From Supermarket News, August 20, 2012... SN Datapoints (Retail) report/summary is based on MagNet Business Insights data. It contains summaries of top chains, channel market share, top magazine categories, and retail magazine sales, but our concern is that the stressing of the 8.7% retail magazine sales decline in the first half of 2012 will be used by senior management at major retailers to further erode space allocation and support for a category that continues to provide, on average, incredible gross profit of 1.52 per unit with high margins (36.5), high return on inventory ($7.31 AGMROII), low store labor costs (.07 DL/unit) and low risk (guaranteed sale). source: Willard Bishop 2011 Grocery SuperStudy. Continue reading

8/21/12

NEW YORK — Barnes & Noble's fiscal first quarter was a tale of modern and traditional. Tech-savvy readers snapped up its e-books and other digital content during the period, while traditionalists headed to its bookstores for the popular "Fifty Shades of Grey" series and other items.

The double dose of good news, coupled with cost-control efforts and lower expenses, helped the New York company's loss narrow while its revenue rose.

Weak sales of its Nook e-readers and an unchanged full-year outlook may have given investors pause. They sent its shares down more than 3 percent in morning trading.

Barnes & Noble Inc., the largest traditional U.S. bookseller, faces tough competition from online retailers like Amazon.com and discount stores as consumers increasingly move away from traditional books in favor of electronic books. These factors have pushed the chain to invest heavily in its Nook e-reader and e-books, with digital content playing a key role in its success last quarter.

Barnes & Noble also had the added bonus of riding the buzz of "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E.L. James, the publishing phenomenon that has drawn legions of readers into bookstores. The erotic novels occupy the top three spots on The New York Times' list of best-selling print and e-book fiction.

Executives at Barnes & Noble speaking during a conference call on Tuesday said that the company's bookstores also benefited from sales of games, educational toys and other children's products. Management said the disappearance of competitor Borders' bookstores also provided a lift, and traffic improved in its stores for the first time in years.

For the period ended July 28, Barnes & Noble lost $45.2 million, or 78 cents per share. That was less than the $56.6 million, or 99 cents per share, that it lost a year earlier. Barnes & Noble hasn't made a profit in a non-holiday quarter in three years.

The New York-based chain reduced its selling and administrative expenses in the quarter as well as its interest expense.

Revenue climbed 2 percent to $1.45 billion from $1.42 billion.

Revenue for the retail division — which includes bookstores and its website businesses — rose 2 percent. Revenue from bookstores open at least a year, a key gauge of the chain's health, increased 4.6 percent. This performance was buoyed by the "Fifty Shades" sales as well as the Borders liquidation.

CEO William Lynch said the results were also helped by mass merchants and other brick-and-mortar booksellers reducing the variety of books they carry as well as cutting shelf space for books.

Removing the sale of Nook products, revenue at bookstores open at least a year increased 7.6 percent.

Barnes & Noble has 689 bookstores in 50 states.

Revenue for its college bookstores open at least a year fell 2 percent, as the May-through-July period is when most students have off from classes and does not include the important back-to-school buying period.

The Nook unit — which includes e-readers, digital content and accessories — reported basically flat revenue at $192 million. Sales of digital content surged 46 percent. This content includes digital books, digital newsstand and the apps business.

Revenue from devices dropped partly because of lower prices. Chief Financial Officer Michael Huseby said Nook prices were about 23 percent lower than a year ago.

Earlier this month Barnes & Noble announced that it was cutting the price for its less-expensive model Nook tablet computer by $20, undercutting Amazon's Kindle Fire. The New York company said it was lowering the price for the 8-gigabyte model Nook tablet to $179 from the current $199. The Kindle Fire, with 6 gigabytes of memory, sells for $199. Barnes & Noble also announced a $50 reduction, to $199 from $249, for its 16-gigabyte Nook tablet.

Device sales were also hurt by Barnes & Noble's inability to get enough of its e-readers with the Glowlight feature to market to meet demand. The Glowlight emits low-level light to help with bedtime reading.

"Device unit growth and digital content growth would have been materially higher, if not for the production shortages," Lynch said.

Barnes & Noble also maintained its prediction for a mid-single-digit decline in fiscal 2013 revenue at bookstores open at least a year. Revenue from college bookstores open at least a year is still expected to be flat.

Shares of Barnes & Noble fell 45 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $11.90 in morning trading. For the year to date, the shares are off 16 percent and far below their 52-week high of $26.

For the past eight years, PBAA has provided a forum for our Canadian newsstand colleagues to share best practices, gather insights from industry leaders, learn about successful promotions and marketing techniques, participate in group discussions, meet informally in one-on-one meetings, and enjoy each others' company in Toronto.  This year over 85 newsstand chain professionals participated in the 8th Annual PBAA Canada conference at the Old Mill Inn in Toronto, Wednesday, August 15, 2012. 

Canadian Magazine Industry News

(Masthead: August 15, 2012 Toronto)

Yes, magazine sales at the newsstand are going down.

But magazines are not alone.

Take for example what is happening in American supermarkets — staples like vegetables have slipped 8.2% in unit sales, fresh bread is down 5.2%, and even milk is down more than 5%. (Meanwhile, U.S. supermarket-bought cocktails/coolers are up 63.8%, and sleeping remedies are up more than 22%.)  Continue reading

Drugstore Extends U.S. Footprint With Regional-Chain Deal; June Sales Fell

Walgreen Co. moved to boost its presence in smaller communities in the mid-South, agreeing

to pay about $438 million for 144 stores operating under the USA Drug, Super D Drug and

other brands.

The deal, with Stephen L. LaFrance Holdings Inc. and members of the LaFrance family, came

after Walgreen last month agreed to pay $6.7 billion to buy a 45% stake in U.K. pharmacy-led

health-and-beauty retailer Alliance Boots GmbH.

READ NY Fall Dinner & Awards Ceremony

September 19; 5:30pm


FULL OPEN BAR WITH PREMIUM LIQUOR,
HORS D'OEUVRES & FABULOUS BUFFET DINNER

The Crimson Club
915 Broadway, CORNER OF E. 21ST, NYC

Pre-Event Rate: $120pp


***********************

Table of Ten Tickets
$115 per ticket, Pre-Event


***************************************************

Tickets at Door: $125
(no after-event billing please)


The Crimson Club
915 Broadway
(corner of E. 21st Street)
www.CrimsonClub.com


Payment information
For your convenience you can purchase tickets by credit card or check through PayPal.

Buy Now

Contact us to set up a Paypal invoice
for multiple tickets or if you need a
physical invoice for processing:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Alan Newman at 646-277-3773
PO Box 4309, Sunnyside NY 11104