Newsagents - how do they work?
Discussion
Hi,
I was in the local newsagent the other morning, good old-fashioned type shop with all sorts of motoring magazines which got me wondering how they work financially. Do they buy all the stock or is it on a "sale or return" policy? How do they make an income from selling something with a fixed cover price and do the same principles apply to the confectionary and crisps?
The reason I ask is that it is never as busy as WH Smith and I be he doesn't sell all the copies of "Classic Tractor" or "Retro Cars" yet the shop has been going for years...
100SRV
I was in the local newsagent the other morning, good old-fashioned type shop with all sorts of motoring magazines which got me wondering how they work financially. Do they buy all the stock or is it on a "sale or return" policy? How do they make an income from selling something with a fixed cover price and do the same principles apply to the confectionary and crisps?
The reason I ask is that it is never as busy as WH Smith and I be he doesn't sell all the copies of "Classic Tractor" or "Retro Cars" yet the shop has been going for years...
100SRV
n3il123 said:
Not sure about the other items but certainly when I used to work in the trade magazines and newspapers used to be on a SOR basis.
That's certainly interesting.I guess it's also why newsagents sell sweets and cakes and all kinds of things as well as papers, to get a bit more of a margin. Saying that, most newsagents I've ever known are sold out of a fair few types of paper by the evening.
There is a minimum entry level (MEL) - to start with a new retailer has to pay for all of their papers but once they have been buying at the MEL or higher for four weeks and returning unsold papers to the wholesaler (or providing unsold data) they can move on to sale or return. This is so the wholesaler can judge how many of each title to send them in the future. Then the retailer pays for what they sell plus a carriage service charge plus a credit risk payment (essentially a deposit of three times the MEL).
I don't know about newspapers, but as a magazine publisher, I can assure you that the stock of mags will be SOR.
For a small publisher like myself it is most definitely a good thing.......without SOR few newsagents would stock anything more than 10000copies of Heat each month!
It is hard enough as it is to get them to take unusual/new magazines. No SOR would be disastrous.
However, if you move up the ladder to the Supermarkets, on the whole, you have to pay them for the shelf space. Supermarkets have got everything tied up and are the biggest threat to small independant publishers.
For a small publisher like myself it is most definitely a good thing.......without SOR few newsagents would stock anything more than 10000copies of Heat each month!
It is hard enough as it is to get them to take unusual/new magazines. No SOR would be disastrous.
However, if you move up the ladder to the Supermarkets, on the whole, you have to pay them for the shelf space. Supermarkets have got everything tied up and are the biggest threat to small independant publishers.
Martial Arts Man said:
I don't know about newspapers, but as a magazine publisher, I can assure you that the stock of mags will be SOR.
For a small publisher like myself it is most definitely a good thing.......without SOR few newsagents would stock anything more than 10000copies of Heat each month!
It is hard enough as it is to get them to take unusual/new magazines. No SOR would be disastrous.
However, if you move up the ladder to the Supermarkets, on the whole, you have to pay them for the shelf space. Supermarkets have got everything tied up and are the biggest threat to small independant publishers.
I believe WHSmith also extort money for shelf space, and simply refuse to stock any who refuse to pay.For a small publisher like myself it is most definitely a good thing.......without SOR few newsagents would stock anything more than 10000copies of Heat each month!
It is hard enough as it is to get them to take unusual/new magazines. No SOR would be disastrous.
However, if you move up the ladder to the Supermarkets, on the whole, you have to pay them for the shelf space. Supermarkets have got everything tied up and are the biggest threat to small independant publishers.
andy400 said:
Martial Arts Man said:
I don't know about newspapers, but as a magazine publisher, I can assure you that the stock of mags will be SOR.
For a small publisher like myself it is most definitely a good thing.......without SOR few newsagents would stock anything more than 10000copies of Heat each month!
It is hard enough as it is to get them to take unusual/new magazines. No SOR would be disastrous.
However, if you move up the ladder to the Supermarkets, on the whole, you have to pay them for the shelf space. Supermarkets have got everything tied up and are the biggest threat to small independant publishers.
I believe WHSmith also extort money for shelf space, and simply refuse to stock any who refuse to pay.For a small publisher like myself it is most definitely a good thing.......without SOR few newsagents would stock anything more than 10000copies of Heat each month!
It is hard enough as it is to get them to take unusual/new magazines. No SOR would be disastrous.
However, if you move up the ladder to the Supermarkets, on the whole, you have to pay them for the shelf space. Supermarkets have got everything tied up and are the biggest threat to small independant publishers.
They offer a service called an RDA, which plainly means that you pay them a set fee for the stocking of your title in extra stores above and beyond the ones you are already stocked in.
Problem is, that there is no guarantee that even if you go into every store and sell every copy, you will end up in more stores than before the RDA.
It's a nice little trick.
There are many titles in my sector that have tried to RDA their way to growth. On the whole, they have just wasted their money.
Oh, another thing, apart from the astronomical cost of the RDA, they will often insist that you bag up a freebie for the "promotion" exclusive for their stores. This is expensive!
Sadly, there is little alternative to playing the game.
Incidentally, we try to put as much of our ad spend into trawling subscribers. When a mag sells on the shelf for £3 the publisher receives £1.50 so subs. are more profitable and not too hard to sell when at the discounted price.
When my folks took over the sub post office, they started by buying the papers from John Menzies. Anything left over was binned/recycled initially as they didn't take them back. We then had to return the papers back to the warehouse (not sure if it was because we changed to SOR or just so that Menzies could pulp it themselves). They worked out that it was actually cheaper to get them on a SOR basis from another larger newsagent further along. Anything unsold could be taken back at the end of the day and as the newsagent was open til late, they'd try selling them as well. IIRC magazines were on a similar basis too.
Many years ago I ran a newsagent for a local chain.
The papers and mags were all on SOR, in return they set the delivered amounts.
Say we sold 20 copies of a mag they would send 21 the following month, or 22 if there was a freebie/advertising promo (made up numbers). If we didn't they would do the opposite..
The papers and mags were all on SOR, in return they set the delivered amounts.
Say we sold 20 copies of a mag they would send 21 the following month, or 22 if there was a freebie/advertising promo (made up numbers). If we didn't they would do the opposite..
mcflurry said:
J500ANT said:
Dont forget the stash of illegal top shelf pornography that has a good mark up (so I understand)
Twas funny watching the blokes wait for the lady servers to leave the till, as they would only buy a copy of Men Only from one of the male staff 
sniff diesel said:
100SRV said:
I was in the local newsagent the other morning, good old-fashioned type shop with all sorts of motoring magazines which got me wondering how they work financially.
I often wonder how they make a living selling things that mostly only cost a few pence.Sweets, including a rather large pic and mix
Greetings cards
A range of sweet smelling candles up to £17.99
Groceries
Lottery
Stationery
Passport photo booth
Photo copies
Mobile phone top ups
And on top of all that, the local Post Office is in there.
All in all, they seem to do very well.
nurburgring1 said:
sniff diesel said:
100SRV said:
I was in the local newsagent the other morning, good old-fashioned type shop with all sorts of motoring magazines which got me wondering how they work financially.
I often wonder how they make a living selling things that mostly only cost a few pence.Sweets, including a rather large pic and mix
Greetings cards
A range of sweet smelling candles up to £17.99
Groceries
Lottery
Stationery
Passport photo booth
Photo copies
Mobile phone top ups
And on top of all that, the local Post Office is in there.
All in all, they seem to do very well.
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