Product Life Cycle - The Blue Peter Annual

This news will come as a terrible shock to long-standing fans of the BBC children’s show Blue Peter. After years of declining sales - figures supplied by Nielsen BookScan UK reveal that sales of the Blue Peter annual have fallen from 59,941 in 2007 to just 13,140 in 2011. The publisher Pedigree Books has announced that the 2012 annual has been scrapped.

Every dog has its day but I cannot help feeling that Blue Peter officianados will be feeling more than a twinge of nostalgia today with this sad news. The commercial reality is that Blue Peter is competing for shelve and stocking space with nearly two hundred other brands in the annual and calendar market that retailers select from and the publishers have decided that the Blue Peter brand is no longer strong enough to be in the top 25 per cent that gets the mass distribution into the major retailers.

Commercial reality bites but Shep will be turning in his doggy grave.  If you want a journey down memory lane clicking on this link may bring tears to your eyes.

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