Retail availability

As there are more than 53,000 retail outlets, it is not realistic for a magazine to be on sale in every outlet, in sufficient quantities to ensure zero sell-outs. This would merely result in unnecessary and costly waste. Neither is it feasible as most of the multiple groups centrally plan their title range and will only allow their branches to handle a quota of the top-selling titles.

It is therefore the distributor's aim to get each magazine into the right outlets, in the optimum quantities, in time for the scheduled on-sale period - effectively managing the supply of copies to ensure optimum availability and penetration within the confinement of agreed sales efficiencies.

A distributor's retail sales managers start presenting to the major retail group buyers as soon as all the detail has been consolidated. Although no retail chain has a dominant share of the marketplace, a negative response from one of the key high street chains could present problems when sales activity commences with the wholesale head offices and affect future sales of both specialist and general interest titles.

Retail sales managers will negotiate with the retail multiple buyers to make sure that every magazine which meets its buying criteria is stocked by that retail multiple group. For example, a magazine may be accepted if it exceeds the minimum retail revenue set by the retailer. If not, it may be possible to prove that a magazine will sell particularly well in that group if its readership profile closely matches the retailer's customer profile.

Area sales managers will also make use of the extensive wholesale marketing systems to ensure that each magazine is distributed to those outlets where it has the best chance of selling. This is often achieved by profiling the title against comparative magazines.