When new subscriptions to physical magazines hit skywards during the start of the pandemic, the first instinct of many publishers was to jump with joy. After all, the rise of online media over the previous decade had seen many much-loved titles fight for survival. But the Covid reading boom saw a rise in new customers for many magazines. It’s an ongoing success story: Future, the owner of Marie Claire and Metal Hammer, saw a 79% increase in revenues in the year to the end of September 2021. Another major publisher’s revenues reported being up five per cent year-on-year – up to 233 per cent.
Add to that the rise in popularity of independent, beautifully produced magazines – those as certain to be put on a shelf, once finished, as the latest Franzen hardback – and it looks like print’s resurgence is set to continue.
“The pandemic has forced people to reassess life a little,” agrees David Michael Bradford, Head of Marketing at Citipost Mail, a company established in 2006 with a view to streamlining mail operations, and which has subsequently helped thousands of customers and clients worldwide cut down on costs and delivery times since then. “Think about the resurgence of vinyl: people want to touch and feel their belongings, which is why they’re also coming back to books from Kindle. People have realised, during the pandemic, that we just can't stare at screens all day. The power of touch, of having something tangible in your hands, is immense.”
With increases in subscription, though, come increases in distribution logistics – and costs; packaging, fulfilment and delivery also rocket. There was a time when such costs were rigid: it wasn’t until 2004 that the Royal Mail lost its 350-year monopoly on the collection, sorting and delivery of UK mail.
Today, Royal Mail still retains a virtual monopoly over the final mile, but that doesn’t mean the start-to-finish time it takes to deliver, along with the costs, can’t be cut down drastically with some smart thinking from external parties.
Enter, stage left, Citipost Mail: a leading handler of catalogues, directories and other printed materials, which comes up with a tailor-made, money-saving distribution plan, devised around variables such as the geographical spread of delivery, weight of goods and the client’s own unique priorities.
Key to this, according to Bradford, is a bespoke approach: Citipost Mail allocates each client with a dedicated account manager, who effectively becomes an extension of their team, ready to work with any third parties who are involved, as well as becoming fully clued up on all the client’s data issues. “Mandy Farley, who heads up our Client Experience team, examines new clients in terms of their personality as a company, then assigns a dedicated account manager based on who she thinks is the most suitable and matches their brand characteristics,” says Bradford. “She even fills her team with different personality types in order to satisfy the needs of a wider spectrum of potential clients.”
While Royal Mail will still distribute packages to the final mile for the foreseeable future, Citipost Mail crunch all the logistical variables in order to hasten delivery times (this is crucial in magazines: there’s nothing worse, for dedicated subscribers, than glimpsing their favourite magazine on a newsagent shelf before they’ve had a chance to read it themselves), while also lowering overall costs.
“Our USP is our amazing knowledge of the industry, having as we do many magazine publishers as our closest peers,” says Bradford. “That enables us to recommend to clients the best way to put a package together. If something being a fraction lighter is going to save a client a large sum of money due to the sheer volume of a consignment, we’ll ensure they know about it.”
Indeed, Citipost Mail will advise on weight, paper thickness, which wraps will be the most cost-effective (and sustainable), and even deal with the often complex and fraught issue of discount-based QR codes and the likes.
Justin Masters, Production Director at Think Publishing, is enamoured with how much more streamlined Citipost Mail’s efforts make his logistical agenda. “When you look at the type of mailing we do, as a magazine publisher, on a regular basis, having a third party tell me exactly the most efficient way of packaging and posting it is invaluable,” he says. “It’s like getting a full analysis, a full audit, on how you’re going about getting the product out there.”
Over the past few months publishers have discovered another cost-saving benefit from using Citipost Mail. The supply chain crisis has triggered a paper shortage, affecting everything from wedding invitations to books (which are also in demand having risen in sales last year). Combined with an increase in the rise of wood pulp and a Brexit-related lack of lorry drivers, some British publishing firms are struggling to maintain the supplies they need. Yet, many have managed to offset these costs by saving money through the reduced postage costs that come with being a Citipost Mail client (discounts are also offered as postage credits too).
It all results in a positive effect on the bottom line: “My advice would always be for clients to involve us in their planning as early as possible. That way, we can advise on ways to reduce costs well in advance and before it’s too late in the production process to change things – it works well with Think and other publishing clients.”
Little wonder Citipost Mail’s client retention rate, similarly to its staff retention rate, is over 99 per cent.
Citipost Mail has had a long association with the publishing industry. Through our work with the PPA, we have a strong understanding of the challenges facing the industry – such as cost increases of nearly 10% year-on-year, decreasing revenues and subscriptions, and GDPR.
Find out more by contacting David Bradford:
DBradford@citipost.co.uk
07970 601 504
