LONDON (Brand Republic) 鈥 Tesco could be ready to avert a legal battle with the magazine publishing industry if the industry offers a compromise to Tesco鈥檚 reform of the way magazines and newspapers are distributed in the UK.
Tesco has indicated it would be prepared to work towards a compromise whereby the wholesaler network would be improved.
Tesco and WH Smith have argued that the existing system, based on three large wholesalers each with exclusive control over certain geographical areas, was inefficient.
They proposed a new system which was due to go live in October. It would have made WH Smith the sole supplier of all 640 Tesco and 716 WH Smith stores nationwide. But its network of ancillary national distributors was said to endanger up to 12,000 newsagents.
Wholesalers reacted angrily, but talks between Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy and representatives of the Newspapers Publishers鈥 Association have been described as 鈥渃onstructive鈥.