A survey of 800 independent retailers within the M25 who receive The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times direct from News UK has revealed a high level of satisfaction for the service they receive.

The survey, conducted by GFM Services, found that nearly 80 per cent of respondents gave News UK a minimum rating of eight out of ten across all of its services including delivery and collection of its titles.

Following a drive by News UK to raise service levels by its call centre team, such as increasing call answering speeds, nearly 90 per cent agreed they can always get through to the call centre when they need to and over 90 per cent rated our written communications as good.

Supporting its independent retailers is a key priority for News UK and in November 2013 the Retail+ website was launched. The site is News UK’s major initiative to improve communications with and maximise sales for independent retailers who sell The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.

To reinforce this commitment to its customers, in 2014 over 8,300 newsagents across the UK and Ireland benefited from a free face lift provided by News UK. This included bright new in-store displays and shop fronts and striking new awnings featuring with the world-famous brands of The Sun or The Times.

News UK Chief Marketing officer, Chris Duncan said: We’re delighted with these results. We remain committed to print and to serving the retailers that help get Britain’s biggest news titles into customers hands every day. We continue to grow Retail+ and urge retailers wanting to maximise sales of News UK titles and boost their business to become a Retail+ partner.”

Paul Baxter, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN), said: The NFRN welcome these positive customer satisfaction results and the continual commitment News UK are making to the Independent sector and the printed word"