Mumbrella yesterday published an interview with Brendan Hill, CEO of Bauer Media. It’s an interesting read. From the newsagency channel’s perspective:
And subscriptions have been growing amazingly through this period. And you can’t forget that because we’ve got print products, we’re an FMCG product as well, and our sales in supermarkets and newsagents have been excellent through this period as well.
I’m very bullish about the future. But then again, who knows, with COVID how long it’s going to carry on for, what long-term impacts it’s going to have. We’ve got to take it as it comes. But at the moment, there are some greenshoots out there.
The place of magazines in any retail situation is a consideration as we now see that magazines sales, overall, have snapped back. That is, the increased through March and April flattened early May and by the end of the month they were in line with the longer term trajectory – not for all titles but for the majority.
This, with flat cover prices and a mediocre margin makes magazines a category of focus for any retailer. This is the challenge retailers will watch as the new owners of Bauer complete the transaction and settle in.