Magazines are selling well in newsagencies in recent weeks. Home and living, crossword, crafts, special interest and food magazines are all doing well.
Comparing 2020 to 2019 and then 2019 to 2018 for the category for a few newsagencies, in this dataset, 2020 is performing very well. The average unit sales growth I am seeing is 7%.
Of course, the growth could be at the cost of other retail outlets, such as those in shopping centres, or even outside the newsagency channel. The growth could actually be net growth for magazines overall, which would be appreciated by retailers and publishers.
Talking with some retailers, there is anecdotal evidence of magazines being bought as Christmas gifts. While this is not unusual, it does feel, to some, that it is more the case this year than in the past.
I hope that what I am seeing from the small dataset is a trend for the channel more widely. It would be encouraging to see magazines end 2020 on a high note after the wild ride that 2020 has been.
Yes in coastal NSW this is our experience as well Mark. For the financial ytd we are up 8.3 per cent and 14.8 per cent for December. I’m putting it down to an influx of visitors taking leave early following the year that we have had as well as more favourable climatic conditions conducive to high street shopping and reading products.
Our Christmas book sales are also strong and approximately $2200 per week greater than the same period last year.