Yet the digital version has none of the above. What they are doing is being greedy and trying to pocket the spread.
You also forgot this...
The usual profit margin is 20% to the newsstand retailer and 40% to the wholesaler. The newsstand dealer may also get 6% to 10% more in the form of a retail display allowance.
So...
20% profit to the news stand (maybe more)
40% profit to the wholesaler
I'm no math whiz but that sure sounds like 60% of the cover price goes NOT to the magazine PUBLISHER but the wholesaler as well as the retailer.
Now Apple **IS** getting a 30% cut so that does offset this savings to some degree but all things being equal digital magazines should be CHEAPER no doubt about it. No printing, shipping, take-backs (stuff that didn't sell - usually just the cover gets sent back), recycling, warehousing, etc have to bring the price down.
ALSO something that everyone seems to be overlooking is the fact that OLDER ISSUES can REMAIN on sale .... FOREVER and POPULAR ISSUES WILL NEVER SELL OUT! These two points can't be stressed enough. Never before have magazines been able to sell old magazines in such a SIMPLE way before. Yes, some magazines did offer 'back issues' but at an added cost and only while inventory existed and this 'service' was performed by someone they had to hire to manage everything. Now the magazine can always be available and be sold 'forever'.
This 'new' feature MIGHT have smart magazines rethinking their digital magazines and perhaps put more effort into a special topic then they otherwise would -- knowing the extra effort will promote the sale of said magazine for LONG after its publication date.
Finally ... anyone who
bothers to look it up 'newsstand magazine sales' will see that the number of issues (over all) have be dropping consistently year after year after year, going all the way back to the early 90s.