How customer magazines can engage with consumers during tough retail conditions
Michelle Pamment, editor-in-chief, Your M&S magazine, suggests why it is more important than ever for retail brands to engage with their customers during a recession…
Every recession is different. Each time, depending upon the cause of the downturn, its duration and which industry sectors and consumer demographics are worst affected, consumer behaviour, spending habits and attitudes towards retailers, change. It is important for a brand to understand how their customers’ behaviour has changed, maintain the conversation with them and tailor their corporate communications strategy accordingly to ensure that it stays relevant to changing needs. Industry cuts in communications spend mean that the brands maintaining their spend have an increased share of voice and are heard more often than others.
Customer magazines are proven to enhance a consumer’s experience as they are a trusted tool providing advice and information – a vehicle that customers can rely on to showcase the very best a brand has to offer. For retailers, a customer magazine gives the customer inspiration and ideas; it informs on new trends, what’s new in store and newly introduced innovations. This helps to get the customer genuinely excited, driving both discussions with friends and family and store visits.
In the current downturn customers are increasingly shopping around and using the internet to compare prices, seek out deals, download vouchers and review products. They are cutting spend on what they deem as discretionary (such as eating out) and seeking greater value through reducing waste, trading down, buying own labels and making things from scratch. As a result it’s more important than ever that each page of a customer magazine is working as hard as possible to engage the customer and demonstrate what great quality and value products are available, as well as supporting the wider marketing concerns. Recently at Your M&S, for instance, our fashion content is focusing more on investment buys – wardrobe essentials that transcend seasons – and our food section is giving lots more tighter budget recipe ideas.
Over Your M&S‘ 20+year history the communicatons world has evolved drastically, but the needs of our readers have not fundamentally changed – they want to see what M&S has to offer; they want to see what’s new; and they want information, ideas, inspiration and advice on what to wear, how to wear it, what to cook and how to improve their home.
Your M&S has also evolved over the past two decades in order to reflect developing technologies and changes in the retail sector, whilst remaining closely aligned with the M&S brand values. This means having a deep and intuitive understanding of the needs, wants, desires of the readers and an understanding of how it all connects to the objectives and strategy of the brand.
Online shopping is growing ever more rapidly, so Your M&S actively drives people online – not only for purchases but for competitions, invaluable editor’s tips and to find out more information about the brand. We’re using more and more industry experts such as fashion magazine editors and celebrity chefs so that readers feel they are getting real and credible information and we have increased our frequency to six times a year to reflect the faster turnaround of M&S stock and the desire of customers to shop and see new products and innovations.
Retail customer magazines provide a forum for communication between the retailer and its customer and also provide exceptional platform for advertisers, offering a highly engaged, large, captive readership. APA research has shown that 32% of customer magazine readers are more committed to the brand after reading the magazine and 44% more likely to interact with the brand. This is great news for suppliers who advertise in retailer’s publications – they catch readers in a buying frame of mind.
As ABCs and readerships decline for many of the UK’s favourite women’s newsstand titles, retail customer magazines are still pulling in huge audiences within a strong and engaging editorial environment. Designed to give the reader something back in return for their time, whether that be advice and information, recipes or money-off vouchers, it is no surprise that six out of the top 10 widest read magazines within the women’s sector are retail customer titles. Your M&S, for example, has a readership of 4.1 million per issue (NRS July- Dec 08).