The Alabama Media Group is killing the print editions of The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times and the of Mobile. All three will cease on February 26, 2023. This is part of a restructuring by parent Advance Publications that also included New Orleans’ Times-Picayune, NPR writes. Bates continues that the combined circulation of the three titles was 260,000 a decade ago, but not is down to around 30,000. In contrast, AL.com pulls a million people a day, NPR continues.

A customer-led, technology-enabled revolution is transforming the retail industry. That’s according to global market intelligence firm IDC, which has released its annual “FutureScape: Worldwide Retail 2023 Top 10 Predictions.” The report predicts how the worldwide retail industry will evolve. Below are IDC’s top 10 predictions: 1. By 2025, 20% of the top 100 global retailers will drive holistic business result using distributed artificial intelligence (AI) systems with integrated data across retail planning, decisions, operations, and optimization. 2. By 2025, 50% of retailers will increase data management and governance technology investments by at least 20% to obtain insights from growing amounts of data to increase omnichannel revenue.

The United States Postal Service reported new delivery performance metrics for the 11th week of the first quarter for fiscal year 2023. The average time to deliver a mailpiece or package across the postal network was 2.5 days for the eighth consecutive week even as mailing and shipping traffic increased. FY23 first quarter service performance scores covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 16 included: *First-Class Mail: 91.6% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 1.6 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. The current data reflects a year over year increase of 1.5 percentage points compared to the same period in the FY22 peak holiday season. *Marketing Mail: 94.1% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a slight decrease of 0.7 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. The current data reflects a year over year increase of 2.3 percentage points compared to the same period in the FY22 peak holiday season. *Periodicals: 85.3% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 1.6 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. The current data reflects a year over year increase of 4.1 percentage points compared to the same period in the FY22 peak holiday season.

Given all of the attention that the Department of Justice’s successful trial to block Penguin Random House’s purchase of Simon & Schuster drew, it can be hard to remember what other trends, challenges, and issues confronted the publishing industry in 2022. In many ways, last year the industry was still dealing with the fallout caused by the pandemic. For one thing, return-to-office policies remained in flux throughout the year; just when a publisher would announce plans to bring back employees to the office for a few days a week, another surge would come along and scuttle those plans. In addition, executives at the big publishers were meeting stiff resistance from employees on any sort of mandate to return to the office. In PW’s most recent salary and jobs survey, respondents said that the creation of work-from-home policies was the most important benefit their company established during the height of the pandemic, and the overwhelming majority of respondents were concerned that their company would soon be requiring employees to be in the office for a certain number of days each week.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for October 2022 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. The report does not include PreK-12 revenue due to delays in data collection. Total revenues across all categories, excluding PreK-12, for October 2022 were down 9.3% as compared to October 2021, coming in at $1.2 billion. Year-to-date revenues were down 5.1%, at $10.6 billion for the first ten months of the year. Trade (Consumer Books) sales were down 13.7% in October, coming in at $978.3 million.

As ACMA attorneys Martin Eisenstein and Nat Bessey wrote in Part One) of their two-part Legal Corner series to members last month (unlocked version here for non-members too), a major issue for the industry was the effort of the Massachusetts Department of Taxation to apply the Supreme Court’s ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair retroactively and assess many ACMA members and other remote merchants retroactively for sales tax liabilities for periods prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Wayfair. Brann & Isaacson is proud to announce that today we received a favorable, and unanimous, decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court invalidating the Department’s assessment. The Court found that absent a physical presence in Massachusetts, the Department did not have the authority to assess sales taxes based upon Internet contacts. The Court held that cookies/apps/content delivery networks do not constitute physical presence. This is a significant victory for the industry and a great holiday present. Thank you to all ACMA members and other companies for your support in this effort. link to full report: https://catalogmailers.org/member-exclusive-acmas-legal-corner-state-and-local-agencies-are-at-it-again-in-sales-tax-actions-pt-1-of-2-2/

The United States Postal Service today announced that it expects to acquire at least 66,000 battery electric delivery vehicles as part of its 106,000 vehicle acquisition plan for deliveries between now and 2028. The vehicles purchased as part of this anticipated plan will begin to replace the Postal Service’s aging delivery fleet of over 220,000 vehicles. The Postal Service anticipates at least 60,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV), of which at least 75% (45,000) will be battery electric. As part of this plan, a total of 21,000 additional commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles are also expected to be battery electric, depending on market availability and operational feasibility. The Postal Service also anticipates including internal combustion vehicles necessary to meet immediate vehicle replacement needs.

Amazon will no longer sell digital magazine and newspaper subscriptions via Kindle Newsstand, starting next year. The tech giant is also phasing out its print textbook rental program, Publishers Weekly reports. Amazon issued this statement to Publishers Weekly: “Following an assessment of our print textbook rentals and our magazine and newspaper subscriptions and single-issue sales, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue these services.”

FY23 first quarter service performance scores covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 9 included: *First-Class Mail: 91.7 percent of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 1.4 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. The current data reflects a year over year increase of one percentage point compared to the same period in the FY22 peak holiday season. *Marketing Mail: 94.1 percent of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a slight decrease of 0.7 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. The current data reflects a year over year increase of 1.9 percentage points compared to the same period in the FY22 peak holiday season. *Periodicals: 85.5 percent of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. The current data reflects a year over year increase of 3.5 percentage points compared to the same period in the FY22 peak holiday season.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2022 Financial Highlights *Adobe achieved revenue of $4.53 billion in its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022, which represents 10 percent year-over-year growth or 14 percent in constant currency. Diluted earnings per share was $2.53 on a GAAP basis and $3.60 on a non-GAAP basis. *GAAP operating income in the fourth quarter was $1.51 billion and non-GAAP operating income was $2.02 billion. GAAP net income was $1.18 billion and non-GAAP net income was $1.68 billion. *Record cash flows from operations were $2.33 billion. *Remaining Performance Obligations (“RPO”) exiting the quarter were $15.19 billion. *Adobe repurchased approximately 5.0 million shares during the quarter.

The Book Manufacturers’ Institute (BMI) released the December results for its monthly survey on capacity and lead times for soft cover and hard cover books.. This month held fairly steady on capacities but showed lead times continuing to decline. According to responses regarding hard cover books, the average manufacturer was running at 82% of their capacity, equal to October and November. The average lead time for completed hard cover books went down to 50 days from 59 days, continuing the trend. For soft cover books, capacity usage stayed similar at 82% compared to 81% last month. The average lead time dropped to 33 days from 38 days, continuing that trend as well.

Publishers face many hurdles going into the new year, starting with loss of third-party cookies, judging by the 2023 Industry Pulse Report from Integral Ad Science, in partnership with YouGov. Publishers say they are up against the following: Decreasing access to consumer data/cookies—40%; Choosing and integrating identity systems—36%; Monetizing with/without social platforms—32%; Maximizing yield—28%; Monetizing first-party data—24%; Ads delivered alongside risky or misleading content—23%; Providing scaled audience extension, minimizing overhead—20%; Contextual targeting—19%; Poor viewability levels—8%; Ad fraud—3%

Costco Wholesale Corporation announced its operating results for the first quarter (twelve weeks) of fiscal 2023, ended November 20, 2022. Net sales for the first quarter increased 8.1 percent, to $53.44 billion from $49.42 billion last year. Net income for the quarter was $1,364 million, $3.07 per diluted share, compared to $1,324 million, $2.98 per diluted share, last year. This year’s results included a charge of $93 million pre-tax, $0.15 per diluted share, primarily related to downsizing our charter shipping activities, and a tax benefit of $53 million, $0.12 per diluted share, related to stock-based compensation. Last year’s results included a write-off of certain information technology assets of $118 million pre-tax, $0.20 per diluted share, and a tax benefit of $91 million, $0.21 per diluted share, related to stock-based compensation.

Lee Enterprises is on course with its digital transformation, judging by its Q4 and fiscal 2022 results. The publisher, which now bills itself as a digital-first subscription platform, reported total digital revenue of $65 million in Q4, a 31% increase YoY. In contrast, overall revenue was flat at $194 million. The results were similar for fiscal 2022: Total operating revenue was $781 million, down 2% from the prior year. But digital revenue grew by 27% to $240 million.

In separate court filings this week, lawyers for Amazon and the Big Five publishers said that a revived class action suit accusing them of colluding to fix e-book prices is not significantly different from the case that was dismissed in September for lack of evidence, and should not be allowed to go forward. “Defendants’ actions remain better explained as independent, self-interested business decisions than as an illogical conspiracy to entrench Amazon at the publisher defendants’ expense,” reads a letter from the publishers’ lawyers, requesting a pre-motion conference ahead of filing a formal motion to dismiss. “To state a claim, plaintiffs must—but fail to—allege concerted action and a specific intent to monopolize.”

“We’ve made tremendous progress improving our service performance in the past year thanks to investments under our Delivering for America plan and an organization-wide commitment to better serving our customers,” said Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General and CEO. “We are headed in the right direction but there is more work to be done to deliver the reliable service the American people expect and deserve.” Final FY2022 USPS service performance scores showed: *First-Class Mail: 91.0 percent of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an 8.3 percentage point improvement from FY21 (82.7 percent). *Marketing Mail: 93.3 percent of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a 5.7 percentage point improvement from FY21 (87.6 percent). *Periodicals: 83.7 percent of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a significant 8.1 percentage point increase over FY21 (75.6 percent).

*GAAP Results: Revenue of $515 million (-3% vs. prior year), Operating Income of $57 million (-22% vs. prior year), and EPS of $0.68 (-31% vs. prior year) *Fiscal 2023 Outlook: Wiley is lowering its revenue outlook at constant currency due to consumer spending and enrollment headwinds in Academic & Professional Learning. Reaffirms full year outlook for Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow; Adjusted EPS trending to lower end of range mainly due to rising interest expense. “Despite the challenging economic environment, we continue to see good underlying momentum in our core growth areas of Research Publishing, Research Solutions, and Corporate Talent Development,” said Brian Napack, President and CEO. “This quarter’s results were weighed down by difficult market conditions in our publishing lines in Academic & Professional Learning. We are aggressively managing costs to offset these challenges while continuing to scale our growth offerings in line with favorable long-term trends.”

The New York Times scored a coup on Tuesday both online and in its legacy medium, print. General Electric took over all of the paper’s pages, running 22 full-page color ads and five partial pages in a seven-figure campaign that also includes ads on desktop and mobile homepages, on three section webpages, in audio form on the podcast "The Daily" and in two newsletters briefings. It's the first time ever that all of the paper’s real estate has been taken over by a single advertiser. The package was designed to promote GE’s coming split into three separate companies: GE HealthCare, GE Aerospace, and GE Vernova, all publicly traded, the Boston Globe reports.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for September 2022 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. The report does not include PreK-12 revenue due to delays in data collection. Total revenues across all categories, excluding PreK-12, for September 2022 were down 1.4% as compared to September 2021, coming in at $1.4 billion. Year-to-date revenues were down 4.5%, at $9.3 billion for the first nine months of the year. Trade (Consumer Books) sales were down 2.6% in September, coming in at $917.5 million.

Fiscal 2022 Third Quarter Operating Results Overview: *Total net sales were $177.8 million, a decrease of $28.2 million or 13.7%, compared to $206.1 million last year. Total comparable net sales, including both physical stores and e-commerce ("e-com"), decreased by 14.9%. *Gross profit, including buying, distribution, and occupancy costs, was $54.6 million, or 30.7% of net sales, compared to $76.7 million, or 37.2% of net sales, last year. *Operating income was $6.3 million, or 3.6% of net sales, compared to $29.0 million, or 14.1% of net sales, last year, due to the combined impact of the factors noted above. *Net income was $5.1 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, compared to $20.8 million, or $0.66 per diluted share, last year. Weighted average diluted shares were 30.0 million this year compared to 31.4 million last year.

For the Third Quarter of Fiscal 2022: *Net sales increased 17.2% to $2.3 billion compared to $2.0 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2021 primarily due to the favorable impact from the continued resilience of the beauty category, retail price increases, and the impact of new brands and product innovation compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2021. *Comparable sales (sales for stores open at least 14 months and e-commerce sales) increased 14.6% compared to an increase of 25.8% in the third quarter of fiscal 2021, driven by a 10.7% increase in transactions and a 3.5% increase in average ticket. *Gross profit increased 22.0% to $962.8 million compared to $789.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2021. *Operating income increased 27.3% to $361.9 million, or 15.5% of net sales, compared to $284.2 million, or 14.2% of net sales, in the third quarter of fiscal 2021. *Net income increased 27.5% to $274.6 million compared to $215.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2021.

Urban Outfitters, Inc. announced that Francis Pierrel, President, Urban Outfitters Group, has left the Company. We appreciate the contributions he made during his tenure and wish him well in his future endeavors. Urban Outfitters, Inc. offers lifestyle-oriented general merchandise and consumer products and services through a portfolio of global consumer brands comprised of the Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People, FP Movement, Terrain, Urban Outfitters, Nuuly and Menus & Venues brands.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $19.17 billion for the retail month of November, the four weeks ended November 27, 2022, an increase of 5.7 percent from $18.13 billion last year. For the twelve-week first quarter ended November 20, 2022, the Company reported net sales of $53.44 billion, an increase of 8.1 percent from $49.42 billion last year. For the thirteen weeks ended November 27, 2022, the Company reported net sales of $58.36 billion, an increase of 7.9 percent from $54.10 billion last year.

The Postal Regulatory Commission released its advisory opinion on a Postal Service plan to revise the critical entry times (CETs) for some categories of Periodicals mail. The CET is the latest time a mailpiece may be tendered to the Postal Service and still have the day count when measuring that mail’s service performance. (Docket No. N2022-2). Specifically, the Postal Service proposes to standardize four of the five Periodicals CETs (i.e., CETs for all non-palletized Periodicals mail). Instead of the current CET range of 0800-1400 for the affected categories of Periodicals mail, the Postal Service proposes that all of those categories would share a CET of 0800. The Postal Service asserts that this change would “promote simplification of mail processing operations, and hence more effective allocation and use of processing personnel and equipment.” The Commission’s evaluation of the Postal Service’s proposal finds: *The proposed changes will likely enable the Postal Service to project more easily and accurately the Periodicals volumes and, therefore, will likely improve Periodicals processing. *The proposed changes are likely to result in more efficient use of the Postal Service’s equipment, particularly its bundle/package sortation machines. *A subset of affected Periodicals mailers have indicated that they will not be able to achieve the revised CETs and are likely to have an additional service day added to the delivery of their mailpieces. *The Postal Service has not analyzed how the expected impact on Periodicals mailers would affect Periodicals volumes, worksharing, or the recipients of Periodicals mail.