Delivering for the Christmas rush
2007
If Santa ever needs help, he'd turn to Dawson for delivery expertise!
Like Santa, the group is gearing itself up for a hectic Christmas, and for two divisions in particular, this is the busiest period of the year.
Dawson News is now in the midst of its complex Christmas rush, but is well used to dealing with the tricky operational issues.
Dawson will help retailers sell around 1.7m copies of the TV listings titles alone during the festive period, worth a thumping £2.25m as retail sales value. Last year, What's on TV and Radio Times alone accounted for nearly a million of these sales. However, it was Radio Times that proved most valuable to the retail trade, with a retail sales value of around £950,000 alone through the Dawson branches.
Add to this huge influx of copies a raft of big double issues with extended on sale dates, some key titles with shortened on sale dates, and factor in the storage of ever-bulkier partworks – which hit the shelves straight after Christmas – and the challenges become obvious. And then there are the Bank Holidays to think about! "All the stops are pulled out, although we are well used to dealing with the issues," says DN operations director Bob Scott.
At Dawson Marketing Services, it's also all hands to the pump for the division's busiest period of the year.
"Christmas is a time of business extremes for us, very high volumes beset with all the management issues this entails, and, if managed well, big returns," says managing director Steve Calland.
As well as dealing with around a million consumer orders for Daily Mail Christmas promotions, "the festive season signals the peak period of activity for all of our main clients" according to Calland.
Among the DMS clients is Digital Stores, which has the franchise to retail the character toys shown on the Sky Television cartoon network – including Nickelodeon. DMS expects to fulfil 40,000 customer orders for soft toys over the period!
