Costco Wholesale Corporation and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., bucked the trend with August same-store sales gains of 9 percent and 3 percent, respectively. The New York Times (Sept. 4, 2008)
July 22, 2008 — Wal-Mart called for rigorous, “bottom up” distribution practices as a key means of achieving its 50-percent efficiency goal for the magazine category in a memorandum sent to single copy supply chain partners last Friday. The memo appears in its entirety below.
To: All National Distributors and Publishers
From Christy Jenkins
Subject: Magazine Bottom Up [...]
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. announced yesterday that its same-store sales in June surpassed expectations, growing 5.8%. “At Wal-Mart’s namesake discount stores and Supercenters, same-store sales rose 6.1 percent, while total sales were up 10.1 percent. The retailer’s Sam’s Club unit saw a 4.6 percent boost in same-store sales and an 8.9 percent jump in net sales.” [...]
Transactions at self-service kiosks in North America will surpass $607 billion this year, and is projected to triple to $1.7 trillion by 2012, according to a study conducted by retail technology consultancy IHL Group. The study examines the use of six types of self-service kiosks: self-checkout systems, ticketing kiosks, check-in kiosks, food ordering, postal [...]
Summer giveaways are the hottest thing right now for women’s magazines such as Marie Claire, Tatler, Glamour, and many more. On the carefully designed covers, potential buyers are enticed with offers for free sunglasses, bags, and flip flops with just a purchase of the magazine. While giving away free products is very expensive, the boost [...]
The Texas based, Austin Ventures is said to be the leading candidate in the negotiations to acquire Entrepreneur Media, the publisher of Entrepreneur magazine. Austin Ventures is reportedly offering the $200 million dollars that Entrepreneur Media was seeking. The acquisition has moved on to the due diligence phase and the deal could be finalized [...]
Canadian WALMART stores carry three times the inventory of the British ASDA outlets. WIth longer distances, in Canada, from warehouse to retail, Walmart needs more time to bring the product to market. David Cheesewright is focusing on reducing these challenges.
The Globe and Mail, Toronto
Disappointed that publishers have made very little progress posting circulation numbers quickly enough to the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ Rapid Report, some print buyers are considering measures to prod magazines. Monthly magazines are reportedly filing 6 percent faster while weeklies have remained basically the same. Some agencies are considering extra credit and other incentives for [...]
The 150 year old magazine, The Atlantic, will be trying something completely new with their July/August issue and dedicating it entirely to “ideas.” In an effort to revitalize the magazine, The Atlantic will be offering themed issues that will focus on politics and people shaping the future, in addition to the already published State [...]
In what it termed a good start to its fiscal year, Wal-Mart Stores has reported a 10% increase in revenue to $94.1 billion for the quarter, ahead of forecasts. Same-store sales in the U.S. market were up 2.9% in the quarter, Wal-mart’s best same-store performance in 2 years. The company is weathering tough economic times [...]