UK publisher Panini released the Royal Wedding Souvenir Sticker Collection in the UK. From what I can see, it was eleased prior to the wedding. if so I would be surprised to see this in Australia – unless, of course, it has been and I didn’t get it. I guess it depends on UK sales and the excess stock they may have.
That said, this is the type of product for which newsagents could indicate inventory requirements in advance of shipment from overseas and thereby help the publisher and distributor gauge interest for forecast an efficient supply to newsagents. While initially with such a process there would be a disconnect between actual sales and forecast sales through a newsagent driven ordering process, enough data would be gathered over time to enable more accurate prediction of the quantity required for such items.
The process of managing pre-orders could be easily handled online.
I have raised the opportunity of pre-orders with distributors and publishers and while there is interest, I am not yet seeing action on this front.