The Newspaper Distribution Problem: Strategic Analysis of Profit-Loss Picture for A Metro Distributor

ABSTRACT Freedom Reports Providers is a newspaper and magazine wholesale distributor that serves thousands of independent and chain retail outlets in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York on a daily basis. The main objective was to construct a profit/loss model for the company that includes factors such as product number (i.e., the numerical code that identifies each unique product), day of week, location of sale, delivery/pickup route, and time of year for the New Jersey and Pennsylvania distribution areas served by the company. Data visualization tools (e.g., Microsoft Excel and Tableau) are employed to assess more comprehensively the distribution outlets in both strongly and poorly performing routes in the company's main geographic areas of operations. There is a window of opportunity for the company that finetunes its strategy regarding where its distribution efforts are likely to achieve the most positive revenue picture. Keywords: newspapers, profir-loss, and wholesale distributor