The Long Journey

There has been a lot of buzz about a printable voucher from the wine and alcohol retailer Threshers. The voucher is said to have been made available only to suppliers and valued customers as a christmas gift.

The discount voucher has since spread around blogs and forums like wildfire and every news site is reporting this gigantic mistake… although the question has to be asked, is it really a mistake to generate this much publicity?

The voucher is worth 40% off wine and champagne. That sounds good value, but when you consider that Threshers prices are widely considered to be about that much more expensive than your typical supermarket, perhaps it isn’t quite the bargain it seems.

In the run up to Christmas, alcohol sales traditionally rocket - if Thresher can capture a larger amount of those sales on a smaller margin, to me that is good business sense. Couple that with the additional sales generated of non-discounted stock and they are on to a winner.

Viral Marketing has become extremely popular recently. I have seen many times this year products advertised in online games, mysterious websites that reveal a video game and even “amatuer” video blogs turning out to be aspiring actors.
With reported queues outside door of Threshers stores, could this “mistake” discount voucher be the most successful Viral Marketing campaign of the year?

download the Threshers discount voucher

The voucher expired on 10th December 2006.