Strong case for the customer

Spearheaded by New Media's customer titles Dish/Skottel and Edgars Club Magazine, relatively new players in the category such as Woolworths TASTE have also almost doubled their circulation year-on-year.

Between April and June this year, Dish & Skottel increased its circulation from around 1.1 million to 1.3 million while Edgars Club Magazine upped its numbers from 783 389 to 826 814. Woolworths TASTE, which is sold off the newsstand, jumped 49% thus boasting the largest increase in the food category with 32 318 average sales per issue.

Why such growth? Woolworths TASTE publisher Jaco Scholtz ventures, "Our success on the news stand is proof that when executed correctly, the customer gains something from a custom title in the same way they would with a consumer magazine. By producing customer titles of unsurpassed quality that provide practical information and give readers inspirational ideas to enhance their lifestyle, custom titles are engaging more readers and can thereby challenge any news-stand publication head on."

Edgars Club Magazine publisher Lani Carstens concurs. "Since New Media took over publishing the Edgars Club Magazine, and repositioned it as a shopping solutions title, club membership has grown from 750 000 to more than 940 000. But that isn't our only measure of success," says Carstens. "Since featuring children's fashion exclusively in the magazine since September 2005, children's wear experienced a significant growth in sales. Advertisers also tell us that they can't keep up with the demand on products that appear in the magazine. The key success behind any customer title is fulfilling the client's needs and matching the customer's expectations."