WTP consumer's key factors for local and regional newspaper print subscription plans

•Three studies were conducted to determine the WTP key factor of consumers.•People bought newspaper as a routine and were not willing to consider changes in it.•Factors influence consumer’s WTP: Reason to buy, Loyalty and behavioral actions.•Reason to buy and loyalty had a fundamental impact on consumer decision-making.•Scarcity plus brand loyalty can drive people to buy a newspaper through subscription.

This paper examines what predictors of consumer's willingness to pay (WTP) are relevant for local and regional newspaper subscription plan in developing countries. Three studies were conducted to determine the WTP key factor of consumers. The first study revealed people bought newspaper as a routine and they were not willing to consider other distribution alternatives. Additionally, as customers considered that the cover price paid for a single newspaper was insignificant they had no reason to accept discounts in subscription offers. The second study evidenced that three factors would influence consumer's WTP when it comes to newspaper subscription plan: Reason to buy (discount price and expectations), Loyalty (brand, place, and vendor) and behavioral actions (buying and reading habits, good quality of printing, and others products involved). The third study revealed that two of three studied components, reason to buy and loyalty had a fundamental impact on consumer decision-making. The final studied component, behavioral actions had lower prevalence. The practical implications of these findings were discussed.