Elephantitis

I was having a bit of a ‘value’ moment the other day. You know how it is – it’s getting towards the end of the month, the credit card’s on overload, the bills need to be paid and you very nearly, almost but not quite, start to zone in on those Carol Vorderman ‘consolidate your debts’ advertisements. You’ve already cancelled the weekly Beluga order and ‘prudence’ becomes the order of the day instead.

Well I happened upon a copy of Bonmarché magazine and my troubles were over. It’s a magazine for ladies of a certain age who prefer to stretch their retail therapy budgets as far as they can and I found myself in exactly that position. The relief was palpable I can tell you. And I’m not alone. It transpires that Bonmarché is incredibly well supported where customers purchase the magazine, for a very respectable 75p, across its 300 stores helping make Bonmarché the second largest retailer by volume in the UK.

Needless to say, this is another publication from the River Publishing stable and you simply know that there are going to be some business drivers working overtime behind the glossy covers. Bonmarché were keen to capture customer data from its magazine endeavours and River has ensured that almost 50% of readers return the annual reader questionnaire. Which is how they can say with authority that 70% of the magazine readers recommend the Bonmarché stores to their friends and over 50% of readers have bought a product advertised in the magazine. So I felt in pretty good company when I purchased my ‘Majestic Elephant’ gold bangle advertised in the magazine. Yes, I know it’s not typically my style, but then again, as I said to Serge only yesterday, if one elephant with a raised trunk is said to bring good luck, just imagine how fortunate a girl would be to have a whole parade of elephants wrapped around her wrist. The mind boggles. Certainly in 14 carat gold it does – and only £39.95 payable in interest-free monthly installments. My cup truly runneth over. How could I possibly resist?

Flushed with the success of my elephantitis, I immediately went out to celebrate with a crate of Bolly and a night at the Ivy. I was rather hoping for the interest-free option there too but, regrettably, the Maître d’ was less than accommodating. I suspect that the only real way to cost-effectively celebrate the value of customer magazines is to make River Publishing throw a party. I’ve heard they’re very good at that too.

More soon dahlinks...

Angelica