The Asda £1 Bestseller Returns

Yesterday we visited our local Asda Supermarket, (WalMart) here in London and were immediately greeted by the £1 bestseller paperback stand. This is the same £1 promotion we wrote about last year.

It is after all January and sales time, so it must be ok and they do it every year, so let’s not rock the boat. It is somewhat ironic the display was sited in the same spot occupied by the Kobo ereaders before Christmas! A case of, out with the new and in with the old.

It’s especially sad to see many of the same authors with £1 stickers on their jackets and Peter James with several titles on offer when he was also subject only last year to the ludicrous 20p ebook promotions.

Only this week we have highlighted what we believe is the cynical £1 children’s book promotion being run by the child friendly McDonalds. Irrespective of the health issue, 15 million books at a £1 a pop must have an impact on consumer price and book value perception.

Now we read in DBW about the downward trend in book prices. Jeremy Greenfield has been tracking the prices of the top bestsellers and his findings tell us what we already know – prices are dropping. He ends with the line, ‘it’s hard to predict that ebook prices will rise again any time soon.’

There is no silver bullet on discounting and even if one did appear the value and price perception is that they are cheap. In fact they now compete, often poorly, with greeting cards!