When Prince William and Kate Middleton announced their engagement last year, it was immediately obvious that their wedding day would create an excellent opportunity for independent retailers to capitalise on.
In the months leading up to 29 April, Royal wedding-related products entered the market in their droves – and the general public snapped them up.
One area the wedding has clearly had an impact on is the newstrade. People anxious to find out as much as they could about the wedding in the days immediately following it, helped mid-market titles the Sunday Express, Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail achieve significant month-on-month circulation increases of 13%, 3.6% and 3.3% respectively.
Meanwhile, the magazine market has benefited even more. One London retailer told me he’d sold 150 copies of Hello!’s special issue on 1 May in just half an hour. Other retailers throughout the country may not have experienced demand on the same scale, but it’s likely they sold far more copies of Hello! and other Royal wedding specials than usual.
And the increased magazine sales are set to continue, with more one-shots and specials still to come. It looks like Royal wedding fever isn’t over yet.
Full ABC figures for April 2011
compiled for Retail Newsagent’s 20th May edition
| Core sales* | Monthly change (%) | Yearly change (%) | Estimated retail margin (£)** | Total sales*** | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL | 9,031,593 | 0.2 | -4.4 | 1,184.11 | 9854046 |
| Daily Express | 605120 | 2.0 | -4.9 | 70.02 | 635576 |
| Daily Mail | 1885453 | 3.3 | -0.9 | 243.91 | 2100300 |
| Daily Mirror | 1138311 | 1.4 | -5.3 | 130.45 | 1172785 |
| Daily Record | 298081 | -0.6 | -5.9 | 37.36 | 312566 |
| Daily Star | 676449 | -1.9 | -16.3 | 54.57 | 692157 |
| Daily Telegraph | 615535 | 1.8 | -4.1 | 163.83 | 639578 |
| Financial Times | 73152 | -6.5 | -9.2 | 33.71 | 372076 |
| Guardian | 246700 | 1.1 | -7.8 | 69.83 | 263907 |
| Herald | 49764 | -1.7 | -9.4 | 10.99 | 49764 |
| i | 153381 | -6.3 | 6.39 | 161151 | |
| Independent | 83264 | -1.5 | -19.1 | 20.64 | 180743 |
| Scotsman | 37081 | -2.7 | -10.2 | 8.42 | 40524 |
| The Sun | 2739410 | -1.8 | -6.2 | 219.15 | 2783110 |
| Times | 429892 | 0.8 | -9.9 | 114.82 | 449809 |
Full ABC figures for April 2011
compiled for Retail Newsagent’s 20th May edition
| Core sales* | Monthly change (%) | Yearly change (%) | Estimated retail margin (£)** | Total sales*** | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL | 9263319 | 1.20 | -6.60 | 2,784.26 | 9781693 |
| Daily Star Sun. | 297413 | 3.90 | -11.70 | 62.43 | 309237 |
| Ind. on Sunday | 73805 | 1.40 | -14.10 | 33.21 | 154227 |
| Mail on Sunday | 1730604 | 3.60 | -3.30 | 545.14 | 1944724 |
| News of World | 2558479 | -2.60 | -10.60 | 559.8 | 2606397 |
| Observer | 287834 | 2.90% | -7.30 | 143.92 | 302975 |
| People | 464287 | 0.50 | -9.40 | 101.59 | 480196 |
| Scotland on Sun. | 50623 | -7.10 | -8.10 | 21.51 | 50626 |
| Sun. Telegraph | 493778 | 5.80 | 1.90 | 213.46 | 509557 |
| Sunday Express | 569663 | 13.00 | 5.00 | 162.92 | 601666 |
| Sunday Herald | 29578 | -5.00 | -30.20 | 9.04 | 29578 |
| Sunday Mail | 350785 | -0.70 | -8.80 | 108.04 | 366674 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1069415 | 3.10 | -2.30 | 236.23 | 1097434 |
| Sunday Post | 310014 | -0.60 | -7.10 | 81.84 | 310187 |
| Sunday Times | 977041 | -1.40 | -10.30 | 505.13 | 1018215 |
* Core sales are newstrade sales and pre-paid subscriptions in the UK & Ireland.
** ERM is the total income to retailers for one day’s sales, calculated using margin statistics.
*** Total sales includes foreign and bulk sales.
