Our sales of Get Up & Go magazine have been consistent at under 5 copies a month. There was no justification in increasing our supply from eight to ten – certainly not in the sales data. The only reason I can see for increasing our supply would be that the distributor has excess product and it saves their cash if they shift that product to newsagents regardless of whether it will sell.
There has been talk this year of magazine distributors and publishers signing up to performance guidelines. This 20% increase in our supply of Get Up & Go should breach any such rules. It is not the only title where supply is increased despite sales data suggesting there should be a reduction.
Magazine distributors are critical of newsagents and lack of compliance on IT matters. Why should a newsagent comply if such compliance counts for naught when it comes to determining supply allocation as appears to be the case with this title.