How to Survive on the Newsstand, Part 2: Store by Store

Almost a century ago, the poet Dylan Thomas asked his father not to “go gentle into that good night.” Today that might be advice that magazine publishers should be taking.

I can see that Sherin Pierce, publisher of America’s oldest publication, The Old Farmer’s Almanac has no intention of going gently, or in fact at all.  Pierce always taken a grassroots approach—agency by agency, store by store—to her newsstand sales.  In a recent blog I related how Curtis Circulation Company’s key executives are recommending a back-to-basics approach to weather these troubled times; and the OFA’s modus operandi is as back-to-basics as you can get.

So when the 2012 edition went on sale this month, Pierce got out to visit the stores and see how her display looked.  What she found was unsettling.

“Displays were still in their boxes or piled in the back.  Promotions that we’ve bought were empty, or filled with other product.  In some stores there was just no sign of the Almanac anywhere.  What is going on?”

Given that the Old Farmers Almanac supports its on sale date with a massive media tour—editors appearing on national and local TV and radio and in media all over the country—the opportunity missed for sales is staggering.  In keeping with her hands-on approach, Pierce spoke to store managers, wholesalers, her distributor.  She found that the distributions were in place; copies had gone out; promotions dates were met with product delivered.  It was at the store level that the disconnect occurred. 

There have always been and always will be stores that fail to get product out on time or organize it properly.  But this year it seems to be worse than previous years.  Why would that be?

Part of it might be the wholesaler consolidation, and the agencies’ subsequent struggle for profitability.  That in turn affects the wholesalers’ ability to invest in merchandising—the employees that go into the stores and make sure that the product is received and put out appropriately.  Part of it might have to do with the fact that many stores—specialty stores for example—receive product, not from a wholesale agency that could merchandise the product, but by a UPS shipment from some distant warehouse, with the responsibility for the merchandising shifted to a (maybe) overwhelmed store employee.

And part of it seems to be demoralization, plain and simple.  Retail is difficult, famously difficult.  The fear of digital, the threat of internet commerce, appears to be making it more so. 

Friend Finder’s Paul Pearson recently sent me an article about a 7-11 in Massachusetts where magazines are still a going concern.  The reason?  The retailer, Dennis Lane, attributes his success to merchandising, pure and simple. 

“Keep your selection mixed and fresh,” he advised in this article, printed in September’s CSP magazine.  “(Have) one staff member…handle the rack…keep it full and keep the presentation professional looking.” 

MagNet recently drew attention to the Meijers chain, whose attention to merchandising has resulted in increased sales in a down year.  Lane’s experience supports merchandising’s effectiveness.  His advice: Don’t fear digital media.  “The reality is that people who read digitally also purchase print.”

The lesson seems to be that to the degree that attention is paid to elements such as display, retailers can slow or stem the loss of sale in their brick and mortar shops.  Can a similar level of attention by magazine publishers slow or stem the loss at retailer?

Ask The Old Farmer’s Almanac—one publication that has not seen a loss in either sale or efficiency.  It for one is not going gentle into that good night.