Amanda Wigginton, data and insight specialist, looks at how retailers and magazine brands really are the perfect partnership.

This week I went along to the latest PPA Magnetic event, The Future of Retail, at The Orchard – an amazing venue in the heart of London’s retail real estate. With views high over Oxford Street, it was the perfect place to share new insight and retailer success stories from a category that is seeing considerable advertiser investment in magazine media. Marketers from Amazon and Wickes took to the stage to tell advertisers and agencies why they are big supporters of multi-platform magazine brands.

PwC opened the session with a presentation that shared their latest retail insights research and set the scene. They told us that whilst consumer sentiment and confidence are improving – a great indicator for future spending – economic factors are making market conditions tough.

As I listened to the challenges retailers were facing – the pressure on margins, changing behaviour of customers, impacting all sectors from grocery shopping, spend on clothes and beauty, through to investment in big ticket items, I realised one important thing.  

We need to work together.  

Magazine publishers and retailers share the same customers. They can help each other overcome key challenges through human connection and quality experience. And there is strong evidence that magazine media brands can help retailers more effectively engage with their audiences at every point of the customer journey and purchase funnel too.  

So why do Wickes and Amazon value multi-platform magazines? Because it works.

Wickes wanted to engage a younger female audience to showcase their DIY creds. They worked with Grazia to target activity that drove consideration and changed perception. That partnership is now 12 years in and has been extended across the audiences of heat and Closer. 

Why does it work? 

Magazine brands have the ability to meet retailer objectives through the funnel and across multiple touchpoints – whether that’s building awareness through inspiring curated content, increasing consideration through product reviews, or making them buy.

In the Wickes case study, they recognised a mutual target audience in the Grazia reader, women working on home makeovers and looking for inspiration (very different to their usual building trade customer).

Magazine brands are trusted by their readers. Credibility, authority, and authenticity were words that both Wickes and Amazon kept repeating time and time again. Both wanted to make genuine connections with highly receptive and targeted audiences, in an environment that was both positive and brand-safe. The perfect place to showcase, and sell, products.

Hearing Amazon and Wickes talking about their experiences with magazine brands was inspiring. The superpower of magazine brands exists in their talented editors and journalists, the depth with which they know and understand their audiences, and the high standards of the content specifically curated for these consumers – and advertisers, which has helped them to stand out.  

These retailers have seen a return, and they are not alone. PPA Magnetic has many effective examples and proof points from multiple retailers, demonstrating how they have enticed customers in store, inspired purchasing, and driven market share.

• IKEA COMFORT FEST:
  This campaign was founded on a nugget of insight that showed over half of Londoners don’t find the city to be a relaxing place. Together Time Out & IKEA created a series of events in four of IKEA’s London stores. The campaign was a huge success, not only increasing brand awareness but also selling tickets and driving people into store.
  Read more here.
  
• WHITE STUFF:
  They partnered with Hearst to target an entirely new audience, not only shifting important brand metrics, but also selling out of products, proving that mag media delivers through the funnel metrics. Read more here.

• LIDL:
  Differentiation is everything in a competitive marketplace, and Lidl worked with the Radio Times Christmas issue to achieve maximum standout, securing the coveted Christmas gatefold and their highest-ever market share. Read more here.

• Sainsbury’s, H&M, Superdrug … all have fantastic testimonials about the role magazine media has played in helping them to meet their objectives. Check them out for yourself here.

Whilst I can only order the garden furniture recommended in the ‘Fixing Up with Amazon’ / Closer partnership (watch here), and count the days to the Christmas edition of the Radio Times, you can get directly involved. Put a magazine media partnership on your 2025 plan.

Photos from the Future of Retail event can be viewed here