The NFRN statement of 26th July said: “Having been told by the publisher that the Sunday Express would maintain retail margins based on the full £1.35 cover price (28.6p), newsagents discovered on Sunday that this decision had been reversed at the last minute and instead Express Newspapers had decided to base its retail margin on the lowered £1 cover price, effectively wiping off more than a quarter of the pence per copy margin to just 21.2p. The NFRN received no advance communication about this.
Understandable? Callous or crazy? Whichever adjective fits, Express Newspapers is certainly taking a huge (and potentially suicidal) gamble by encouraging retailers to support their main rival newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, that is currently maintaining retailer margins on the full £1.50 cover price. Given that, in comparative terms, the Sunday Express is the weaker of the two rivals, retailers across the UK were dumbfounded on Sunday why they have been kicked in the teeth by a title that ought to be soliciting their support to fill the void left by the demise of the News of the World.
A 7.4p loss on every copy sold is a massive hit to retailers who are already under siege from all quarters, and this may prove to be the catalyst where retailers in their thousands decide they are no longer going to accept these attacks on their business and decide it is time to take control of the price themselves.
If they do, then the Express has no-one other than itself to blame because it has brought this on itself. The alternative, should newsagents choose to switch their support to another title entirely, might have even more painful consequences.
Perhaps “crazy” is the right adjective after all since this move is unlikely to endear itself to retailers or boost its sales. Says NFRN National President, Kieran McDonnell (pictured), “I am gagged by the law from telling you how I am going to react to this news in my shop – all I can say is that I was planning some substantial revisions to my portfolio of newspaper and magazine titles in the very near future anyway, and this change will be taken into account.”
