Hello again compers! How is your week going, any nice wins to report? A few bits and bobs here including a £100 Smiggle stationery bundle from Closer, some Jimmy Choo perfume from The Fragrance Shop and a £20 Currys voucher from a blog twitter party. Loving being back in my comping stride now, and getting very excited about the Christmas comping opportunities coming up. How about you, are you embracing the fact that we are half way through October already, or does the fact that we are 10 weeks off the Festive Season fill you with dread?
One thing that the upcoming festivities means for all of us is shopping! As me and the hubby are both self employed, we like to try and get as organised as we can in October and November. We both end up working pretty much all the way up until Christmas, so the more we can get bought, wrapped, organised, cooked and done before the 1st December the better! I already have the main presents for my girls bought, and a few stocking fillers put away. I have a special cupboard that the kids don’t know about where I stash the M&S biscuits and tins of chocolates away from prying eyes and grabbing fingers! Do you like to try and stock pile these little Christmas luxuries early?
I also like to do the food shop without the children – not only does it mean I don’t spend the whole time acting as referee for their squabbles, but it means I get to look out for on-pack promotions on my way round the supermarket. Have you ventured into on-pack, promotional competitions yet? You really should! As a member of Compers News you get access to loads of great current competitions that are being held on the packaging of food and household products that we buy every day. In the magazine you will find full details of all those promotions that are running, what you have to do or buy to enter them, as well as the prizes and closing date info. To enter most of these comps you need to buy a special promotional version of a particular item – with a sleeve, sticker or a neck collar which states that it is included in the competition. You generally then text that code to a special number, or enter the code online to make your entry. Some competitions will be entry into a prize draw, either for one large prize like a holiday or some vouchers, or into a draw for lots of smaller prizes like aprons and kitchen accessories. The other kind of on-pack promotion is an instant win kind – my favourite! As soon as you enter the code you are informed straight away if you are a winner! A great example of this was the recent Walkers Deep Ridged promotion, where you try to win a packet of crisps but can then gamble that win to go on and try and win cash. Between myself and my husband we managed to pocket about £60 from that promotion! The buzz of an instant win comp is always great, as there is no waiting around until closing dates, or forgetting what comps you have entered.
Because you need to purchase an item to enter on-pack promotions, entry levels are usually low. It is sometimes hard to get the specific promotional packs too, so sometimes you may have to ask friends and family to keep an eye out for the packs for you, or travel further afield than your usual supermarket. At the start of the promotion it can be even harder to get hold of the packs in play, as supermarkets may wait until their current stocks run down low until they replace them.
When you do find some packs don’t use them all straight away. If the competition is a “winning moment” type entry (rather than a prize being specifically tied to one specific unique pack code), you may have a better chance of winning by trying to enter at different times of the day, rather than clustering them all together. Keep some promotional packs back until near the end of the promotion too, as if there are a large number of prizes that have not yet been won, you may have a better chance of winning near the end when the promoter needs to make sure all the prizes are won, and there is scarcity in the number of packs available in shops. Some comps also allow you to enter more than once with the same code, so hang on to it and play daily. However you enter, make sure you hold onto any promotional packaging and till receipts, or you may not be able to claim if you win a prize.
Unless you are already planning on purchasing an item that has a competition running on it, you may not want to go and spend lots of money buying shopping just for the sake of it. The cost of the shopping, travel and any text entries may out-weigh how much you want to win the prize. However, if the items are on your shopping list anyway, fill up your basket and you could be winning at the same time!
As a member of Compers News, as well as the magazine itself, you also have access to the fantastic Chatterbox Forum! In the Purchase Necessary part of the forum you get access to even more great promotions, that maybe haven’t made it into the magazine yet, or that members have found and shared. You also get a good heads up on how a promotion is panning out, and any hints or tips on how to win (supermarkets with good stocks, good winning success rate times of day etc). This source of information is invaluable, and our forum members have a brilliant success rate when it comes to purchase necessary comps.
So have a browse through the October Compers News magazine, stop by the Chatterbox Forum and take some notes on the on-pack promotions you would like to track down. Keep this list on you when you next go shopping, so you don’t forget what you are looking out for. And who knows, you could be winning big just by doing your weekly shop!
Do you have a good success rate with on-pack promotions? Let us know below, we would love to hear your stories!
Happy comping (and shopping!) everyone, and lots of Lucky Dust to you all!
Kirsty x
