News wholesalers have confirmed that recent printing changes by News UK and Daily Mail Group led to earlier arrival times at most depots last week. Better Retailing’s sister title, RN, previously revealed that both publishers were to get papers out of print­ers earlier from 8 April, as part of their plans to merge their print sites and distribution. The publishers had promised this would lead to earlier arrivals into most whole­sale depots.

The merging of print operations and distribu­tion by both publishers is understood to be taking place gradually, though no details have been com­municated to retailers. On the first day of the changes, analysis by Better Retailing showed a large propor­tion of depots received supplies from the firms at least 45 minutes ahead of their cut-off times.

One senior industry source with an in-depth knowledge of wholesale operations told Better Retailing: “It couldn’t have gone better, considering the scale of what’s happened – it’s the smoothest change in many years. There’s been a considerable improve­ment in times into whole­sale depots. It’s early days, so I understand why wholesalers have been cautious, but, ultimately, if there are reliable im­provements, wholesalers will have a choice: pass on some of the time savings to retailers, or convert the time savings into cost savings by consolidating rounds onto fewer vans with more drops.”

Earlier deliveries

Asked about the early results, a spokesperson for Smiths News told Better Retailing: “Since Monday, ap­proximately half of our locations have experi­enced earlier deliveries compared with last week.” Asked if they would be passing on the time savings to stores, they re­sponded: “It’s premature to determine the impacts, positive or negative, of the changes and there is still further change on 19 May to be implemented.”

Menzies was also posi­tive, with a spokesperson claiming: “Overall, the first week under the new arrangements has been positive, with our focus on working across the supply chain to prioritise retailer deliveries.”

Before the change, wholesalers were in­formed by the publishers that five depots would receive later deliveries, though these would still be ahead of cut-off time. When approached by Better Retailing, both wholesalers repeat­edly refused to name the depots, claiming there would be no impact on stores. However, sources claimed that the depots affected are Newmarket, Wednesbury, Lincoln, Carlisle and Newcastle.

Despite the positive impact overall, publisher delays still occurred on some titles over the first week of the changes, driven by a mix of produc­tion issues and late break­ing news. Late European football matches with potential extra time on 16 and 17 April were also described as potential “tests” for the changes.

Significant delays

For Scott Saunders, owner of Newsklip in Fakenham, Norfolk, the first two days of the changes were marked by significant delays. Speak­ing to Better Retailing, he called for publishers and wholesal­ers to share the details, dates and locations for the ongoing changes with retailers. He explained: “I thought that when I read that Daily Mail and News UK were merging print that it was taking place in June, and assumed that there would be consulta­tion with retailers as part of this process. These are changes that affect our businesses, and at the very least we deserve to know what’s happen­ing to the publishers’ forecasted arrival times at the depots we rely on. Publishers and wholesal­ers have a duty to share the full picture with retailers.”

Derek Cook, the Fed’s South West district presi­dent, agreed, telling Better Retailing: “In the south west, we know well what it’s like to have long journey times into depots and the chal­lenges this can cause – the smallest issues become amplified. Where there are changes, retailers de­serve to know so that they can plan accordingly.”

Asked about its com­munication with stores, a Menzies spokesperson said: “Menzies’ priority re­mains customer satisfac­tion and a quality delivery service for all. As always, if any of our customers have any concerns, we invite them to contact us via our dedicated cus­tomer service centre.”

Similarly, a Smiths News spokesperson responded: “Assuming publishers achieve the scheduled times, there shouldn’t be network-wide impacts that retail­ers would notice. Any initial transition issues are being addressed.”