What you really, really want is to ignore those Spice Girls The teenage and young women's magazine market can be a complex one for retailers, with a raft of magazines all targeting slightly different age groups. The teenage market consists primarily of girl-only magazines targeting readers from age 10 to 22, and recently ABC took 19, Looks and More out of the teen sector, giving them a sector of their own ­ young women's titles. Top of the teen titles, with latest sales figures of 406,944 through newsstands, is Attic Futura's Sugar, aimed at 13 to 18-year-olds. Editorial director at Sugar, Lysanne Sampson, says there's no secret behind Sugar's success: "It's nothing complicated. Sugar is just the best magazine ­ it has good writing and it's funny. We never rest on our laurels and are always doing new things and always making changes." Nevertheless, Sugar fell 3.7% period on period through the newstrade in the last ABCs ­ reflecting a common downward trend in the market. Sugar's direct competitors, Emap's Bliss and J-17, were also down on year-on-year sales ­ J-17 dropped a hefty 16.1% while Bliss fell 7.2%. Liz Martin, marketing manager, Emap Elan, said retailers should not be alarmed by the downturn. "The traditional teen sector is incredibly competitive and last year it was a tough market. However, it is still a massive market ­ selling 40 million copies, which is more than the glossy market." Martin points out that J-17 has since been "refocused" and expects figures due out in February to show a much rosier picture, not least because it has been a good year for the music industry. "How well the teenage magazine market does is all to do with how buoyant the music market is and to do with celebrities," she explains. Alfie Lewis, publisher, BBC Worldwide, agrees. He says: "The whole teen sector is becoming very celebrity based. Even the pop magazines aren't about music ­ it's about the personalities, the celebrities." He urges retailers not to become disheartened with the sector's recent performance: "There has been a lot of publicity that sales have been down in the teen market since 1997, but 1997 was an exceptional year ­ it went berserk because of the interest in the Spice Girls and Boyzone. So, although sales have been down across the market since 1997, if you compare it to before that year they are up." He adds: "It's difficult to be disappointed with current sales or with the market. When you look at the teen market, more magazines are sold to people between the ages of 11 and 16 than there are girls of that age. It is probably the only magazine sector where readers regularly buy more than one magazine ­ and that's good news for the retailer." Nevertheless, with fierce competition from Emap Performance's Smash Hits ­ up 10% year on year through the newstrade ­ BBC Worldwide's Top of the Pops, the second best-selling magazine in the sector, underwent a revamp in April, pushing it up 1% year on year and arresting the decline it suffered in previous years. BBC Worldwide's Lewis says marketing at retail plays a vital role in this battle to stay ahead of the competition. "We do a lot of marketing at retail with retail exclusives, offering the chance to win pop tickets etc. We also have one-off promotions ­ for instance we've got a promotion coming up with Tesco where a pop band called Boom will be playing at the supermarket." And Lewis says selling teen magazines in supermarkets means opening up the market to parental purchases. "We have found that when sold through independents it is girls that buy TOTP, but in supermarkets it is just as likely to be a parental purchase." Similarly, Sarah Fisher, publishing director for IPC's Mizz, says: "The potential for parental purchasing has increased ­ we have noticed that sales of Mizz are becoming stronger in supermarkets because mums buy the magazine for their daughters." Fisher also urges retailers to take note of the frequency of magazines ­ making sure issues are available at the earliest date. She says: "Mizz is a fortnightly magazine and frequency is important in driving kids into the store. The teen audience buys a huge number of magazines and know the titles well ­ if they know a magazine comes out every other Friday, or whatever, they will actively go into a store to look for it." The major marketing tool when it comes to teenage magazines is undoubtedly covermounting, with most magazines in the sector covermounting every issue. Liz Martin, marketing manager, Emap Elan, says: "On magazines like Bliss and J-17, covermounts are done on most issues and if they are not, there is added value in some other way, perhaps offering discounts at a particular shop." And IPC's Fisher says: "Covermounts do extraordinarily well in the traditional teen market. On Mizz, for example, gifts drive up sales and enhance the Mizz brand overall as they are branded gifts." IPC has found these branded products so popular that it recently launched Mizz branded products ­ watches, body sprays etc ­ which are sold through supermarkets and chemists. "We do link purchases with the magazine and the products by way of marketing," says Fisher. When it comes to the young women's market, the marketing approach changes slightly. The best-selling title in this sector, Emap's More ­ targeted at women between the ages of 18 and 25 ­ has a news stand ABC of 298,429 and does not rely so heavily on covermounting. Martin says: "We do some on-cover promotions on More but nowhere near as many covermounts as in the younger market." However, like its younger counterparts, branding is important. Martin explains: "More is very much a brand. This year we had a television campaign promoting brand awareness and have spent a lot of money on trade activity and point of sale tied into the television adverts." While one new entrant to the teen market ­ Mollin Publishing's Jump ­ has closed, another new launch, Star ­ a fortnightly celebrity magazine designed to look similar to OK and Hello ­ from BBC Worldwide, is faring well. BBC Worldwide's Alfie Lewis says the launch is the first of its kind to enter the teen market and will therefore bring new consumers to the market. He says: "One of the key points for retailers is that it is likely to be an additional purchase and drive incremental sales in store. OK and Hello definitely brought incremental sales and grew the market." He explains: "Star is aimed at girls between 14 and 16 years old ­ focusing on celebrity gossip and pictures ­ but is not as closely targeted as, say, Sugar or Bliss. For instance, we know that 25-30-year-old women buy it." The magazine has exceptionally strong backing, with its own slot on children's television programme Live & Kicking, and the launch included TV advertising as well as intense trade activity, with huge free standing display units at supermarkets. Another significant launch that retailers should look out for is Elle Girl from Emap. Liz Martin explains: "Elle Girl will be launched in the Spring and published by the Elle team. It will be quarterly, fashion-oriented and aimed at 12-18-year-olds. "It will be glossy like Elle and have the same editorial standards.It's a very exciting project." F=fortnightly M=monthly W=weekly Sugar £1.90, M, Frontline Latest news stand ABC 406,944 Top of the Pops £1.80, M, Frontline Latest news stand ABC 389,011 More! £1.45, F, Frontline Latest news stand ABC 298,429 Bliss £1.90, M, Frontline Latest news stand ABC 287,103 Smash Hits £1.80, F, Frontline Latest news stand ABC 249,671 TV Hits £1.80, M, Frontline Latest news stand ABC 204,194 J-17 £1.90, M, Frontline Latest news stand ABC 199,078 Mizz £1.35, F, Marketforce Latest news stand ABC 161,722 19 £2.10, M, Marketforce Latest news stand ABC 147,906 Looks £2.20, M, Frontline Latest news stand ABC 132,512 Star £1.60, F, Frontline Latest news stand ABC N/A Shout £1.40, M, DC Thompson Latest news stand ABC 115,650 {{CTN }}