How is 2010 Shaping Up for the Newsstand?

This early in the year, it’s hard not to feel at least some small sense of optimism that 2010 will be a better year for all of us.

By Linda Ruth
02/12/2010 -03:01 PM

The year 2009 wasn’t what you’d call a great one for anyone who cares about magazine sales at retail. That would be any publisher of a print consumer magazine, magazine wholesalers and distributors, and the retailers who carry magazines.

It was a year that saw a major wholesaler go out of business, another declare bankruptcy and restructure, a growing rift between subscription and single copy prices, bookstores closing, a bookstore chain on the brink, specialty chains cutting back on their assortment (remember the MMPA?), court cases between publishers and distributors, court cases between wholesalers and publishers, magazines folding or pulling off the newsstand (but that’s not so unusual, is it?) and falling sales. Again.

And, oh yes, the Internet. And that isn’t even mentioning the pending court case for attempted murder by a key player in our business.

This year also, by my personal anecdotal survey, was the year I heard the most people say, as a celebration of the New Year: “at least last year is over.”

This early in the year, it’s hard not to feel at least some small sense of optimism that 2010 will be a better year for all of us. Surely the worst is over. None of us will be going back to business as usual—there really isn’t much usual business left anymore. But what there is needs our attention and to the degree that we’ve recovered from the quakes of ’09, we can turn to that and get it rolling.

With this in mind, and based on trends shaping up in first quarter, what do we have to look forward to in 2010?

1) Bookazines are coming into their own. The trend towards supporting profitability through special issues and one shots has been going on for quite some time. In recent years, the specials have been getting bigger, more valuable and more expensive. Publishers find sales hold up if the up-priced specials offer real value to the reader, and lots of heft. This year, more publishers than ever appear to have included these Bookazines, or Super SIPS, in their planning. A caveat: this boom will quickly bust if budget restrictions force publishers to pump out increasing numbers of specials at ever higher prices while value is not maintained.

2) Publishers are beginning to promote at retail again. There was a virtual freeze on promo spending in 2009 as publishers scrambled to meet their often dramatically reduced expense budgets. This year publishers are comparing sales with promotions with sales without and cautiously re-entering the promotions field by targeting retailers that make the most difference to their sales and profits.

3) Publishers are cross-promoting with their book lines with their magazines—in part because retailers are making it more easy to do so.

4) Retailers are working with publishers to try to stay relevant. In part they are doing so by introducing new promotions approaches, including Internet-generated coupons tying in with direct mail and in-store circulars; coupons sent to the customer’s phone; online partnerships with premiums, coupons, sweeps, and contests; more sophisticated digital signage and support with subscriptions efforts through in-store and online tie-ins.

5) Retailers continue to seek greater margin, but publishers continue to resist. Intro fees, slotting fees and increased RDAs are all being put on the table, but publishers are looking to their own bottom lines.

6) We’re seeing a rush to mobile applications, some with retail implications.

Linda Ruth is Principal of Publisher Single Copy Sales Services. Her book of case studies, "How to Market Your Magazine on the Newsstand," is available at BookDojo.com and at Amazon.