"Green at Retail" Shows Publishers How to Increase Environmental Stewardship and Newsstand Revenue

[Keaty Gross]

The new Better Paper Project and Next Steps Marketing "green paper," Newsstand Marketing and Distribution: Green at Retail, outlines ways that publishers can achieve higher efficiency, increase sales, and build better brand awareness, all while reducing their publication's environmental impact.

“We hope to provide practical solutions to publishers so they can reap the rewards of better efficiencies, reduced costs, and greater profitability while becoming green at retail,” says Máire Walsh, Director of Client Services at Next Steps Marketing.

The paper focuses on eco-conscious newsstand marketing, including tips on better efficiency through order regulation, zero copy sales, non-returnable distribution, and distribution through testing new markets.

“When magazine publishers are struggling financially yet on average 65-percent of newsstand copies go unsold, one can make a strong financial and environmental case for greater newsstand efficiency,” says Frank Locantore, Director of the Green America Better Paper Project. “Some progress has been made, but the magazine industry and environmental protection can still become better allies.”

According to the new paper, the changing economy and growing green movement encourage stakeholders in the newsstand channel to explore how to take more responsibility to reduce the channel’s environment impact. Some changes include more publishers switching to recycled paper, wholesalers embracing recycling unsold copies, and retailers—spearheaded by Green America Better Paper Project initiatives— supporting environmental leaders in the industry by providing premium retail placement to magazines printed on recycled paper. Wholesalers, retailers, and publishers are discovering that by implementing environmental practices they can reap benefits including additional revenue, greater newsstand sales, and improved brand image.

The green paper is available online at http://www.greenamericatoday.org/PDF/GreenAtRetail.pdf