Economist reports success with mobile phone magazine sales

Dominic Ponsford of the Press Gazette writes how The Economist has had success in selling single copies of the magazine via a mobile phone application.

Ponsford writes, “In the annual report of parent company Economist Group, its UK managing director Nigel Ludlow outlined how interest in the new sales system had grown since it was launched.

“He said: ‘We started an innovative way for readers in the UK to buy their copy of The Economist. Readers can elect to receive a text message on their mobile telephone summarising the main stories from the issue about to go to press.

“‘Readers can choose to buy that issue by replying, triggering a charge to their credit card. The copy is then delivered overnight. Interest in the service has grown significantly since launch.’

“The annual report also revealed that while print sales of the magazine increased in the UK by 1.2 per cent year on year to 189,201 in the second half of 2009, print advertising was down 16 per cent over the same period.”

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