Newsagents are set to benefit as publishers begin a new push for home news delivery (HND) sign-ups and a major investment on improving DeliverMyNewspaper.

Nearly every major newsbrand devoted cover space to highlighting six weeks’ free delivery offers available via joint publisher initiative DeliverMyNewspaper.

Many also supplemented the push with their own promotions.

The Daily Mail is offering a £30 delivery voucher payable to home news deliverers plus a 50% cover price cut for 13 weeks. The publisher’s other major paid print brand, the i, is offering a £15 delivery voucher and 30% off the cover price. Telegraph annual subscribers can now receive a free Fitbit.

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Describing the importance of newsagents working to build home delivery customers, News UK retail director Neil Spencer said: “HND and its guaranteed sale is an increasingly important service for publishers and retailers, and this latest lockdown has once again seen a spike in demand for the service.”

He added a new sevenday-per-week Times subscriber would add more than £1,000 in revenue to a store. “Older, more vulnerable people are going to have to stay indoors for longer and require longer services, so think about how you can identify them,” he added.

Publisher initiatives last year drove 300,000 new HND subscribers, meaning 1.2 million households now receive a paper at the doorstep every day.

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The expansion in the service is to be supported by the NFRN’s hub for HND advice – Store2Door – and planned changes to DeliverMyNewspaper.

Sources close to DeliverMyNewspaper told Better Retailing the site will be simplified to work on mobile devices, reduce delays by enabling customers to print their own vouchers, allow subscriptions to be taken out alongside the delivery sign-up process, and delivery of more local newspapers and potentially magazines as well.

Rather than just the standard six weeks’ free delivery offer, publishers will also be able to provide tailored offers to appeal more directly to each brand’s potential customers.

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Other changes to DeliverMyNewspaper allegedly being considered by publishers include a new retailer access area allowing stores to buy and sell rounds and request promotional material from publishers.

Publishers also intend to send delivery data through to wholesalers to help them prioritise delivery times for customers providing deliveries.

More controversially, DeliverMyNewspaper is allegedly planning to write to inactive retailers signed up to the service asking them to ‘opt in’ to remain part of the system, otherwise they would be removed.

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