At a Periodical Publishers Association meeting former PPA chairman Keith Jones called on Royal Mail to work with the magazine industry as a "real partnership" following a speech by Lorna Clarkson, Royal Mail's director of commercial policy and pricing.
PPA chief executive Ian Locks said that while the magazine industry understood Royal Mail's need to change, the industry did not like and was not equipped to deal with surprises.
Clarkson spoke to 25 publishers and printers about the company's future pricing strategy, which comprise a product portfolio putting customer needs at its centre.
She also explained the need for more cost-effective, size-based pricing and revealed that size and format would play a part in any new product strategy.
Clarkson said there needed to be "a legacy of pricing being delivered from customer needs to the universal supply obligation and not from a cost basis".
Clarkson added that the Royal Mail was aiming to provide products for core customer applications grouped around advertising, business, social and financial applications.
Royal Mail's new system will be implemented in April 2006.
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