NEW YORK — Maybe they should call it “single-copy returns” instead.
The fact is that most magazine copies put out on newsstands aren’t actually sold at all, but end up being returned to distributors and, ultimately, dumped as landfill. It’s an industry secret most publishers tend to hide except for that once-a-year time when postal regulations require them to publish a statement of ownership containing a tally of sales and returns.
Across the magazine industry, average newsstand sell-through — the percentage of copies distributed to retail that actually get purchased by consumers — has been falling more or less steadily since the late Eighties, and now hovers around 34 percent, according to circulation analyst John Harrington of Harrington Associates, publisher of “The New Single Copy Newsletter.” After rising slightly in 2001 and 2002, the average rate resumed its slide last year.
“It really can’t fall much more [and be sustainable],” he added.
The reasons cited for this decline are familiar to industry watchers: an ever-increasing number of titles fighting for a shrinking supply of retail space, along with the decline of mass circulation titles such as TV Guide and the “Seven Sisters” women’s service books.
A look at this year’s batch of numbers shows that most major beauty and fashion titles are outperforming the industry average for sell-through, in some cases by large margins. The undisputed champion of sell-through is Hearst’s Cosmopolitan, which reported average newsstand sales of 1.97 million on a draw of 2.78 million for the 12 months ended last August, yielding a rate of 70.8 percent. In Style (59.7 percent) and Marie Claire (50 percent) also came in way above the mean.
As is the case with most launches, several newer titles reported lower-than-average sell-throughs, including Elle Girl (26.5 percent), Teen Vogue (28.6 percent) and Cargo (24.9 percent). Their rates compare with category leaders Cosmogirl, with 43.3 percent in the teen sector, and Men’s Health, with 45.7 percent, in the men’s area.
A spokeswoman for Condé Nast, which publishes Teen Vogue (and which, like WWD, is a unit of Advance Publications Inc.), said the title’s sell-through rate is consistent with the progression shown by other recent launches, such as Lucky. A spokeswoman for Elle Girl parent Hachette Filipacchi Media made a similar point, adding that the title will spend more on promotions in 2005 while lowering its cover price from $2.99 to $1.99.
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Harrington said that low sell-through is usually the norm for launches. “If a new title does not obtain special displays and still matches or tops the industry sell-through of 33 to 35 percent, it’s a hit,” he said.
Sell-Through Rates: How They Stack Up
|
TITLE
|
AVERAGE NEWSSTAND SALE
|
AVERAGE RETURN
|
DRAW
|
SELL-THROUGH RATE
|
|
Vogue
|
467,812
|
500,463
|
968,275
|
48.30%
|
|
W
|
54,247
|
61,925
|
116,172
|
46.70%
|
|
In Style
|
922,856
|
623,497
|
1,546,353
|
59.70%
|
|
Elle
|
245,073
|
468,695
|
713,768
|
34.30%
|
|
Harper’s Bazaar
|
185,128
|
237,958
|
423,086
|
43.80%
|
|
Lucky
|
264,426
|
409,678
|
674,104
|
39.20%
|
|
Cosmopolitan
|
1,969,395
|
812,099
|
2,781,494
|
70.80%
|
|
Marie Claire
|
556,791
|
557,326
|
1,114,117
|
50.00%
|
|
Glamour
|
968,847
|
1,072,812
|
2,041,659
|
47.50%
|
|
Jane
|
130,864
|
257,303
|
388,167
|
33.70%
|
|
Teen Vogue
|
250,440
|
626,094
|
876,534
|
28.60%
|
|
Elle Girl
|
141,683
|
393,716
|
535,399
|
26.50%
|
|
Cosmogirl
|
384,853
|
503,833
|
888,686
|
43.30%
|
|
Seventeen
|
321,006
|
527,714
|
848,720
|
37.80%
|
|
Teen People
|
415,033
|
574,830
|
989,863
|
41.90%
|
All figures from publishers’ 2004 statements of ownership, management and circulation.