It’s in the long tail of magazines, the special (fringe) interest titles where we are seeing consistent growth. Magazines about railways, model railways, remote control, woodworking, airplanes, model planes, military history, family history and so on.
While the top selling titles account for volume, sales are more prone to fluctuation based on cover or other factors more often outside the control of the retailer.
In most of our range of special interest titles (see photo below) we are seeing consistent growth regardless of the cover. The growth is being achieved because of the broad range, good display and regular promotion elsewhere in the shop. No extra special effort, just good retailing.
I like special interest titles because they are a point of difference for newsagents. The volume is not there for the mass merchants, convenience stores and petrol outlets.
Our biggest challenge is displaying them cost effectively – with rent rising 5% a year and more we will need to fit more into less to maintain viability.
Actually I think ‘long tail’ refers to different old-but-still-good content eg 80’s song favourites that someone still wants to buy, or long-forgotten books. Old magazines just don’t have the same attraction, unless they’re at a garage sale for 5c!