Independent retailers have condemned newspaper distributor Reach for using the festive period to try to sneak through cover price rises on its national, daily and weekly newspapers accompanied by a widespread cut in terms.
From 4 January, cover prices will rise on all of Reach’s national titles - the Mirror, the Express, the Star, the Daily Record and Sunday Mail in Scotland. There will also be price rises for its stable of daily titles which include the Manchester Evening News, Hull Daily Mail, Newcastle Chronicle, South Wales Echo and the Birmingham Mail – as well as for its weekly titles.
Mo Razzaq, the National President of the Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) said: “Such penny pinching at a time usually associated with giving is despicable. Where is the Christmas and New Year cheer? Reach has decided to play Scrooge by taking money from the Tiny Tims of the industry who need pro rata terms to stay still.
“Such actions are bang out of order. Reach and its shareholders need to understand that with their declining sales, their titles are no longer the cash cows they used to be. What’s more, news retailers are struggling. Many will be unable to survive if publishers like Reach continue to accompany cover price rises with cuts to our terms. This must stop. Such actions are destroying the news industry.”
Razzaq added that the Fed would be seeking a meeting with Reach CEO Jim Mullen and would be writing to shareholders to express members’ fury. Concluding, He stressed that the Fed needs urgent talks because those at the top at Reach need to be aware some members will be re-merchandising their shelves to put its titles at the bottom, while others have said they will delist them completely.
Reach, when approached for comment by Convenience Store, said that margins for stores will remain the same and that all retailers have been written to about the changes.
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