i signs deal to go on sale in Starbucks

The Independent’s cut-price sister titles i has partnered with Starbucks in a deal that will see the paper sold in 600 of the company’s coffee shops n the UK.

Starbucks will provide i to its customers from Monday to Saturday and will also sell The Independent on Sunday.

The company said the partnership with Starbucks will allow the paper to reach and build greater awareness amongst “busy 25-44 year-old professionals".

The latest August ABC figures show circulation of i was up 47.3 per cent year on year to 281,539, its largest circulation to date (largely helped by an increase in free bulk copies). Sales of sister title The Independent were down 54.7 per cent year on year to 81,804 and The Independent on Sunday fell 24.8 per cent to 123,696.

Andrew Mullins, managing director of i , The Independent and The London Evening Standard newspapers, said:

Starbucks is a perfect fit for i . Starbucks is a high quality iconic brand and an important fixture in the everyday life of busy modern urbanites. i was specifically designed to meet the needs of this audience.

The combination of quick break with a coffee and a catch up on the news perfectly fits with Starbucks concept of a third place between work and home. It also should help i reach many lapsed and infrequent newspaper buyers who now so rarely go into newsagents.

We are genuinely delighted to be in partnership with Starbucks and believe the relationship will evolve and become mutually beneficial.

Stefano Hatfield, executive editor of i, added:

August’s figures show that i’s audience has grown massively over the last 12 months, particularly impressive in the last month, which has seen the stunted and decreased growth of all other quality UK newspapers.

As i approaches its second anniversary, we continue to provide quality journalism to our readers in the concise and easy to read format they love, and look forward to welcoming new readers to i.

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