I don't normally want to post negative write-up on my blog but I have been receiving some comments from my readers about the incident that happened last Saturday regarding the 50% and 60% sale of 2 mobile companies (LG and Nokia). As a blogger, I don't just post sale announcement and as much as possible try my best to go to these sale events that I post. I do that because I believe I also have the responsibility to my readers to tell them whether the sale is really a great deal or not. I did not line up during the event but a relative of mine got interested to purchase one after reading my post.
My cousin was there when the mall just opened and he told me that it was really unorganized. People run to the 4th floor of the mall expecting they will be the first people in the line but to their surprise there are around 20-40 people who are already there lined up. How can people suddenly be there when the mall just opened? Not unless they locked themselves up the previous night or better yet they were employees of an establishment of the mall and used their employee IDs to get inside even before regular customers can. I was informed by my cousin that these people who are there in line were really employees of some establishment. The frustration doesn't end there as the line of customers have not been organized well by the people who should be responsible. When we arrived at the mall to check my cousin, we found him at a lump of people in front of Samsung store without a clear line. People also began to swarm around the LG store thus really creating a great mess. I was informed that in only a few minutes after opening, the queue of customers end up until the ground floor already.
I don't think Nokia and most especially LG can blame the customers being angry after they announced that they are ending the sale already. To be fair with Nokia, I think they are more organized as compared to LG during that day (at least in SM Megamall) but also heard some problems at the start of their sale. In LG Sale, people are already screaming to boycott LG and screaming BOO at the announcer because of the whole fiasco. I believe if it was just organized and expectations were set at the start, then the whole thing will not end up that way. If these companies just want to sensationalize this sale, I hope this is not at the mercy of these people where some even came from the provinces just to support their sale event.
Here are some of my constructive criticisms that hopefully can be heard and will be implemented in the future by other mobile networks or any other companies planning to set-up such massive sale event:
- Organize the event well - I heard the security are not that well informed about the event and I haven't seen much manpower from the companies to help organize the people. Don't tell us that you don't expect a lot of people to come because as the organizer of such event, you should always prepare for the worst thing possible.
- Provide numbers/stubs - I think all the confusion on lines and other items could be prevented if a priority number was given to the customers on queue. If LG knew that they only have 30 units to sell, then they could just release 30 numbers to the first 30 VALID customers and tell the other people that all units are taken. In that case, people will not line up anymore and wait for hours waiting for nothing. If this strategy was just implemented, the usual "singitan" could have prevented.
- Be fair to all customers - I think LG/Nokia should never allowed those employees of the mall who were inside the establishment to purchase the devices on sale. It is very unfair for those customers who lined up at the heat of the sun outside of the mall just to wait for the opening. I actually think it could have been better if the sale event was held not in a mall where such unfair acts can be done. If it is only the venue possible, then I think it could have been better if both companies just designated a specific entrance on the mall where they can line up while waiting for the opening of the store. Companies can then hand-out numbers right from there. In this case, people will not have to run for their life going to the store.
- Security enforcement - I saw security personnel started to be around the perimeter when the people started shouting already. I'm not sure who's fault is in here but I would expect that these companies should have called them early on so the lines were organized and angry customers can be calmed down.
A lot of people are frustrated about the entire fiasco of the sale. I am also disappointed on how things were done. I don't think these people deserve such treatment and should not be abused for the sake of making the event "success". The success of a sale event is not judged by the number of people who came but I believe it should be on the number of "HAPPY" and "SATISFIED" customers after buying a great deal from an event. In that case, I believe the sale event last Saturday is a failure. Good thing violence did not occur or else things could have been worse. I hope everyone should take this as a lesson.