Asda and Tesco have opened up a new offensive in the battle for
market share by carrying the fight into the magazine arena.
Asda has announced it is to slash 15% from the price of all magazines in
its stores from next week.
The move comes just a few days after Tesco said it was taking 20% off
the cover prices of all women’s weekly titles for a month.
Both supermarket chains claimed they are operating different agendas and
denied that they were locked in a battle over market share.
Tesco, which is the biggest magazine retailer, said it had made the move
in order to highlight its growing concern over the inflexible and
archaic distribution systems operated by publishers.
However, David Green, circulation director at IPC Magazines, said: ’The
distribution question is a side issue, they are fighting among
themselves for share.
’Tesco would not have thought about the distribution issue if Asda had
not done the same thing as them. We have done quite a lot with Tesco in
the past; they are muddying the waters.’
Another publishing source suggested: ’This is part of a wider game-plan
by these two supermarket chains.’
Asda and Safeway drop merger, page 4.
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