2. What is the Big Issue ‘mission’?
■ To dismantle poverty by creating opportunity, through self-help, social trading and
business solutions.
■ The Big Issue magazine launched in 1991 in response to the growing number of rough
sleepers on the streets of London, by offering people the opportunity to earn a
legitimate income through selling a magazine to the public.Twenty-five years on, our
vendors come from a variety of backgrounds and face the myriad of problems
associated with poverty and inequality.
3. Selling strategies
■ Vendors buyThe Big Issue magazine for £1.25 and sell it for £2.50, meaning each seller is a
micro-entrepreneur who is working, not begging.Therefore it is vitally important that
buyers take their copy of the magazine when they pay for it.
■ In 2016,The Big Issue sold its 200 millionth copy, celebrated its 25th anniversary and
launchedThe Big Issue Shop, a fully customised online platform committed to selling
products with a social echo.
■ 92,000 people have soldThe Big Issue
■ In the past 25 years vendors have earned £115 million
■ 3700 new vendors walk through our doors every year
■ Read from over 400,000 people across the UK and circulates 83,073 copies per week.
4. When were they established?
■ Founded in 1991 by John Bird and Gordon Roddick as a response to the increasing
numbers of homeless people in London.
■ The Body Shop provided start-up capital to the equivalent value of $50,000
5. Who owns ‘The Big Issue’?
■ The creators are John Bird and Gordon Roddick but they do a lot of social investments
to allow it to benefit everyone
■ They are the UK’s first ‘Social Merchant Bank,’ by social entrepreneurs, for social
entrepreneurs. Big Issue Invest currently manages or advises on £150 million of social
funds.
■ Big Issue Invest offers social enterprises, charities and profit-with- purpose businesses,
loans and investment from £20,000 to £3 million. Since 2005, we have invested in
approximately 300 social enterprises and charities, all of which have positively
influenced the lives of an estimated 1 million people across the UK.
6. What do they own
■ Unlike Bauer Media
Group,The Big Issue sell
print magazines to allow
homeless people to gain
money and help with
experience, although
they do share
advertisements and
competitions online as
well as awareness to
several different social
issues.
7. How do they distribute?
■ The magazines are distributed on the street to help those who need it gain money.
■ You can be a vendor if you are:
– Homeless or rough sleeping
– In temporary accommodation
– In danger of losing a home
– Unemployed and facing financial crisis
Once you become a Big Issue vendor you buy the magazines at £1.25 and sell to
your customers at £2.50, keeping the difference to spend, as you like.
Also links vendors to vital support and services with access to support around
issues of housing, health and training
8. What notable magazines do they
produce?
■ Unlike Bauer Media Group, who have specific magazines to tailor the audience
interest,The Big Issue is more generalized as its main purpose is to help those who
need it.
■ An example of the magazine is on the next slide…. ‘listen to my voice’.
■ It was launched in 1991in response to the number of rough sleepers on the streets of
London, by offering people the opportunity to earn a legitimate income through
selling a magazine to the public.
10. How are they addressing the downturn
in magazine sales?
■ They include other ways of spreading
the word of the Big Issue:
■ For example, there are competitions for
people to win specific prizes.
■ There is also ‘The Big Issue Shop’
11. How do they target advertisers?
■ The Big Issue is a weekly news and
entertainment magazine with a
unique distribution method which
ensures every copy of the magazine
is 100% paid for at 100% of the cover
price.
– They target advertisers with the
promise of assistance in areas
they may not feel comfortable in
