Express Publications abuses the newsagency channel

Express Publications, publisher of Xtreme Fords, Xtreme Holdens, Zoom, Street Commodores, Street Fords, Fast Fours, Fast Fours and a bunch of other titles, sends newsagents sealed bags of, often out of date, magazines on a never-ending merry-go-round of abuse of the channel.

Their bagged magazine packs suck newsagents of cash, labour and retail real-estate.  The title facing out of the bag this month will come back in a bag as a freebie in a few months.  Newsagents fund this gross inefficiency by paying to send back bags of magazines which have failed to sell, because their bags take more space than a usual magazine and because most of their titles are inefficient.  In my view, Express Publications abuses small business newsagents.

The magazine distributor controls supply and permits these bagged heavy titles to have access to the newsagency channel. While I am sure they will claim to have sales data to support a claim that they are doing nothing wrong, they are not paying the bills newsagents pay, they do not assess the true economic benefit of the titles to a newsagency business.  Many of us need a sell through of 60% or more of these titles within 30 days of on-sale  just to break even. Anything less than this and we lose money.

The Express titles are in categories which are well satisfied with what I’d call real magazines – titles with fresh content and which are presented in a browser friendly format.

We ought to negotiate better terms around these titles, terms which reflect the additional costs associated with.  That or we cut them altogether.