Fashion magazine market potential

Read all about it!
Against a background of an increasingly cluttered market place for women’s fashion magazines in a European country, where the introduction of new magazines with a different emphasis only increased the confusion of an already perplexed readership, an international magazine publishing company wanted to evaluate their next move. Although they had a number of magazine publications in the market, their prime concern was for their flagship magazine which was undergoing a format change.  They not only wanted to know who their target audience was but also if the magazine stood-out, was fully differentiated, and was being sold at the right price.

What makes them tick?
We conducted for the client a central location survey that took the respondent through a series of sequential evaluations, and simulated magazine stalls. The design of the study, which made full use of previous qualitative research and other information helped establish the elements that attracted attention of readers at magazine stalls, identified priorities in terms of content for different consumer groups and segments, and provided a further understanding of the titles which were in direct competition to the client’s existing range. Acceptable and optimal price levels for their magazine were also determined.

Go to press!
We were able to establish specific targets, not only for the flagship but also for the other client magazines, which resulted in the recommendation that where there were two directly competing titles, one should either be repositioned or withdrawn from circulation.  The new flagship format was adjusted to align it with the content priorities of the target group. And recommendations were made as to how to make the magazine more prominent on news stands and stalls.