At least the dog-food had something distinctive about it.

We got a deal

He looks like he's wearing leggings

£18.99?!

Get little Jemima a mug with her name on it instead.

Its cute but I think they need to personalize it a bit more

I suppose the price is because they can't make the books in bulk. They'll be produced to order due to the flexibility of allowing the customer to type any name in. They won't for example have a warehouse with 1,000 "Peter" and "Paul"'s just sitting waiting to be bought. The book will be custom printed and put together so that perhaps pushes up their costs. I agree it's still expensive but I don't think it's a complete rip off.

Wouldn't this work better as an app, and be a lot cheaper?

I don't blame Deborah for butting in here. Piers is being an ass.

Kelly Hoppen does her usual Dragons Den appearance, sneers at everyone, looks under her nose at everyone, says what she could have offered the business but then says "i'm out",,,, she is a horrible, pointless addition to the Dragons

Thats the first deal i think ive seen Piers make

It would but I'm becoming increasingly wound up by children being encouraged to use screens for everything. They need real books in their hands.

Hmmm, something tells me this deal won't go through

Edit : the deal happened

Very simple to automate, just like a mail merge but with printing in books. They'll be printed on the fly, not hard to do although it would increase their costs slightly.

I'd rather walk away emptyhanded than have to accept an offer from Piers. Don't ask me why....just a gut feeling.

I believe a child will enjoy the novelty of seeing their name in the book once but the story won't be gripping enough for them to read it again and again. Nearly £20 for a one-time thrill is not worth it IMO (although I appreciate the difficulties they face with production, as Inspiration pointed out).

He strikes me as a right blagger.

Yep it's such a simple idea really. All they need is a couple of creatures for each letter of the alphabet and the name dictates the order of the pages and what is on each page. Such an effective little idea. Their biggest cost would be materials, having enough printers to meet demand and postage. The rest would sort itself.

You could automate the whole creation, all you need is characters for every letter of the alphabet and to change the order depending on that. Then mail merge the names in $name to the book around the text.

A printer can do the daily run each day ready for shipping, no need at all to do anything manual except the normal printing and method for any other book once you have the software and technology in place, so a 1 time capital investment.

With that turnover they probably already have a deal with a printer who has won the contract and they have shouldered the upfront capital investment, rather than the business, whereas the business could produce the software - very simple that any reasonable developer could produce it in 1 month.

I suspect they already do that. At those retail prices they could make a killing, and a full JIT system, order, print, ship, so no stock costs, no warehouse, no sale or return etc etc. They have the potential to make £15 profit per unit or to work with resellers who will get the business for them and take a slice.

That will definitely be a successful business.

Really enjoyed tonights programme. Presumably someone once pitched the idea of Dragons Den itself-would like to have seen that!
A definite winner!

Did anyone ask where they were printed?

I was really pleased to see the pet food guys turn down the offers.
They have gained good publicity for their product, and not had to give away a massive percentage of their business. I'm sure they will be pleased with the outcome.
The Dragon's are sometimes too greedy ( though of course that is how they became so successful to start with ).

Personalised books are nothing new though... I had one when I was little and my kids have got a few each. The company that I get them from have 30 different stories, you can put in any name (as well as 3 friend's names to be included in the story) and it costs £9.99.

As much as I love the personalised books, and the kids love reading them, I'd never spend £18.99 on one.

this and the last series of dragons den has lost all its "crackle" - its a very lame and tepid show now

if you want to see a show with real bite then take a look at "sharks tank" the us version with mr wonderful , mark cuban and more

eg "il buy the company today for 140000, tomorrow I will fire you"

So if youve got a 3 letter name, the book is only 3 pages, even with say ten letters, its only 10 pages, & costs £18.99?
When I was young if anyone gave a book, id think "Can I have a real present next time", & its so easy to get this stuff on a tablet & keep them amused for, oh 2 mins.

Yep it's a shame. The show is a shadow of it's former self for me. I think back to the good old days when Richard Farleigh was around.. when Duncan actually looked young, interested and invested.. when Theo broke stuff.. when the pitches were interesting and varied... when they didn't have a stupid fake lift and the theme tune was brilliant. The only thing that has remained constant has been Peter Jones. He never seems to change.. but even he looks bored at times now.