Increases of over 20% in the sales of home improvement, craft and gardening titles suggest that thrifty Britons are battling the recession by trying to make their money go further. And with TV, computer games and music magazines also doing well, it seems that more people are trying to save money by staying in.
The findings come from details of over 100,000 magazine subscription sales from The Magazine Group, a leading online subscription retailer. It compared the purchasing patterns of subscriptions bought in the first half of 2008 with those of 2009.
“What these figures show is that magazine consumers are looking for value. Titles that offer ways to combat the credit crunch are thriving.” says Don Brown (pictured) of The Magazine Group. “With sales falling on the newsstand many magazines are having a tough time, but with big name brands offering discounts and free gifts, savvy subscribers have great choice of bargains.”
Women’s glossy monthlies were the titles under the most pressure, although celebrity weeklies continue to do well and there were good sales increases for competitively priced magazines.
About the Magazine Group
The Magazine Group says: “The Magazine Group is the UK’s largest independent online retailer of magazine subscriptions. It sells over 800 titles from more than 140 publishers. As well as its main site – www.magazine-group.co.uk – the company runs over a dozen white label sites for companies such as W H Smith, Books Direct and others. The company sold over 140,000 subscriptions in 2008.”
