Naturist magazines are dying if the data from my newsagency and others I have seen reflects a national trend.
While never in the top selling titles, Tan, H&E and a couple of others usually paid their way at least. No more – I suspect that these titles are not cash-flow positive in any newsagency.
Without a stocking subsidy to cover labour and real-estate costs, there is no choice but to request that the titles are no longer supplied. While the publishers will not be happy with the position, they need to understand the cost to newsagents of under performing titles. Each magazine pocket had a real-estate cost. Each issue has a labour cost to process arrival, return and upkeep. Then there is the cost of lost opportunity, of having underperforming stock on the shelf.
This is what newsagents must do – decide on the threshold, where depth of range can be cost justified and then kill the titles which fall below. Cash-flow is the ideal measure since it goes to the heart of a healthy business and it is very easy to measure month by month title by title.
It makes no financial sense for me to subsidise Tan and H&E just so I can feel better about my magazine range. The saved pockets will enable me to better display nearby titles which are selling well.