The PPA study titled "Magazines in a supermarket economy" examines the future prospects for magazines in a "supermarket dominated economy". It was commissioned by the PPA's strategic partners Polestar, St Ives, Stora Enso, Royal Mail and the Royal Bank of Scotland and was launched at the PPA's Magazine Conference 2005 last week. The report will be published later this month.

The warning comes as the OFT is set to report this week on the liberalisation of the magazine supply chain, potentially giving supermarkets more distribution powers. There are dire warnings that a switch to  competitive distribution could result in the loss of 1,000 titles.

Author of the report, Wessenden Marketing managing partner Jim Bilton, said that despite the proposed changes to distribution, there was no evidence to suggest that supermarkets would limit its range of titles.

"It is separate from the OFT's upcoming report," he said. "If certain titles were to go out of business because of the changes then it would not be as a direct result of supermarkets."

But there were warnings in the PPA's report that supermarkets do have discussions "from time to time" about publication dates of titles.
"There is no evidence of overwhelming change but supermarkets are looking for more influence on magazines," said Bilton. "Suppliers such as printers, need to check closely with their publishing clients."

He added: "The time has come for the magazine industry to face up to supermarkets but do it with confidence and a clear strategy."

Last year the government proposed to adopt EU competition regulations allowing retailers to choose wholesalers and move away from the "exclusive territories" agreement.

Story by Philip Chadwick