SHOPPING FOR TRAFFIC: Since the spring, In Style has been shuffling its editorial formula and beefing up its Web site to help give a boost to sagging newsstand sales. So far, the results have been mixed. According to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations' Rapid Report, In Style's August issue sold 684,000 copies — 200,000 fewer than the same issue last year. But according to sources familiar with scan data, September's issue sold around 875,000 copies, or just 45,000 fewer than last year's. New additions to the dot-com, like daily celebrity looks and fashion and an interactive hair tool, helped In Style grow page views, according to internal figures, to 37 million in September from 23 million in September 2006; unique visitors have held steady at about 1.8 million (comparatively, Style.com's internal figures reported 1.8 million unique visitors and 171 million page views).
Today, the site will take another step when it finally launches an initiative that has been talked about within Time Inc. for almost a decade — e-commerce capability. In Style Shopping will allow consumers to browse nearly 100 retailers, including Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf Goodman and Gap, directly from instyle.com. The site will be powered by ShopStyle, a search engine for shopping launched in February where consumers can browse by product or retailer. ShopStyle was acquired by Sugar Publishing in September.
Readers benefit because they can now shop directly from the In Style site, while the magazine generates traffic from users browsing for black dresses at a slew of retailers while under the In Style URL. Users are redirected to the retailer's site to purchase the wares. American Express will sponsor the new offering throughout the holiday season.
Meanwhile, In Style is releasing its latest book, "Style 101: What Every Stylish Woman Should Know," a handbook on how to do everything like walk in high heels, apply eye shadow, choose wine and buy diamonds. Alison Gwinn, the title's former deputy editor who is now executive editor at Women's Health, edited the book.
— Stephanie D. Smith
AT LEAST HE THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT: Despite grumblings that this year's American Magazine Conference lacked the excitement and glamour of past years (although there was plenty of wind — literally, given the 40-mile-per-hour gusts that hit Boca Raton, Fla., on Tuesday), chair and Men's Health editor in chief David Zinczenko remains, perhaps predictably, enthused. "It really was a grand slam, and asking me what I'd do differently is like asking the Red Sox what they'd do differently after the [World] Series," he said via e-mail. He disputed any suggestion that editor in chief turnout was low, and said Reader's Digest "didn't come because of all the changes they're dealing with," and pointed out Time Inc.'s turnout was lowered by the company's Fortune conference in India. As for the raw numbers, "Attendance was up over last year, 500 vs 490s, and the reason we weren't at 700 or 800 as [New York Post media columnist Keith] Kelly mentioned is because we're not living in the year of the plus-one anymore....Spouses accounted for much of the attendance in past years." Attendees also complained that Tony Snow, who stayed relentlessly on message despite no longer working for the Bush administration, was a poor follow-up to past keynote speakers Barack Obama and John McCain.
Today, the site will take another step when it finally launches an initiative that has been talked about within Time Inc. for almost a decade — e-commerce capability. In Style Shopping will allow consumers to browse nearly 100 retailers, including Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf Goodman and Gap, directly from instyle.com. The site will be powered by ShopStyle, a search engine for shopping launched in February where consumers can browse by product or retailer. ShopStyle was acquired by Sugar Publishing in September.
Readers benefit because they can now shop directly from the In Style site, while the magazine generates traffic from users browsing for black dresses at a slew of retailers while under the In Style URL. Users are redirected to the retailer's site to purchase the wares. American Express will sponsor the new offering throughout the holiday season.
Meanwhile, In Style is releasing its latest book, "Style 101: What Every Stylish Woman Should Know," a handbook on how to do everything like walk in high heels, apply eye shadow, choose wine and buy diamonds. Alison Gwinn, the title's former deputy editor who is now executive editor at Women's Health, edited the book.
— Stephanie D. Smith
AT LEAST HE THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT: Despite grumblings that this year's American Magazine Conference lacked the excitement and glamour of past years (although there was plenty of wind — literally, given the 40-mile-per-hour gusts that hit Boca Raton, Fla., on Tuesday), chair and Men's Health editor in chief David Zinczenko remains, perhaps predictably, enthused. "It really was a grand slam, and asking me what I'd do differently is like asking the Red Sox what they'd do differently after the [World] Series," he said via e-mail. He disputed any suggestion that editor in chief turnout was low, and said Reader's Digest "didn't come because of all the changes they're dealing with," and pointed out Time Inc.'s turnout was lowered by the company's Fortune conference in India. As for the raw numbers, "Attendance was up over last year, 500 vs 490s, and the reason we weren't at 700 or 800 as [New York Post media columnist Keith] Kelly mentioned is because we're not living in the year of the plus-one anymore....Spouses accounted for much of the attendance in past years." Attendees also complained that Tony Snow, who stayed relentlessly on message despite no longer working for the Bush administration, was a poor follow-up to past keynote speakers Barack Obama and John McCain.
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