100 leading retailers from both the multiple and independent sectors gathered at News UK on Friday October 5th for the Retail Summit: News Matters, a major industry event hosted by News Retail.

Senior executives from multiple retailers including Waitrose, WHSmiths, and Co-op mingled with a range of leading Symbol and Independent retailers and colleagues from the National Federation of Retail Newsagents.

Introduced by News UK Chief Operating Officer David Dinsmore, the Summit focused on the continued retail power of the newsbrands category (worth £1.8bn in sales last year1). It also brought together a range of speakers in an agenda which shone a spotlight on the innovative ways retailers can utilise the loyalty of newspaper consumers, and deliver more revenue in-store.

News UK Director of Retail Sales Neil Spencer says: “Our message to retailers is clear: our readers are your shoppers. Over 5.3 million transactions everyday include a newspaper2 - and newspaper shoppers are big spenders, generating an average weekly convenience spend of £223. We know that 75% of newspaper buyers purchase at least one other item when they buy their paper4, and when retailers place newspapers strategically, they can see growth in adjacent products by an average of 17%5.”

The News Retail team identified a raft of reasons why news is still a big deal for retailers:

• 61% of consumers trust traditional newsbrands - the highest trust levels since 20126

• 14.1m people read a print newspaper every single day7, and 900k of these are subscribers8

• 83% of newspaper shoppers would walk away from a shop that didn’t stock their favourite title, 48% of would buy elsewhere9

The News Matters summit saw speakers including The Times Retail Editor Deirdre Hipwell, The Sun Consumer Editor Dan Jones, Spar (UK) MD Debbie Robinson, as well as experts from retail consultancies including Bolt Learning, Foresight Factory and Localistico.

The News Retail team underlined News UK’s investment in continued marketing innovation, unveiling newly designed and highly ergonomic counter units and display fixtures - including shop front digital displays - which they’re currently trialling with retailers to maximise the opportunities at the point of purchase.

In addition, by working with News UK, advertisers can benefit from access to News UK’s retail assets to promote their brands and products in 12,000 stores via their React proposition. React (retail activation) is an exclusive way for News UK advertisers to bring their above-the-line campaigns to life in-store.

At the event News UK launched a competition for one lucky retailer to win a fully installed, brand new, state-of-the-art counter unit - maximising facings at point of sale, with space designed to display food-to-go offerings alongside newspapers and magazines. The competition couldn’t be easier to enter: simply send an email to growsales@news.co.uk explaining why your store should be considered, then News Retail will be in touch to arrange a visit to your store and you could be the lucky winner!

Neil says: “We want progressive retailers to work with us in order to realise the true potential of News; and our expert sales teams are at your disposal. Display newsbrands prominently in prime positions, and we’ll enhance that visibility through a range of display solutions. And finally, get behind our in-paper offers and solutions - and we’ll boost your marketing with attention-grabbing POS material. News UK partner stores outperform the market. Let us work with you to maximise the newsbrand opportunity.”

Our commitment to supporting retailers was brought to life in Friday’s edition of The Sun with a special feature celebrating the impact that Independent retailers across the UK have on their local communities. The six retailers interviewed were all short-listed for ‘Community Retailer of the Year’ at the Independent Achievers Academy Awards.