Stellar bargains at the midnight sale on Mars

Cutting-edge promotions are aimed at seducing you, dear reader, and slicing deep into your wallet. Among those considered trend-setting were the talk-of-the-town private annual sales of Jim Thompson’s Thai silk at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

Before each members-only sale, all listed loyal Jim Thompson’s customers received a postcard invitation specifying a date and time slot. Even armed with the earliest slot at 9am, by the time you arrived, there would already be hundreds waiting in a long queue. And once you got inside the hall, you had to leave your polite manners at the door and dive in with the hordes to grab the best stuff. 

It was utter chaos.

Then came another legendary shopping extravaganza. A department store near the Chidlom BTS stop was once very popular among shopaholics for its annual Midnight Sale. Again, the store-card members would receive an invite to attend its members-only sale a day before the event was opened to the public. And people seemed to follow the mantra “shop till you drop” 

eagerly.

With such successful responses, merchants with no physical shops at malls – like travel agencies, hotels, or computer and gadget retailers – saw these kind of exclusive sale events as a tremendous business opportunity, and collaborated to apply a similar concept and organise their own versions.

The concept has evolved into its current incarnation – consumer exhibitions, which are usually held over a limited period of time, for specific lines of products, and at big expo venues. You now see consumer fairs almost every weekend at convention halls around Bangkok.

However, the mushrooming of these expos means that the expected “special” deal might not be so special anymore. Also, the fixed location limits a fair’s reach to its target group.

The trend has now been adapted again with lots of help from the Internet and the popularity of social media; a new marketplace has been born. And in an instant, rigid venues, an onsite set-up investment, staff fees, limited merchant groups, and other limitations are done away with.

Real customer experiences and candid reviews have also made these Internet deals more tempting and much easier for merchants to settle their sales online.

Dear entrepreneurs, these marketing ideas show you how many great opportunities are out there. Now is the time to take advantage by selecting one that fits your business. 

However, for consumers, all this might look like just another fad – another “wow” promotion accompanied by bombarding ads.  So don’t get too excited. It’s probably more or less the same offers packaged with a new marketing gimmick.

 

Janejit Ladpli is vice president of Travel & Leisure Marketing at KTC (Krungthai Card).