Dee Nolan
In Style editor Dee Nolan was "delighted" this week after a publisher’s statement announced the magazine’s first circulation figures of 150,344.
The statement pre-empted the magazine ABCs, due out next Thursday, in which rival magazines Red, Glamour and Heat are expected to shine.
Nolan, who launched the celebrity fashion and beauty title at roughly the same time as Glamour six months ago, said it had met targets and mirrored the steady eight-year build of its US counterpart, which now sold 1.5 million.
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"It has been an extraordinary performance in a very difficult market. I’m delighted to be able to say that we have met our targets," she said.
The timing of the publisher’s statement was deliberate in order to get it out "outside the roar of the ABCs next week", she added. "We are releasing a statement because we haven’t had a first six months audit period."
Nolan said she was not concerned that Glamour was expected to show remarkable first ABC figures because the two magazines were in different parts of the women’s market.
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"The only thing we have in common is that we are both women’s magazines and we launched at the same time. They launched into an incredibly difficult market where they have to fight their own battles with Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire in the younger market," she said.
Readership research had been encouraging, she said, with 10,000 responses to a readers’ survey. More than 75 per cent of readers had bought four or five of the six issues.
"If you can achieve that in a market that actively discourages reader loyalty by using gimmicks and cover-mounts, you really are swimming against the tide. We have put the magazine out at full cover price so all our added value is in the editorial content," said Nolan.
In Style publisher Katy Egan said the new figures echoed the magazine’s success overseas. "Feedback from retailers of an ‘unprecedented reader response’ confirms that readers are shopping directly from the magazine."
By Philippa Kennedy
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