Saga Magazine, the award-winning monthly title for the over-50s, is to trial a retail sales launch in newsagents’
shops in central Scotland.
If the company is happy with the first three months’ results, the magazine will be rolled out across the UK in the autumn.
The May edition will hit shelves next Thursday in a new glossy, perfectbound format with a record 232 pages.
Saga Magazine has a monthly circulation of 595,853.
Both
the magazine and Saga’s three local radio stations in Glasgow,
Nottingham and Birmingham already cross-promote insurance packages and
holidays.
Rupert Miles, managing director of Saga Publishing,
said: “Our experience of our radio activity is that where we are
broadcasting, take-up of Saga services is greatly enhanced.
“If radio can do that, magazines can do it in newsagents. I believe newsagents are 55,000 poster sites for our products.”
Miles
said the decision to pilot retail sales to newsagents in central
Scotland was taken because it had a radio station – Saga 105.2 FM – in
Glasgow.
The May edition, featuring rock star Rod Stewart on the
cover, will be promoted in Glasgow. This will be followed by a
promotional push in Edinburgh for the June edition.
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