Harlequin Enterprises (Australia), Eight Point Distribution Pty Ltd has re-signed our agreement with this prestigious publisher.

The Mills & Boon imprint is experiencing double digit growth across all markets on the globe and Australia and Asia are no exceptions. The "Sexy" range has increased from 8 books per month to 10 and 8Pt is proud to partner with Allscript Establishment in Singapore, Malaysia and The Philippines to continue growing the outlet base. Our friends in Mauritius (IPBD), Taiwan (Multi-Arts), Hong Kong (Far East Media), Indonesia (PT Java Books) and Fiji (Tappoo Group of Companies) have been very supportive of the titles and most innovative with their ideas. We have exciting plans for the display of the series range through the production of another 30 spinner stands in selected markets (we currently have 6 in store). To my friends in America and England - keep an eye on Malaysia the market looks great.

Recently, Michelle La Forest and Paul Singh of HE Australia visited Malaysia and both were most impressed with display and positioning of the full range. Again well done Richard and your team - Rosalind, Lynn, Jaime, Patrick and Dennis - a great effort by all!

The 2010 Horoscopes are currently in transit to our partners and we look forward to excellent results for this year's release.

Finally, our expansion into Mauritius and Taiwan is looking extremely positive and we undertook a bagging campaign in Thailand (on going for two more months) to drive sales of The Australian Women's Weekly supported with a current Mills & Boon series book

Stop Press:
We will also be launching the Mills & Boon Christmas 2009 pack in the next two to three weeks and we look forward to developing a plan with our distribution partners overseas to introduce this exciting product into your local market. Caroline will be providing details in mid September.

To our valued Publisher suppliers

Again thank you - your support is most appreciated. This month we welcome Curve magazine, Post Modern Ink, Jeep Action, Popular Science and Recipes +

Curve is a high quality title and samples are currently in transit to selected partners. Published quarterly at A$29.00 (inc. GST). Samples are in the system and welcome your feedback
Post Modern Ink is a ground breaking title dedicated to the art of tattooing. Published quarterly with an A$RRP of A$8.95 (inc. GST). Please review the sales of the magazines you distribute in this category and this magazine will add tremendous value
Jeep Action is a cool magazine and has great stories and photos of the latest in four wheel drives. Published monthly with an RRP of A$8.50 (inc. GST)
Popular Science, the Australian version, adds value to the science / men's category and should be positioned alongside it's US counterpart. Again monthly and cover priced at A$8.95)
Recipes +; Priced at a very competitive A$3.30 inc GST this title has proved to be a great success in Australia. The current average sales to June 2009 as released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations is 134,521. A sensational result and this title should be positioned prominently in the Food and Wine category within retail outlets.

Our domestic consultancy is offering us a rewarding experience and we thank Marijcke at Popular Science and Dorothy at DMAG for their ongoing support. DMAG's latest average sales to June 2009 as released by the Audit Bureau of circulations is a healthy 22,689 copies sold per issue. Cover mounted EACH AND EVERY ISSUE please ensure this title is displayed in the children's category in store and off located with the Women's Lifestyle magazines for maximum sales potential.

Our consultancy work has been a most refreshing exercise for 8Pt and one we thoroughly enjoy.

Sadly, we are disappointed to announce that the publisher of Australian Aboriginal Art and Art World has closed down and we hope the two excellent and fresh titles find a home with a new publisher in the near future.

Finally, it would be remiss of us not to applaud the success of The Monthly here in Australia. Although we do not represent this magazine we take our hat off to their continual innovative approach to circulation growth. YOY the sales have increased (on average) from 21,545 units to 25,238 units; some 18%. Well done Wil, great result.

Domestic distribution

What can I say - onwards and upwards. Firstly, Sheree is having a very successful period in further developing our relationships with each and every store we service in Australia. For interest sake we have:

Again increased our outlet base to a total of 64 stores - please contact our team for the full list.
We are honoured to announce our representation of the Architecture Media range, publishers of Australian Architecture, Artichoke and Houses into these non-traditional outlets.
We are delighted to have distributed our first issue of ACCLAIM, Street Lifestyle Magazine to clothing stores in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth (10 stores in total). Our friend Andrew Montell is managing the Melbourne based stores for geographical purposes!

In summary we have:

Packed and delivered over 2,800 copies to date of all titles;
Implemented our promise of 24 hour turn around on re-orders;
Implemented our promise of a minimum fortnightly contact with our customers;
Implemented our promise of a minimum monthly sales snapshot to our Publisher suppliers;
Started the development of importing Singaporean titles for distribution expansion into Australia.

We are currently looking to further expand our supply base and our target of 100 stores by December 31st 2009 is very realistic.

"Magazines are truly our Passion" and our goal is to service all Australian, English, Singaporean, all International and American Publishers with an expansion to your current distribution base in Australia. All you have to do is pick up the phone and ring + 61 2 8815 8124.