This week Guy Campos says:‘Many retailers rely on wholesalers to provide them with the stock they need as they don’t have time to manage this complex category themselves.’
One of the problems with independent magazine retailing is ‘the push’. Retailers get sent the wrong magazines for their customer base. We have suffered from this in the passed, Black Hair comes to mind. So why does it happen?
I think that the core reason is that as Guy says, magazines are a complex category. Retailers can not just allow their supplying wholesaler to send in a range that is not controlled. Magazine distribution does need retailer input, we should not just sign the contract and expect the publishers, distributors and wholesalers to do the rest. We, as retailers need to be involved. We have to invest some time and effort into the process.
I may start from a position of 40 plus years of experience in and around magazine retailing, nearly 20 of them with WH Smiths, but that did not guarantee a smooth ride. I had to discover why decisions about my supply are made and by whom. I had to learn to talk to the people that can effect change, and that took time.
What I eventually did was to agree with Smiths News what the rules of supply should be. It helped that they are developing their Range Capacity strategy that allows them to know their customers better and then supply a range that fits the space available. They are still trialling it, but when it becomes available to their customer estate it will make a difference.
The key message that is coming out of the RN magazine availability campaign so far is that retailers have forgotten who owns their business and are abrogating range responsibility to the supply chain. Would they do this with cigarettes, confectionery, crisps or soft drinks?
Tom
10/10/2009
Steve,
You and I are the lucky ones. Wholesalers have switched most retailers off to the detriment of magazine sales. We have never suffered the powerlessness of the majority of our colleagues who have been worn down week by week, month by month and year by year when they have tried to control their own displays. Guy continues to expose the shortcomings of wholesaler allocation systems that you and I don’t have to combat. I know that I fought and won my own company’s battle many years ago.
The category becomes complex or impossible for retailers to manage when their attempts to get what they want are either over-ridden or ignored by central allocation teams who appear to know better; are over-ridden by allocation systems that cannot deal with smaller quantities; allocation systems that continually remove titles that sell one or two copies from retailers ranges.
As for the development of Range Capacity strategy; this is taking far too long. With magazine sales in freefall, it is time that the industry woke up to the fact that if every other retailer sold one additional copy of a title then the fortunes of that title would be reversed. There is an army of small retailers who, treated properly, could reverse the downward trend of magazine sales.
Would they do this with cigarettes, confectionery, crisps or soft drinks? Of course not, because they have full control of their own destiny when stocking these products.
Tom