Net-a-Porter fashion mag shows print isn’t dead if you know how to interact with readers
When Bauer Media announced in January that Cleo magazine would shut down after being in print for 44 years, the publishing industry didn’t bother discussing whether print was dead.
After all, that’s a given, right?
It was no secret that Cleo was experiencing a downward spiral when it came to circulation figures. The Audit Bureau of Circulation figures for the first half of 2014 saw the mag record a 30 percent circulation decline – an experience its sister Dolly could empathise with after the teen mag saw a bigger 37 percent fall.
According to Mumbrella, the story wasn’t confined to Park Street either, as Pacific Magazines’ Girlfiend and Marie Claire also saw numbers sliding.
Helen McCabe, then editor-in-chief of the Australian Women’s Weekly, even said that for her publication, flat was “the new up”.
However PORTER, the bi-monthly title by e-commerce powerhouse NET-A-PORTER, has proven that circulation for print magazines can beat the trends and rise if publishers are innovative with their product.
On Wednesday, the NET-A-PORTER Group announced the first official audit for PORTER, with the latest figures from BPA Worldwide revealing that circulation for the publication grew 10 percent from February 2015 to hit 170,038.
Powered by the brand’s website and distributed in 60 countries, PORTER is a fashion magazine that claims to be “entirely shoppable,” featuring shopping technology that enables readers to shop directly off the pages or via the brand’s iPhone and iPad apps in real time.
The mag also offers a unique multi-lingual concierge service which offers readers access to a personal shopper 24/7.
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These innovations appear to have worked for PORTER, who says that since 2015, readers have scanned products in its magazines more than 85,000 times. This translates to an interaction rate of 78 percent.
Subscriptions have also increased 20 percent year on year – more than half of which come from NET-A-PORTER’s highest spending customers.
Once a NET-A-PORTER customer subscribes to PORTER, the average spend per customer furthermore increases by 24 percent and the average amount of orders increases by 86 percent, the company added, pointing to a 2015 survey of over 1,500 readers.
“We are thrilled with this strong set of results which shows a second circulation growth for PORTER in just two years,” Vice-President of Publishing & Media at the NET-A-PORTER Group, Tess Macleod-Smith said.
“PORTER has set the bar high for fashion magazines…[and] we predict PORTER’s sales to climb even further with additional double-digit growth in 2016 as we build the brand in our key markets.”
PORTER’s New Seduction, all-women photography issue (Spring 2016) featuring Amber Valletta on the cover, is on sale now.
