Mediaweek has a report Australian newsagents should read about the impact of high fuel prices in the US on over the counter magazine sales.
One major distribution executive said that his company’s unit sales were down 6.5 percent in the first quarter versus the year-earlier quarter. And at major wholesaler The News Group, unit sales declined 7.4 percent for the first four months of the year compared with the year-ago period. Particularly hard hit were men’s titles, down 26.2 percent, and news magazines, down 17.6 percent, per the wholesaler. Celebrity magazines were down 6.4 percent, although dollar sales were up as a result of cover price increases.
The report claims some publishers are considering cover price discounting based on coupons to drive sales. I don’t like that idea at all. I would rather publishers work with retailers so that we can more easily fund sales and marketing levers in our businesses to drive sales.
I’ll have some more to say about this in a few days but I’d note that newsagents can take action right now to shore up magazine sales in a tougher economic climate. Yes it means more work – but it is what one does in the face of competition, work harder. In today’s market the competition is for the dollar because of higher fuel prices and people spending less of luxury items.