I think it's great that the offer is taking place on Children's, they really do value the opportunity to buy an armful of books and unlike adults never, in my experience, struggle to find the third title.

Thanks JD - it's a good move and one we all welcome. Lets hope we can see some recovery in sales now.

In fairness they always said that the 3 for 2 could, and would, return for special fixed term promotions, or offers on a certain type of book(The Oxford 'Very Short Introductions' series was an example). Indeed 3 for 2 stickers were supplied to all stores at the same time as the 25% and 33% stickers came in last year. Also all stores now have the option of stickering titles with a price point sticker as opposed to a % one. Stickers are creme with black writing and include price points such as £4.99, £5.49, £5.99 and so on... Also, all shops had ready reckoners supplied to keep at the till, or in staff pockets so 33% and 25% should never have needed a calculator.

Er, does no one else thing that the need for a ready reckoner suggests that the pricing system is a bit stupid?

And if the new system is working out fine then why are Waterstone's selling fewer paperbacks than they have for decades?

Oh sorry, I didn't realise volume was the one and only measure of success for bricks and mortar booksellers. Rather than range and quality of print supplied and sold (hint hint), or overall profitability, or even general sales. 3for2 works great when targeted at specifics (like this promotion), but high volume doesn't mean high value, as we've seen over the last few years with declining profits and sales from the same promotions.

We're changing, and it's a little too early to tell, but it seems to be for the better for most. The true question is, frustrated publisher, why aren't you changing?

The new pricing has had no effect on my sales at all (I'm £38 down on last year) as for stickering on the back, that's entirly the managers choice. it's not about shifting huge volumes of books for a cheap as possible, it's about turning a profit, less books for more money. It's not rocket science.
The ready reckoner was available on the intranet - it was to help staff, and customers away from the till point.

I like the fact we don't throw everything in an offer, we can be selective and take money off good titles, that the staff believe in, not just the usual dross that gets turned out. It's the booksellers passion that sells books, not stickers.

I'm sick of hearing "I asked about (insert name of well known book) and they didn't know who the author was", nobody can know everything and anyone can have a blank moment, maybe that member of staff was a whizz with science fiction or kids or business and would think your lack of knowledge there was a disgrace....although most likely they wouldn't be so snobbish and patronising.

@AM I think what "Truth" is trying to say is that the manager of a bookshop didn't know William Shakespeare wrote it. We wonder why knowledgable booksellers don't have promotion or give up!

Its come to this . A note about a pretty basic offer and it brings out all the Waterstones moaners with lots of comments . A blog about the future of Libraries or VAT on Digital content , 1 or maybe 2 comments .
I guess this is because 98% of retail booksellers are now Waterstones or Ex Waterstones people meaning that every pedestrian story is headline news with miles of thread.
Times have changed from the days of "Dillons discounts Booker" or even "Cheap Sex at Dillons". God its boring now .

All stores can now choose to use the larger creme, price pointed stickers. No one has to use those % stickers anymore, unless they choose to.