The children’s magazine space is crowded with titles and sales are flat at best, falling in around 33% of stores I see data for. While key branded product such as Wiggles, K-Zone and Saddle Club are okay, the category is filled with me too product. The range in the photo below, recently distributed by Network, is a good example of this- high retail price, long shelf life and not unique from what’s on offer in the category.
While I understand the need to bring in new titles to build sales, the $300+ investment in these four titles in this category is unlikely to be cash-flow positive for newsagents.
We need to introduce a cost of entry for new titles which respects our real-estate and labour costs. This barrier will qualify new titles and ensure that publishers and distributors do not take advantage of us.
I received these titles the other day and thought about our available shelf space and cash flow against possible sales. Then promptly marked them for early return so that hopefully I will receive less or none of the next issue, and if not I will only be out the cost of those titles for one month and not several as I would be if I displayed them for their full shelf life.
If enough newsagents followed a similar policy these losing titles would hopefully soon disappear.