69.5% of newsagents prefer Wednesday as the second magazine delivey day of the week according to my survey of newsagents receiving 407 responses in just four days.
Only 13.8% of those responding prefer Thursday, the day selected by the magazine distributors.
Click here for the survey results.
This result flies in the face of the claim by the distributors that they consulted prior to making the move. Consultation of newsagents would have shown that Thursday is not a good day. Indeed, the result articulates the concerns of newsagents about Thursday, that they may lose sales to supermarkets and other retail channels – indeed, 65.4% are concerned about this.
Magazine distributors and publishers need to take note of this live concern held by newsagents. It’s borne out of what we see on the high street and in shopping centres. If any party would know what could happen to shopper traffic it’s newsagents who live this battle every day.
Do magazine publishers want to participate in a decision that facilitates a shift in magazine purchases from newsagencies to supermarkets, petrol and conveniece? I bet not since that is a shift that would not play out for them in the long run. The problem for us is that some publishers may not understand the risk for them oof migrating sales from independents to mass groups.
Click here for more on my concerns about Thursday as the second day for magazines.
Okay, this worry about a Thursday on sale could be nothing, it could be us worrying unnecessarily. Is that a risk the magazine publishers are willing to take? A genuine consultation process would have thoroughly explored these issues.
The survey results show newsagents as understanding of the need to move from three days to two. I thought the response on this was quite reasonable.
My understanding is that Thursday was selected primarily because of Who magazine. Because of how key content is sourced, out of the US, an on sale earlier in the week than Thursday would not be possible. Indeed, I am told from within distributor ranks that being ready for Thursday will be a significant challenge. If that’s the case then why not deliver Who on a Friday through IPS and leave all other titles for a Wednesday delivery? Surely a deal could be struck between Pacific and Gotch to permit such a move.
I am sure there are many complex factors that fed into the decision. However, from where I sit, it feels like newsagents were not consulted and or listened to. The result is not good for us. The magazine distributors win. Some publishers win. The vast majority of newsagents are worse off.
It is not too late to throw the issue on the table for genuine consultation. That’s what I hope will happen given the weight of the survey results. Do I think it will happen? I’m not confident. Our suppliers have a track record of mouthing how important we are and how they value our opinion. The actions of too many suppliers tell a different story.
So, magazine publishers and distributors … are you prepared to reconsider the decision and actively consult with newsagents? We sell close to 50% of all magazines sold in Australia. We’d appreciate being part of the conversation on such a business critical move.
Footnote: while we can’t be certain all responses are from newsagents, we can be certain, thanks to the survey software, that only one response per computer was received. Given the readership of the blog, I’d say the vast majority of responds were newsagents.
Big league is GG which cones with the paper trucks on Thursday.
So why can`t Who also GG do the same on Friday if Wednesday is to early for it.
I don’t think G&G or Network give a stuff what newsagents think about the change to Thursday, but what will they do if sales start to fall because or this. People are creatures of habbit and will come in on the day of a new issue coming out on the shelves. Will they accept a little pain in sales till customers get the new publishing days. Why have they not provided some form of POS we can display giving new publishing days.
As for the ANF they seem to be more concerned not to upset the distributors than upsetting newsagents, has anyone had any corespondence from them explaining the issues before or after this discission.
I received a relpy to my email to Gotch advising me that their consultation with newsagents had been positive – but who were these newsagents? They have advised that I will, by some miracle get my magazines still on a Thursday. I don’t think they realise they will get to Cairns and then have to be picked up by another truck that travel overnight to deliver to remote areas. If city folk think they are going to badly done by and they will get the mags on the busiest day of the week then what do you think we feel like.
Thankyou for doing this survey.
Carol I reckon you’re right, you won’t get them when Gotch say.
Its like long weekends, Gotch say, “delivery as normal Monday” but we never get them til tues or wed. And we arent remote, just an average country newsagency.
Mark we owe you a hearty thanks for running the survey and publishing the results. It’s more than any association has done for us on this mess.
I can see why Coles & Woolworths would want Thursday, but I’d imagine driving consumers away from newsagencies would not be beneficial for the vast majority of publishers out there who either don’t have their publications in supermarkets, or don’t derive the majority of their sales from the relatively small space they are allocated in supermarkets.
Who cares about Who? It’s one lonely publication. It’s sales simply don’t justify any power to dictate the delivery days of nations magazine distribution system.
Jarryd I don’t think the publishers were given much say in this from what I have heard. This change was driven by the distributors for their own purposes. While I understand there was discussion around Who, the core driver was what the distributors wanted.
Mark,
I am a Distribution Newsagent. As one witnessesing what has happended here, I think it tragic that the major distributors didn’t seek a venue that would have allowed Retail Newsagents input into this decision. Such as this survey. Perhaps something was done via the ANF, but with over 400 Newsagents looking to mostly say we wanted a Wednesday, I agree one would think there was no consultation done with Retail Newsagents.
When I say tragic, I don’t just mean for Retail Newsagents as I will explain later.
It always was clear in my mind (as you have put out there a number of times) that the decision to move to 2 days was always about reducing distribution costs and that is a fair enough decision, for if increased distribution costs (anywhere in the chain) make any link breakable then that magazine model is not sustainable.
So in the end, yes, the move to 2 days is a good decision for magazines by the major distributors, for which I am appreciative.
So if the cost reduction goal is achieved by the reduced number of delivery days, then from a cost perspective the day chosen for the second delivery date other than a Monday didn’t really matter. (Or maybe it’s just not that simple)
Therefore there had to be another critical reason why the Thursday has been chosen. It is now clear that WHO is ‘a’ reason for choosing Thursday and I get the feeling there is almost dis-belief (by Retail Newsagents) at this.
So when I said about tragic before, the choice of the second day could also be tragic from a sales perspective, although I one would like to think the major distributors have at least done some re-search here. At the very least you would expect some sort of correction in sales until it all settles down and hopefully re-corrects to similar levels of sales. Or will there be, as you and other Retail Newsagents have alluded to, a tranfer of sales to Supermarkets.
It could also be tragic for the NW decision makers who have decided to back Gotch, who couldn’t get WHO out for a Wednesday delivery date, at the possible risk of sales losses to their own ACP products.
So, cost reduction initiatives aside, if there is another reason(s) apart from the timelines surrounding WHO that Thursday was chosen, then it would auger well for relationships with a supposedly valued and large partner group that it be shared with Retail Newsagents, if it is thought it is too late to put genuine consultation on the table as you have called for.
If nothing is forthcoming, then it will be re-soundingly clear that the major distributors think it none of a Retail Newsagents business.
Are they right?
Yeah, I’m not buying that the Thursday decision is based on Who magazine. One Friday title that sits at No. 8 in top 100 mags (to June 2012), compared with two Wednesday titles, each at No. 3 (Thats Life) and No. 4 (Take 5)?? One wonders at the focus of the consulation on this one.
Now the changes have begun with people going to a fortnightly magazine instead of weekly , I see this as a start of things to come . For starters people’s will not be on my shelf after one week ,it will make room for another mag .where are they getting their sales info from thinking that it warrants a 2 week on sale
I’m with you Shaun, the weekly pot-boilers are on the way out. I put far more attention into selling the quality, higher dollar titles, and so far it is paying off – until Everybody loses their jobs – then I’ll have to run a soup kitchen lol
There is no doubt this move by the distributors to cut costs will play out far more widely than they intended.
I really have to wonder how much thought not just for the Newsagent’s livelihood but also for there own longevity has gone into this move. As I really see an adverse impact going to follow on from this move for magazine sales overall. Only time will tell.
Brett none at all. This move, coupled with a bunch of other moves, develops a narrative that many newsagents will not see soon enough.
With regards to people magazine i just down loaded mondays file and supply has doubled What The %^ how does having it there for 2 weeks make any more sales unless regular readers double up .last week of the month early return for sure
Increase 40% here
No change here.
No change here
75% increase here