Fashion magazines: Growing popularity, growing market

Thailand's leading fashion magazines are expanding into male fashion too & getting closer to readers via events, apps & festivals.

Photo above of a fashion show at Bangkok International Fashion Week.

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Economics
MAGAZINES

'Elle' tops on women's market

28/09/2012
Post Reporters

Post International Media (Post IM) is set to expand its leadership position in the women's magazine segment despite increased competition in the market.

Supakorn Vejjajiva, the chief operating officer of Post Publishing Plc, said the company's position in this market is "very strong." 

Its three women titles, Elle, Cleo and Marie Claire have seen remarkable growth this year, said Mr Supakorn

Together they cover the entire readership base of women in the 18-35 age bracket - teenagers, young professionals and high-income earners.

Elle, the market leader for fashion magazines, has seen its profits jump by 50% to date this year.

Cleo remains the country's best-selling title, while Marie Claire has enjoyed a 12% increase in circulation revenue over the first eight months this year.

The three titles give the company a 24% advertising market share in the women's magazine segment. In terms of advertising revenue, Elle has seen growth of 13%, Cleo 6% and Marie Claire 30% this year.

Competition in the field is expected to become fiercer with the entrance of at least two more fashion titles - Vogue and Numero.

"The battle will be in the building of readership bases," said Mr Supakorn. "In short, you have to be able to sell your magazines. Otherwise, you won't be able to sustain advertisement. It will be a challenge for any new entries.

Post IM managing director Sirimon Na Nagara said the company's women's magazines, especiallyElle, will extend their reach "beyond fashion." 

"It's an expansion position that only the market leader can take," said Ms Sirimon. The strategy is not to shift away from being the arbiter of fashion but to "get closer" to the reader, and not just through magazine pages.

"The aim is to produce content that creates bonding with the real readers out there and engage them through all types of tools - events, apps, festivals," said Ms Sirimon.

In the pipeline are fashion events to be held in collaboration with leading shopping centres to complement the main once-a-year Elle Fashion Week and a fashion film festival, Ms Sirimon revealed.

For next year, Post IM is looking to explore the men's magazines market and add at least five international titles to its line-up, said Mr Supakorn.

Post IM's profit rose by 22% year-on-year in the first eight months.

(Source: Bangkok Post, Economics, MAGAZINES, 'Elle' tops on women's market, 28/09/2012, Post Reporters, link)


Fashion Magazine Vocabulary

fashion - the activity and business of making new styles of clothes and new looks (See Wikipedia)

fashion design - the process of creating new clothing ideas that are beautiful and can be used for certain activities or times of the year (See Wikipedia)
fashion designer - a person whose job is doing "fashion design" (See Wikipedia List)
fashion shows - a show to display the new clothing designs from various fashion designers (See Wikipedia)

magazine - a large thin book with articles and photos published once a week or month หนังสือรายเดือน, หนังสือรายสัปดาห์ (See Wikipedia)
fashion magazine - (See Wikipedia List)

fashion journalism - "involves all aspects of published fashion media, including fashion writers, fashion critics, and fashion reporters. The most obvious examples of fashion journalism are the fashion features in magazines and newspapers, may also includes books about fashion, fashion related reports on television and online fashion magazines, websites, and blogs...pieces often deal with "tendencies" and "trends", which are subjective or speculative..." (See Wikipedia)

Elle - "a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded ... in 1945" (See Wikipedia)

Marie Claire - "a monthly women's magazine first published in France but also distributed in other countries with editions specific to them and in their languages. While each country shares its own special voice with its audience, the United States edition focuses on women around the world and several worldwide issues. The magazine also covers health, beauty, and fashion topics" (See Wikipedia)

Vogue - "an American fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 19 national and one regional edition... founded in 1892" (See Wikipedia)

Cleo - "an Australian, New Zealand, South African, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thailand and Indonesian women's magazine. Aimed at an older audience than the teenage-focused Dolly, the magazine is known for its CLEO Bachelor of the Year award. CLEO was the first Australian women’s magazine to feature non-frontal nude male centrefolds in 1972, with Jack Thompson as the magazine's first Mate of the Month" (See Wikipedia)

Numero - "an international fashion magazine... has a circulation of 80,000... founded in 1998 by Elisabeth Djian... When asked why she created Numero, Djian commented, 'I was bored with magazines that told me how to seduce a man. I wanted to create this magazine for an intelligent, smart woman who wants to read about art, design, music: not about stupidity – creams that take away wrinkles, you know, which is stupid.'" (See Wikipedia)

tops - number one, the best
'Elle' tops on women's market

segment - 1. Here same as "market segment"; 2. a part of something ตอน ส่วนต่างๆของสังคม
the women's magazine segment

market segment - a group of possible customers who are similar in income, age, habits, likes and dislikes (See Wikipedia)

position - the place where something is compared to other things, in relation to other things; rank, ranking
leadership position

leadership position in the women's magazine segment
company's position in a market

expand - to become larger ขายตัวออกไป
expand leadership position in the women's magazine segment

competition - a situation in which many are trying to get something (customers, purchases, win a game) that not everyone can have
increased competition in the market

Post International Media (Post IM) is set to expand its leadership position in the women's magazine segment despite increased competition in the market. Supakorn Vejjajiva, the chief operating officer of Post Publishing Plc, said the company's position in this market is "very strong." 

remarkable - unusual or special and therefore surprising and worth mentioning; noteworthy, impressive, surprising ไม่ธรรมดา
remarkable growth
seen remarkable growth this year - experienced or had remarkable growth this year

Its three women titles, Elle, Cleo and Marie Claire have seen remarkable growth this year, said Mr Supakorn

a base - a loyal group of people who are always there and provide a foundation (not changing around a lot) (example: customer base, a large base of support in the political party) พื้นฐาน,  รากฐาน,

readership - the people who read a publication ผู้อ่าน
readership base - loyal readers (who always buy and read the magazine)

bracket - a range (example: an income bracket for paying income tax)
age bracket - a range of ages (example: the age bracket from age 18 to 25)

the entire readership base of women in the 18-35 age bracket

professionals - people who have higher skills, education and training and are usually higher paid
young professionals - young skilled people with good jobs earning a lot of money

income - money that people receive from work or some other source, used for household consumption and savings
high-income earners
the market leader for fashion magazines

Together they cover the entire readership base of women in the 18-35 age bracket - teenagers, young professionals and high-income earners. Elle, the market leader for fashion magazines, has seen its profits jump by 50% to date this year.

best-seller (noun) - a book or publication that sells the most (the highest number of copies)
best-selling (adjective)

title - the name of a book, magazine, newspaper or some other publication
best-selling title  

remains - is still this way (some situation or condition that has not changed)
Cleo remains the country's best-selling title

revenue - income from taxes or business activities รายได้

circulation - the usual number of copies of a newspaper or magazine that are sold each day, week or month (See Wikipedia)
revenue - money received by a business from selling goods or services, earnings, income รายได้
circulation revenue - the money that a company (publisher) makes from selling copies of newspapers, magazines, books, etc

enjoyed ... - when something good happens (example: enjoyed record crop yields, enjoyed handsome profits)
enjoyed a 12% increase in circulation revenue

advertising
advertising revenue

advertising market share
a 24% advertising market share in the women's magazine segment

In terms of ... - as measured by ...
In terms of advertising revenue, ...

Cleo remains the country's best-selling title, while Marie Claire has enjoyed a 12% increase in circulation revenue over the first eight months this year. The three titles give the company a 24% advertising market share in the women's magazine segment. In terms of advertising revenue, Elle has seen growth of 13%, Cleo 6% and Marie Claire 30% this year.

field - a subject or type of work or business
competition in the field

fierce - with great energy and force
fierce competition

expected - what people believe will happen in the future คาดว่า (จะเกิดขึ้น)
expected to become fiercer

competition in the field is expected to become fiercer

entrance into the market - Same as "market entry"
market entry - when a company starts competing in a certain kind of business (See Wikipedia)

Competition in the field is expected to become fiercer with the entrance of at least two more fashion titles - Vogue and Numero.

sustain - to keep; to continue รักษาไว้
sustain advertisement

challenge - something that needs a lot of skill, energy, and determination to deal with or achieve สิ่งที่ท้าทาย, การท้าทาย
It will be a challenge for any new entries.

extend - to include something more ยืดออกไป ขยายออกไป
the magazines will extend their reach "beyond fashion." 

"The battle will be in the building of readership bases," said Mr Supakorn. "In short, you have to be able to sell your magazines. Otherwise, you won't be able to sustain advertisement. It will be a challenge for any new entries.  Post IM managing director Sirimon Na Nagara said the company's women's magazines, especially Elle, will extend their reach "beyond fashion." 

expansion - when something increases in size, number or importance การขยายออก
an expansion position that only the market leader can take

strategy - a plan to achieve long term goals ('strategy' gives the big picture, 'tactics' the details)

shift - to change
shift away from

arbiter - the one who decides what is good, right, acceptable; the judge
the arbiter of fashion - the one who decides what is fashionable (which styles and kinds of clothing are "in fashion" and popular)

"It's an expansion position that only the market leader can take," said Ms Sirimon. The strategy is not to shift away from being the arbiter of fashion but to "get closer" to the reader, and not just through magazine pages.

aim - goal เป้าหมาย  จุดมุ่งหมาย
the aim is to ...

content - the subject, ideas, or story that a piece of writing or a radio or television programme deals with เนื้อหา,สาระ
produce content

bond (noun, verb) - creating and developing feelings of friendship, love and/or duty between people; a relationship, bond, tie, attachment เยื่อใย,  สายสัมพันธ์, ความเกี่ยวพัน, ความเกี่ยวพันแม้จะขาดกันไปแล้ว แต่ก็ยังมีอาลัยเหลืออยู่   

bonding with readers

engage - make people interested in and want to do some activity
engage readers - write to make readers want to read the writing

event - a large planned activity such as a show, meeting or convention with many people coming and attending
fashion events

apps - a program on the mobile phone that does something useful
fashion apps

festival - an big event or fair to celebrate some activity or thing (example: beer festival) เทศกาล
fashion festivals 

"The aim is to produce content that creates bonding with the real readers out there and engage them through all types of tools - events, apps, festivals," said Ms Sirimon.

in the pipeline ... - currently working on it (but not finished yet)

collaboration - when people work together to achieve a goal
in collaboration with - working together well with

complement - go together well, add to something to make it better
fashion events to complement the main once-a-year Elle Fashion Week

revealed - made known or showed somthing that was surprising or that was previously secret เปิดเผย

In the pipeline are fashion events to be held in collaboration with leading shopping centres to complement the main once-a-year Elle Fashion Week and a fashion film festival, Ms Sirimon revealed.

explore - to look at all parts of a place or subject (looking for interesting things)
looking to explore the men's magazines market

international - involving many countries or between countries ระหว่างประเทศ
international titles - books, magazines or newspapers tthat are sold in many countries

product line - the set and range of products that a company produces สายผลิตภัณฑ์ (See Wikipedia)

add to line-up - add to the company's product line
add at least five international titles to its line-up

For next year, Post IM is looking to explore the men's magazines market and add at least five international titles to its line-up, said Mr Supakorn.

profit - money that you make from selling goods and services after all your costs have been paid กำไร
year-on-year - a period this year compared to the same period last year

profit rose by 22% year-on-year

Post IM's profit rose by 22% year-on-year in the first eight months.