Bookstore Sales Had Small Six-Month Gain

Anyone working in or around the magazine industry knows one thing for certain: Everyone’s got an opinion. Prognostications on the print magazine industry range from doom and gloom to nothing but sunshine and moonbeams. If you’re in the business of print magazines, like we are, you don’t have the luxury of choosing one position or the other. Common business sense requires us to critically examine what’s really going on. Is the print magazine industry in danger of collapse? Let’s take a closer look. Roy Stevenson is a travel magazine writer and industry coach, so he’s deeply in touch with the realities of his market niche. “These naysayers will tell anyone within earshot that the Internet has completely overtaken the print industry,” Stevenson writes on his travel writing site PitchTravelWrite. “One prominent travel blogger even predicted that by the year 2020 print magazines would cease to exist! Naturally, as a print media freelance writer I feel more than a little concern when I hear these gloomy predictions,” he continues. Click Read More below for more of the story.

The Federal Communications Commission's proposed rollback of the net neutrality rules may not hold up in court, according to the Silicon Valley trade group Internet Association. "The record provides no basis for the Commission to reverse course from its 2015 Order," the Internet Association writes in comments filed Wednesday with the Federal Communications Commission. The organization -- which includes companies like Amazon, Google, eBay and Facebook as members -- adds that Supreme Court precedent requires the FCC to show it has good reasons to change its position. "The 2015 Order is working -- both the cloud economy and ISPs are doing well (and claims that investment by ISPs has been hurt by the 2015 Order are unsupported by evidence), and consumers are reaping the benefits of the virtuous circle of innovation across the internet economy," the organization writes. Click Read More below for additional detail.

The company reported net sales of $4.424 billion for the 22 weeks ended July 1, 2017, a decrease of 6 percent compared to net sales of $4.727 billion for the 22 weeks ended July 2, 2016. Comparable sales for the 22 weeks ended July 1, 2017, decreased 9 percent. For the 22 weeks ended July 1, 2017, the exit of the swim and apparel categories had a negative impact of about 7 percentage points and 10 percentage points to total company and Victoria’s Secret comparable sales, respectively. Click Read More below for additional detail.