Magazine Subscriptions Boosted By Royal Mail Initiative
Weekly magazine subscriptions look set to receive a boost with the launch of a new promotion from the Royal Mail offering publishers low-cost distribution through the post.
The promotion will see magazines with an existing subscription-base receive a 25% discount on distribution costs as long as they recorded fewer than 5% subscription sales in the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures for the six months to December 2003.
The discount, which would apply for twelve months from the first mailing, is intended to allow consumer weeklies to potentially increase their marketing activity using the money saved from reduced distribution costs to increase subscription circulations.
The Royal Mail claims that increased subscriptions will profit the sector in a number of ways including increased cash flow, greater sales stability through enhanced buyer loyalty and increased knowledge of the target market, which allows publishers to cross sell other titles.
Commenting on the initiative, Tom Wasilewski, head of Publishing at the Royal Mail, said: “The weekly consumer magazine market is becoming increasingly competitive and over crowded. Therefore, in order to reduce reader churn publishers need to acquire, maintain and strengthen relationships with their readers.”
He added: “Consequently, it is essential for publishers to build a reader profile and implement an effective CRM strategy based on subscription data, for example utilising life cycle information to target readers (and their families) with relevant magazines at different stages of subscription holders’ lives.”
The Royal Mail’s discount price promotion comes amid increasing fears that retailers such as WH Smith and large supermarket chains such as Tecso could significantly reduce the amount of shelf space they give to consumer magazines, in a move that could seriously damage news-stand sales.
It also follows the Royal Mail’s controversial plans to move to a system of size-based pricing, which would mean pricing structures related to the sizes and shapes of items rather than their weight. A recent survey of ISBA members suggests this would have serious implications for magazine publishers and advertisers using direct mail.
Royal Mail: www.royalmail.com
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