Distribution of newspapers and magazines in Pakistan

By Asif Noorani

Newspapers and magazines in Pakistan, as in most countries of the world,

are either picked up from outlets (such as newsstands, bookshops and other
stores) or are delivered at home or workplace.

In the case of magazines annual or six-monthly or even three-yearly

subscriptions are accepted and copies delivered through couriers, special
delivery persons or postmen. The advantage to the publishers under this
system is that they get the money in advance and are assured of the sales of
copies during that period. The buyer has the advantage that any increase in
the cover price does not affect him till such time as the subscription expires.
Also he doesn’t miss any copy, which he may if he has to pick it up from
newsstands. This is a universal practice.

It is, however, the pattern of sales and distribution of newspapers which is

different in this country, where the hawkers and their unity make them a
force to reckon with. The hawker who delivers the newspaper at your place
in the morning picks up his copies of different newspapers from one of the
27 depots that dot the city. His choice of the depot depends on its proximity
to his house or to the area where he drops copies on a daily basis. Thus if he
lives in Lines Area and his clients are mostly in the PECHS then he would
pick up the copies of his newspapers from either the Nursery Depot or the
Tariq Road Depot in the PECHS.

Now the question who brings the copies of different newspapers from the
printing presses to the depots? Every newspaper has his sole agent for each
city, in the case of larger papers there can be more than one agent among
whom depots are divided. For instance, in Karachi an agent of Dawn or Jung
who is supposed to sell newspapers at the depots in Nazimabad and North
Nazimabad will not sell papers at depots in Malir and Landhi, where there
would be another agent.

An agent sells papers to newspaper hawkers and newspaper stall owners on

cash, except in rare cases.

In other cities, big or small, there is only one depot which is called Akhbar
Market where the agents bring their stocks of newspapers and/or magazines.
It is also the point where the hawkers from all over the city come to pick up
the copies required by them.

For instance, newspaper hawkers in Lahore have to come all the way from
far flung areas even in biting cold early in the morning on their two wheelers
to pick up their stocks of newspapers. Individual hawkers may not be happy
about the arrangement but the powerful hawkers’ association would lose its
grip over individual hawkers, if they go to depots in different areas. In
Karachi this is one reason why the hawkers are not so united.

In 1986 the hawkers associations tried to match their strength with the power
of the management of the Dawn group. They wanted their commission to be
raised from 25 per cent of the cover price to 40 per cent and when the
management of the newspaper refused to accede to their demand they went
on a wildcat strike. Anticipating this, the Dawn Group had recruited their
own delivery men to distribute the newspaper in localities where there are
larger numbers of English newspaper reading public such as Defence,
Clifton, Bahadurabad etc. There was a battle of attrition and the hawkers had
to give in because of the strong brand loyalty that Dawn enjoys among the
English reading public. The readers refused to accept any other paper and
got their paper from Dawn Sales, which is the parallel distribution body run
by the Dawn group.

Jung offers 33 per cent to hawkers and seven to agents (as opposed to
Dawn’s 25 per cent and five per cent) in Karachi, but for their Lahore and
Islamabad editions Dawn offers 33 per cent to hawkers and seven to the
agents. Other papers such as Daily Times and Daily Express offer 40 per
cent to hawkers and 10 per cent to their agents, which is the standard rate
outside Karachi.

The hawker is in a business where there is no risk. His is a win-win

situation. He knows the exact number of copies that he needs to buy and by
the time his two-hour assignment is over, he is seldom left with any unsold
copy.

This brings us to the fact that the best selling newspapers and magazines are
sold on no return basis, which means that the publishing group and its agents
don’t accept unsold copies from hawkers or newsstand owners. But the
smaller newspapers with less demand cannot take such a stand. They have to
accept the unsold copies of newspapers and magazines, which means they
can only be sold to raddi walas.

Now let’s examine how newspapers’ circulation departments work. They get
orders from different agents on a daily basis but any change has to be
notified in advance because the pull out magazines that go with the
newspapers are printed well before the news pages are printed.

The distribution of the newspapers begins from very early in the morning.
Papers with large print orders, often equipped with fast machines, have to
commence printing at around 2 am. The copies that are printed first are sent
to outstations either through vans, buses, trains or flights. Then goes the
consignment meant for airlines, who pick up the papers for the passengers
on board their aircraft. The hotels which give morning papers to their guests
are the next to be serviced.

Finally, the local agents pick up their copies of newspapers and give priority
to the copies meant for areas which are at a greater travelling distance. For
example, they would send their supplies first to Landhi, Korangi and Orangi
then to areas like PIB Colony and Nazimabad and last to places like Saddar
and Burnes Road. The logistics thus stands to reason.

The most important point to remember is that a newspaper in its traditional

form of a hard copy, is a perishable commodity, more so when it has to
compete with the electronic media. Therefore, it’s very essential that it
should reach its ultimate consumer – the reader -- in as less a time period as
possible.

A word about the afternoon dailies, which are still called eveningers because
four decades ago they came out of the press in the evenings but as working
hours shortened the office-goers needed their copies earlier, so by lunch time
these newspapers are in the market. There are only four depots in Karachi
where afternoon dailies are sold by the agents to the hawkers. The building
of flyovers and reduction in the traffic signals is a problem with the hawkers
selling afternoon papers, whose sales were largely bought by motorists who
wait for the traffic signal to turn green from red.

Another point worth remembering is that hawkers don’t promote

newspapers. They drop the newspapers that the clients want at their
doorsteps. Sales promotion is the job of the management of the newspapers.
About a year ago a new newspaper Aaj Kal from the Daily Times group is
being promoted actively. Free copies are being distributed along with (a)
copies of Daily Times, and (b) copies of leading Urdu dailies – Jung and
Express. The hawkers are paid by the depot checkers of the publishing group
who make sure that the hawkers don’t sell those copies to raddiwalas and
deliver them to the target readers.

Newspapers and even magazines are also advertised on billboards,

particularly the newer ones. They are also advertised through the electronic
media, particularly radio and television.

Sometimes media enter into barter agreements. A TV channel carries the ad

of a newspaper or a magazine and vice versa. A few years ago The News, a
daily paper, advertised the latest issue of the news and views magazine
Newsline, while the monthly carried the ad of the daily too. This was in
response to Dawn carrying the ads of its sister publication Herald every time
a new issue is launched. These days DawnNews TV, Dawn dot com and FM
89 ads appear in the daily Dawn. The ads of the various pull out magazines
appearing in Dawn are placed a day or two earlier in the regular issue of
Dawn.

A couple of paragraphs earlier I had referred to depot checkers. I may add

that they are hired by the management of the newspapers and their
assignment is to see that at each depot the required number of copies of
newspapers and magazines, belonging to their publication group, are brought
in the morning. If there is any delay or any shortage the Circulation
Department is notified so that remedial action can be taken. Also the depot
checker is supposed to keep a tab on the competitors’ activities at the depot.

Before anyone asks me what is a depot, I may add that there is no separate
room or a separate enclosure. It’s any point on a footpath where there is
enough space for agents’ salesmen to keep stacks of newspapers and from
where the individual hawkers pick up their required copies of every daily
and magazine.