Purchasing Magazine folds

Purchasing magazine and website ceased publication this week after 95 years (95 years!)

Can’t say I often looked at it; it was very US manufacturing based, although ironically published by the UK company Reed Elsevier, who are closing a whole host of US trade press titles.  But it was certainly part of the fabric of the US procurement world and I’m sure there will be some sadness, as well as sympathy of course for staff.

I’m surprised they can’t make a go of the website as a stand-alone; but I suppose one of the effects of the rise of the low-cost, high quality blog sites (such as Spend Matters, who have further coverage on this here) is increased competition for magazines with large overheads.  Supply Management in the UK has the advantage of CIPS backing, and has I think very sensibly put a lot of effort into making the website a real destination in its own right; I will ask their editor next week what he thinks about all this.