Wal-Mart, the behemoth of retail, is axing print media in droves by cleaning house on a thousand magazine titles including The Economist, BusinessWeek and Forbes. This could signal another nail in the coffin for print media, which struggles day in and day out to compete with the Internet for readership. Facts are facts, and they all point to a growing trend of web-savvy users moving online.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for the Mag Biz. Those who made the cut are going to be the beneficiary here. Why? Because shelves won’t be as cluttered, allowing for the remaining titles to shine through.
Household names such as Family Circle managed to hold on to its shelf space. Even though major publishers saw cuts, a lot of the booted magazines were smaller publications.
This could be a boon for certain outlets, but how long will it take before all of the shelf space is relegated to checkout-aisle status? We may see magazines sitting alongside bubble gum exclusively before the end.