Retailers are adding books to their newspaper and magazine sections to successfully counteract declining magazine revenues. Joe Rushton, who stocks a range of paperbacks in his store, Towlers in Easingwold, Yorkshire, said most of the books’ buyers are previous magazine readers who had switched to digital, mostly women aged over 50.
His book wholesaler is The Cut-Price Bookstore, which provides spinner stands of affordable paperback books on firm sale. The wholesaler says the offer is well-suited to newsagents, convenience stores and post offices in locations similar to market towns.
The wholesaler’s strategy mirrors that of magazine retailing principles, providing retailers with large ranges in a compact space in store. The Cut-Price Bookstore owner Dominic Rawnsley told Better Retailing: “A lot of book wholesalers want to sell fewer books in bigger volumes. We have one or two copies of each title, all handpicked. When you’ve sold around half your range, and you place another order, we look at what’s sold well and send completely new titles. It means there’s something new for your shoppers to find and more reasons for them to keep visiting.”
With a £2.09 wholesale price per book and retail prices of £3.50 each or two for £6, the titles offer a lower price than many magazines, but also give higher margins of 40% or 30%, respectively. Ranges include paperback fiction, children’s books, non-fiction titles and annuals such as road atlases (priced separately).
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Rawnsley told Better Retailing the multibuy often attracts parents buying a book each for themselves and their child.
Tony Hewson, owner of KeyStore Express Central Stores in Middleham, has been stocking The Cut-Price Bookstore books for six years, with a range of around 3,000 books on three spinners.
“It attracts a big mix of customers,” he said. “We’re near a lot of caravan parks, and the sales really go up when there’s bad weather. We top up our range with 250-400 new books every four-to-six weeks. The adult-fiction books outsell everything else by far – the pricing is so competitive.”
He added the books bring in around £1,500 a month and boosted footfall around his magazine section. “My advice to anyone considering books is just to try it. We did, and we never regretted it. In peak season, it’s making thousands of pounds in profit, and the spinners don’t take up a lot of space.”
Asked about books being introduced into magazine spaces in local shops, Rawnsley replied: “Speaking to shop owners, there’s a lot of comments about falling margin in newspapers and magazines, and we’re seeing retailers, especially newsagents, diversify that space into gifting, crafts and books as well.”
The development follows news wholesalers also striving to enter the book retailing market. Last year, Menzies Distribution and Smiths News officially began distributing books to supermarkets within newstrade deliveries through a partnership with magazine distributor Frontline.
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