I’m not sure if this is widespread but I’ve seen data indicating a sweet rise in crossword sales in recent months. The store sample size is small, not enough to say it’s a channel-wide trend.
That said, for the newsagencies for which I have seen data, sales of crosswords are up between 7% and 18% un terms of unit sakes in recent months. For one store, sales of crossword titles rose from 157 to 189 in July.
Crosswords typically account for between 5% and 8% of total magazine sales. Growth for this segment is a nice gain for the magazine department that is challenges in other segments.
The common features of newsagencies achieving growth in crossword sales is consistent placement, easy customer access, location near newspapers and co-location of some titles occasionally at the counter.
Crosswords are an easy gift, especially if you are located near hospitals, retirement villages and/or nursing homes.
It’s best to not rely on the destination crossword shopper for growth. In my own experience the easiest growth comes from suggesting crosswords as a gift. They work in many situations. They are also easily posted.
Yes, our GP is only 25%, which sucks. That said, any magazine segment delivering growth is something to lean into, I think.