I was pleased to have an opportunity to meet a week ago with Dorian Watkins, Sales Director for DeAgostini UK. DeAgostina is one of the largest partwork publishers in the UK. It was good to talk about the UK magazine marketplace and the newsagency channel in particular and compare Dorian’s perspective with what he had seen on his latest Australian trip.
We also talked about the challenges of certainty of supply for newsagents who actively support partworks. Dorian was with Peter Bissett, his Australian distributor, and a senior management representative of Gordon and Gotch, distributor to newsagents. I know there is some good work being done between all parties to improve the supply model of partworks and better support newsagents who get behind new releases. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to add to the conversation.