Richard Desmond is considering extending his tabloid price war to his flagship Express titles.
Desmond, who stunned rivals by halving the price of the Daily Star, Saturday Star and Daily Star Sunday in October, said he is considering a major price cut of the Daily Express and Sunday Express.
He said the strategy, which has seen the Star titles forgo hundreds of thousands of pounds in cover price revenues, has resulted in double-digit sales rises, which he considers is worth the trade-off.
“Through our aggressive pricing policy, the Daily Star sales are up some 20% – a rise unprecedented in current times,” said Desmond. “The Daily Express may well adopt the same strategy in the new year.”
Sales have risen after the price-cutting, although early industry estimates were not to the order of 20%.
Rivals the Sun and Trinity Mirror, publisher of the Mirror titles and Sunday People, have pledged not to follow suit with such deep price cuts at their own titles. To date, this policy has paid off as they have not seen readers defecting to Desmond’s Star titles, which would suggest that the sales uplift has been from consumers buying multiple copies of tabloids.
“I have my own plans for the future of Northern & Shell,” Desmond said. “I have the resources to invest and the determination to expand and grow right across the group.”
