Andy
- 21 Apr 2008 00:36
Shares Magazine was totally revamped this week.
Out has gone the tabloidy style, and aticles on small caps, in has come long articles by market 'experts' and large cap reporting.
The Prospector has been axed.
I am disppointed with the changes, and wondered if anyone else here subscribed or bought Shares, and had a view they wold like to share?
Fred1new
- 05 Sep 2008 09:51
- 153 of 184
I didn't receive the mag for 3 weeks but now have received 2 by post in 2days.
My major grumble of is the quality of print, choice of founts and background page colour.
Before anybody says anything, I know I am old!
maddoctor
- 05 Sep 2008 10:56
- 154 of 184
I,ve been taking the mag. for years and used to read every word , now a quick flick through and in the bin , can,t put my finger on exactly what has gone wrong but for one thing it is now borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring
Stegrego
- 05 Sep 2008 12:49
- 155 of 184
Ive found it a bit improved over recent weeks, with some readable bits and stuff coming back.
However, the last 2 weeks seem to be going the other way again.
Sub is hanging by a thread now.
queen1
- 05 Sep 2008 13:49
- 156 of 184
No Diary section again this week.
Andy
- 06 Sep 2008 10:22
- 157 of 184
queen1,
I wonder how the "new" and "old" circulation figures compare?
I cannot understand why they did this, the format is soooo boring now, IMO.
I much preferred the tabloidy feel of the old mag, and enjoyed reading it too, the small articles were simply an introduction to a stock, a starter for more research, whereas now there are limited articles, hence less introductions to new stocks.
someuwin
- 06 Sep 2008 11:38
- 158 of 184
Unreadable mag now - complete waste of money.
queen1
- 07 Sep 2008 18:14
- 160 of 184
Agreed Andy and I'm sure the new figures compare poorly with the old.
Clubman3509
- 07 Sep 2008 19:26
- 161 of 184
Don't bother reading it any more just flick through the pages. Before revamp I read every word.
chessplayer
- 08 Sep 2008 08:06
- 162 of 184
I cannot see one constructive comment on the mag.The question needs to be asked,"Did the editor feel that the changes made were for the better?"And if so,in what way?
Andy
- 08 Sep 2008 15:35
- 163 of 184
chessplayer,
And for whom were the chnages made?
They effectively changed the content of the mag, so anyone already buying was clearly buying for the old content, and was unlikely to be happy with the new, as there are few company reviews now.
In particular, the number of small AIM listed companies being covered is much lower now.
Big Bad Al
- 08 Sep 2008 15:54
- 164 of 184
forward diary has now departed,,WHY !!
halifax
- 08 Sep 2008 16:38
- 165 of 184
Perhaps they are trying to find an excuse to close down without refunding our subscriptions?
hangon
- 09 Sep 2008 11:29
- 166 of 184
I suspect they are seeing falling sales - nothing surprining in that - times are harder now, Volumes down - so opportunistic buyers maybe don't buy from the news-stand.
I fail to understand why they have used grey ink,
why the Issue date is twisted 80 degrees and reversed and very difficult to read . . . it's quite important, esp when sorting through back-issues.
Some omissions (like the EPIC) are now fixed
And it would be nice to have the "Buy at" price, because MM's move prices up as soon as a share is mentioned in Shares! ( SO, I'd prefer to wait.)
Nevertheless I buy it each week.
Sadly the post is late here (S>London), so I need to go to the shops to read it before lunch!
chessplayer
- 09 Sep 2008 23:08
- 167 of 184
hangon--you sound like a bit of a masochist to me.Still,I expect you have your limits as well!
Kayak
- 10 Sep 2008 00:30
- 168 of 184
I would make that 90 degrees unless your house is on a hill of course :-)
Stegrego
- 18 Sep 2008 13:05
- 169 of 184
Just rang up and cancelled my subscription after about 3 years of subbing.
Mag is getting worse not better, gave it plenty of chances.
Printing it on thicker paper this week doesnt make up for lack of content either!
hodgins
- 24 Jan 2009 01:11
- 170 of 184
No magazine received this week, anyone else?
Has improved lately, especially welcome pages on currency and other commodities
Andy
- 24 Jan 2009 09:59
- 171 of 184
Stegrego,
I bought a copy osf Shares just before Christmas for a train jaunt up north, and was suprised at how painfully thin the mag had become!
Clearly the adverts dropping has lead to a corresponding reduction in share reporting.
I hit lucky in that the mag i bought had some articles on companies and the sector i concentrate on, but I found there were few shares mentioned, and the old 'feel' has gone.
To be fair, they HAVE addressed some of the issues raised here at the time of the revamp, but you have to ask why they changed it in the first place, and why it took so long to rectify when they must have lost subscribers in the meantime!
The index is STILL at the back, which is ridiculous. IMO, and probably only satifies their Chinese customers.....
What I do notice is the mag is not sold in so many locations as before, and I would like to see their recent circulation figures, in comparison with the pre revamp ones.
I certainy wouldn't subscribe again, but MAY buy on spec agsin IF I flicked through and found some content of interest first.
Overall, this is surely an abject lesson in taking a popular brand, making uneccesary changes without doing market research and referring to your customers, then ignoring those same customers' comments when things were clearly wrong, and then losing market share!
I bought a recent copy of the Investors Chronicle, and was pleased to note how much that had improved, visually at least, with a better layout and more colour, and felt it represented better value.
Bullshare
- 24 Jan 2009 10:17
- 172 of 184
Andy: In answer to your abject lesson/losing market share comment above, our circulation (ABC Audited) since relaunch is up 34.5%. Previously it stood at 13,561 a week now the audited number stands at 18,236 a week.
Our audience before the relaunch was 90% private investor, the revamp and marketing focus since has been successfully targeting analysts, brokers and the company directors of the quoted companies themselves, whilst trying to cater for the private investors at the same time.
Mike