Retailers have witnessed increased newsstand sales following the launch of the 
New Day, Britain’s first new newspaper title in 30 years.

The daily newspaper from Trinity Mirror, which was officially launched on Monday February 29, promises to be an ‘independent, positive newspaper’. It has been priced at 25p since its first free edition but will be increased to 50p after its first two weeks, from 14 March.

Lionel Cashin, owner of The News Shop in East Riding, Yorkshire, said: “It is a brave and bold move to launch a new newspaper title, but we fully support it and have helped to promote it with banners in the store.

“Early signs have been positive. Customers have been coming back and picking it up again, and readers say that they enjoy reading the newspaper. So far it has sold just as many copies as the i newspaper.

“It is difficult to predict the future of the newspaper, especially when it goes up to 50p and I wonder how that will affect sales, but for now we will continue to see how it goes.”

Jon Ellis, owner of Town Common News in Christchurch, Dorset, said he was “quite impressed” with early performance of the New Day, which had attracted new newspaper readers.

“It has performed above our expectation and has sold just as many copies as its main competitor the i newspaper. We have sold about 15 copies a day and customers say they like the layout and the quality of the paper that is glossier than a typical newspaper,” he said.

“I think people who buy a newspaper have a loyalty to that title and don’t often read another, so I believe a proportion of customers that buy the New Day are new newspaper readers. The big question is how sales will be affected by the price increase.”

But Ashley Newman of Trinity Stores, Dorchester, said: “It’s nowhere near as good as the i and will be more expensive - strange logic.”

Source

Simon Banks