Pilot test: Swiss Post delivers newspapers à la carte
The Post is testing a new business model: It delivers a customized newspaper to customers’ homes by mail or email. According to the Post, the goal is to offer publishers a complementary distribution channel. About 20 newspapers are participating in the pilot project.
Swiss Post is testing a new business model with "Personal News": the personalized newspaper that is sent to subscribers either by post or by e-mail. Around 300 people from Zurich are currently taking part in the test, which will run until the end of February. Swiss Post will then decide whether the service should be offered throughout Switzerland. The decision date is still open.
The basic idea is simple: readers can put together their own newspaper from the individual parts of newspapers - sections or bundles - using an online tool. "The service is intended to offer publishers a supplement for distribution," said Swiss Post spokesman Mariano Masserini to the Tages-Anzeiger. Swiss Post does not want to compete with them. Around 20 domestic and foreign newspapers are available for the test and are willing to take part in the trial.
There are currently four Swiss newspapers to choose from: the Tages-Anzeiger, Freiburger Nachrichten, Südostschweiz and Zofinger Tagblatt. Other newspapers from Germany, Austria, Spain and the USA complete the range. As Masserini said, the price of a subscription would be higher than that of a daily newspaper. The reason for this is the printing costs, as the paper version is printed in A3 format.
Similar test series are underway abroad, and the idea is not new. Its realization was made possible by software that is now available and controls the entire production of "Personal News" at low cost. The flexible newspaper subscription also comes at a time when many paid newspapers are struggling with falling readership figures. Perhaps the new model can provide a remedy.
The basic idea is simple: readers can put together their own newspaper from the individual parts of newspapers - sections or bundles - using an online tool. "The service is intended to offer publishers a supplement for distribution," said Swiss Post spokesman Mariano Masserini to the Tages-Anzeiger. Swiss Post does not want to compete with them. Around 20 domestic and foreign newspapers are available for the test and are willing to take part in the trial.
There are currently four Swiss newspapers to choose from: the Tages-Anzeiger, Freiburger Nachrichten, Südostschweiz and Zofinger Tagblatt. Other newspapers from Germany, Austria, Spain and the USA complete the range. As Masserini said, the price of a subscription would be higher than that of a daily newspaper. The reason for this is the printing costs, as the paper version is printed in A3 format.
Similar test series are underway abroad, and the idea is not new. Its realization was made possible by software that is now available and controls the entire production of "Personal News" at low cost. The flexible newspaper subscription also comes at a time when many paid newspapers are struggling with falling readership figures. Perhaps the new model can provide a remedy.
