Here are my initial views on how a magazine czar / gatekeeper – call the position what you will – could work:

Newsagents to acknowledge that their retail network is their asset and that it does not ‘belong’ to magazine distributors to use as they choose. If newsagents don’t believe this there is no point in proceeding. It is essential that newsagents stop operating as process workers and start making business decisions for their businesses.

Newsagents to select a committee of respected, expert, knowledgeable and industry compliant retail newsagents to set magazine KPIs against which the czar will assess net titles seeking to gain access to the channel.

Newsagents each write to magazine distributors advising that they approve the appointment of a czar and ask that prior to any new title being supplied they gain approval of the czar.

The committee selects a czar who is vested with authority by newsagents to approve or not approve all new titles proposed to be sold through newsagencies.

The position should be employed by newsagents using seed funds from magazine distributors and newsagents – each newsagent asked to contribute $50 and each magazine distributor asked to contribute $50,000 for the first year. This provides the czar’s office $690,000 in first year funding.

The czar to seek ACCC input on the structure and processes of enforcing compliance. This may well require elements of collective bargaining and authorisation.

While this needs work, it’s a start. The sooner newsagents take control for circulation product provided to their businesses the better. The current situation provides newsagents with no control. It’s time we started to manage our most crucial asset.

I initially posted this yesterday here as a comment but have posted them here to facilitate broader comment.

A couple of months ago we created a new health section, bringing together magazines from several categories – health, fitness, lifestyle. We placed the new section next to food and moved the health related food titles so they abut the new health section. The new section is in our ladies aisle – opposite our women’s weeklies. The results have been excellent as I have blogged previously. Yesterday we checked sales for the food titles – our ACP Magazines healthy food titles have benefited the most from the move. Sales are strong. Annette’s Sym’s Symply Too Good range is also selling better but that is more due to the release of the fifth in the series.

What we have done in creating this new category and locating it next to food breaks with tradition but the results speak for themselves.

Our only problem in the food space now is the US and UK titles. Sales are soft.

The sell through rate for any magazine is an ideal metric indicating the efficiency of the magazine supply model. The crossword category is an ideal place for comparing titles. Take NDD crossword related titles for example: more than half NDD supplied crossword titles in my newsagency have a sell through rate of 30% or less. That is, 70% of what NDD sends fails to sell.

I have Dell crossword titles with an annual sell through rate as low as 6%. The overall average for Dell titles is appalling – if the NDD supply model was as good as they claim to publishers I would not be receiving this range. That NDD still supplies me says more about their business model driving their cashflow than what is best for the title and the newsagency.

Other ranges which sell poorly include: All Star, Easy and Variety. In can tell this from my sell through arte data – the same data the experts at NDD have access to when deciding what I should receive.

NDD has good titles like the Lovatts products – they have a sell through of 70%. The problem is that crosswords space for Lovatts is taken by the overseas and other junk from NDD.

Before people say I should contact the publisher – they do not supply overseas crossword product as these titles are purchased by NDD and distributed here solely by them.

Life magazine is selling very well this month in my shop. Maybe it’s Julia Gillard on the cover or the Enough Rope DVD. What is usually a soft title is doing well.

Life is a challenge since it does not easily fit into traditional magazine categories – placement different in most newsagencies. When we saw the Julia Gillard cover we decided to co-locate so more people would see her face and that seems to have worked for us.

This issue of Modern Wedding Cakes has been supplied to us by NDD four times. 12/7/06: supplied 7 (we returned 6); 3/11/06: 5 (4); 7/2/07: 4 (2); 9/5/07: 2 (probably – 2).

Given that NDD has our sales data and given the commitments on their website, I cannot understand how this issue of this title has slipped through the cracks and continues to be supplied.

After the July 2006 experience the next delivery of Modern Wedding cakes I ought to have received is the next issue, not this same issue another three times.

This ‘pusher’ type behaviour suck cash out of my newsagency and, I am sure, hundreds, if not thousands, of others.

New Woman magazine this month is fat. Well, wide. So wide in fact that it takes two pockets to display. The free umbrella stuck on the side is too big to fit into a single pocket.

I like the giveaway but hate the way they have gone about this. It makes retail display challenging and leads to mess. However, I know that putting the umbrella behind the counter would dilute the benefit of the giveaway.

Emporium magazine, the new quarterly published by News Ltd for Myer has been out for a week today and is struggling. Beyond a supply model from distributor, NDD, which does not appear make sense – some newsagents who could sell the title were not allocated any and others who would sell 4 or 5 were allocated ten times this – the title is struggling.

First up there is the issue of collateral material. Very little has been supplied. This makes launching the title with any visual noise challenging. It makes the cynic inside me wonder about the newsagent role in the Myer / News Ltd / NDD partnership. Maybe our role is to give the title presence on the shelf more so than to achieve sales.? Hmm…

Emporium is a good product and certainly presents well in its category. The problem is that the category is well served so finding shelf space is difficult. I need new titles in the fashion area to work immediately to justify the premium space. In my store, after a week, Emporium is not working. We have located it in the fashion area as well as in a special display in a high traffic area near the counter.

I plan to give Emporium another two weeks. If I have not sold at least 10 of the 25 supplied I’ll return everything receive early. Carrying 25 copies until September if they are not selling does not make sense.

The Kroger supermarket group is replacing magazines at the checkout of its 2,500 stores with financial products according to this report.

While I understand the important role supermarkets play in the magazine retail mix, it frustrates me knowing how much publishers pay, directly and in-kind, to have their product in premium position. 4,600 newsagents provide premium positions for no additional charge. One day, the major publishers will realise the value of that support.