NEW YORK — It was another good year to be in the business of shredding, recycling or otherwise disposing of unsold magazines.
Poor efficiency of single-copy sales has long required American magazine publishers to rely on usually discounted subscriptions for a majority of their circulation. The average sell-through rate for monthly magazines appears to have declined even more in 2005, based on a sample of titles in the fashion, beauty, teen and men’s categories. Median sell-through in 2005 for the magazines in this sample was 40.7 percent — above the industry average of 34 percent, but down from last year’s 41.7 percent. Those numbers are based on data drawn from the statement of ownership, management and circulation every magazine is required to publish once a year.
Why do more than half of the copies sent to newsstands end up as returns? “I think one of the main reasons is the attractiveness of subscription offers,” said Dan Capell, president of Capell & Associates, a circulation consultancy. “All you have to do is open a direct-mail pitch to get an offer for 70 percent off the cover price. What does that tell a consumer? That you’ve got to be an idiot to buy a copy at the newsstand.”
And what newsstand buyers there are seem to be focusing their dollars on celebrity weeklies such as Us and People. “They have all the primary positions at the checkout,” said Capell. “It appears as if they are taking away sales from the rest of the industry.”
Cosmopolitan topped the 26 titles in WWD’s sample, with a sell-through rate of 69.4 percent, versus 70.8 percent last year. Cargo brought up the rear, with a sell-through rate of just 20.3 percent — a 4.6 percent drop from 2004. Ariel Foxman, editor in chief of Cargo (which, like WWD, is a unit of Condé Nast Publications), said low sell-through is the norm for a new title. “It’s in the best interests of a young magazine to make sure issues are available everywhere and anywhere there may be potential readers,” he said. “This company is wise in making sure a magazine like ours has maximum exposure.” (The other magazines at the bottom of the sell-through range — Shop Etc., Ellegirl and Teen Vogue — are all recent launches, as well.)
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A few magazines improved their sales efficiency markedly this year. Cosmogirl made the biggest climb, hiking its sell-through rate 5.8 percent to 49.1 percent. Maxim made the largest move in the opposite direction; its sell-through rate fell 9 percent to 36.8 percent. “We’re still the number-one seller by far” in the men’s category, said publisher Rob Gregory. He added, “Our newsstand business has an awesome P&L at that sell-through.”
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