Wholesale

There are about 185 wholesale houses, the majority of which are owned by one of the three major wholesale groups, WHSmith, Menzies Distribution and Dawson News, with the remainder owned independently.

The majority of wholesalers distribute magazines within a defined poscode area. For the most part they are geographically exclusive territories.

On average a wholesaler will distribute magazines to between 400 and 500 retail outlets. The wholesalers' market consists of of some 55,000 newsagents, of which 35,000 are significant stockists of magazines. About 60 per cent of these are independently owned.

The retail multiples, however, control most of the prime sites and account for 50 per cent of the magazine volume.

The multiple wholesale groups' market share are as follows:

Group	Market share %	No of branches
WHSmith	39	28
Menzies Distribution	27	30
Dawson News	19	13
Independents including freelance	9	10
Easons	4	3

There are some distinct regional variations with Menzies Distribution holding a monopoly in Scotland and Easons' distribution being confined to the Republic of Ireland.