A Q & A with the master behind "withFREEgifts"

Thank you for telling me about withFREEgifts.com , they are very unusual and a great value. I looked at their sites and the customer service manager is the President of the company, Ed Thurman.


Finding this unusual, I took the liberty to call Mr. Thurman to find out more about the company. It turns out that his company only works directly with manufacturers’ selling direct to the end user customer. This eliminates the retail mark up. Being direct with the manufacturer he can offer very competitive pricing with the added value of gifts with every purchase.


Mr. Thurman was generous with his time. We talked for over 15 minutes. He is very interesting. In many ways, he sounds like a marketing historian. He attended the Harvard University Program for Management (PMD) and their Advanced Marketing Program.


Mr. Thurman was the 1st Formula 409 marketing manager. Formula 409 became the #1 spray cleaner in the market and is still #1 today. He is quick to say they won against the marketing giant P & G. He was on teams that successfully introduced Goodyear Radial Tires, Gatorade and Hamburger Helper. He has marketed for and represented Revlon, Clairol, Bristol Myers and several other Health and Beauty products.


Question: What got you into the internet?
Answer: I was hired by an internet company as a consultant because of my marketing experience. At the time I was hired I new very little about the internet. I consulted with them for 18 months and learned a great deal about the internet including how to build and market web sites. They decided to get into the internet real-estate business so we departed on good terms. I wanted to be in the consumer products business.


During the 18 months I did a lot of research. I realized no one was passing the savings to internet customers even though retail margins no longer applied to internet sales. I knew I could market direct with manufacturers. I knew how to use our buying power to sell competitively


This combination of economics and my marketing experience that included being on the team that introduced Estee Lauder “gift with purchase" to the Worldwide Military Exchange System over 40 years ago set the table for our withFreegifts.commarketing system. We are very competitively priced and can offer a FREE gift and often we can offer several FREE gifts with each purchase. We are a FUN PLACE to shop and a very good value.


Question: As the majority owner of the company, why are you the Customer Service Manager?
Answer: Trust is a major concern of Internet customer’s. We have a company policy that it is against company policy to have a dissatisfied customer. I know if I am the customer service manage that policy will be strictly enforced.


Question: How can you offer excellent value and gifts with every purchase?
Answer: I took the Sam Walton approach to operating costs. We have a very low operating cost and we only work direct with manufacturers. This combination gives us the means to offer a true value to our customers and FREE gifts with their purchase. Keep in mind it is against our company policy to have a dissatisfied customer. Our system makes shopping FUN!


It was interesting and I have purchased several items from withFREEgifts.com I already have over $200 of Free Gift Value to us when buying Christmas gifts this year…

Mr. Thurman’s telephone number is 972-258-8772. His office is in Irving, Texas
I am sure he will not mind your giving him a call.