Imagine one of Australia’s daily newspapers cutting its cover price by 43%. That’s what has happened with London’s Sun from News International this week. 35p down to 20p. Consumers would be happy – such are the benefits of a competitive marketplace where there is considerable choice in newspapers. The price drop apparently applies only in London. This story caught my eye because Australian newspaper publishers do follow overseas trends: DVD and other giveaways to boost sales (but publishers here are not as addicted as in the UK), free newspapers – to name two. With newspaper sales flat at best it would not surprise me to see publishers play with cover price in some markets to drive sales. There is more background to this story at followthemedia.
Hi Mark,
You may be interested to know that in the first four days of this deep price promotion I can reveal that it has made no difference to our sales. Our customer base is not prime Sun territory though, so we are probably not particularly representative of the market place. The sales rate of the other two red tops, the Star and the Mirror have not moved from their tend yet either. So for us it is just a damp squib.
The more interesting trend for the Sun is that we are adding casual sales year on year and I think that is down to being allowed good availability.
I posted on this price cut and the Times price rise earlier in the week on Village Counter Talk and will post again when we have some more sales history.
UK newspapers have been doing this for years – differential pricing in different parts of the country to try and drive sales. In particular the ‘English’ newspapers had a lower cover price in Scotland for years, where the market is extremely competitive. I’m not sure if it helps either newsagent or newspaper profitability but it does drive sales figures up for a while, although they usually drop off again when the price goes back up. Roy Greenslade’s blog has a lot more commentary on this.