This Digital Photography Pocket Guide ought never have been distributed through newsagents. Besides being too expensive for the slim content, the six month on sale means we make a loss on the title.

This title is a good example of where newsagents paying on scanned sales would work – it would b at least better than us paying up front to fund the title and fund theft. It’s another example of why newsagents need to collude to stop titles like this getting through.

With no collateral from ACP Magazines’ Connections program this week, we have given our prime display spot to New Idea. The sales kick is a reminder of the value of balancing between publishers in this prime space.

I bet many newsagents are like me and give preference to the ACP displays because a full kit of display material arrives every Monday – making display decisions easy. The success of this New Idea display tells me we ought to program our use of this space to ensure balance across the magazine category and not just ACP titles.

I’d love more regular and appropriate display materials for other titles. Oh, and rewards based on year on year sales growth and not pretty displays. This week, while ACP snoozes, Pacific Magazines wins.

Magazine publishers and distributors pushed their product outside the newsagency channel and into other outlets (petrol and convenience, major retailers) in the name of giving consumers the choice. They said that times had changed. Well, it suited them today that. Times have changed. Boxing Day is a massive retail day in some states. yet we received no magazines to support the opportunity. I guess the times have changed pitch drives only some decisions. I wish we had magazine deliveries in Victoria as some customers in my newsagencies for the first time would have purchased a magazine from us.

There is an interesting discussion going on in the UK about the cover price of newspapers and magazines. Some newsagents want no cover price printed on publications so they can set the prices themselves. The National Federation of Newsagents in the UK, recently decided to investigate the feasibility of removing cover prices.

An issue driving the UK discussion – who carries the cost of the supply chain – is relevant in Australia. While magazine publishers and distributors have made great strides in cutting costs out of their supply models in recent years, the refusal of some to transact efficiently with newsagents has denied us the opportunity to cut costs out of our businesses.

We have three aisle ends at our Frankston newsagency now for magazine displays: one for the ACP magazines’ Connections promotion of the week and the other two for titles we choose. We joined Connections a couple of weeks ago. The aisle ends work well when the publishers provide sufficient and appropriate material of use – as happened for Madison last week.

This display is the first ever done by Simon, manager of our Frankston store.

The challenge is when Connections promotes a low selling title or for which you do not have the stock to justify the real-estate investment.

Why do we need to have two issues of this British Homes and Gardens magazine on our shelves at the same time? I am sure the importer and distributor will have a reason but as a retailer funding their decision it makes no sense to me. This behaviour denies newsagents the opportunity to effectively retail and it sucks us of cash. It is yet another of a broken magazine supply chain where newsagents and their efficient distribution system are abused.

Universal Magazines held their Christmas party the Four Seasons in Sydney last night. No, I wasn’t a guest. Walking past I wondered how much of their long shelf life product helped them fund the event.