Music Magazine Stand Analysis

The image above shows music magazines being displayed on a shelf in a newsagents store. The layout and composition of the magazines is quite peculiar as usually magazines are laid out on top of each other with just the masthead clearly showing and the best selling magazines, being placed on the front shelves with the whole magazine cover page showing. However in this case, the magazines are laid out on the side of each other, showing only half of the masthead as well as half of the rest of the cover page.
The magazines may be presented like this as by showing half of the magazine covers, when customers come to look at the magazines they'd like to buy, they may go for the ones that have bold font/colours as well as have cover lines on the side that sound interesting and that they may want to read.
By showing only half of the page also means that only some cover lines are shown and not others, therefore if a cover line is stopped midway due to another magazine covering the rest of it, the customer may be urged to pick up the magazine and read the whole cover line, thus making them buy the magazine too.
Also, since many music magazines are well known through their colour schemes and masthead logos, regular customers who buy music magazines regularly, may be able to spot and navigate their chosen music magazine easily even if only half of the masthead is showing.
On this specific image, the magazines laid out have words such as 'FREE' and 'WIN' written boldly near the masthead, which could potentially attract customers to pick up the magazines as they have the chance to win something or receive something inside the magazine; which will then result in them buying the magazine.
Sale or Return is a system used by magazine distributors with newsstands, which consists of any copies of magazines, which are not sold, being returned to the distributor; with no cost to the retailer. This is beneficial for the retailer, as there is no wastage or risks involved in buying magazines to sell as if the magazines don't sell, then the publisher/distributor would suffer from wastage and environmental damage instead.
Freemiums are direct distributions which is an increasingly popular method of distribution being used today. This is giving out free issues of magazines or producing freemium magazines. These are typically given out at transport stations or any other busy public locations. These types of magazines make all there revenue/profit through their advertising therefore, any freemium magazine around will have more adverts than a normal magazine being sold in a shop.
Regular readers of magazines tend to subscribe to a number of issues and have their chosen magazines regularly posted to them, usually at a heavy discounted price. This is much easier for the audience and it ensures a regular core readership for the magazine. Electronic distributions work in a similar way however, the only difference is that the customer's magazine will be delivered to the customer's inbox, Kindle Fire or iPad.