I was in Debenhams last week. For those people who know me, they know this is a rare occurrence as I would rather be poked in the eye with sharp needles than go shopping for clothes. But never the less there I was surrounded by a bewildering amount of offers and clothes. I knew I needed a skirt, so rather than wade through all the rails, I asked an assistant to help me.  She found a couple of skirts which I liked but seemed a bit on the pricey side;

“You can get a discount off the skirt with the tokens from the Daily Mail”she said

“Great, where can I get a copy of the Daily Mail?” I said

“Not sure” she said

“Are there any places nearby where I could get a copy” I asked

“No I don’t think there are” she said

“Why doesn’t Debenhams give away the papers to selected customers in the store who want to buy but haven’t seen the offer in the Daily Mail or just have some newspapers customers can buy so they can get the token?” I asked

“I don’t know” she said.

So I gave up, I didn’t bother buying the skirts and went home.

I know that the assistant probably wasn’t involved in the marketing offer set up with the Daily Mail, but for people who wanted to make a purchase but didn’t have the newspaper on them, it might have been a good idea to at least have copies of the newspaper available free or not. They might have sold a great many more clothes from casual shoppers like me who didn’t know anything about the offer, but might have spent a few pence on a newspaper to get 20% off my skirts.

So when you are thinking about your next offer, make sure that it is all joined up and you can maximise the benefits as much as possible