Japan's magazine publishers are facing a severe downturn, reflecting the impact of the increasingly widespread availability of information provided for no charge over the Internet. Total sales of magazines in 2009 came to ¥1,086.4 billion, below the previous year's level for the twelfth straight year. Last year's figure was 31% less than the peak level recorded in 1997. As a prospective savior for the troubled industry, magazine publishers are now focusing on the use of lavish supplements.
Lavish supplements became an option in 2001 following a relaxation of the rules of the Japan Magazine Publishers Association, but initially few of the supplements were sufficiently attractive to get more people to buy the magazines, and so the hoped-for increase in sales failed to materialize.
In 2007, however, the picture changed. Women's fashion magazines scored dramatic hits with supplements produced in collaboration with popular brands, and one recorded a more-than-fivefold increase in its sales. This put supplements back into the limelight. The addition of supplements that were both of high quality and carried the logos of popular brands made buyers feel that they were getting bargains. This proved attractive to price-conscious consumers during a period of economic downturn. In addition, the fact that the items in the supplements were available only to purchasers of the magazines added a certain "scarcity value" to them, making them all the more popular.
In addition to the supplements produced in collaboration with brands, which set off the boom, a variety of different types of supplements have emerged, such as ones featuring CDs and DVDs, cosmetics, cooking kits—and even a write-your-own-will kit. Meanwhile, the target market has been broadening to include men as well as women and to extend to children and seniors in addition to young adults. As of 2009, products with supplements accounted for 15% of sales by value out of the 500 top-selling books and magazines. And according to one survey, more than 60% of consumers say they have purchased a magazine because they were attracted by the supplement.
One factor that has made lavish supplements possible is the effort that has been exerted by magazine publishers, including their moves to cut costs through offshore production. But another major element is the active cooperation by advertisers in producing the supplements; they have reevaluated the worth of magazines as an advertising medium that allows them to present consumers with samples of their actual products and to convey their message across a wide range.
Japan's magazine distribution network is said to be the most highly developed in the world. It allows advertisers direct access to consumers through 15,000 bookstores and 40,000 convenience stores across the country. One new CD that was put on the market late last year in the form of a magazine supplement rather than through the usual music distribution network sold 40,000 copies in a single week. And it seems quite possible that new uses of the magazine distribution network will continue to spread.
For publishers, supplements are attractive as a way of countering the decline in magazines' prominence caused by the spread of the Internet: They enhance the value of the magazines, offer the prospect of winning new readers, and also make it possible to deliver more effective advertising. These supplements are now the object of great expectations as a catalyst to increased sales in an industry that has been lagging.
(Michiko Imuta)
