Printing and physical distribution are expensive. For as long as they still print and mail publications, publishers should do it less frequently. Monthly magazines can be printed bimonthly; weekly magazines can be printed biweekly; newspapers can print on weekends only.
This quote is from an excellent article, How to Save Media by Jason Pontin and published at Technology Review from MIT. This considered piece takes the reader through the challenges being faced by newspapers and magazines in the US – some of which we see here in Australia. It pays particular attention to structural issues. We need to be looking at structural issues in our businesses. The structure of newspaper and magazine distribution, the structure within retail necessary to support the specific requirements for retailing the range of newspapers and magazines we carry.
It seems that every day there are more articles, reports and blog posts being published out of the US and Europe which challenge the foundations of the newsagency model here in Australia yet those who claim to lead newsagents remain silent on the issue of fundamental disruption of core products on which we have relied for traffic and revenue since the first newsagencies began in the 1800s. They either do not understand what is coming or are scared of upsetting suppliers and or newsagents by opening a discussion on structural change.
Personally, I see what is happening in the US and elsewhere as an excellent opportunity for my newsagencies and the channel more widely. The opportunity is to seize the disruption of the model, build stronger businesses and exert more control over our own businesses than ever before. Some of us are doing this already – but not enough.