The introduction of price rises across all three of the Telegraph’s titles, and an accompanying cut in retailers’ terms has been deemed ‘unacceptable’ by newly elected President of the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed), Mo Razzaq.
Retailers have been advised that from today, the price of weekday editions of the Telegraph will rise to £3.50. Saturday editions will rise to £4.50 from Saturday June 29 and from June 30, the Sunday Telegraph will cost £3.50.
But the percentage margin that retailers receive for handling Telegraph titles has been frozen for six months. This will be followed in December by a one percent cut in the margin on weekday and Sunday editions and a 0.5 per cent cut on Saturday editions.
“Does the Telegraph want to kill the printed copy?” he raged. “I say this because every time a newspaper title increases its cover price, many readers decide to stop buying the paper, plain and simply because it costs too much, and they cannot see any added value to the product to justify such a move.”
He added that fewer customers coming into stores to buy the Telegraph would mean that spending on secondary products could dry up too, hitting retailers’ finances even further.
“In a marketplace where sales are declining, such action is totally unacceptable. How can the Telegraph consider it to be a partner of the Fed when no discussions have taken place? I honestly thought we had seen the last of these freezes and cuts to our percentage margin as they are already currently at an all-time low.”
He continued: “In my speech to members at this week’s Annual Conference, I urged them to remember our heritage and continue to support the printed word. In return, we expected greater support from publishers and wholesalers. With retailers facing challenging trading conditions and rising costs, the last thing we need is for the Telegraph to aid the closure of even more local newsagents’ shops.”
To justify its actions, the letter from the Telegraph said: “The annual payment cycle of subscriptions means any cover price rises we make do not immediately transfer to subscribers – it takes over 12 months to fully capture the price rise benefits. As subscriptions are The Telegraph’s leading source of newspaper sales, it is important that retail margins are aligned with the subscription renewal structure. For this reason, we will be maintaining the existing pence-per-copy margins for a period of six months.”
Razzaq countered: “While subscriptions account for nearly 70 per cent of the Telegraph’s sale, there are still many of its readers who prefer to purchase their newspaper in the traditional manner. It is incredibly unfair to expect their retailers to wait six months for the money that is, rightly, owed to them now.
“Such actions will no doubt lead to far fewer sales and only plays into the hands of other suppliers who are keen to gain custom and space for their products in stores and who want to work in true partnership with Fed members.”
