MAGAZINE SALES ON THAILAND'S STREETS

Street-level retailers of magazines and newspapers in Thailand play an important role in the industry, but did you know that a significant number of these outlets buy their publications for onward sale?
Established retailers like Asia Books and Se-ed are supplied magazines and newspapers on a sale-or-return basis and are paid a commission for each sale which ranges between 20 per cent to 60 per cent of the cover price. However these smaller street retailers, some which only operate for a few hours each day, have to buy their stock upfront, albeit at reduced 'wholesale' prices - and run the risk of not selling particular editions.
I was speaking to one of these retailers last week. She told me some of the established publishers and their distribution agents would only give her 20 per cent off the cover price for buying five copies of a particular edition, hence her profit margins were very, very low. Newspaper publishers, she said, were more generous, but because she had to sell every copy she purchased she would only stock copies of magazines and newspapers she knew would sell. She had about 30 magazines on sale and around eight daily newspapers.
Smaller magazine publishers and those with niche titles will never be stocked in these kinds of outlets because, quite simply, the risk of not selling a particular copy is too high.