Give your loved ones forms to fill in

So, I was researching gift subscriptions....
Heard a few distributors boasting about how fab it was, etc.
Check it out, here's how you do it:

1) Go into WH Smiths.

2) Try and find the gift pack stand, which is conveniently placed no where near the magazine racks.

3) Select a subscription gift pack, and take it to the till.

4) Once paid for, store staff apply an activation label to the back of the packet.

5) At this point, the subscription isn't activated. To activate it, you need to open the gift pack and complete the enclosed registration card.

6) Write the activation code from the label onto the registration card.

7) Write the recipient's name and address onto the registration card.

8) Write your name and address onto the registration card.

9) The registration card then needs to be sealed in an envelope, to which a stamp must also be affixed, and then sent off in the post.

Makes you wonder what the point of buying it over the counter is, 'eh?

Gift subscriptions that can be bought in a magazine store? Here in Belgium I have never seen anything like it before. I like the idea, however. I can imagine it stimulates impulse subscriptions for magazines.

Subscriptions for game magazines that come with a game are generally speaking good value and if you see a (game) gift subscription lying in the racks that must be tempting. They could make it more user friendly...

That would be great, if you got a subscription with a game. =) I remember I got into games mags, just because when I first went to buy my NES from someone second hand, as well as 3 cartridges [Megaman II, PunchOut and DoubleDragon II if interested] they threw a few games mags into the deal also [Game Zone, Total!, and Nintendo Magazine System, ^_^]. Point being, with the massive growth we've seen in hardware penetration, it'd be nice if games mags could ride piggy back on that growth, but rather, we've seen a pretty clear decline overall.

Back to gift subscriptions...they're stocked alongside other gift packs, such as experiences/days out, etc, in WH Smith stores. I haven't seen any for games mags specifically, but things such as Formula 1 mag, and EMPIRE [a film mag].
I guess it works well in allowing someone to buy a subscription for someone else as a gift, but I wrote this post in the way I did as I think there's better scope for impulse over-the-counter subscriptions, and more modern ways of doing things than filling in forms and looking for stamps and envelopes. =P It can be up to 8 weeks before your subscription takes effect too. =/

As newstrade sales decrease, there is excitement in the growth we've seen in subscription sales here in the UK. Elsewhere...the obvious example being Game Informer in the US, where subscriptions were in excess of 2million last time I checked [2008], with newsstand sales a paltry 22,000. They apparently tied subscription to GameStop's reward card scheme. Makes the mind boggle, when you realise GAME GROUP PLC have announced they've 7.4 million loyalty card users in the UK and Ireland alone - 2.2 million registered during 2008. =P

Back to subscriptions, and perhaps you were referring to magazines that come with full games, as opposed to a game that comes with a mag subscription, lol. ^_^ I think in the UK there's some law not allowing full retail games on the front of games mags. Although you do get the small indie games featured on cover discs regularly, so goodness knows how it exactly works. Although someone did mention once [was it on this site?] that some mags in Europe don't have the same legal problems, and do indeed feature full retail games on their covers. =P

But yeah, you look at something like EDGE magazine, and you're talking about 20,000 newstrade sales, and 8,000 subscription sales, so subscriptions still lag behind the newstrade, but as more people buy subscriptions online, as newstrade sales decline, and publishers try and reach their readers directly to make up for it, we will see growth in subscriptions.

I haven't tried researching if you can do gift subscriptions online yet, but maybe you can. Maybe I should look at that too.

Anyway, I'm just waffling.