On a normal day, who would have usually thought about going out and getting some Steers for lunch or supper (especially in the middle of the month)? Definitely not as many people as there were queuing yesterday inside (and outside) Steers franchises nationwide. People started queuing as early as 09:00am, wanting a rib burger for breakfast! This would not have been the case on a normal day. So what do you, as a fast food place that does not usually make many sales on a particular day of the week or certain time of the month, do? That’s right. You put out a ‘special’ that will have the crowds coming in masses to your establishment and choosing you over your competitors. Case in point, Spur Monday burger nights!
After ‘under-catering’ and drastically ‘underestimating’ the
amount of burgers they would sell, Steers knew that the people who had already
specifically made their way to their nearest Steers branch would have thought
to themselves ‘oh well, now that I’m here, I might as well just get something
else off their menu.’ Steers also knew that customers are more inclined to make a purchase now that they are already there and have psyched themselves up for that mouth-watering burger. According to TimesLive
“some stores had to close as early as 4pm yesterday, after not only running out
of rib burgers, but of their entire stocks.”
Point proven.
Something
this big is not done without planning.
Surely they would have known that by not placing a limit on the amount
of burgers allowed per person, or by still accepting telephonic orders (where
companies placed orders of 160 burgers or more!) that surely they would run out
of stock at some point?
How about Steers knowing that customers would think: ‘well,
seeing that it's only R10 for the burger, I might as well get two burgers then. And maybe I should add an ice-cream and a
side order of chips. I’m still saving so
much money!’ Once again, Steers is
making sales they would never usually have made. Let’s not forget about all the hype on
Twitter, Facebook and HelloPeter websites about this ‘special’ which, although
most were complaints, it was still creating exposure for it and enticing people
to go check out what was going on. I’m
sure most people thought ‘the Steers near my house surely won’t be that full,
let me go have a look.’ Surprise,
surprise!
I do think that had Steers implemented this campaign more effectively (i.e. placing limits on orders and making sure they were sufficiently stocked up) that more positive exposure would have been generated and it would have been much more successful, especially for possible future plans and campaigns. Even though customers were disappointed and many claim that the brand has now suffered, you can bet your life savings that if Steers announces next week that they’re running the same special again, the majority of those people who went yesterday will be back there again, accompanied by those that were not able to partake.
Even after the negative feedback received by the public, it
seems to be the new trend for fast food chains throughout the country, as Spur
and McDonald’s have also jumped on the bandwagon by offering specials on their
breakfast and quarter pounder meals, respectively. This can only be good news for the consumer, I think. Funny thing is that these places are still making a profit on these 'reduced' deals, which shows how much they are actually ripping us off when we buy things at full price!
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