Based on sales in our shop we need two mustang titles. While Mustang lovers might disagree, they are not paying for our real-estate. Committing these five pockets means $17.50 a month in labour and real-estate. To break-even on that we need $33.65 in sales. Some months we achieve that, other months we do not. While I can cut the titles, the way the magazine supply model works is that replacement titles find their way onto the shelves and I will soon be at five Mustang titles or more.
Magazine distributors need to understand that it is at the fringe end of magazine titles, like Mustang titles, that newsagents carry an unfair cost. Consumer interest is over satisfied. Someone needs to have the guts to either kill local titles or NOT import some of the rats and mice overseas titles.
Newsagents are nuts for allowing this to go on. Maybe we ought to decide on a category and declare a national strike against several titles – not putting them on the shelves and choking importers/distributors of sales. Hurting at least one supplier in the hip pocket like this is the only way – if it were legal.
Mark
There is a key phrase in your blog that begs more comment. “While I can cut the titles, the way the magazine supply model works is that replacement titles find their way onto the shelves and I will soon be at five Mustang titles or more.”
We are now actively culling puzzle books as they arrive and immediately returning them. Many other titles sneak back into the store and we need to be continually weeding these titles out. This is a time consuming and expensive process. The obvious solution is to request the distributors to not supply the titles. To date this has not been very succesful. Is there a way to target titles as they arrive using the Tower Software. Perhaps a Mag sticker that has a cross through it. The morning crew can easily identify the offending product and send it back immediately for credit.
Rowan Higgon
Pakenham News & Tatts Main Street & Pakenham Place News & Tatts
Rowan,
We’ll discuss this offline. There are several options within the software. The BEST solution is a fair supply model based on newsagents NOT being supplied stock which distributors know will not sell.