Threat of Commoditization
In Supermarkets-our mainstay-we face a number of challenges.
The great danger here for magazines is commoditization：decline and loss of relevance in this class of trade.In this chart，plotting growth and profitability as seen through the eyes of our supermarket buyer，magazines sit as a no-growth，average margin category way over on the left hand edge of this chart.A blip on their radar screen compared to their mainstay categories.
We cannot afford to let magazines be regarded in this way，be compared to frozen foods，or health and beauty care products on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
The Retail Challenge
The magazine industry is at a fork in the road.I've labeled the choices：Display…or Destination.The low road or the high road.
In one direction，if we do nothing new at retail，magazines will remain a low priority display category for retailers.A low growth，moderately profitable，labor intensive，messy and difficult-to-understand category that competes for display space with beverages or greeting cards and that may over time be eased out to make way for more dynamic products.
This is a treacherous path.After all，there are fewer outlets selling magazines today than 10 years ago and a whole bunch of rapidly growing channels that don't sell any magazines at all！
Alternately，we can take the high road by paying greater attention to the retail channel-invest，promote，and communicate Magazines'virtues as a destinationwithin stores.If we do there's a pretty good chance that we can change retailers'perception and make Magazines an essential department in every store that generates customer traffic，enhances the shopping experience，and promotes greater satisfaction and loyalty.
To accomplish this we must promote the incredibly important connections-the visceral relationships-between magazines and their readers，supermarket shoppers.We must convince retailers of the truly attractive economics of magazines.We must show them why Magazines should be a mainstay of every store-like the service deli-and show them how to turn Magazine Displays into Magazine Destinations.