Universal Magazines is using the goodwill (or apathy) of newsagents with the launch of a new title (for us at least) yesterday. Classic Kitchens arrived in-store and required re-jig of space allocation to make way for this new title. Like other Universal Magazine titles, we received too many copies and are expected to keep these for three months. You won’t see this title in our major competitors because they are smart enough to dictate their own terms. We are not so smart.
I expect that Classic Kitchens will be loss making for all but a few newsagents, probably forever. The supply model – volume and long on sale – make it cash flow negative, especially in a shopping centre situation where you are paying more than $1,000 per square metre in rent.
While Universal may have used sales of other titles to determine the scale out for this new title, such a model does not take into account the limited space in newsagencies nor the cash flow costs of servicing a new title.
The only way newsagents will stop this is if we take control of our network and introduce a gatekeeper, a magazine czar as I have written previously. We need Universal to jump through hoops before supplying a title to a newsagency for the first time. The current magazine distribution system is too easy.
I’m a competitor to Universal so I’m biased. i was in the local newsagent and Universal had 6 kitchen and bathrom titles on your shelves. We have 1. Flooding newsagents like this to gain market share is a strategy many publishers disagree with. I’m one of them. I could rehash content from past issues and play the game of taking maximum shelf space but I know the day is coming when newsagents will say enough is enough. It can’t come soon enough. Any newsagents notice how many oudoor magazines from these guys you have on your shelves?
Personally I have ceased to stock all of these titles. my customers do not want them and my job is to cater to them. I do believe that there is not one title from that publisher in my store.
Dirk,
Unfortunately we newsagents tend to not see see this land grab by publishers. Thanks for pointing it out. We need to find a way to get control over this part of our business otherwise we will continue to be taken advantage of with the flooding you describe.
Dirk which magazines do you put out ?
shaun United media Group. we publish melbourne wedding and bride. It’s over 800 pages and sells for just $6.95. We can show you figures that prove we get around 80% sell through.
We also Publish Melbourne kitchen and bathroom design, Melbourne home design and living, melbourne pool and out door design.
All our magazines we can prove have a sell through rate far above industry standard. We are just a small family publishing house. Our business model is simple. We put out the best quality magazine and sell them for $6.95. We split our distribution to help you guys with cash flow. We work on a minimum target of 65% sell through.If we can’t get this we cut supply. we lauched QLD wedding and Bride 3 weeks ago. EDI sell through figures were 38% in 2 weeks. A great result for newsagents, advertisers and us as well. Shaun I know our business model may not be exactly what all Newsagents may want and may not be perfect. However we genuinely try to make sure we produce magazines that sell. Everyone needs to do their bit. Ever want give me a call. The more information we get from newsagents the better
It`s not just the publishers using the good will of newsagants the distributors are at me again. I ordered a magazine in specifically for a customer a niche title called craft arts international but Network decided i should have 4 copies instead of just the one ordered. At $16.50 per copy i am livid. Can i pinch that phrase again Mark? Ugh!!!!