December Newsletter

Happy New Year

Welcome to the 12th issue of our newsletter - and a wrap up of our first trading year!

We thought it pertinent to summarise our first twelve months of trading on a month to month basis and provide a "year in review" -

January 2009 saw our first despatch of the Harlequin Mills & Boon titles to various markets in Asia / Pacific. To Michelle, Cristina, Kathy, Allison and Graham - Thank you for supporting us and throughout 2010. We finished the month in full planning mode for our first magazine pick pack due into our warehouse (thank you again to our friends at Europress in Sydney) on Monday February 2nd.

February was all hands on deck. We arrived at work on Sunday the 1st and completed our invoicing and required paperwork in preparation for the following day. After a sleepless night we arrived (John, Drago, Joe and myself) in Alexandria at 6am. Alas we were a little early, the team from Europress were not yet there! The magazines arrived and we quickly agreed that unpacking a semi-trailer by hand was not going to be efficient time management! Thanks to a young guy called Ivan who worked across the road who jumped on his forklift, unloaded the truck for us and allowed us to launch into our first ever pick pack! Suffice to say I gave us a 7 out of 10 and apologies to Asia Books in Thailand who were to receive 300 copies of Woman's Day and in fact received 900! The remaining three weeks of February were a blur!

March kicked off well. We welcomed Tarmac into the fold and grew our supplier base from 2 to 3 publishers - thanks Dean! Our customers seemed happy with the first eight weeks of trading and we thank them for their patience and feedback in our first two months. We also confirmed export rights for Puzzler Media following a meeting with David here in Sydney.

April included our first ever Easter period (but obviously not the first ever Easter in history!) and we managed the process well with Easter Monday moved to packing Tuesday. Caroline officially joined us in April after spending a few hours in the warehouse understanding the product mix. Graeme announced his support to Eight Point by awarding Collecting Bears & Dolls to us for overseas sales and marketing. Brian also confirmed his support for Contact, AIR, LAND & SEA. We were proud to announce that Lovatt's Publications has chosen to join 8Pt for their overseas distribution requirements as well - both Colleen and Terry have provided wonderful support over the past months and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the team in July. Daniel also confirmed commencement of Wild Deer & Hunting Adventures - cheers mate.

May saw our first batch of suppliers paid, in full and on time. Again a few sleepless night but alas it all went swimmingly. Sales were looking strong however there are a few dark clouds looming in June and July. We welcomed Acclaim, Street Lifestyle Magazine to the fold and we thank Andrew and Jeremy for their confidence and support. Our friends in Tonga (Friendly Islands Bookstore) joined us this month as well.

June - End of the financial year in Australia and political unrest in Thailand. Fiji suffers from flooding and a typhoon is about to hit Taiwan. We send our thoughts to our friends in these three markets and hope all are safe. Our second batch of payments were made to our major suppliers! DMAG joined us for both domestic consultancy and overseas sales - Thanks Dorothy. Also confirmed the three titles Ultrafit, Oxygen and Your Investment Property through our relationship with NSC.

July was not a great month for Eight Point. High returns from markets and feedback from the Northern Hemisphere started to trickle through. On the positive side - We welcomed Sheree into the company to manage our domestic distribution relationships. We supported the Golden Mag Awards in NYC and well done to Francesca for her tireless efforts in organising this event. We made a major strategic decision to move our logistics from "Andrew and Carlos doing the pick pack EVERY WEEK" to Fracht Australia. Congratulations to George, Peter, Sonny and Tom for taking onboard this highly important process and adding the duty of care required. Adele, Sarah and Gabrielle were welcomed into the stable for the domestic distribution management of DQ, Habitus and Indesign. Insight also joined us for their international distribution requirements. Recipes+ confirmed their involvement - Thanks CF. We commenced distribution of Newsweek into Fiji with the support of our friends at Tappoo. On the promotional front we launched our Buy Australian Magazines campaign (BAM) - a major coup promoting the key brands exported by Eight Point.

August started with the planning for Distripress 2009 to be held in Phoenix. Jacinta at Architecture Media announced that Eight Point had secured the domestic distribution for Architecture Australia, Artichoke, Houses and Landscape Australia. Michael at Jeep Action was welcomed to our overseas portfolio. Marijcke announced our involvement for domestic consultancy for both Popular Science and Science Illustrated and we were chuffed to be appointed.

September was plan plan plan. We hopped on a plane on September 25th and headed to the US of A. It was a great experience on the new QANTAS A380 and we arrived at LAX fresh and ready for Distripress. We received our launch issues from NRMA Publishing (Australian Classic Car and Way2Go). We launched the first issue of Sculpture + the enemies for Katherine and Zoe here in Australia. Post Modern Ink was also distributed for Michael at Nuclear Media.

October saw productive, insightful meetings with our distribution partners. Distripress was a little slow this year with only two thirds of the normal attendance appearing. The parties (even though yours truly rarely attends these days) were minimal and the general consensus was - "Thank God 2009 is nearly behind us". Les at Jaguar Magazine confirmed his involvement with 8Pt for overseas sales and marketing. Performance Ford & Performance Holden were also launched. We had two days in Vegas!

November was follow-up month and I am pleased to report that our presentations and initiatives at the annual Distrispress gathering have paid fruit with the expansion of all of our titles into most of the markets we trade in; new orders were gathered and many marketing initiatives agreed for launch in 2010. We commenced despatch of Art & Australia - Thank you Marni. Coupled with this was the plan to launch Art Monthly Australia overseas and takeover the domestic distribution in Australia in February 2010 - Thanks to Tania and Maurice for their support. We also distributed our first issue of Bound for Avalon Media and attended Silke's launch party here in Sydney. Our friends in New Caledonia joined us this month and we launched a strong range of ACP titles into this market. Our first ever book was exported for Sophie into Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.

December - Our first Christmas holidays. The plan was to promote, promote, promote. Ampersand Magazine joined us this month for domestic distribution and Antonino at Cream Magazine confirmed his movement to Eight Point for international distribution.

 

Finally, Don't forget all are invited to our party here at the office on the evening of February 12th. Dress code is casual. It is still summer here in Australia and daylight savings in Sydney so dress down please!

 

Title update

This month (January 2010) sees a summary of the exciting marketing initiatives we have planned for a selection of ACP titles. We are also announcing our first four promotions in our 2010 Weekly Promotional Calendar (WPC):

• Week 1: Jan 4th to 10th: 2-4-1 promotion for Woman's Day in Indonesia and weekly magazine promotion through the Bookazine outlets in Hong Kong.
• Week 2: Jan 11th to 17th: 2-4-1 promotion for FHM and a free mini cookbook with The Australian Women's Weekly in Hong Kong. Promotions in retail outlets throughout Fiji.
• Week 3: Jan 18th to 24th: Point of sale promotion for DMAG in Hong Kong.
• Week 4: Jan 25th to 31st: 2-4-1 promotion for The Australian Women's Weekly in The Philippines and Buy NW, OK! Weekly or Woman's Day and receive a free magazine in Indonesia.
  

 

ACP title list review and forthcoming plans

We have now lauched our Weekly Promotional Calendar (WPC) for commencement January 4th 2010. The following magazines/categories will be promoted throughout the next 6 months between now and June 2010:

1. Weekly title promotions in all markets - including Woman's Day, NW, OK! Weekly and Grazia;
2. A promotion every month for The Australian Women's Weekly;
3. Promotions of a selected range of titles during the 2010 World Cup - Go the Aussies!;
4. A motoring category promotion including Top Gear, Wheels, Motor, Street Machine and ADB;
5. Gift With Purchase (GWP) promotions for Shop til you Drop, Ralph, Dolly, Disney Adventures, Disney Girl and Wine Magazine;
6. Planned cross promotion of Women's titles, in selected markets, with Lovatt's Publications;
7. Bundle promotions for complimentary brands and
8. Ongoing promotional commitment to the Borders chain throughout the US and Asia;
9. More Mills & Boon stands;
10. Another Buy Australian Magazine campaign.

 

Please ensure you review your current orders and monitor our monthly update of forthcoming plans for sales growth opportunities.

The following titles should be reviewed to ensure prominent display in premium retail outlets:

1. The Australian Women's Weekly - This title continues to push forward with exceptional quality. The November issue featuring Sarah Murdoch was vibrant and fresh. The December issue was a whopping 404 pages and the body issue (January 2010) with a gate fold cover was an exceptional example of how strong this magazine is. Priced at ONLY A$6.80, please ensure you ask your retail partners to display the magazine in high foot traffic areas in store. Eight Point is pleased to entertain any promotional ideas you may have to drive sales of this flagship Australian title.
2. Woman's Day - Australia's best selling weekly magazine should be displayed on counter and in major travel points to capture all the potential sales for Australian travelling through your respective markets throughout January.
3. NW - Sales are growing with this title and cross promotion with Woman's Day is a must to maximise the "Hollywood" impulse purchase.
4. belle - Published bimonthly this magazine continues to prove fantastic value for money at only A$8.95. The current issue has over 200+ pages of great reading and our target is 5,000 units sold internationally per issue - stay tuned for the belle promotional plans in March 2010.
5. Dolly - Published 10 times per year. Eight Point are excited to announce that each and every issue will be promoted with a GWP in selected markets. Jump on board by filling in the "I want to be involved form".
6. OK! Weekly - It is vital that the Australian issue is cross promoted with the UK version. Sales are pushing 70% in all markets and we plan to launch a promotion in February (and backed up throughout the year) to promote all three of the prominent weekly brands.
7. Woman's Day, NW and OK! Weekly should be displayed alongside each other to maximize the opportunity of an "all three title" purchase.
8. Ralph - The February 10 issue is due any day now and the strength of the title is still it's cover. FHM Australia should be displayed with Ralph to maximise double issue purchase. Display prominently to maximise the opportunity of purchase through the men's interest category.
9. Cosmopolitan - If you are importing and distributing either the UK or US versions it is imperative that the Australian version is displayed alongside. We welcome cross promotional ideas for the three brands and Eight Point is happy to fund agreed initiatives to drive sales in the category. CLEO should be displayed with Cosmopolitan to maximise double issue purchase

 

Want to help promote these great titles? Fill out our form and send it to us!

 

Below are the 5 easy steps to Effective Shelf Management that we would like you to pass onto your retail partners. Source: www.connectionswithacp.com.au

Step 1:
Ensure top selling magazines are displayed with full covers or flat stacks:
A magazine's cover is it's most important selling point. Magazine covers are visual, topical and inform consumers of the magazine's content. 78% of consumers want to see full covers of magazines.

Step 2:
Locate high volume impulse titles in Premium Display Space:
Locating the right magazines in Premium Display Space, or high traffic areas, is the key to securing impulse sales. For example, impulse drives 32% of Women's Interest and 59% of Women's Lifestyle magazine purchases.

Step 3:
Use signage to clearly identify magazine categories:
Browsing is crucial to magazine sales. On average 1 in 3 browsers in retail outlets will purchase. Furthermore, 96% of consumers surveyed agree that it is easier to find magazines when they are clearly organised into categories. Also consider highlighting an "Australian magazines" category in store.

Step 4:
Ensure the proportion of space allocated to each title reflects its contribution to sales:
44% of consumers reported "choice overload" when it came to shopping for magazines in retail outlets. The simplest way to reduce clutter in a magazine display is to ensure the proportion of space devoted to particular magazines reflects their sales. If a magazine doesn't perform, it's wasting your time and money.

Step 5:
Replenish regularly:
Effective display of magazines requires active management. This includes keeping magazines tidy at all times and replenishing stock as required.

 

Domestic distribution

We are proud to announce that we have secured the distribution of Art Monthly Australia. We will commence despatch in February with the March 2010 issue and we will be contacting our customers in mid January to follow-up and confirm required quantities.

 

Ampersand Magazine will also be launched in February and details will be forthcoming via post on January 14th.

 

 

 

We are excited about our second batch of titles due from Architecture Media and sales for our first distribution of Indesign's magazines look very strong. Included is a cover for The Collection which we will contact you about shortly.

 

Commencing in late January we will be launching our weekly communication strategy for current titles and forthcoming issues.