Interview with Shop Keeper

How many music magazines are on sale?

            We have around 5 music magazines on sale in our shop at the moment.

How many different genres of music magazine do you have on sale?

            Currently, we sell around 3 genres of music magazine - we like to cater for as wide a range of consumers as we can.

What is the positioning of the magazines on the shelves?

            When we have multiple copies of the same issue we stagger them. This means they are less likely to be knocked off, and customers can see how many more copies there are. We try to make sure that enough of the necessary parts of the cover (magazine names, headlines) are as visible as possible.

What magazines are at the front of the stand and at the back?

            We tend to put the more popular magazines at the front of the stand. This way, everyone can see them, which means we are more likely to sell those magazines. We do put the less popular magazines toward the back of the stand because we aren’t as likely to sell as many of these, so we don’t concentrate on advertising them as much.

What part of the magazine is on show the most and which part is shown the least?

            The title is always on show, so the customer knows what magazine it is. We also try to display the cover as much as possible as well, so customers know what it's about. This is usually more difficult with the magazines further back, as they are usually partially hidden by the magazines in front, but we try to make them as visible as possible.

How clear is the name of the magazine? Is the price clear?

            We aim to make sure that the name of each magazine we sell is as clear as possible while on the shelf, so the customer can locate it easily. The price is more difficult, because many magazines display the price on the lower half of their magazine cover, so really you can only see the price of the magazines at the front.

What do you notice about the positioning of the major artists? Can you discuss the eyes and why these are important.

            Whenever there is a major artist on the cover of a magazine, the way they’re positioned tells us what the story is about. The eyes provides an intimate link between the customer and the artist, which will make the customer more interested in the magazine. If the artist looks straight at the reader, that infers confidence in themselves, and toward other people. However, if their eyes are averted, this could mean they regret something, or have bad news for the reader.

Okay, thank you for taking the time to talk to me.

What I've learnt:
   This interview task has enabled me to understand how front covers of music magazines are set out, so that they can attract attention easily, increasing the chances of it being bought. I now know what I need to do to make my design eye catching from anywhere on the shelf.