I met with a small magazine publisher yesterday to discuss how they could build a stronger and more mutually viable relationship with newsagents. As is often the case in discussions with magazine publishers, the conversation turned to early returns and the lost sales so often shown in the data.
Now before newsagents jump on this saying early returns are the only mechanism of control they have (and which i agree with), the conversation yesterday was specifically about early returns that cost sales – returning to a point where you have significantly less stock on the shelves that your recent average sales or returning to a level where you do not benefit is network-wide sales uplift because of a cover story feature or some other reason.
Early returning of magazines is at a point where some publishers are left wondering whether the newsagency channel is the appropriate channel for the sale of magazines.
Magazine range is our only point of difference. Lose this and the future of the channel will be seriously challenged.
In the meeting yesterday, the publisher asked how newsagents would respond to a model whereby they paid only for product sold … once a title is returned they would be billed for net sales.
I’d appreciate comments here on this issue. If you had a title with an on sale of one, two or three months and did not have to pay for stock sold until you processed your returns, would you keep the title on the shelf for the full on-sale?