News Thousands of Japanese combinis to stop selling print magazines

In March, Tokyo-based publisher and distributor Tohan will take over magazine distribution for Family Mart's approximately 16,000 branches across Japan and Lawson's roughly 14,000 locations, replacing former distributor Nippon Shuppan Hanbai (Nippan). After assessing the profitability of supplying print materials, Tohan determined that continuing service to all stores would be unsustainable. As a result, distribution will end at around 10,000 stores — about one-third of both chains' domestic locations. Lawson announced that magazine sales would stop at 3,000 stores (about 20% of its total branches), while Family Mart will halt sales at thousands of locations starting in March.

The most obvious reason for the reevaluation is the decreased demand for print media as consumers increasingly turn to digital sources. Tohan also cited warehousing and delivery costs for shrinking the convenience store distribution network. [...] Meanwhile, 7-Eleven, Japan's largest convenience store chain with over 21,000 branches, says it has no current plan to scale back magazine availability, saying that as readers today have fewer places where they can buy print media, it's become even more significant that the chain provides such products.

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