Browsing the
Big Boxes
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (NOVEMBER 2003)
With
trusty correspondents fanned out over the big-box landscape
this October, word comes back that while bestsellers
and brand names are alive and well, who controls those
brands varies depending on the venue. At Sam’s Club,
for instance, the publisher of record for Williams-Sonoma
is Simon & Schuster (The Williams-Sonoma
Collection), while at Costco, it’s Oxmoor
House. The classics — and bibles — are now represented
by a broad range of houses, both in-store and online.
Where Parragon and DK once dominated the
Target shelves — and DK and Silver Dolphin
(the AMS imprint) dominated the Costco tables
— now it’s a free-for-all as everyone grabs for a piece
of the action.
On the juvenile front, children’s titles dominate at
Target and Costco, and an informal poll of publishers
shows that some, like Scholastic and S&S,
have been increasingly focused on getting their
licensed product sold in. Scholastic’s Michael Jacobs
says that two years ago the publisher focused specifically
on the market, and has “scored big” with Clifford, thanks
to the TV exposure, while the license for Shrek 2 is
also expected to do well. Meanwhile, S&S’s Simon
Spotlight’s sales have increased in the past year as
Dora, Bob the Builder, SpongeBob SquarePants, and even
Blue’s Clues show strength at all big-box outlets. Children’s
boxed sets and treasuries are favorites in the price
clubs, and they obscure the need to offer big discounts.
HarperCollins has been publishing significantly
more for the marketplace as well, according to Andrea
Pappenheimer, who heads children’s sales. While
there have always been golden oldies on the tables —
Goodnight Moon and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
(both board book only) — Harper has been making
a concerted effort to get into the price clubs, and
the coup was getting them to buy the latest Lemony Snicket
title on its own. The licensed arena has also been heating
up with My Little Pony, Berenstain Bears, and movie
tie-ins such as The Incredible Hulk and Spiderman.
Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries have been
a big success in both cloth and paperback. The first
title sold well because of the movie tie-in, but the
series has had sustained sales thereafter and is now
up to five titles.
Across the board, trade paperback classics from East
of Eden to To Kill a Mockingbird are featured
prominently. In other categories, Wal-Mart of course
sells massive quantities of romance and religion (the
retailer’s online religious book offerings are prodigious,
especially in the bible segment). George Bick,
SVP Sales in charge of the mass market across all HarperCollins
lines, confirms that Wal-Mart is going gangbusters in
the inspirational field: a recent promotion with the
retailer just dropped the price on The Purpose Driven
Life, fueling an exponential increase in sales.
Zondervan has helped it along by urging its customers
to take advantage of the special discount. Bick also
reports a big leap in mass market romance — the publisher
added its own mass-market house sales force two years
ago, having formerly distributed via Hearst —
which sells across all lines into the mass merch accounts,
to a much improved bottom line. Avon’s trade paper chick
lit line has been a hit (market share at Target and
Walmart has been bumped up by several points this year),
and next year will see efforts to target Albertson’s,
Kroger’s, and the like with a number of chick lit
titles; they’ll drop the price to $10.95 from $13.95
on a trial basis.
Needless to say, everyone sells the top bestsellers.
Prices at the two price clubs — Sam’s and Costco — are
mostly in lockstep: Blow Fly is $14.76 at Sam’s
and $14.79 at Costco. The trade paperback of Seabiscuit
is $9.29 at Costco and $9.22 at Sam’s. Wal-Mart
is, relatively speaking, no bargain: Barbara Bush’s
Reflections is $17.64, while Costco sells it
for $15.49. On some titles, such as Grisham’s
$19.95 Bleachers, Sam’s and Target are at $12.57.
Now that B&N sells SparkNotes, Target
and Wal-Mart seem intent on preaching the CliffsNotes
way (see Wiley article).
And everyone still wants Oprah books.
©2003
Publishing Trends
