TNT Post wins contract for Emap magazine deliveries

by Ben Bold, Brand Republic 20-Aug-07, 13:15

LONDON - Royal Mail rival TNT Post has picked up a 12-month contract to deliver up to 6m items for Emap, the magazine publisher behind Heat, Closer, FHM, Grazia, Empire and Max Power.

The win is TNT Post's first in the magazine publishing sector and follows an eight-week trial. As part of the 12-month contract, which takes in consumer, B2B and trade titles, Emap will sign up to TNT Post's Premier service, a two-day service to pre-sort its mail. However, Royal Mail will remain responsible for the final sorting and delivery of magazines to customers' homes.

Ian Phillips, Emap's group circulation manager, said: "Subscription copies account for a significant proportion of our copy sales and so our postal partner is an integral part of the service we offer our subscribers.

"It's for this reason that TNT Post's offer on price and service will deliver significant benefits for Emap and its customers. We have also been impressed by the plans that TNT Post have in place for development and expansion of their services in the UK and look forward to taking advantage of these."

Nick Wells, TNT Post's chief executive, said: "We are delighted to have secured Emap as our first customer in the magazine publishing sector. This is a sector we are particularly keen to expand into and look forward to seeing other publishers take advantage of TNT Post's product, service and pricing."

TNT Post's clients include BT, Centrica, Sainsbury's, Next, JD Williams, Lloyds TSB, HBOS and Barclays.

Since the liberalisation of the UK postal market in January 2006, TNT has processed more than 60m letters a month. TNT Post was formerly known as TNT Mail and was established in 2003. It signed a downstream access agreement with Royal Mail in April 2004 and began operations in August of that year.