Reduction in supply quantities of some weekly magazines over the Christmas / New Year period is seeing sell-outs. In some cases, the impacted customers are shifted to a competing title while in other cases they leave to find the title at another retailer. While I understand that the size of the print run of many titles is determined by the ad revenue of the issue, as a retailer I hate losing sales.
The costs of adding several thousand extra copies to the print run is pretty small when you’re already printing tens of thousands – which will probably be the case for most magazines.
Do most magazines in Australia have an audited circulation? If so I cannot see any benefit in selling less copies because advertisers will start asking questions.
I know some publications here in Thailand are slashing their print runs to cut costs, but none are audited so advertisers are none the wiser.
Dont worry if you run out of stock, YOUR customers will always be able to pick one up at the Supermarket. One thing is for sure, you will never get a cut back on the titles that dont sell.
“In some cases, the impacted customers are shifted to a competing title”
Wouldn’t this be a good opportunity to try and push some of the slower selling titles in the same genre? A handmade sign that says “Sorry, we’re out X, but have you seen Y?” could gain a few extra sales.