NEWS & MAGS

Telegraph reruns late again

Reruns affecting the Telegraph again caused extremely late deliveries into wholesalers and independent retailers on the first weekend in October.

Stores in south-west and south-east England were the worst hit. Data seen by RN revealed 172 reruns took place, with almost 60,000 copies involved, affecting 3,280 retailers.

The news comes two weeks after the same title carried out 376 reruns, impacting 7,612 retailers.

At the time, chair of The Fed’s news committee, Muntazir Dipoti, called for reform in the supply chain “to improve its ability to react in real time, so retailers can be updated”.

Problems continued last weekend, with industry data showing Saturday's Telegraph only hit scheduled arrival times in 43% of wholesale depots.

Kelsey & Morton to Seymour

Magazine distributor Seymour is to distribute Kelsey Media and Mortons print titles after gaining the publishers from rival Marketforce this month.

Kelsey Media has more than 80 multimedia brands, including a roster of automotive and hobby titles such as Coast, Fast Car and Outdoor Fitness.

Bookazine expert Mortons’ range includes hobby, automotive and lifestyle magazines such as Fast Bikes, The Railway and Kitchen Garden.

Industry sources claimed rising cost pressures in print, distribution and energy are encouraging publishers to switch distributors.

EXCLUSIVE

Publishers fail to win back space in Aldi stores

by Jack Courtez

jack.courtez@newtrade.co.uk

News publisher efforts to secure listings in nearly 1,000 Aldi sites in the UK were dashed last week when the discounter ended its in-store newspaper trials.

An Aldi spokesperson confirmed print titles had been removed from sale on 3 October. They told RN: “A short-term trial selling newspapers and magazines at a small number of our stores has come to an end.”

Selected Aldi sites began selling a limited range of six national newspapers in early 2021 in a trial spearheaded by the Daily Mail.

The trial came around 18 months after Aldi removed newspapers and magazines from its stores due to an alleged dispute with magazine merchandiser Fore.

One industry source claimed Aldi’s trial was being “watched closely” by rival supermarkets, with the end decision not to proceed with a rollout putting more pressure on the newspaper and magazine categories in other major grocers.

Another industry source told RN: “When you consider the value of the newspaper category in Aldi’s rival Lidl, you can see why Aldi’s decision is a major upset for publishers, especially as, when the trial started, they thought a wider rollout was in the bag.”

Although publishers had claimed 40 Aldi stores were involved, RN understands the final number stood at 20 sites spread mostly between Greater London, the south-east and East Midlands.

When the trial began, The Fed and independent retailers near to participating Aldi stores expressed concerns over the impact on local shop sales, while those higher up the supply chain claimed it was good news “for everyone who benefits from greater volumes in the supply chain”.

A newsagent less than a three-minute walk to one of the trial Aldi stores confirmed they had seen a slight uplift in sales early last week. “On Monday and Tuesday, we had nextto-no returns on the day’s papers,” they said.

The decision by Aldi to axe the category comes as grocery retailers look to streamline operations and cut costs to pass on savings to consumers.

Towns with Aldi stores that News UK claimed were selling newspapers before last week were Alfreton, Alton, Anerley, Belper, Bingham, Boston, Brighton, Charlton, Clay Cross, Coulsdon, Dover, Ewell, Fareham, Gosport, Grantham, Gravesend, Heanor, Hucknall, Ilkeston, Kidbrooke, Kingston upon Thames, Kirkby-inAshfield, Lewes, Lincoln, Mansfield, New Malden, Newark, Portsmouth, Sevenoaks, Skegness, Sleaford, Sutton-inAshfield, Thamesmead and Tooting.

The Fed and News Team join forces

Home news delivery (HND) company News Team Group and The Fed have agreed to work together to tackle some of the biggest issues facing newspaper delivery agents.

Discussing a meeting between the two parties last week, The Fed’s head of news, Brian Murphy, said areas of collaboration would include “helping our members that do want to exit the home news delivery market to do so, our pro-print strategy of promoting the value of newspapers and magazines to consumers and also a mutual support for sub-retailing”.

The dialogue was part of a The Fed meeting that also included Mail Newspapers, PaperRound and Papers Direct. Murphy said the meeting recognised “changing consumer shopping habits and their expectations”. He added proposals to improve home news delivery were put forward by publishers in attendance.

News Team Group operations director Paul Goddard said: “We’re looking forward to working with The Fed to support and promote home news delivery. With the vast industry knowledge that News Team Group has within its ranks, I expect this to be a long and successful relationship.”

The meeting follows Mail Newspapers’ withdrawal from DeliverMyNewspaper to focus on its standalone HND service launched in August.