Wholesalers cutting draws for low-priced newsstand titles

Wholesalers in Canada and the U.S. are cutting back draws for the proliferating number of low-priced magazines, according to a story in MediaWeek. The goal is to increase sell-through and therefore profitability on the titles, which tend to be found at grocery store checkouts and are priced at less than US$2.50.

The News Group and Source Interlink Cos. have made significant cuts since May 1, following a similar move by Anderson News Corp., which sources said cut 140 million copies in a six-month test begun last fall (about 17.5 percent of the estimated 800 million Anderson distributes annually). Source Interlink cut 57 million copies (5.7 percent of the 1 billion copies a year it distributes) as part of an effort to get its sell-through rate to 48 percent from 34 percent. At The News Group, president John Seebach said unspecified cuts were aimed at increasing sell-through to more than 40 percent from 37 percent this year.

In particular, wholesalers are zoning in on proliferating low-priced magazines, like Meredith Corp.’s Family Circle ($1.99), Hearst Magazines’ Quick & Simple ($1.59) and all of Bauer Publishing’s titles, which include In Touch and Woman’s World.

Bauer wouldn't comment, but rumour has it that it scratched the launch of Cocktail Weekly, which was to sell for US$2.49, because of the cutbacks. The publisher -- which has built its business on cut-price titles -- had already been paying a premium to wholesalers to handle its magazines.