Magazine Distribution in ‘Constant Cycle of Crisis’
A report from the 2009 MPA Retail Conference.
MIAMI—Over 300 attendees gathered here on Monday for the 2009
MPA Retail Conference to discuss the changing retail landscape and how
publishers and retailers can work together to ensure success—or,
perhaps more accurately, survival—this year and beyond. Speakers
representing the entire distribution channel—from publisher to
retailer—once again decried the state of the newsstand market, but
focused on the need for systemic change.
During the opening
keynote, Cosmopolitan editor Kate White addressed the ongoing debate on
whether print is still viable. White shared with attendees what one of
her bosses told her when she started at Cosmo 10 years ago. “Multimedia
means ‘multi,” she said. “In other words, the digital generation likes
a lot of sources and print is one of them.”
White also shared the
results of a study that Cosmo did recently on how readers viewed the
print magazine versus the Web site. “Overwhelmingly, our readers
preferred the print version,” she said. “And we got some interesting
answers as to why, including ‘I can search for old articles’ and ‘it’s
quicker and easier to find stuff.’ When I saw this it just reinforced
for me the importance of taking what we do, building on it and making
it better.”
Better Data Sharing Needed
The
discussion then turned to the relationship between retailers and
publishers and how the two should be unified in the goal of connecting
with the retail customer. In a panel session entitled “New Realities
for Magazines: Where the Opportunities Lie,” Lee Nichols, President and
CEO, Dechert-Hampe & Company, said that retailers and publishers
are both looking for direction from each other on how to improve sales,
but aren’t giving each other the right data.
“Retailers are
saying to publishers, ‘Help me tailor these titles to my store,’ but
publishers want to know things like how the changes in daily traffic at
the stores will affect how many titles are sold,” he said. “But they
won’t know these things unless they’re given the right information.”
While
another panel, “Evolution and Revolution in Publishing,” was supposed
to address how new business models are affecting single copy sales, the
discussion quickly turned to the current distribution channel chaos,
and how publishers really feel about the future of the newsstand.
‘Constant Cycle of Crisis’
“We’ve
seen a constant cycle of crisis and accommodation and it’s not
healthy,” John Griffin, president, magazine group, National Geographic,
told attendees. “Each side is worried about how they can get more money
for themselves instead of what they can do to help build the business.
I hope we can move towards a solution. I hope we get away from the
fighting and move towards selling.”
Dwell publisher Michela
O’Connor Abrams agreed. “I want to see some innovation,” she said. “I
want to know that when we stop the mental fisticuffs we can go back to
thinking about the consumer. We’ve spent the last two months thinking
about every other stakeholder. Let’s get together and think how we can
get closer to the consumer.”
The wholesalers also had a chance to
offer their own perspective. News Group U.S. president Dave Parry gave
attendees an update on how the company is operating now that it has
acquired assets from Anderson News. Now, Parry says, is a time for
unity, growth and vitality. “We need to get product flowing,” he said.
“We need to get the right product to the right distributors in the
right quantities as soon as possible. We’ve got to get out there as a
single voice.”
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