Understanding Cashback on books

According to a recent survey spanning more than 48 countries and researching more than 26,000 internet users, the most popular product bought on line is the humble book. Over the last three months, shoppers have bought more books than any other item and the UK falls into tenth place in order of which country buys the most books on-line. (Beaten, incidentally, by the likes of South Korea, Germany, and Austria in first, second and third place!)

Online book marketing
With information like this being made available to us, it comes as no surprise that retailers would want to cash in on the most popular product, which works out well for the consumer as retailers are forced into competition to produce the most competitive prices and deals. In order to reach the widest available audience, it makes sense for retailers to cash in on internet-marketing, partly because consumers are more likely to pay for a smaller delivery fee than hit the high street crowds making it cheaper in terms of labour required, but also because administration and online advertising costs tend to be much lower as well.

But with so much choice available to the consumer, not just in terms of genre and author, but also in the wide variety of retailers that claim to offer the best deals on books; it would be easy to get overwhelmed and confused with where to begin. For those that have the time and prefer to browse on line in the comfort of their own homes, perhaps taking a few moments to read one of the many on-line reviews of a new author or research the best-seller list, there are a number of websites that can help to direct the consumer towards the best value-for-money offers on the book of their choice.

Price comparison websites are ideal for book searches, especially where the title or author are known as these make easy key word searches and therefore quicken the process of an on-line search. These sites work on commission from the retailers selling the books and pay either a flat rate (lump sum), or a proportion of the total spend of the customer introduced to them via the comparison site. But even these comparison sites, it would seem, are becoming more and more common on the internet leaving the customer with the dilemma of more choice rather than a helping hand. Because the websites work on commission, they are less likely to vet the retailers who choose to advertise with them, which also mean that the customer can be exposed to those retailers who lack incentives for their demographic.

Books and cashback
Cashback websites are the next stage in the website evolution in that, like the price comparison sites, they also list the best value-for-money retailers, but the key difference is that they return a large proportion of their commission back to the customer; preferring a sense of ‘membership’ and loyalty from customers and therefore encouraging them to revisit. The sites are popular because of the incentives they offer, so retailers are more likely to find a deal that stands them in good stead alongside their competitors.

Although cashback sites offer a wide range of products from an even wider range of retailers (Cashback Club has links to over 1,200 retailers) members are guaranteed at least some return on their spend and the potential savings themselves can make a huge difference.

As customers spend money, they accumulate points or pounds which are reserved by the cashback website to be redeemed by the customer either at a particular time or after hitting a particular threshold of, say, £50 or £20. The cashback site will then return the cash to the customer either by cheque, through BACS or possibly even in discount or gift vouchers, which ever is preferably to the customer.

Books are of course just one of many products available at on-line discounts, and whilst the initial returns may be lower than other products, the percentage of savings speak for themselves, and remember that cash back websites don’t restrict to one retailer; the customer can build up their credit of a period of time and through a number of different retailers so even the smallest of contributions is considered a large benefit.

With a little bit of investigation, finding a bargain amongst the bargains is even possible. A search for the same paperback on three retailers advertised through the Cashback Club offered different results:

The book has a list price (standard UK price) of £11.99.

The first retailer, a well-known high street bookstore, offered the book at a price of £8.99 making a general saving of £3.60. But with 2.5% cash back available, the customer would make a total saving of £3.80.

The second retailer, a well-known stationery store, offered the book at a price of £5.99, making a general saving of £6.00 (50%), but also offered 4% cash back and free delivery. The total saving is £6.23, plus the cost of delivery.

The third retailer, a supermarket chain, offered the book at a price of £7.00, making a general saving of £4.99. The cash back offer was 1% making a total saving of £5, but there was also an offer of free delivery on orders over £15.00, a free E-Coupon and club-card points upon purchase.

The three examples offer different deals and are a good example of how shopping around can reveal a spectrum of competitive offers so the consumer will always find something that suits them subjectively, as long as they are prepared to consider the options.

A similar search on a box set of children’s’ books found offers reducing a high-street price of £78 to just £4.99 with £2.99 postage and packaging (giving a total of £7.98), but offered double the normal incentive with £8.00 cash back if the purchase was made through the website. Surely offers don’t get much better than that!

Like some other cash back websites, Cashback Club welcomes new customers and even rewards them with a £5 cash back bonus, and a member can receive another £5 for every new customer they introduce who makes a cash back purchase. The incentives are undoubtedly strong.

Filed under: Cashback Guides