Newsstand Sales: An Introduction

Even though the volatile swings and unpredictable changes can make working on improving your the single copy sales of your newsstand magazine frustrating and cause you to long for the more systematic areas of subscription marketing, it is possible to make single copy sales work for you. Several benefits to single copy sales exist, and should be remembered when arranging and allocating assets.

1. Your Newsstand Circulation Adds a Revenue Stream.
   While some magazine publishers might view the newsstand line as a loss rather than a gain, taking into account all the costs involved, the check that comes in from your distributors is a significant one. With the exclusion of newsstand sales that key source of revenue would be eliminated, while all the extra costs may not.

2. Your Newsstand Circulation Adds Readers to Your Rate Base.
   The number of readers per issue may vary, but the average number of readers per issue per year can also be considered a subscriber unit, and dealt with that way. Attaining rate base via incremental subscriptions added may be more predictable, but it will frequently be significantly more expensive than maintaining your base of newsstand readers.

3. Your Newsstand Circulation Provides a Vital, Inexpensive Source of New Subscribers.
   Newsstand is the best subscriber source for most publishers, and for a few, it is their only source. The readers who respond to your insert cards have seen the magazine, and now want every issue. They are likely to be the most loyal readers, and for the same reason, are more likely to renew.

4. Your Newsstand Reader is More Likely to Respond to Advertising.
   The newsstand reader responded to your product, not to a description of it in a mail piece. Therefore, this reader is more likely to read it all the way through. In the case of many specialty publishers, the newsstand reader who picks up the magazine on the newsstand often is looking for products advertised in the issue, often while doing some comparative shopping or when ready to buy.

5. Advertisers Like to See Your Product on the Newsstands.
   Your newsstand circulation, particularly in airports, bookstores, and specialty stores, is vital to your advertising base, and it is essential for them, when they are advertising in an issue, to notice that issue on the newsstand. Your newsstand presence can, to some extent, be taken as a promotion to your advertising community.

6. Your Newsstand Readers Will Provide a Quick Response to Each Issue.
   Surveying subscribers may take quite some time, but it is easy to determine the response to a cover or a feature by watching your scan sales and returns flow. You can quickly establish how your readers are evaluating your cover and the individual editorial offerings of a particular issue. This allows you to respond more quickly and make the necessary adjustments to future issues.

7. The Newsstand Provides a Field for Regular Testing of Cover Images and Cover Lines.
   No publisher should miss out on this kind of opportunity. (For more information on cover testing, or to set up a testing program for your publications, send request to info@PublishersTotalSales.com).