Publisher’s Single Copy Sales Services Blog

I heard today that Host, one of the most important airport retailers for magazine publishers, is changing its magazine supplier from Anderson News Company to the News Group.

What does that mean to the rest of us? It seems like a further weakening of Anderson’s hold on its distribution territory, already compromised by the loss of a number of agencies and retailers. It changes the route density for the ANCO trucks–fewer retailers to deliver to in the Host servicing areas.

For publishers for whom Host is an important part of their distribution, it will change the profitability formula at the Anderson agencies. A different efficiency requirement or revenue contribution per copy might be called for.

There are some publishers for whom the major portion of distribution is airports and other high end accounts. Will these publishers be able to keep their distribution in ANCO’s agencies?

This development can be added to the list of things we need to be watching as the newsstand landscape continues to change.