Dylan Stableford at Folio magazine in the US has brought together 117 predictions for magazines next year. Some are thought provoking others are lazy. I am about to sign off on a new shop fit for our Frankston store. The plans include a good allocation of prime space for magazines – using UK designed and made fixturing.
While I am sure 2009 will present challenges for magazines, I expect that newsagents who embrace being a specialist will end the year with good results. Our new shop fit seeks to position us to improve retail efficiency with the category and offer flexibility to roll with challenges which present.
The challenges are real and from a retail perspective, getting rid of titles that were underperforming will be good for business.
My only hope, as deluded as it is, is that distributors will scale down the number of rubbish titles distributed… I’ll only believe it if I see it.