"WI used in WHSmith instore display materials" Topic

Looking for the new issue of WI in WHSmith I noticed that a the cover of a recent issue had been incorporated into some instore display materials.

Poor quality pic below.

I noticed this too – nice! My wife thinks they may have to pay for this, but it's eyecatching.

Ooh. Is that GB's saxon art? Must take a look.

And in Wellington, New Zealand I cannot even find a single newsagent or magazine shop that carries it or who can even order it in.

I am sure they have to pay for it. It's somethng like £15.00 GBPk to be "book of the week" in Smiths…

Mike

In the Kandal store W.I. and Mini. Wargames mags are all but on the BACK of the lowest shelf possible so that unless you know that they are tere you will NEVER see them. Messy bending is no good for us oldies.

Same here in Wrexham bottom shelf where you have to bend down to see them hidden behind all the other magazines. However, Railway magazines are at eye level on clear display.

It must have something to do with the number of units sold.

I once complained in my local Smiths about magazines like WI, MW and History Today being on the top shelf – which, being 5'5" I find difficult to reach – whereas glossy publications featuring scantily clad women were at a ten year old's eye-level. Although they denied selling 'top shelf' (in the hard core porn sense of the term) magazines, I'm pleased to say the wargame and history magazines are now on the bottom shelf, as I find bending preferable to stretching.

In Smiths today, they have all 4 wargaming mags but the Wargame illustrated not only has shelf space and the overhead shown at post 1 but it also has a seprate promotional position by havibng some issues held in one of those plstic basket things that hang off sheleves to make them more obvious.

I almost feel fashionable!

4 mags? WSS, MW, and WI, but what is the fourth one?

@Volleyfire

That'll be mine -- Battlegames -- for a trial run of two issues. It will take a while for the stats to feed through to the bosses and WH Smiths before a decision is taken as to whether BG will be a permanent fixture on the shelves.

Henry

Henry
Which stores did you pay to have it in? It isn't in High Barnet, Victoria or Waterloo Station – I know because I was looking for WSS in each of those stores.

WI was in a special display rack in High Barnet Smiths last month.

As a supplier to Tesco (not burgers) I know you have to really watch them – you pay for shelf space, barkers and all the rest of it and find that execution of said deals can turn out patchy sometimes.

Malc

@Littlearmies

I'm afraid I have no idea which specific branches it's in – I've just been told it's the 300 biggest branches of Smiths, so those in railway stations may not qualify.

Henry

And in Wellington, New Zealand I cannot even find a single newsagent or magazine shop that carries it or who can even order it in.

Same here in Melbourne. Magazine distribution in NZ and Aus is controlled by the same company, who has a very poor reputation in the retail industry. Some independent shops have started sourcing mags direct from o/s publishers. The chains, even WH Smiths who has recently opened up here, do not stock hobby mags except, I suspect, ones that pay for shelf space (which won't be the mags from o/s).
So buy a sub (in my experience you'll be lucky to receive all your issues especially from Atlantic) or go digital (which is a poor substitute e.g. the crippled online readers.)

Henry
Found it today in Wimbledon (along with WS&S which I've just subscribed to).

Henry, I'm amazed they didn't give you a list of which stores they were so you could store check some of them. This is standard practice for us (wine rather than magazines though)

Malc

I keep swapping WI for Battlegames in our local Smiths, so that Battlegames is in the fancy basket hanging off the front of the shelf. So if you're in Carmarthen please buy a copy !

You anarchist Oudinot!

Battlegames is in the Milton Keynes store.