Magazine oversupply

Unplug magazine was released in late January. We received 17 copies. We have sold two copies. This makes the title unprofitable for us. It is not even paying for the space necessary to store the seventeen, thick, copies.

There is no evidence in our data to justify being sent 17 copies of a launch issue in the crossword / puzzle space.

I am over magazine pub fishers using small business newsagency channels as their bank and business partner in the launch of new titles. Rather than testing and topping up if a title sells well, they load us, make us responsible and apply onto our businesses costs that see us carrying a financial burden that is unreasonable.

I would have preferred to receive no more than five copies of this launch issue. Given the transparency back to the publisher of sales, replenishing supply is easy. Instead, they load us and add to our costs of their launch.

On the magazine itself, I look at it and ask why was this even launched. We have been flooded with similar titles. Unplug looks like a copy of Breathe and others in this mindfulness puzzle segment. As a retailer looking at efficient assortment, I don’t see a need for the title. If I was a buyer in control of what I buy to stock in my business, given what I already have, I would not buy this title.

Unplug is not a bad magazine. However, it has entered a crowded segment, late. This is why I have no interest in stocking it.

We do not have the luxury of choosing the magazines to stock. This makes us weak. It positions us as victims. Okay I accept we get new titles. What frustrates me is the volume. The seventeen copies of Unplug is too many. It is an abuse of my business. Shame on the magazine model that allows it to happen.

It is 2018 people. More of this and more newsagents will cut back magazine space as doing this is the key step we can take to control what we receive.

Other magazine publishers need to take note.

This issue of Digital Photography magazine was sent to newsagents by distributor Gordon and Gotch as if it is a new issue. It is not. This issue was sent out a year ago. What Gotch has done is re-send stock newsagents returned, stock that failed to sell.

This is an appalling abuse of small business newsagents. Shame on Gotch for letting it happen. This is wasting time and money. It should never have happened.

I expect the folks at Gotch will have their excuses, excuses we have heard before. It is tiresome. No wonder newsagents are angry about Gotch and angry about the magazine distribution model.

It is 2017. Gotch should be better than this.

It is things like this that disadvantage our channel, that make us less competitive than other retailers of magazines. But those of us who have been around for years will shrug our shoulders, say this is what we have come to expect and then wonder whether it is time to trim more space from magazines in our business.

Yes, it is that frustrating … because it happens too often. We are disadvantaged and no-one, not the distributor, not publishers, care enough to actually fix the situation. You will all look back one day and wonder why. Well here is one of the many reasons why.

Cracked record. Yes. Why even bother writing about this? And therein lies the problem – we care less about this stuff today because we have worked out how to rely less on magazines. Because of screw ups like this.

The new ABC show about waste is getting plenty of traction. This is on the back of a similar BBC show. It is only a matter of time before the focus on waste engages with print, especially magazines with a sell through of under 66% where a third and more, often plenty more, of what is printed does not sell and is waste.

Here’s a clip from the ABC show, to give you an idea of the approach:

Last week I wrote about a newsagent being sent 31 copies of New Statesman, up from the usual 3 or 4. This week they have been sent 42 copies. Here is the evidence of escalating oversupply by Gotch. 3 or 4, then 13, then 31 and now 42.

What a waste of time and money.

last week I thought the 31 might be a transposition of 13 from the previous issue. I have no explanation for 42 other than the Gotch system being broken.

Their competitor is gone. They have one job – to get allocations right. And now this.

I feel for the publisher and their investment wasted in at least 40 of these copies.

I have been thinking about the scaling out of Stationery News to newsagents as a subscription unless we cancel. My opinion is this should not be done as it abuses the magazine supply model.

All other titles we receive are done so on a sale or return basis. Stationery News ought not be supplied unless newsagents explicitly order it.

I would love to know how the current model came about.

While I like reading the magazine. It is not commercially worth the annual subscription fee in my view, not in today’s world with more efficient and access friendly sources of news.