Scholastic Announces Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Retailer Coupon Program

Scholastic today announced that it has redefined its policy regarding Scholastic Book Fair's pre-selling of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In a letter to booksellers, Michael Jacobs, Scholastic's senior vice-president, trade, said the new Retailer Coupon Program is intended to drive Scholastic Book Fair customers who pre-order the Order of the Phoenix to participating retailers.

Under the new program, students who pre-order Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at Scholastic Book Fairs through the remaining school year, for the full retail price of $29.99, will receive a collectible baseball cap and an official certificate of purchase. Beginning June 21, the holder of the certificate may redeem it for a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at participating retailers.

Retailers will receive a $20 credit on their HarperCollins account for each certificate redeemed. In addition, participating retailers will receive 10 units of a collectible Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix baseball cap and their store name, address, and phone number will be posted on the Scholastic Web site at www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/harrypotter.

Those booksellers who spoke with BTW said that the new Potter policy is a fair compromise. "I think it's absolutely amazing. I was just pleasantly surprised [by Scholastic's decision]," said Diane Etherington, the owner of Children's Hour in Salt Lake City. "I think it's very nice that they would recognize independent booksellers. I think they're very nicely compromising and that's refreshing."

Said Dale Spector, co-owner of the Yellow Book Road in La Mesa, California, "We're grateful and delighted that Scholastic changed their book fair policy. We'd prefer it hadn't been sold through book fairs at all, because it will lead to confusion. But it's certainly better than it was. Given the alternative, it is a reasonable compromise."

Tony Russo, the owner of Russo's Books in Bakersfield, California, said that Scholastic's Retailer Coupon Program will now help his store, "rather than hinder us." He told BTW that "retailers are their best distributor of books. Now, at least, they're sending the customer to the store, where you can sell them other merchandise. Hopefully, you can give the customer a positive shopping experience in the store."

Retailers who would like to participate can sign up online at Scholastic's Harry Potter Bookseller Desk online at www.scholastic.com/custsupport/booksellers/hpv.htm. Retailers without Internet access may contact their sales representative to sign up. The sign-up deadline is April 30, 2003.

The letter to booksellers from Scholastic's Jacobs is provided below. Scholastic's Retailer Coupon Program FAQ is available at http://news.bookweb.org/read/1277.

Dear Bookseller:

In response to the clear concern our Trade customers have voiced, I am happy to report that Scholastic Book Fair's preselling of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been newly defined to drive customers to participating retailers.

Scholastic Book Fair events preselling Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix through the remaining school year will advertise and promote coupon certificate redemption at participating retailers. All signage, including hallway posters, hanging posters and certificates of purchase, will highlight participating retailers as the source to pick-up the book. Although every attempt will be made to drive customers to retail, the fair warehouses will be open only to satisfy those few customers to whom it may not be possible to redirect.

This retail initiative for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is in addition to the $500,000 in retail marketing we have already committed to event kits, giveaways, promotional materials and local and national publicity that will surround the publication of this most anticipated book. Scholastic is also making available to participating retailers 10 collectible Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hats per location for prizing, staff use or contests.

If there are questions that need clarification, we will continue to communicate with our customers through our Harry Potter bookseller website and 800 number and, of course, through our sales representatives and account managers.

All of us at Scholastic support the bookselling and retail community and have worked hard to quickly adapt this program to benefit booksellers. We trust that the unprecedented printings will indicate our belief that the magic of Harry Potter is destined to be the high point of this year's bookselling calendar. I look forward to focusing on our mission of publishing and bookselling with your help and the help of the booksellers you represent and whom we admire and respect.

Sincerely,
Michael Jacobs

Senior Vice-President, Trade