Marketing Inequalities

To expand readership, newspapers like to offer things like DVDs and books for free. At least this is the case in the UK. I wonder what it's like abroad? You would think that everyone would be treated equally if you buy their newspaper but sometimes this is not the case.

The Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph have recently offered a collection of National Geographic DVDs and Jane Austen novels.

4 DVDs came inside the weekend papers probably because they use plastic bags to keep everything together. In order to get the rest for free, you have to buy the Daily Telegraph at a stationery shop called WH Smiths. The only other way of getting them is to buy the newspaper elsewhere and request them to be posted to you (you must pay the postage). I think this is unfair on the customer as well as the other retailers.

Similarly, you can get the Jane Austen novels for free if you buy the newspapers at Costa Coffee shops. Any other way, it is not free.

Is this a good marketing tactic? To me, you should create a reputation that all customers will be treated equally.

Surprisingly, there are many other things that harbour inequalities. For instance, food. In one supermarket, they may offer buy one get one free but in another, you will only get one. Customers are quite accustomed to different prices in different places for the same good. Surely the more unified the prices are, the more faith the customer will have provided everything else remains constant?