From Monday the price of the weekday Times will rise by 10p to 80p, matching the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and the Independent for the first time since the price wars that began in 1993, when Rupert Murdoch dropped its price from 45p to 30p and sent circulation soaring.
We were at News when The Times dropped its price and we played a big part in the price war. It was alot of fun and for a time price was an effective circulation builder. But its a war that should have ceased long ago. The battle now very sensibly transfers from cover price discounting to subscription discounting. A much more intelligent battle and one of course the Telegraph has a real advantage in.
Should be interesting.
Lets hope that the marketing guys wake up to the real opportunity to reward purchase loyalty not just with price discounting but with added value benefits as well. The case (as blogged here before) for loyalty programmes is growing stronger and stronger.
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