Australia is not the only place where magazine publishers challenge retailers with gifts with purchase. The photo shows a plastic bottle with a drink of some sort bagged with what looks like a food title – in a Hong Kong convenience store. There is no easy way to display it.
Magazine publishers tell me that gifts work. I’d believe this for the gifts we see repeated as there is no point in them repeating something that is not working. I am not sure sure about bags with fashion titles though – I think customers are over those – and scarves and cheap jewellery we often see with teen magazines.
The best gift I have seen in-store this year is the Christmas tin with Better Homes and Gardens. It helped us achieve a sell out.
I am all for gifts as long as we can display them professionally with the accompanying magazine and as long as they deliver better than average sales.