UK publishers to reach German market via Swiss Post International
Small and medium-sized publishers in the UK are set to gain a new gateway into the German market through Swiss Post International from January 1. The company is launching a nationwide press distribution service that will provide local distribution to German wholesalers, subscribers and to bookshops located within railways stations and airports.
As well as being the largest readers’ market in Europe, Germany is home to around 97,000 UK citizens and on average 2m UK visitors each year.
It means a new income stream for UK publishers in an “interesting and relatively untapped” market, according to Swiss Post International (SPI), the international business mail and parcels division of Swiss Post.
The new services will be individually tailored for each publisher, so that for example a financial publisher could target news kiosks in Frankfurt, while fashion publications could have a stronger presence in Berlin.
Carsten Vossmeyer, SPI’s head of industry press/publishing, said: “We manage each title separately, in order to achieve the best result in the readers’ market and minimise the number of surplus and returned copies.”
Support
SPI’s Carsten Vossmeyer says today’s publishers often do not have the resources to handle sales and logistics themselves
Publishers can submit titles in print or electronically to SPI, which then manages a full spectrum of nationwide sales, processing and distribution, including marketing support.
Vossmeyer said: “In addition to making UK newspapers and magazines available in Germany, we will process payments on behalf of publishers and support them with their marketing. For example, we will develop retailer competitions together with wholesalers, and organise special presentations and promotions for railway station bookshops.”
“Many publishers today no longer have the necessary resources to handle sales and logistics themselves. We ensure comprehensive marketing of publications from ramp to reader,” he added.
