SIC 5192 Books, Periodicals, and Newspapers
SIC 5192
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in the wholesale distribution of books, periodicals, and newspapers.
422920
Book, Periodical, and Newspaper Wholesalers
Book, periodical, and newspaper wholesale distributors in the early and mid-2000s enjoyed luxuries rare for wholesale industries: leverage and power. In fact, their strength relative to retailers and publishers produced no small amount of ire among those sectors. To counteract what they saw as overly aggressive tactics on the part of wholesalers to cut costs at their expense, major retailers and publishers looked for ways to band together and bypass the distribution middlemen altogether.
Book, magazine, and newspaper distributors tend to be small, with more than half of the 3,345 in operation in 2003 employing fewer than six individuals; a mere 3 percent employed 100 or more people. In contrast, 622 businesses employed 100 or more in 1987. In addition to distributing books, periodicals, and newspapers, some wholesalers carried additional product lines including photographic equipment and supplies, religious and school supplies, stationary office supplies, greeting cards, art goods (including novelties and souvenirs), toys and hobby goods and supplies, electronic parts and equipment, and other durable goods.
From its beginnings until as late as the 1980s, according to the Wall Street Journal, the magazine wholesaling segment was primarily populated by tiny establishments operating in their own local territories with little competition. Only in the 1990s did the industry undergo a major consolidation effort. This consolidation was driven in part by aggressive supermarkets and other large retailers, a key customer base to magazine and newspaper distributors, attempting to diminish costs by ordering product for entire regions, rather than for specific local markets. These retailers flexed their newfound muscles to raise the bar for wholesalers to do business. In the ensuing shakeout, some 180 wholesalers closed their doors or were absorbed by the Big Four: Anderson, News Group, Chas. Levy, and Hudson News. Together, these wholesalers controlled 90 percent of the single-copy sales market in the...
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